It appears that star third baseman Royce Lewis is getting closer to returning to the Twins lineup.

After running the bases on Thursday morning at Target Field before the Twins were set to take on the Seattle Mariners, Lewis is expected to serve as the designated hitter for the St. Paul Saints on Friday night against Louisville at CHS Field.

The rehab assignment is a step in the right direction as Lewis continues to recover from a left hamstring strain. He suffered the injury a couple of weeks ago late in a game against the Houston Astros, and while he’s technically eligible to come off the injured list at any time, the Twins want to make sure he’s back at full strength before activating him.

Asked about how Lewis has handled everything, manager Rocco Baldelli seemed encouraged by his progress.

“He’s in a good spot right now,” Baldelli said. “This is what we were probably hoping for when it first happened. This was pretty close to an ideal situation to this point. We still treat it as a guy recovering and that’s why he’s going on a rehab assignment.”

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Here’s looking at you, kid. I mean, Your Majesty.

In the real Casablanca — not the acclaimed 1942 Oscar-winning movie — I soaked like a queen in a rose petal-strewn warm bath at the Art Deco glamorous Royal Mansour hotel owned by, ahem …  Morocco’s King Mohammed VI.

King Mohammed VI’s photo is displayed in the Royal Mansour Tamuda Bay hotel he owns. (Photo by Norma Meyer)

Earlier in my same regal suite, I nobly nibbled a gratis inches-tall M-shaped chocolate (etched with “Royal Mansour”) and watched apricot skies envelope a distant iconic mosque. The interior of the 24-story hotel opulently shone with 70 different kinds of polished marble, and the air (along with everything from complimentary SPF 15 hand cream to provided pashmina shawls) whiffed of the signature Royal Mansour scent fleur d’ oranger, the favorite of another monarch, Louis XIV.

However, the five-star haven was not stuck-up at all. From the general manger to the multiple uniformed doormen (the bellhop looked fab in a retro cherry-red outfit), everyone invariably touched one hand to their chest as a cultural goodwill gesture while brightly smiling and greeting guests by name. Every time I alighted from the hotel’s chauffeured electric Mercedes-Benz to a welcoming chorus, I felt like I was entering a super-classy  “Cheers,” although this hangout had 600 Bohemian crystal fish twirling from the vaulted ceiling of the gilded lobby.

Everybody knows your name at the friendly Royal Mansour Casablanca hotel. (Photo by Norma Meyer)

My stay was just the first aristocratic accommodation. After Casablanca, I traveled by train to the coast of this Islamic North African nation and the Royal Mansour Tamuda Bay, also owned by Morocco’s crowned head and right next door to his guarded, expansive summer digs. From my beachfront resort, I’d set off to explore the twisted alleys of two historic medinas, including the UNESCO-listed Tetouan where present-day tunic-cloaked shoppers perused mounds of produce and butchers slit live chickens’ throats.

Starring in Casablanca

The grand lobby of the king-owned Royal Mansour Casablanca includes a combo aquarium-terrarium containing over 1,000 fish from the Amazon and Asia. (Photo by Norma Meyer)

With the stated aim of boosting tourism, Morocco’s 61-year-old sovereign opened both of my zellige-tiled Royal Mansour lodgings last year. The billionaire lords over a vast personal business empire but his only other hotel, the exquisite Royal Mansour Marrakech, debuted back in 2010. (FYI, Mansour means “victorious” in Arabic.)  As for the country, King Mohammed VI governs alongside an elected parliament but wields enormous power.

“He is known as the ‘King of the Poor,’” my Casablanca guide Naima Boussaid explained. “He does a lot for education and single mothers and helping the underprivileged so people love him.”

The massive Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca can accommodate 25,000 worshippers indoors and another 80,000 in the outside courtyard. (Photo by Norma Meyer)

Naima, a dynamo Muslim mom of two adult daughters, wore lime green hightop Converse (“I have all the colors”), a lime green hijab scarf over her hair, a red baseball cap emblazoned, “Morocco,” a rainbow-toned hooded long djellaba, and a hefty Hand of Fatima silver pendant “that protects against the evil eye.” We strolled through the gargantuan, ornate Hassan II Mosque erected by the king’s late father and completed in 1993. “Three daily shifts each of 5,000 artisans spent six years round-the-clock working on it,” Naima said with awe. The 60-story minaret (second tallest in the world) is topped by a laser that beams 18 miles over the Atlantic towards Mecca and assists ships in the dark.

