Five books we can’t wait to read in May

May is seeming more like October, and that’s not about the drizzle or the chill.

Next month is packed with potentially huge books, in a way we’d expect peak fall to be. That peak didn’t materialize last autumn because publishers were holding off on releasing promising titles in the heat of the election cycle. Apparently, they saved them for May.

We’re getting some books we’d expect. That includes a novel from Stephen King, who often releases a book in May (the new one is “Never Flinch,” featuring Holly Gibney from “Mr. Mercedes”). But also potential blockbusters from folks who aren’t as prolific, such as the latest from Anthony Horowitz and “Fever Beach” from Carl Hiaasen. Awards bait, like Ron Chernow’s “Mark Twain” and novels from Ocean Vuong and Kevin Wilson (“Run for the Hills”). And what may be the buzziest debut of the year: Florence Knapp’s “The Names,” about the ripple effects of a woman defying her abusive husband’s directions on what to name their son.

We’ll have reviews of many of those in the coming weeks but, meanwhile, here are a few books we are eager to get our hands on in May:

The Emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong

The “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” author, who received a MacArthur “genius” grant a couple of months after the release of that bestseller, puts his own history as a fast-food worker to good use in his new epic. It opens with a young man, who also has worked as a server, being saved from a suicide attempt by an elderly stranger (cross-generational friendships are a favorite Vuong motif, along with Burger King). Vuong is one of our most dexterous writers and “Emperor” has been blurbed by some of the greats, including Colm Tóibín and Bryan Washington, so there’s every reason to believe the new one will bring gladness to book lovers. (May 13)

Lessons From My Teachers, Sarah Ruhl

Another MacArthur genius, anyone? Ruhl, a recipient of that honor whose plays are well-known to Twin Cities theatergoers (the Guthrie staged her “Stage Kiss” and both Yellow Tree Theatre and the Jungle did “In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play”). But she’s also a gifted (and busy, apparently) essayist, as evidenced by her “100 Essays I Don’t Have Time to Write.” As the title indicates, “Lessons” has to do with her experience as a student and teacher. Based on classes Ruhl taught at Yale University, it’s bound to include insights from another playwright who has been performed at the Guthrie, Paula Vogel (“Indecent”). In addition to being a Pulitzer Prize winner (for “How I Learned to Drive”), Vogel taught writing to Ruhl and many more of our finest theater writers. (May 6)

Lone Dog Road, Kent Nerburn

Minneapolis native Nerburn has written that his novel was inspired by a photograph he couldn’t get out of his mind. The undated, black-and-white photo is of a Native boy, who appears to be about 6 and who was a student at one of the boarding schools to which Native children were often taken after being wrested from their families, as recently as the 1960s. Nerburn’s book is about two Lakota boys — Reuben, 6, and Levi, 11 — who are fleeing from a government agent intent on enrolling them in boarding school. Their adventures, as they attempt to replace a sacred pipe broken by the agent, take them to a western Minnesota quarry, where their survival instincts are tested. (May 20)

Marble Hall Murders, Anthony Horowitz

After detouring to other characters for a few books, Horowitz is back with his third alliterative mystery featuring British book editor Susan Ryeland (and not a moment too soon, as far as PBS is concerned, since they’ve already aired miniseries of the first two, “Magpie Murders” and “Moonflower Murders”). The bad news for fans of Susan’s hunky Greek partner Andreas is that she has left both him and their gnarly Greek bed-and-breakfast. The good news is that people she knows are getting murdered again. When she’s called in to edit a new mystery featuring detective Atticus Pünd (written by a new writer, since Pünd’s creator died two books back), she’s forced to do more amateur sleuthing. (May 13)

The Thief of Words, Anthony Bukoski

The Superior, Wis. writer’s short story collection, his follow-up to “The Blondes of Wisconsin,” draws on his Polish American heritage. The interconnected tales are about residents of expat communities in both northern Wisconsin and Louisiana, characters who are both trying to fit in and to hold onto their ancestry. (May 6)