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 satire? Debatable. Donald Trump is a minor character. Maybe a better way to put it is that it’s a novel pretending to pretend.

Medium Rare will be published by Melville House on March 3, 2026. You can order here and add on Goodreads here. It’s been featured on “most anticipated” lists in Lit Hub and Our Culture.

You can read interviews about the novel in Defector and the Chicago Review of Books, and I wrote about its themes for the Pittsburgh Review of Books. Subscribe to my newsletter, quite useless, for more 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.”

praise

“[Medium Rare i]s a basketball novel the way Infinite Jest is a tennis novel: hilarious and exuberantly written, a virtuosic, language-obsessed reimagining of a classic story.” —Defector

“It’s a book that moves quickly between the NCAA tournament, Washington intrigue, and friendships made and betrayed, all summing up to a book somehow equally of the moment and timeless, and always, always fun to read.” —Chicago Review of Books

"A. Natasha Joukovsky’s delicious, multilayered novel Medium Rare muses on contemporary American culture . . . A joyful satirical novel, Medium Rare follows an ordinary man’s experience of extraordinary success with nuance, wit, and deep appreciation for the arts of language and storytelling." —Foreword Reviews

"Lovers of sports, political intrigue, and mythology will enjoy deciphering characters, motives, and plot in this captivating, creative novel." —Booklist

“A riveting, messy story about the perils of luck, the dangers of money, and delicacy of friendship written with merciless honesty. It is rare to read a novel that eviscerates the striving bleak cadre of lower-upper class professionals so thoroughly and enjoyably. I could not put this book down.” –Kelsey McKinney, New York Times bestselling author of You Didn't Hear This From Me

“Joukovsky fillets the American dream with the razor-sharp knife it deserves. Medium Rare is a brilliant delight. I devoured it.” —Isabel Kaplan, national bestselling author of NSFW

“A modern comedy that unfolds in a culture of sports predictions, political gamesmanship, and Silicon Valley which still manages to say some serious and really smart things about the power of narratives, and where dumb luck can take you in a society of spectacle.” —Martin Riker, author of The Guest Lecture

“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

"Funny, propulsive, and more than a little ruthless, Medium Rare is a shrewd interrogation of the American political class, the attention economy, and the Millennial worldview's inherent contradictions. It’s also tremendous fun. A. Natasha Joukovsky’s prose moves along a high-speed rail of exquisite wit and incisive observation. I could not stop reading." —Liv Stratman, author of Cheat Day