Hand-sculpted marble walls, detailed carvings and mosaics, white granite columns and Murano glass chandeliers create the Hassan II Mosque’s striking interior in Casablanca. (Photo by Norma Meyer)

Before day’s end, Naima had given me her secret tagine stew recipe, brought me to buy the Moroccan 35-spice blend ras el hanout, and dramatically pantomimed over her clothes how I should vigorously scrub myself in a hammam with gooey black soap. Plus, in the newer whitewashed medina, she complimented a stranger in Arabic, and in a snap he had invited us into his traditional family home to sit among customary piles of beautiful pillows covered in vibrant textiles. (Moroccans are extremely hospitable.)

“You know the No. 1 one reason why people know Casablanca?” Naima later asked referring to Morocco’s frenetic financial capital. “The movie. Although it was all filmed in Hollywood.” She chuckled. (“Casablanca” was entirely shot on a Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank, except for one scene filmed at nearby Van Nuys Airport).

Rick’s Cafe in Casablanca will have you reminiscing about Bogie from “Casablanca.” Think of him when you’re slurping Champagne-permeated oysters in the real restaurant. (Photo by Norma Meyer)

Of course, in the city Casablanca, I had to visit Rick’s Cafe, founded in 2004 by an American woman who retired as a counselor for the U.S. Embassy in Morocco and adored the Humphrey Bogart-Ingrid Bergman romantic drama. When I walked up to Rick’s early afternoon, a stern suited doorman wearing blue-mirrored sunglasses conferred with someone through his two-way earpiece radio, before I was led inside to an upstairs alcove of the film-fond restaurant. In this cozy room, the black-and-white “Casablanca” played on a screen, a vintage roulette table took center stage, and nostalgic Bogie and Bergman posters adorned the walls. I had it all to myself — including the only three barstools — until a congenial waiter in a red fez hat materialized to take my chardonnay order.

Time goes by in Rick’s Cafe. The restaurant-bar in Casablanca pays homage to the classic “Casablanca” film that was shot a world away in Burbank. (Photo by Norma Meyer)

(Note that drinking alcohol is forbidden in the Islam religion so only certain licensed establishments can serve booze, mainly hotels and tourist restaurants.)

The Royal Mansour offers various curated excursions, should you tire of cocooning in the hotel spa swaddled in “red gold” saffron harvested from Moroccan hinterlands or being hypnotized by the lobby’s aquarium-terrarium housing over 1,000 darting fish from the Amazon and Asia. (Surprisingly, room rates aren’t a king’s ransom — they start at $590 and include a full breakfast with round pats of butter embellished with the Royal Mansour’s “M” logo that also resembles a crenellated casbah gate.)

Casablanca’s eye-popping street art includes subjects ranging from women empowerment to space villains to soccer heroes to — as in this case — humongous bugs. (Photo by Norma Meyer)

Besides my tour with Naima, the concierge arranged an outing with a very cool dreadlocked nonprofit rep to admire more than 30 vivid street art murals throughout the metropolis. If you hear both French and Arabic spoken, that’s because Mohammed V, the king’s monarch grandfather, successfully fought to achieve Morocco’s independence in 1956 after it had been a protectorate of France for over 40 years. Incidentally, current King Mohammed VI —  who holds a doctorate in law and ascended to the throne in 1999 — was the first Moroccan ruler to present his princess wife to the public and, in addition, tout her charitable activities. The couple have two now-grown children and divorced in 2018.

Le Rooftop restaurant at Royal Mansour Casablanca is a front row seat to stunning sunsets. (Photo by Norma Meyer)

That evening I fell under the spell of Royal Mansour’s piece de resistance  — the 23rd-floor tantalizing Mediterranean restaurant, Le Rooftop, where on the wrap-around panoramic outdoor deck I savored asparagus-mushroom-black truffle polenta while feasting on a blazing neon sunset transforming the sprawling, legendary “White City” below. Meanwhile, in the ground-level 1950s-chic cocktail lounge, a bartender crafted chunky Royal Mansour M-shaped ice cubes to put in nightcaps.

