Calling all Emma Straub fans!
Preorder American Fantasy from participating independent bookstores nationwide and receive an exclusive fanny pack! Designed in the cover's stunning colors, this limited-edition bag is your perfect new everyday accessory (ideal for stashing your essentials on your next cruise). Reserve your copy through your local indie bookstore and snag this special gift while supplies last!
Participating stores listed below, along with information and links to preorder.
Questions? Please reach out to your local bookstore or email americanfantasy@penguinrandomhouse.com.
Connecticut:
Books on the Common:
Email info@booksonthecommon.com or call 203 431-9100
Massachusetts:
Maine:
New Hampshire:
Morgan Hill Bookstore:
Email mhbs@tds.net or call 603-526-5850
Rhode Island:
Vermont:
Delaware:
Maryland:
New York:
Three Lives & Company:
Email info@threelives.com or call 212-741-2069
Pennsylvania:
Alabama:
Well Red: Second Story:
Email: richard@wellredau.com
Arkansas:
Florida:
Bookish Boutique:
Email bookishboutiquellc@yahoo.com or call 850-320-8225
Oxford Exchange:
Email bookstore@oxfordexchange.com
Georgia:
Mississippi:
North Carolina:
South Carolina:
Tennessee:
Virginia:
West Virginia:
Washington DC:
Solid State Books - H St.:
Email books@solidstatebooksdc.com
Solid State Books - 14th St.:
Iowa:
Sidekick Coffee & Books:
Call 319-569-1010
Illinois:
Sandmeyer's Bookstore:
Email books@sandmeyers.com
Indiana:
Kansas:
Michigan:
Island Bookstore:
Call 231-881-2343
Minnesota:
Missouri:
Nebraska:
Ohio:
Wisconsin:
Dotters Books:
Email dottersbooks@gmail.com
Prairie Pages Bookstore:
Call 608-478-1389
Arizona:
New Mexico:
Oklahoma:
Texas:
Front Street Books:
Email staff@fsbooks.com or call 432-837-3360
Monkey and Dog Books:
Email iread@monkeyanddogbooks.com or call 817-489-5747
Alaska:
California:
Oregon:
Utah:
Poppy Books & Gifts:
Call 801-504-6902
Washington:
Paper Boat Booksellers:
Email Email bookorders@paperboatbooksellers.com or call 206-743-8283
Coming april 7, 2026
American Fantasy
Emma Straub
From New York Times bestselling author of This Time Tomorrow, an irresistible story about what happens when your teenage fantasy comes true after you’re already an adult.
When the American Fantasy cruise ship sets sail for a four-day themed voyage, aboard are all five members of a famous, nineties-era boy band and three thousand screaming women who have worshipped them since childhood.
Feeling slightly out of place amid this crowd is Annie, newly divorced, turning fifty with an empty nest, and here on a lark to appease her sister. Yet when the lights come up and the idols of her youth begin to sing, something is unlocked. Call it memory. Call it nostalgia. Call it the chemical reaction of hormones, hope, and sexual reawakening. Between the slushy alcoholic drinks, the familiar music, and the throngs of middle-aged women acting like lovesick teenagers, Annie finally reconnects to a long-submerged part of herself. By the time she meets one of the band members—not just a celebrity but someone in need of a friend—she has accessed a new sense of possibility.
In a smart and incisive book packed with laugh-out-loud reflections on fame, aging, marriage, and middle age, Emma Straub delivers a richly textured story that shows us real passion is never truly lost, that what we love makes us who we are, and that deep meaning can sometimes be found in a sea of screaming fans.