'IN WEST MILLS,' by De'Shawn Charles Winslow. Azalea Centre _ known to the residents of her African American community in rural North Carolina as Knot _ is one of the most memorable characters to come along in recent fiction. This hot-tempered, independent-minded schoolteacher, whom we follow from the 1940s onward, drinks too much, sleeps with whom she wants and wins over even skeptical readers. (Bloomsbury, $26)
'RULES FOR VISITING,' by Jessica Francis Kane. A solitary, middle-aged, unmarried woman receives 30 days paid leave from the university where she works as a gardener _ and instead of taking a cruise or seeing Europe, May Attaway sets out to visit and reconnect with four old friends. Is May having a midlife crisis? If so, she may need more than the copy of Emily Post she brings on her journey. (Penguin Press, $26)
'RIOTS I HAVE KNOWN,' by Ryan Chapman. A riot has broken out in New York's Westbrook state prison, and while a TV news copter circles overhead, an unnamed Sri Lankan-American inmate _ editor of the prison literary journal "The Holding Pen" _ has barricaded himself in the media center and delivers a darkly hilarious confession in the form of his final editor's letter. (Simon & Schuster, $24)
