MEDIUM RARE tells the story of Phil Fayeton, a regular guy who fills out a perfect March Madness bracket.

It is a reinterpretation of the “twin” Ovidian myths of Icarus and Phaethon set in Washington, DC in 2019, narrated by a Millennial Cassandra. This novel is zippier than my debut, The Portrait of a Mirror—and weirder. Is it a satire? Debatable. Donald Trump is a minor character. Maybe a better way to put it is that Medium Rare is a novel pretending to pretend.

Medium Rare will be published by Melville House on March 3, 2026. You can preorder here and add on Goodreads here. Subscribe to my newsletter, quite useless, for updates.

Here’s the official jacket copy:

“From the author of The Portrait of a Mirror, a modern tragicomedy transforms the myth of Icarus into a blazing romp through bureaucracy, B-list fame, and college basketball…

Phil is ordinary. A mid-level Washington lobbyist for a decidedly unsexy organization, unhappy in the way all mildly successful, minimally influential men are. That is until the spring of 2019, when Phil’s picks for the NCAA March Madness Tournament start panning out, and heads begin to turn his way. He really may do it: predict a perfect bracket, for a billion-dollar prize.

At first, Cassandra is just along for Phil’s soaring rise—she had foreseen it happening, after all. Despite moving in different circles since their shared university days and Cassandra never much liking him, she recognizes in Phil the making of a legend worthy of the highest art. What Cassandra fails to predict, though, is just how much she’d grow to care about Phil’s wife, Raleigh—and that the grandest narrative arcs sometimes unfold at the steepest of personal costs.

Dazzling in its absurd comedy, Medium Rare is not only a gambol through the upper echelon, but also a shrewd examination of madness, desire, and credibility—why don’t we listen when prophetic women speak? A. Natasha Joukovsky delivers a story as layered and incisive as it is high-flying fun.”

early praise

“Erudite and immensely fun, Medium Rare is brimming with Joukovsky's signature wry observation, intellectual vigor, and superb comedic timing. A delicious romp through Greek mythology by way of college basketball and American politics, this novel also packs an emotional punch, holding a funhouse mirror to our current American psyche. A must read for anyone who fills out their March Madness bracket while reading Ovid (we exist).” —Julia Fine, author of The Upstairs House