We are thrilled to announce the 2025 Futurist Debut Book Award Longlist! From more than 200 manuscripts of all types, lengths, styles, and genres submitted by debut authors to Alternating Current Press for the book prize, we’ve narrowed the first round of reading down to this longlist of semifinalists. Congrats to all of these authors, whose manuscripts will now go on to the next round of readers to create a shortlist. From the shortlist, we’ll then select a winner to receive $1,000 and publication, and possibly several finalists who may also be offered publication to join our 2026 through 2027 publishing seasons. Congrats to these longlisters, and we’ll see you in the next round!

Fiction

• Shiloh by Matthew Adkins
• Roaning Spirit by Leslie Bessen
• Love Nation: A Field Guide by K. M. Carter
• On Purpose by Matt Dube
• Orange Island by Vanessa Frances
• Most of the Talking by Yale Gould
• Self-Helpless by Jessie Asya Kanzer
• Future X by Georg Koszulinski
• Tide Girl by Mary Lannon
• You Don’t Know The Half of It by Jody Lisberger
• All Our Hearts Are Broken by Todd Lombardo
• Bright Fear by Sam Powell
• Portable Glory by Alan Sincic
• A Crawfish Boil at the End of the World by William Torrey
• The Godless Road by J. D. M. Yoder

Nonfiction, Essays, Memoir

• Vent by Patrick Boelsterli
• Landscape of Childhood: Stories of Growing Up on Belvedere Island in the San Francisco Bay by Terry Davis
• Lessons in Art & Life by Geri Lipschultz
• The Third Option by Beca Salmon

Poetry

• Prayers to the Patron Saint of Late Bloomers by Gillian Ebersole
• Zugunruhe by Rachael Inciarte
• Steel, a Body by Erin Kae
• Retrograde by Sharanya Naik
• Forgetting Pies in Graveyards by Kimberly Sailor

Thanks to these authors for sharing their incredible work with us and for trusting us to share it with the rest of the world. Congratulations on the longlist selections, and we wish you the best of luck in the next round.

For the visually impaired or those using TTS reading aids: this is the end of the announcement.

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