Week 9 Recap: Sympathy Surges
Sympathy for Wild Girls takes an early lead and never lets go
Sympathy for Wild Girls from Feminist Press won Week 9 in commanding fashion.
It led from the start and stayed there, buoyed by voters who praised its vivid palette and captivating composition. I guess there's something unbeatable about that coyote-human chilled-out swagger. May all bracketeers absorb some of the radiating badassery.
Week 9 Winner: Sympathy for Wild Girls by Demree McGhee
Congrats to Demree McGhee and the whole Feminist Press team for their runaway victory!
Week 10: Repeat After Me
This week's covers speak in loops, spirals, and echoes. It's a visual chorus of iterative transformation.
- Somebody Should Do Something by Michael Brownstein, Alex Madva, and Daniel Kelly (The MIT Press, Sept 16, 2025): A bold call to action that rethinks how individual choices contribute to structural change—mixing science, story, and sly humor.
- The Philosopher by Tom Jenks (Sublunary Editions, Sept 17, 2024): A wry and fragmented collection of prose poems tracing the curious escapades of a nameless thinker and his odd entourage.
- Culture Creep by Alice Bolin (Mariner Books, June 3, 2025): Essays on feminism, nostalgia, and digital cults—from diet apps to Animal Crossing to tech-bro mythmaking. Smart, searing, and impossible to ignore.
- Subterrane by Valérie Bah (Véhicule Press, July 17, 2025): A speculative comedy exploring Black and Queer voices pushed beneath the surface of a glittering city. Mosaic, mystery, and community resistance entwine.
Week 10 Lineup
Voting is open now through Sunday at 11pm ET. Repeated votes will be absorbed into the echo chamber and returned to you as dreams.
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Bracket Update
The archive page is officially live! You can now scroll through every past lineup with the winners lovingly highlighted. It’s all there—every wild match-up, every unexpected upset, every perfect cover. Relive the memories, admire the glory, and maybe shed a single tear of aesthetic joy.
Echoing your brilliance right back at you,
Will Pass
Book Jacket Bracket Guy