If you're familiar with Melissa Broder's pitch-black humor in Milk Fed and The Pisces, you're probably reacting to the news of her new novel's release with trepidatious, nervous laughter. After all, this is an author who has no qualms writing about erotic merman fantasies, obsessive food rituals, and going no-contact with your mom. In Death Valley, Broder heads to a Best Western in California's high desert, where a woman has fled to escape a cloud of grief. On a nearby hike, she finds a towering cactus with a mystical gash-portal. (Envision a sweaty, sand-covered, and weirdly sexy version of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Thanks, Melissa!)