See the rest of the 2026 Write Conscious Book Club schedule here
Boom, we are back with our first indie novel and exploration of John Pistelli’s novel Major Arcana.
This novel is the first to be serialized on Substack and to secure a publishing deal, and it has received a ton of hype over the last year.
The hype is real!
I 100% recommend this novel to everyone. Instead of focusing solely on classics, we need to read contemporary books and support living authors who aren’t millionaires or the old guard.
Because I don’t feel like I can do it justice, here is the official description of the book.
It begins with a gunshot: a student’s public suicide on a university campus. The blast radius of this tragic explosion expands to encompass 50 years of our history and two of the grandest characters in recent American fiction: Simon Magnus, a comic-book writer who transfigured popular culture turned gender activist who transfigures the English language, and Ash del Greco, an online occultist who by the age of 20 has seen to the end of everything and wants desperately to prove the superiority of mind over matter. With a decades-spanning but tightly-knit plot, written in an expansive style, Major Arcana canvasses America’s inner life and moral history from coast to coast and across two generations in a delirious saga about art, magic, love, and death.
I would still encourage you to join if you can’t make the call, because you can
Watch the recorded calls, which will be posted below
Lurk and listen to the call while it’s live if you’re busy with your family, commuting, working, or doing whatever. I am 100% fine with you popping in, saying your thoughts, and leaving if you’re super busy!
FYI, beginners and expert readers are all welcome :)
We will meet on the date below at 9 AM PST on Zoom and talk for one hour
1/31 - Major Arcana by John Pistelli