Of all the gin joints, in all the towns …

Transported in Tamuda Bay

In north Morocco, the market in Tetouan’s old town is a vibrant slice of local life. (Photo by Norma Meyer)

In the buzzing ancient Tetouan medina, donkey carts squeezed through tangled alleys crowded with indigenous Berber women selling palm leaf-wrapped Jben cheese, fishmongers hawking slippery sardines, and live squawking chickens crammed into cages. Locals selected their feathery dinner, then its throat was slit and body plucked clean.

‘They don’t get fresher than that,” commented my guide, Nuri Abdelkhalek. Indeed the walled UNESCO World Heritage Site of Tetouan is most authentic.

The Bab Tut gate, next to a fountain built in 1755, is one of the famous entrances to Tetouan’s old medina. (Photo by Norma Meyer)

Back at my king-owned Royal Mansour Tamuda Bay, guests preferred grazing on beluga sturgeon caviar and amlou pastries designed like flowers and encrusted with edible gold. After all, we were on the Moroccan Riviera.

Sand-colored buildings are villas and suites at the luxury Royal Mansour Tamuda Bay, next to the vacation home of the hotel proprietor, King Mohammed VI. (Photo by Norma Meyer)

To get to this north coast from Casablanca, I journeyed on a two-hour high-speed train to Tangier, situated on the Strait of Gibraltar. My interesting seat mate told me he was a prayer-leading imam at a mosque in Saudi Arabia’s Mecca and for half the trip he politely tried to convert me to Islam. Although unsuccessful, he later WhatsApped me 710 pages of the Quran.

The lobby of the Royal Mansour Tamuda Bay is artistically plastered with 95,000 shells, supposedly all collected from sands in front of the hotel. (Photo by Norma Meyer)

A Royal Mansour driver met me at the Tangier station and after a 90-minute ride, I glided into the Tamuda Bay lobby only to be shell-shocked. The patterned walls were totally concocted of 95,000 seashells, supposedly all handpicked from the shore in front. I wondered about the origin claim but then outside I discovered the private half-mile stretch of beach literally blanketed, actually layered, with shells washed up from the sapphire Alboran Sea. Employees raked areas clean to make walking easier. (Continuing the marine theme, the pool bar, lamps and artwork are comprised of shells.)

Seashells completely cover sides of the pool bar at Royal Mansour Tamuda Bay on Morocco’s north coast. (Photo by Norma Meyer)

The revered king, whose portrait graces the main foyer, has long vacationed in his security-patrolled compound next door. I’m told his VIP friends and extended family have bunked at the Royal Mansour, which sits on 25 lush acres and consists of individual low-key tan-colored blocky buildings, with 55 superb contemporary suites and villas, three restaurants helmed by Michelin-starred chefs and an elaborate network of underground tunnels for personnel, such as butlers, to scurry through. (Rooms breakfast-inclusive from $682. If you want to splurge, book the hotel’s $27,000 a night, 18,000-square-foot Royal Villa, complete with its own white Steinway baby grand and a movie theater.)

Guests can lounge, swim or walk along a nearly half-mile of private beach at the laid-back, luxury Royal Mansour Tamuda Bay. (Photo by Norma Meyer)

“We always see the king jet-skiing and sailing his black boat,” said local hiking enthusiast Zaid Habssaid, who accompanied me on a jaunt in the nearby mountains. Zaid was referring to Baldi 1, the king’s $100-million, 230-foot yacht.

I’d been to Morocco twice before, but never to this area, generally off the foreign tourist map. The Andalusian-inspired labyrinth maze of Tetouan, just 20 minutes from Tamuda Bay, was a refuge for Jews and Muslims who fled the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century. My hotel-provided guide Nuri said the mellah quarters that once shielded thousands of Sephardic Jews is now home to just several Jewish families who reside among Muslim neighbors. (You may see street signs in Hebrew, Arabic and Spanish — for over four decades, until 1956, Tetouan served as the capital of the Spanish protectorate in north Morocco.)

An employee unrolls handmade rugs in a shop in Tetouan’s medina. Morocco is known for its traditional woven carpets. (Photo by Norma Meyer)

At one point, Nuri stopped at a placard denoting a communal oven built in the 19th century for Jews to bake bread or matzoh. Inside, the friendly Muslim owner roasted nuts to sell and insisted on giving me a handful of warm cashews. Down another narrow corridor, shopkeeper Barrack Abderazeke beckoned: “Come in. We love everyone. We are one big family.” Then, unsolicited, one by one, he unfurled 15 oversized colorful Moroccan Berber carpets, some woven from camel hair.

