Mochi Magazine

August brings juicy reads from unique points of view. From the fiction side, an ex-military dog, a burnt out student activist, and a young boy. On the non-fiction side, a real life minister who survived the Hiroshima bombing. "Etna" Paul Yoon Fiction (Aug.

The morning my parents left, I didn't know they weren't coming back. I remember the ordinary things - the hum of the refrigerator, the weight of my backpack, the sound of the front door closing with the softness of routine. They said they were going abroad. They didn't say it would become permanent. They didn't say that while they were gone, something invisible between them would split, and I would be the last to feel it. No one tells a child when her world is about to rearrange itself.

In a society of four rival Dominions, power is everything - and Rubi Morningtail has almost none. She lives as an Azure refugee, struggling as a ribbon dancer and hiding her singing magic. When Rubi wounds a massive battle tyger, Blake Axefire - supreme metal mage and leader of the royal tyger warriors - casts her into a brutal trial where tygers choose their riders and slaughter the rest. Surviving is unthinkable.

"Masquerade, paper faces on parade," sings the crowd. "Masquerade, hide your face, so the world will never find you." Dressed in a slinky black gown and lace mask, I raise my champagne glass and repeat the lyrics, ones I've heard countless times since I was a child, but never got to join in on before. Dancers pirouette around the audience, cast as the performance's "madames and monsieurs," and butlers lead us through the candle-lit labyrinth of the Paris Opera House.

"Two Lives With You" Lauren Ho Fiction (June 1, 2026, Mindy's Book Studio) Simran Gopal is living out her dream Bollywood romance when she returns to the family home she's been avoiding for the last seven years to take part in a two-week Indian wedding for her cousin. Family drama is already at a high when Leo Bridgers, Simran ' s new boyfriend, accidentally crashes the engagement party. To avoid full crisis mode, the cousins need to rally.

Like many creatives, Agnes Song picked up knitting and, later, crochet during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, she was a full-time bioengineering student merely looking for a hobby to distract from the monotony of quarantine. "I fell in love with [knitting] instantly," Song said. "It felt like a great intersection between artistry and engineering." Though she didn't know much about social media at the time, Song started documenting her crafting process as a way of connecting with others online.

In an industry increasingly addicted to digital shortcuts, "The Furious" insists on doing things the hard way. Whether it's a blind hammer toss between two actors that took 32 takes or a five-person brawl featuring hand-to-hand combat for nearly 15 minutes straight, the film insists on real bodies doing real damage.

When Ann M. Ishimaru talks about leadership, she does not begin with titles or authority. She begins with relationships. A Japanese American Yonsei scholar, educator, and author, Ishimaru is the Killinger Endowed Chair and professor of Educational Foundations, Leadership, and Policy at the University of Washington College of Education.

Once Keith had vocalized the nerve-shattering words "I want a divorce," Sabira was forced to stop being afraid. Why? A soft voice whispered in her ear. Why be so scared? What are you scared of? She was scared of herself. She didn't know what she was made of. She was a mass of bones and muscle and some other stuff that she didn't know very much about. Embedded in that were a bunch of thoughts and memories that were further embedded with fears and worries and a whole lot of pain.

I stepped out of baggage claim's automatic glass doors into the familiar rush of heavy, muggy air and the scent of exhaust fumes from cars anxiously waiting to locate their person. Usually, my brother Albert picks me up whenever I visit my family in Houston. That's just who he is: a fiercely loyal, dependable, ever-dutiful son, husband, and brother. But today, he was busy picking up his two young girls from school, so I was relieved of the guilt I have always felt receiving a ride from him.