Queer SF - December 2026
December 1, 2026
Waxing and Waning — J.N. Howell
Genre: Urban fantasy romance
Rep: Sapphic
Delilah Ali works as a doctor for magical creatures alongside her incompetent medical intern, Micah, who she intends to fail by the end of his summer internship. But her summer plans are disturbed when Delilah’s vampiric ex-“something”, Darcy, crashes back into her life with a desperate plea. She needs Delilah to remove her newborn son’s magic with an illegal surgery before they’re caught by the werewolf pack hunting him down.
As the odd-ball team travel across Ontario to escape the pack and make the surgery possible, old feelings reemerge, Delilah’s own long-dormant magic rears its head, and they begin to suspect the problem is bigger than just one baby’s magic.
Link: Mythic Roads Press
Horny — Lucy Lehane
Genre: Paranormal rom-com
Rep: Sapphic
Paranormal roommates discover that there's a thin line between love and hate in this steamy opposites-attract romantic comedy by Lucy Lehane.
Rachel’s death is going about as well as her life. Welcoming a poltergeist to share her body had its challenges, but she’s mostly figured those out: she’s got good friends, a room in a gorgeous apartment, and she’s well on her way to regaining the career her death derailed. What she doesn’t need is a strange, inhumanly beautiful new roommate—a unicorn—with a million odd questions about the human world—especially one who can peer into Rachel’s soul and see each of her dark, dirty secrets.
Isolde has been tempted by the human world for longer than she can remember. The land of the unicorns was beautiful, pristine… and as boring as watching moss grow. But taking on human form comes with more complications than she expected. Like a roommate who’s possessed, opinionated, argumentative... and distractingly alluring.
Getting into a magical grudge match with your roommate is a bad idea. Hooking up with your roommate when they’re a virgin from another dimension is an even worse one. But since when did the voluntarily haunted make good choices?
Link: Macmillan
Dreamslayer — A.K. Mulford
Genre: Romantasy
Rep: Bi, sapphic
Series: Book 1 of 3
From the bestselling author of the Five Crowns of Okrith series comes Dreamslayer, the first book in a dark romantasy series in which a devout acolyte must form an unholy alliance with the very monsters she was trained to destroy in a desperate quest for the truth—and her survival.
She was meant to become a dream. Instead, she fell in love with a nightmare.
Acolyte Praer Dundariff is only one year away from her ascension to the dream world, but when her friend dies with a chilling warning, Praer’s world fractures. Praer seeks comfort in the one place she can be her true self: her dreams. Inspired by a beautiful statue in the temple gallery, Praer imagines being in the arms of a dream warrior named Reverie.
But instead of the normal sleepy comfort of Reverie’s embrace, Praer loses control of her dream and Reverie gives her a violent warning never to return. As more temple secrets emerge, Praer abandons Reverie’s wishes and seeks her out in sleep. After all, Reverie is just a figment of Praer’s imagination, isn’t she? But when Praer returns to her dream, she discovers she’s not asleep at all but rather she’s portalled herself, not to the dream realm, but to Hell. Worse, the woman she’s fantasized about for years isn’t a dream at all, but a nightmare incarnate.
Trapped in Hell, Reverie knows that Praer is the only way to break her curse. Along with her other nightmare companions, Reverie drags Praer on a harrowing journey to the gates of Hell. On a death-defying quest to assemble the key to the gate, Praer finds herself caught between destruction and desire. Reverie is her sworn enemy and Praer knows if she can’t resist the pull of her nightmare, more than her heart will break.
Link: HarperCollins
This Crimson Ruin — Rebecca Thorne
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Lesbian
Series: Book 2 of The Titan’s Wrath Trilogy
Death might be the only escape.
When Sergeant Nix Marr signed up as her ex’s bodyguard for a trip to the domed city of Fall, she doubted she’d return alive. But neither woman could have predicted the cataclysmic event that stranded them both beneath the ocean.
Worse, Fall has been completely abandoned, ruins of a once-grand city. Aside from the occasional infected citizen, there’s no indicator where the rest of Fall’s population went. And as Nix and Kessandra hunt for clues, a deeper evil prods Nix’s own mind.
With Fall’s iconic dome flooding and every answer creating more questions, the pair may have to descend deeper than they ever imagined to survive.
Welcome to Fall.
Link: Macmillan
Exquisite Decay — Xan van Rooyen
Genre: YA sci-fi thriller, retelling
Rep: Queer, trans
Rian Gray wasn’t born in the slums of Axis City. They were left there to rot.
When their estranged grandmother dies, Rian is plucked from the gutter and thrust into the upper echelons of society and the hallowed halls of Curzon Academy. The opportunity of a lifetime to some, for Rian, this will be a tactical infiltration. Their mission: dismantle the corporatocracy that destroyed their family. But to burn it all down, they need access, and their inheritance comes with strings. Rian will have to excel at both the rigorous academics and the complex social politics of the elite school.
Enter Baz Hallward, a reclusive yet brilliant scholarship student, who is instantly enthralled by the new transfer, and who agrees to tutor Rian if they’ll submit to uploading their memories through an AI cyborg as part of Baz’s final science project; a project which will guarantee him success and acceptance from the uppercrust.