A signpost indicates where the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea converge off the coast of Tangier, Morocco. (Photo by Norma Meyer)

Another day, Nuri escorted me around Tangier —  to the meeting point of the  Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea, past Africa’s first pet cemetery, and on to Tangier’s centuries-old energizing medina and its casbah fortress. Behind stone ramparts, souk merchants touted items from argan oil to beldi olives to bejeweled caftans.

The “quiet pool” at Royal Mansour Tamuda Bay is intended to be a tranquil heavenly escape, mimicking the moon and stars. (Photo by Norma Meyer)

Returning to the Royal Mansour Tamuda Bay, I again soaked like a queen. Only  this night, I was alone in the hotel’s calming, dim-lit celestial indoor “quiet pool.”  A massive, hanging moon-mimicking sphere subtly glowed overhead, and somehow sparkly stars reflected on surface waters all around me, submerging my body in a magical galaxy.

This was my kingdom — for now.

It’s the perfect time of the year to celebrate our independents.

By that, we mean independent presses — the small publishers powered by literary true believers, committed to putting out curated works that challenge the mainstream, and that are too often ignored by big-box retailers and corporate e-commerce sites. The books they publish might not make it to the bestseller lists or celebrity book clubs, but they’re every bit as worthy as their Big Five publisher counterparts.

SEE ALSO: Like books? Get our free Book Pages newsletter about bestsellers, authors and more

And whether you’re into twisty mysteries, edge-of-your-seat thrillers, or informative nonfiction, there are plenty of small-press authors offering up unique reimaginings of all your favorite genres — or carving out entirely new forms that blur the lines of literary categories.

If you’re looking for a book for the beach (or the air-conditioned place of your choice), here are 33 indie-press titles you might not have heard of, but are more than worthy of your attention.

Whether you’re into fiction, nonfiction or poetry, you’re bound to find something you like here.

These are among the 33 new books coming this summer from independent publishers in 2025. (Courtesy of the publishers)

“The Seers” by Sulaiman Addonia (Coffee House Press)

Addonia’s sexy and stylistically bold novel follows Eritrean refugee Hannah’s first weeks in London as she navigates life in the U.K.’s asylum system. It’s one of the latest offerings from the Minnesota-based publisher, which has been spreading the word about indie literature for 53 years.

Publication Date: out now

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“The Rarest Fruit” by Gaëlle Bélem, translated by Hildegarde Serle (Europa Editions)

This publisher of international literature is celebrating its 20th year, and among this year’s offerings is this novel from Réunionese author Bélem, about the real-life botanist Edmond Albius, who revolutionized the vanilla industry in the 19th century. Bélem was longlisted for the  International Booker Prize for her novel “There’s a Monster Behind the Door.” 

Publication Date: out now

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“The Pawn” by Paco Cerdà, translated by Kevin Gerry Dunn (Deep Vellum)

This Dallas-based press has been publishing international books for 12 years. Among its latest releases is this novel from Spanish author Cerdà — his first book to be translated into English — about the famous 1962 chess match between Spanish grandmaster Arturo Pomar and American teenage prodigy Bobby Fischer.

Publication Date: out now

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“Anam” by André Dao (Kaya Press)

USC-based Kaya Press, which publishes works by Asian and Pacific Islander diasporic writers, is one of the most dependably original presses in the country. Among its more exciting recent releases is this novel, about a Cambridge University academic who is haunted by the story of his soft-spoken grandfather, who for 10 years was a prisoner of conscience in Vietnam.

Publication Date: out now

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“COVID Vortex Anxiety Opera Kitty Kaleidoscope Disco” by Karen Finley (City Lights Publishers)

Poet and performance artist Finley, who caused a stir in the early 1990s as one of the “NEA Four,” returns with a suite of poems that she originally performed at live appearances in New York. The book, published by the venerable San Francisco press, takes a look at the changes people made during the COVID-19 lockdowns and offers a cautiously hopeful view of humanity going forward.

