A continuing series that highlights books recently acquired by publishing houses for future release. Each post features a book we’re looking forward to, and a book we’re . . . not.

The Cherry:

Jeff Sharlet’s Evidence of Things Unseen: The Story of American Religion, an anthology of the best narrative nonfiction writing about American religion, from Henry David Thoreau on top of Mt. Ktaadn to Tillie Olsen on the San Francisco docks and beyond.

The Pit:

Ted Kosmatka’s novel The Helix Game, in which genetically altered animals fight to the death in the new ultra-popular Olympic gladiatorial event, and where the current U.S. gladiator, created by a supercomputer, is dark, mysterious and perhaps too much the perfect killing machine.