Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | My Government Means to Kill Me | 2022 | Rasheed Newson | Buy |
| 2 | There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood | 2026 | Rasheed Newson | Buy |
Rasheed Newson’s two standalone novels show an author interested in American history’s overlooked stories. My Government Means to Kill Me (2022) is set in 1980s New York during the height of the AIDS crisis and follows a young Black man who gets swept up in the activist movement. The book earned widespread praise, landing on the New York Times Notable Books list and earning a Lambda Literary Award nomination.
His second novel, There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood, is expected in 2026. Newson brings a screenwriter’s eye for character and pacing to his fiction, and his work addresses questions of race, sexuality, and American history with directness and honesty.