Publication Date: out now

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“Porthole” by Joanna Howard (McSweeney’s Books)

San Francisco publisher McSweeney’s, founded by Dave Eggers in 1998, has fun with its books, and it shows — they treat each volume like its own artwork. That’s the case with Howard’s new novel about Helena Désir, an art-house film director who is possibly to blame for an on-set death, and who goes to a luxury retreat after suffering exhaustion.

Publication Date: out now

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“Foreign Fruit: A Personal History of the Orange” by Katie Goh (Tin House)

Irish author Goh set out to write a history of oranges, but along the way, she realized that her search for the citrus fruit bore similarities to her search for her own family history. It’s a wildly inventive book, which is typical for the Portland, Oregon, press that has been publishing innovative fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for 20 years.

Publication Date: out now

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“Jumping Through Hoops” by Betsy Golden Kellem (The Feminist Press)

Golden Kellem knows circuses — she won a regional Emmy Award for “Showman’s Shorts,” a video series about P.T. Barnum. In her book, she takes a look at women and gender-nonconforming circus performers in the 19th century. It comes courtesy of the Feminist Press, the 55-year-old publisher of books that “spark much-needed dialogue and move the feminist conversation forward.”

Publication Date: out now

These are among the 33 new books coming this summer from independent publishers in 2025. (Courtesy of the publishers)

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“Marisolandia” by Michelle Cruz Gonzales (WTAW Press)

This Santa Rosa-based publisher, born out of a literary reading series, has been putting out compelling books since 2017. One of their latest is this novel of speculative fiction by Oakland-based punk rocker Gonzales. In it, Marisol, a woman in the new Republic of California, is being pressured to marry a White man to help create a homogenous race, but she instead decides to spend time with a goatherd and the members of his punk rock band.  

Publication Date: out now

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“The Closest Thing to a Normal Life” by Michael Méndez Guevara (Arte Público Press)

Arte Público, the country’s largest publisher of Latino literature, was the first press to put out Sandra Cisneros’ seminal “The House on Mango Street.” It recently released this debut young-adult novel about 17-year-old Ethan-Matthew Cruz Canton, an aspiring journalist living in San Antonio with his grandparents after his parents are killed in a terrorist attack.

Publication Date: out now

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“The Theory & Practice of Rivers” by Jim Harrison (Copper Canyon Press)

Originally published in 1986, this modern classic poetry collection/memoir was inspired by the death of the late Harrison’s 16-year-old niece. It has been reissued, with an introduction by Rebecca Solnit, by the Washington state-based Copper Canyon Press, which has been a stalwart in the poetry publishing world since 1972.

Publication Date: out now

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“The Enduring Wild: A Journey into California’s Public Lands” by Josh Jackson (Heyday Books)

Los Angeles author Jackson is the founder of the Forgotten Lands Project, which uses art and storytelling to “spotlight the nation’s least protected and most misunderstood places. His book introduces readers to the Bureau of Land Management’s public lands in the Golden State. It’s published by Berkeley-based Heyday, which has been putting out California-themed books since 1974.

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“The Island” by Antigone Kefala (Transit Books)

Kefala, who died in 2022, was one of Australia’s most fascinating authors, but her work never broke through in America. The 10-year-old Berkeley-based Transit hopes to change that with this reissue of her 2022 novel about Melina, a student in Australia who longs to know more about her early childhood in Europe.

Publication Date: out now

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“Sleep Phase” by Mohamed Kheir, translated by Robin Moger (Two Lines Press)

A program of the Center for the Art of Translation, this San Francisco-based press is committed to putting out translations of international books, both old and new. Among its recent publications is Kheir’s Kafkaesque novel about an Egyptian man released from prison after serving a seven-year sentence who tries to get his old job as a translator back.

Publication Date: out now

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“Is Peace Possible?” by Kathleen Lonsdale (Marginalian Editions)

One of the first three books to be published by Marginalian Editions — a collaboration between writer Maria Popova and McNally Jackson Books owner Sarah McNally — is this reissue of Quaker scientist Lonsdale’s 1957 book that argues that scientists can, and should, help bring about peace instead of war.

Publication Date: out now

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“The Summer House” by Masashi Matsuie, translated by Margaret Mitsutani (Other Press)

New York-based Other Press has built a solid reputation for publishing excellent, and often surprising, works of fiction and nonfiction. It recently released this debut novel from Japanese author Matsuie, about a small group of architects working on designing the National Library of Modern Literature. The book won the prestigious Yomiuri Prize for Literature.

