Generative AI doesn’t have real books to recommend for your summer. Thankfully, we do.

Perhaps you’ve seen an article going around on social media about hot new books to read over the summer, published in the Chicago Sun-Times.

For some reason, that article told you to read a number of books that don’t exist, by authors who do, and who were both baffled by and justifiably angry about the whole situation.

That article, currently going viral for all the wrong reasons, was written by a freelancer who used AI to generate the list of recommended books. It was part of an ad-supported summer guide insert that went out to a number of papers and contained exactly zero information about actual local culture or events.

The AI list that hit stands.

Everything about this story — papers using generic inserts that give readers no insight on what’s actually happening in their community, writers with no community ties or sense of ethics being hired by content mills to churn out junk — is a severe bummer. It’s also a strong comment on where local and regional media is right now. Simply put, it’s infuriating.

We here at The Pitch value local reporting that informs our readership on what’s happening in the Kansas City area, and that helps them support people doing good work and making good stuff.

With that in mind, here’s a list of real, currently relevant books you can check out this summer from area bookstores and libraries, with local and regional connections.

New and upcoming books by local authors

Let Them Stare — Julie Murphy and Jonathan van Ness

Hot off the printer is this novel by local star Julie Murphy (Dumplin’, If the Shoe Fits and dozens of other YA and romance novels) and Queer Eye icon Jonathan van Ness. Sully, a gender-nonconforming 18-year-old is ready to shake the dust of their crummy rural Pennsylvania town off their feet, but encounters a hurdle when their promising fashion internship falls through. With the help of a stunning vintage bag, a ghostly drag performer and the only other gay kid in town, Sully sets off to make their dreams a reality by any means necessary.

Whack Job — Rachel McCarthy James

Do you like true crime? Do you like history, archeology and/or anthropology? Hyper-specific deep dives into objects in our lives we take for granted? Rachel McCarthy James’ new book — not just a history of the humble axe, but a history of axe murder — offers all of the above. James digs into death-by-axe from prehistoric times all the way through to the present day. Read our interview with James here.

Utopians In Love — Bob Sykora

Maybe poetry is more your speed. If that’s the case, check out Bob Sykora’s brand-spanking-new poetry collection Utopians in Love. The Kansas City-based poet considers utopian societies like the Shakers, the Transcendentalists and other societal experiments both well-known and obscure through the lens of heartbreak, using everything from sonnets, prose poems, free verse and beyond to plumb those emotional and existential depths.

The Mercy Makers — Tessa Gratton

Prolific Lawrence author Tessa Gratton (The Queens of Innis Lear, Lady Hotspur, Star Wars: The High Republic: Temptation of the Force) returns with The Mercy Makers, a fantasy novel about a magically-talented outlaw with high ambitions who must use her power to save her crime-boss father by seducing an emperor and his sister. Gratton is one of the reigning monarchs of high fantasy, frequently playing with gender and genre conventions to create immersive, inventive worlds. We are insanely lucky to have her around. (Releases June 17)

The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam — Megan Bannen

Kansas City romantasy author Megan Bannen is back with a third book set in the fantastical world of Tanria, which vibes like Dungeons and Dragons meets Sweet Home Alabama (the movie, not the song). This time out, an immortal demigod and an uptight inventor end up in an opposites-attract rom-com when the two of them are stuck in a limbo-esque space called The Mist. Bannen is great at balancing substance and world-building with fun, steamy romance, so if you like your bodice-ripping to have, y’know, a plot, you’ve come to the right place. (Releases July 8)

Books set in Missouri and Kansas

James — Percival Everett

That bizarre list of AI-generated slop recommended a fake book by Everett, so why not pick up a real one that also just won the Pulitzer? Everett’s latest novel takes the narrative of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and switches the perspective to Jim, the slave who accompanies Huck on his journey from Hannibal, Missouri. Jim has his own story to tell, and it’s full of wit, humor, anger, and historically based horror that brands itself onto the reader’s brain. Everett is also the author of Erasure, which was adapted into the Oscar-winning film American Fiction.

Red Rabbit — Alex Grecian

Alex Grecian’s prairie horror novel picked up a lot of attention on release in 2023, and rightly so. It’s a sprawling, darkly funny, blood-drenched supernatural adventure involving witches, ghosts, the undead, and evil amphibians. Fans of Cullen Bunn’s Harrow County or The Sixth Gun series will find plenty to love here, as will Charles Portis devotees. Once you’ve finished it, pick up the sequel, Rose of Jericho, which is out now.

I’ll Have What He’s Having — Adib Khorram

As you may have noticed by now, Kansas City is home to a vibrant and diverse community of romance authors. One of them is Adib Khorram, author of the much-lauded Darius the Great books. Khorram’s latest, I’ll Have What He’s Having, hit shelves last year. It’s a rom-com involving a heartbroken substitute teacher, a hot sommelier, and a case of mistaken identity, set against the backdrop of KC’s food and wine scene.