{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0593733991?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"0593733991","authors":["m. mick powell"],"book_id":"9780593733998","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/dead-girl-cameo-9780593733998","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780593733998.jpg?v=5e9bede749090797","description":"A dazzling docupoetic debut collection interweaving personal loss with the life stories of Aaliyah Haughton, Whitney Houston, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, Phyllis Hyman, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, and others to explore sexuality, survival, queer mourning, and the afterlives of stardom “Poet m. mick powell’s debut collection . . . resurrects their vivid lives and artistry to paint a more humanizing picture of their legacy.”— USA Today A DEBUTIFUL AND NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR “I made, of my bones, an earth for you: turned the oceans your favorite shade of light, that deepened, nearly bruised dusk. Reflected in my palms, what I’ve made into water glows amethyst” In m. mick powell’s polyphonic, haunting debut, a chorus of voices conjures up intimate pop herstories to map how the poet’s queer Black girlhood was molded by their memory. With tender reverence, powell meditates on the deaths of her own beloveds while reflecting on the many stages of an icon’s life: How did these women challenge conventional representations of Black femininity and transform the musical landscape? How did they navigate abuse and alienation in the limelight? How do the mythologies that survive them establish afterlives of queer femme possibility? Through sensual imagery, speculative verse, and splendid wordplay, Dead Girl Cameo takes us beyond the headlines, innovating a Black feminist poetic that traverses the richly textured realms of grief, girlhood, love, widowing, femme friendship, and queer fandom.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780593733998","publication_date":"20250805","publisher":"Random House Publishing Group","slug":"dead-girl-cameo","subtitle":"A Love Song in Poems","title":"Dead Girl Cameo"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"POE005050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"African American Poetry","score":0.8034,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POE023010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Poetry About Death","score":0.7807,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POE023020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Love Poetry","score":0.7777,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"POE005050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"African American Poetry","score":0.8034,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POE023010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Poetry About Death","score":0.7807,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POE023020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Love Poetry","score":0.7777,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"POE005010","confidence_band":"high","label":"American Poetry","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"POE005050","confidence_band":"high","label":"African American Poetry","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"POE021000","confidence_band":"high","label":"LGBTQ+ Poetry","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"African American Poetry","score":0.8034,"slug":"african-american-poetry"},{"label":"Poetry About Death","score":0.7807,"slug":"poetry-about-death"},{"label":"Love Poetry","score":0.7777,"slug":"love-poetry"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers interested in poetry about queer mourning and Black girlhood","Readers drawn to pop icons’ lives and queer fandom"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Taylor Byas"],"book_id":"9781593767877","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781593767877.jpg?v=9fade2c118820a35","score":0.7062,"title":"Resting Bitch Face","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781593767877"},{"authors":["Danez Smith"],"book_id":"9781555977856","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781555977856.jpg?v=9b896eb9135a5b8f","score":0.7056,"title":"Don't Call US Dead","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781555977856"},{"authors":["Rickey Laurentiis"],"book_id":"9780593802700","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780593802700.jpg?v=7691e907feed9b49","score":0.7039,"title":"Death of the First Idea","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780593802700"},{"authors":["Alicia Cook"],"book_id":"9781524886202","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781524886202.jpg?v=989532e9871d080c","score":0.7022,"title":"The Music Was Just Getting Good","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781524886202"},{"authors":["Yazmin Monet Monet Watkins"],"book_id":"9781524892562","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781524892562.jpg?v=1cebf1c716cb0016","score":0.6963,"title":"A Vessel Born to Float","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781524892562"},{"authors":["Christi Steyn"],"book_id":"9781524873820","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781524873820.jpg?v=58322d9333f3df2f","score":0.6949,"title":"What the Moon Gave Her","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781524873820"},{"authors":["Haley Lu Richardson"],"book_id":"9781668210352","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781668210352.jpg?v=3d423454f0bd1432","score":0.6897,"title":"I'm Sad and Horny","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781668210352"},{"authors":["Rita Dove"],"book_id":"9781324050438","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781324050438.jpg?v=7e9e9355aead3a21","score":0.6868,"title":"Playlist for the Apocalypse","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781324050438"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:american poetry"],"label":"Poetry","score":0.1898,"slug":"poetry"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:music"],"label":"Music","score":0.0456,"slug":"music"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Grief and mourning, Black girlhood, Queer fandom.","Pacing: reflective, voice-and-character forward.","Themes: Poetry, Music."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.91,"pacing":"reflective","reader_fit":["Readers interested in poetry about queer mourning and Black girlhood","Readers drawn to pop icons’ lives and queer fandom"],"themes":["Grief and mourning","Black girlhood","Queer fandom"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":4,"goodreads_ratings_count":70,"goodreads_reviews_count":24,"quality_score":0.8753}}