Publication Date: out now

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“The Golden Book of Words” by Bernadette Mayer (New Directions Publishing)

New York-based New Directions is one of the oldest indie presses in the nation — it was founded in 1936 by a Harvard University sophomore. One of its latest, and most exciting, releases is this reissue of an early poetry collection by Mayer, the legendary poet and artist who died in 2022.

Publication Date: out now

These are among the 33 new books coming this summer from independent publishers in 2025. (Courtesy of the publishers)

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“Angel Eye” by Madeleine Nakamura (Red Hen Press)

Now in its 31st year, Pasadena-based Red Hen Press is one of Southern California’s most esteemed independent publishers. Among its recent releases is Nakamura’s fantasy novel about a professor on the hunt for a healer who is murdering hospital patients. The novel is the sequel to Nakamura’s well-received “Cursebreakers.”

Publication Date: out now

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“Not Long Ago Persons Found” by J. Richard Osborn (Bellevue Literary Press)

The debut novel from Oakland-based author Osborn tells the story of a biological anthropologist trying to figure out how a young boy died with pollen in his lungs that came from a faraway river valley. The book is published by New York-based Bellevue Literary Press, which publishes literature “at the intersection of the arts and sciences.”

Publication Date: out now

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“World Without End: Essays on Apocalypse and After” by Martha Park (Hub City Press)

This is the 30th year for Hub City, the South Carolina-based press that publishes “extraordinary new and unsung writers from the American South.” It recently released this essay collection from Tennessee author Park, which tackles themes including religion, motherhood, and the climate crisis.

Publication Date: out now

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“She Walks in Beauty” by Dawn Powell (Belt Publishing)

Ohio-born author Powell, who died in 1965, was underappreciated in her time. Belt Publishing, which puts out titles by authors from the Rust Belt, wants readers to rediscover her work, including this 1928 novel about two Ohio sisters who live in their grandmother’s boarding house in the months before World War I breaks out.

Publication Date: out now

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“Mafalda: Book One” by Quino, translated by Frank Wynne (Archipelago Books)

More than 60 years after cartoonist Quino’s satirical comic strip launched, Mafalda — a 6-year-old girl with a preternatural concern for the future of humanity — remains one of Argentina’s most beloved fictional characters. For the first time, U.S. readers can enjoy the legendary comic, courtesy of the Brooklyn-based press that publishes translated world literature.

Publication Date: out now

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“Soft as Bones” by Chyana Marie Sage (House of Anansi Press)

Cree, Métis, and Salish journalist Sage made history as the first Indigenous person to graduate from Columbia University’s creative nonfiction MFA program. Her memoir tells the story of her childhood growing up with her father, a crack dealer who abused her older sister. It’s one of the newer releases from House of Anansi, the Canadian indie press that once employed Margaret Atwood as an editor.

Publication Date: out now

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“Hot Girls With Balls” by Benedict Nguyễn (Catapult Books)

This indie press has only been publishing books for 10 years, but it has racked up more than its share of critically acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction. This summer sees the release of dancer Nguyễn’s provocatively titled satirical novel about Six and Green, two volleyball players on rival teams who publicize their romance on the Internet.

Publication Date: July 1

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“Watch Out for Falling Iguanas” by Edwidge Danticat, illustrated by Rachel Moss (Akashic Books)

Kids deserve quality indie lit too, and it’s hard to find a more acclaimed writer than Danticat, who delivers a charming tale about a young Miami girl who encounters a titular reptile decamping from its tree home. It’s published by Akashic, the Brooklyn-based publisher with a pronounced punk rock bent.

Publication Date: July 1

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These are among the 33 new books coming this summer from independent publishers in 2025. (Courtesy of the publishers)

“The Untold Story of Books: A Writer’s History of Book Publishing” by Michael Castleman (Unnamed Press)

If you’re a true bibliophile (you know who you are), it’s going to be hard to resist a book about books. That’s what San Francisco-based author Castleman delivers here: a history of the book publishing industry, from Gutenberg to today. The book’s publisher, Unnamed Press, has been an LA mainstay since 2014.

