Texas Book Club Selection!

We Burn Daylight is the June pick for the Texas Book Club! For more on the selection and the collaboration between the Texas Book Festival and Texas Monthly, click here!

BOMB Magazine!

A wonderful and far-ranging conversation between BAJ and Laura van den Berg appears in the Spring 2026 issue of BOMB! Read the piece here!

Cover of The Austin Chronicle!

Here’s the cover story from The Austin Chronicle marking the publication of Encounters with Unexpected Animals: Stories! Caroline Drew did an amazing job on the profile, complete with quotes from Tony Hawk!

Téa Obreht and Electric Lit!

Téa Obreht recommends “Paradeability” in Electric Literature! In her introduction to EL’s reprint of the first story in Encounters with Unexpected Animals: Stories, Obreht writes: “Johnston works a subtle magic in the characters’ tension and tentativeness with each other…Among the fascinating denizens Johnston spangles across the page, the pressure of the unsaid finally breaks down, shattering—as the best stories do—our illusions.”

Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2026!

Lit Hub has named Encounters with Unexpected Animals: Stories as one of its Most Anticipated Books of the Year! Full list available here!