Everything's Book-worthy in Texas
Texas Monthly relaunches book imprint with titles on BBQ and Dracula

Burnt Bean Co. in Seguin is Texas Monthly's reigning No.1 Best BBQ Joint in Texas, so it's a safe bet it'll show up in barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn's new book.
Texans who like reading about the Lone Star State will have an important new source of reading material when the Texas Monthly Press relaunches in the fall of 2027. Texas Monthly is teaming up with Penguin Random House to bring back its imprint after roughly three decades, and the new slate of releases is ready for readers to peruse.
The new imprint will "publish books across genres and formats that capture the spirit and stories of Texas," according to Texas Monthly's announcement. The catalog will include both fiction and nonfiction works that highlight the people of Texas, the state's history, politics, business, sports, the arts, and more. The original imprint ran from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.
The Texas Monthly Press editorial team will be led by Mark Warren, who was born in Texas and formerly served as a Random House editor. He'll work with members of the current Texas Monthly team as well as newcomers from Trinity University Press in San Antonio, which will close at the end of this year.
Here are some books readers can expect to see when the imprint launches next year:
- The Texas Monthly Barbecue Book by Daniel Vaughn, Paula Forbes, and the editors of Texas Monthly: "A spiritual guide and useful companion for barbecue enthusiasts." This book covers everything from technique to culture.
- True to the Union by Stephen Harrigan: A sequel to The Gates of the Alamo, this novel set between 1840s and the Civil War is a love story between existing character Terrell Mott and German emigrant Hannah Schönleber, who are "swept up in the fight over slavery" and need to flee Texas and Confederate partisans.
- The Bowie Knife That Killed Dracula by William Broyles and Stephen Harrigan: This "saga" that references the Texan who killed Dracula "will take readers from the pyramids of Tenochtitlán to the battered walls of the Alamo, the court of Queen Victoria, and, finally, the deep and spectral forests of Transylvania."
- The third book in the Which Way Tree trilogy by Elizabeth Crook: The third book concludes the story of Benjamin Shreve, who is now an old rancher on the Texas-Mexico border, as well as that of his half-sister, Samantha.
- Where the River Took Us by Aaron Parsley: This follow-up to a 2026 Pulitzer Prize-winning article by a Texas Monthly writer and flood survivor "explores the ways events and decisions from our respective pasts determine both how we experience tragedy as it unfolds and how we move through the world forever changed because of it."
“Texas Monthly is a business built on great stories, so books make sense at the DNA level for us,” said Texas Monthly CEO Scott Brown in the announcement. “The copublishing venture between Texas Monthly and Penguin Random House will be defined by editorial excellence, built-in audience, and unbeatable publishing-industry strength.”
Readers can sign up to receive updates from the Texas Monthly Press at Press.TexasMonthly.com. Writers who want to submit a manuscript can email TexasMonthlyPress@TexasMonthly.com.