Publication Date: July 2

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“Curandera” by Irenosen Okojie (Soft Skull Press)

Founded in 1992 by a New York student working at a Kinko’s, Soft Skull has evolved into one of the nation’s premier presses of books outside the mainstream. That’s certainly the case with Nigerian British author Okojie’s strikingly original novel, a fantasy/horror book set both in contemporary London and 17th-century Cape Verde.

Publication Date: July 8 

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“Paradiso” by Dante Alighieri, translated by Mary Jo Bang (Graywolf Press)

Minneapolis-based Graywolf Press has been putting out excellent works of poetry, fiction and nonfiction for 51 years. One of its standout titles this year is this new translation of Dante’s 14th-century classic; Bang previously received critical acclaim for her translations of Dante’s “Inferno” and “Paradiso.” 

Publication Date: July 8

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“Wedding of the Foxes” by Katherine Larson (Milkweed Editions)

Ecologist and poet Larson’s latest is a collection of lyric essays about everything from sandhill cranes to Godzilla. It’s a fitting offering from Minneapolis-based Milkwood Editions, which, as its butterfly-themed name suggests, “seeks to be a site of metamorphosis in the literary ecosystem.”

Publication Date: July 15

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“Absence” by Issa Quincy (Two Dollar Radio)

The punkish family-run Ohio press Two Dollar Radio is your favorite publisher’s favorite publisher. It’s known for daring, beautifully produced books in a variety of genres, and one of its latest is this novel that follows a series of characters in Thailand, Great Britain and Cyprus. 

Publication Date: July 15

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“The Tilting House” by Ivonne Lamazares (Counterpoint Press)

Miami author Lamazares’ novel tells the story of two estranged sisters who reunite in Cuba in the 1990s and try to make sense of their troubled family. It’s one of several exciting titles coming this year from Counterpoint, which is just as known for literary excellence as its sister presses, Catapult and Soft Skull.

Publication Date: July 22

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“Mississippi Blue 42” by Eli Cranor (Soho Press)

This New York-based press is approaching 40 years of publishing high-quality books in a variety of genres. If you’re a football fan who can’t bear to wait two months until the start of the season, this novel — the first in a planned series, by a real-life former football quarterback and coach, and about an FBI agent investigating a college program — should hit the spot.

Publication Date: Aug. 5

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“The Dancing Face” by Mike Phillips (Melville House Books)

New York-based Melville House, founded in 2001, has long been known for its eclecticism and its intelligence. One of this summer’s books from the press is this thriller about a Black university professor who decides to liberate a priceless African sculpture from a museum in London. 

Publication Date: Aug. 12

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Newspaper readers, generally speaking, seek the truth.

This week’s dose comes courtesy of my decision to take two days off, which in the life of a newspaper columnist comes with a caveat: front-load the things you have to do before you leave or spend some fleet-footed time in The Great Hamster Wheel of Catch-Up on the flipside.

The Very Best Banana Pudding — EVER? ‘Yes!’ say my colleagues.

I split the diff between Columns A and B … and in my haste landed on something that timed out nicely: National Chocolate Pudding Day (June 26). A from-scratch chocolate pudding, I surmised, would be pretty easy to whip up — and likely widely appreciated.

For there is almost no acceptable reason for not liking chocolate pudding.

It’s smooth and creamy and cool and chocolaty. It’s great out of those little lunchbox cups. (Remember the cans? The filter of my Gen X memory bank has me convinced it tasted better than today’s plastic containers.) It’s great out of the Kozy Shack tub. It’s great plain or with whipped cream or swirled into cake batter where it imparts its lusciousness into the final product.

My very first batch of actual, from-scratch chocolate pudding. Perhaps not quite as easy as the boxed mix. But honestly? Not a lot harder and exceptionally luscious. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

Chocolate pudding is glorious. And, indeed, I found it simple to execute.

My friend, Tony, called as I was making this chocolate pudding recipe from The Pioneer Woman, who credited its inclusion of egg yolks as a thickener (along with the more commonly employed cornstarch) with bringing ” … a little bit of that French custard feel to the pudding.”

“I’m making chocolate pudding,” I told him. “First time.”

“You never made chocolate pudding before?!” he asked.

Fudgy brownies are my preference to “cakier” ones and wonderfully easy to dice for these single-serve trifles. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

The reaction seemed outsized. I don’t know Tony to be a particularly avid cook.

“I mean, I’ve made it from the box.”

“Wait. There’s another way to make it?”

That comment made more sense.

You could accent this chocolate trifle any number of ways, including those that exclude toffee bars and include something that increases its nutritional properties, if marginally. Chopped nuts, for example. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

And as I whisked, I wondered if there weren’t more people out there who simply considered Jell-O and My*T*Fine “homemade,” as well. They’re not. Nor were the Duncan Hines salted caramel brownies I “made” to include in what became a “what to do with your from-scratch chocolate pudding once you’ve made it” column.

I chose the pudding recipe because it was a simple one in a week when I had no time to spare. But the Type A in me couldn’t sit with just the chocolate pudding recipe, and so this semihomemade Death By Chocolate trifle recipe. The original of which is ENTIRELY semihomemade. I had a laugh about that.

The author, Allrecipes contributor LaNita, says that this trifle is “a true favorite. Every time we have a church supper, I have to make this!”

I don’t doubt it.

Most people are just thrilled you show up with food. They don’t care if the pudding or brownies are from a box. The box stuff tastes good. This is why some folks don’t realize there’s another way to make pudding! There’s some more truth for you, along with the fact that they’ll also appreciate the extra work (and seriously, it’s not much) that goes into whipping up this truly silky pudding — for real from scratch.

Trifling with the holiday: Do it right with a patriotic delight

Trifles themselves are wonderfully easy summer desserts and ridiculously flexible. This one is hellaciously chocolaty, but you could offset that by omitting the brownies in favor of cheesecake, pound cake, coconut cake, shortbread cookies or just about anything else. Instead of toffee bars, toasted nuts would make for a wonderfully crunchy texture (and an actual smidge of nutrition). You could also use this for divine inspiration and make a trifle with vanilla pudding. Or butterscotch. Or banana.

I made a more traditional Fourth of July version a few years back that would be ideal for any upcoming BBQ plans you might have.

Pudding is a universal good. No matter where it comes from.

Want to reach out? Find me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com. For more fun, join the Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook group or follow @fun.things.orlando on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

How to Make Chocolate Pudding

Recipe courtesy The Pioneer Woman (thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a85701/how-to-make-chocolate-pudding)

Ingredients

2 large egg yolks2 tablespoons cornstarch2 cups whole milk, divided1/2 cup sugar1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder1/4 teaspoon salt2 teaspoons chocolate extract (or vanilla extract)

*I used vanilla

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks for about 60 seconds until light yellow and increased in volume, then whisk in the cornstarch and about 1/4 cup of the milk. Once smooth and incorporated, set aside.2. Place the sugar, cocoa, salt and remaining milk in a saucepan and bring to a scald over medium-high heat, which is when the liquid is about 180-190º F. This is before the mixture comes to a boil, and in this stage you will see little bubbles start forming on the sides of the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and, while whisking constantly, dribble the hot cocoa into the egg cornstarch mixture very gradually. We are tempering, so we don’t scramble the eggs. Pour everything back into the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until the pudding comes to a full boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue whisking for a couple of minutes until the pudding is thickened.3. Remove the pudding from the heat and stir in the chocolate or vanilla extract. Pour the pudding into a bowl and press plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding so a skin doesn’t form. Refrigerate for an hour or two until chilled. Serve and enjoy!

The key to a beautiful trifle is a little space, which allows each layer and texture to be seen in the glass. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

Death by Chocolate Trifle

Recipe courtesy Allrecipes (allrecipes.com/recipe/8308/death-by-chocolate-iii)

Ingredients

Brownies

1 (16.3 ounce) package brownie mix (such as Betty Crocker)2 large eggs1/2 cup vegetable oil2 tablespoons water

Other

3 (1.4 ounces) bars of chocolate-covered English toffee1 (16-ounce) package frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions

1. Follow box instructions for both brownies and chocolate pudding (if using scratch-made pudding, use provided recipe). Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.2. To assemble, crumble or chunk-chop brownies in the bottom of one large or four small trifle bowls. Spoon pudding over top. Layer on whipped topping then sprinkle crushed toffee bars over the top. Repeat layers in same order, ending with whipped topping.3. Refrigerate until ready to serve, adding the final layer of chopped toffee bar before doing so.

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