As Rian navigates this treacherous yet seductive world, their thirst for vengeance is threatened by the mind-altering allure of the privilege they swore to destroy. And with Baz’s experiments chipping away at Rian’s mind, their humanity is at risk of decay.
In a city where identity is a commodity and wealth is the measure of human worth, can Rian tear down a corrupt system before the world they despise consumes them entirely?
Link: Author’s Website
December 4, 2026
Crystals of Ulstra — Bradley Bowen
Genre: Epic fantasy
Rep: Non-binary MC; MLM MC; queernorm world
Series: Book 1 of The Ulstra Trilogy
When royalist interlopers set fire to Arbardio’s Grove, an earnest forest guardian named Koralo must face his fears and join the fight to save his world.
Across Ulstra, its people are drawn into the war by the mad king: Gerda, a crystal seeker from the mountains who is captured by the enemy; Lazuro, an entitled prince who wants his father’s crown for his own; and Rubena, a magical leader contending with the world-bending secrets that haunt her past.
An epic fantasy tale with a queer-normative sensibility, Crystals of Ulstra introduces a cast of complex, unforgettable characters and a lush new world that readers won’t ever want to leave. It is the first book in the Ulstra trilogy.
Link: Goodreads
December 5, 2026
Wither and Bloom — E.K. O’Connor
Genre: Fantasy, retelling
Rep: Sapphic
The goddess of spring boldly choses to not accept a questionable offer from the King of the gods, Zeus. Never one to accept rejection well, Zeus subtly orchestrates her banishment from the mortal realms, forcing her into the underworld.
Disoriented and not knowing where she is or the rules of this new place, Persephone blunders around and unknowingly almost dies repeatedly. A tall, dark and brooding Queen Hades must not only rescue her but must also then keep Persephone safe from all that would do her harm, including herself.
Link: Goodreads
December 8, 2026
Something to Live For — Katie Cunningham
Genre: Horror
Rep: Queer
A hundred years ago, Ardeola became a vampire. Now she’ s human again, and she hates it.
Captured by a mysterious facility, Ardeola finds herself imprisoned and ‘cured’. Desperate to return to her powerful vampire maker and partner, she plots her escape but finds herself confused by holes in her memories. Whole events and even people have been forgotten. As she picks through her thoughts, she finds herself caught between who she can trust, which parts of herself are real, and what her future looks like.
A psychological thriller with a moody gothic tone, a complicated and difficult protagonist and 100 years of messy relationships, Something to Live For is a queer horror about humanity, damage, and how much you can endure before being a monster is the best option.
Link: Goodreads
The Misfit Caravan — K.D. Edwards
Genre: Urban fantasy
Rep: M/M; bi+ characters; queernorm culture
Series: Book 4 of The Tarot Sequence
The Misfit Caravan is the long-anticipated fourth novel in the Tarot Sequence—a modern fantasy about chosen family, old trauma, and the monsters that come with both.
Rune Saint John is the last scion of the Sun Throne—one of New Atlantis’s ancient ruling Arcana, a spell-caster of terrifying power, and, right now, the man trying to pack two luxury RVs with his entire found family for an American road trip. What starts as a chance to heal and put recent losses behind them becomes something far more dangerous: a reckoning with new and organized enemies, murdered fae, and buried truths that refuse to stay buried.
Racing from one American mystery to the next, Rune and his companions follow a trail of violence toward Sanctuary City, the secret underground stronghold of the mainland fae. There, Rune confronts revelations that crack his world open. As loyalties are tested and safety unravels, he realizes the most dangerous lies aren’t the ones told by enemies—they’re the ones stitched into the lives of the people he loves most.
Link: Goodreads
December 10, 2026
The Alchemist Baker of Rosen — JP Rindfleisch IX
Genre: Cozy fantasy
Rep: Queer
Series: Standalone in established universe
A grandmother’s old recipes. A city on the hunt for magic. And bread that makes things better.
Erik never expected his grandmother’s old baking secrets to change anything beyond keeping his neighbors fed. Working quietly in Master Garrick's shop, he uses hints of magic to stretch meager supplies, ever since the city’s tension with refugees worsened. It’s nothing grand, just a few prayers and simple etchings, but it’s enough to ease hunger in Rosen’s struggling harbor district.
When a licensed mage appears at the bakery door, Erik fears his careful balance is crumbling. But as word spreads about this miracle bread, he discovers something unexpected: a community beginning to form around his kitchen table. From Master Garrick’s gruff protectiveness to young Theo’s eager friendship, Erik finds himself building the very thing he thought he’d lost—a place to belong.
Link: Kobo
December 12, 2026
The Witchglass Covenant — Mordechai Salas
Genre: Dark epic fantasy
Rep: Queer
In an empire built on fear, trust is an act of war.
As a child, Vaye watched a crowd of angry villagers drown her mother for sorcery. It was just the latest act of violence against her people, long held responsible for summoning the dark goddess who turned the sky into a weapon. But the villagers were mistaken—it was Vaye, not her mother, who had inherited the deity’s gifts.
Imagine what people will do if they find out she’s trying to dig her buried goddess back up.
When Vaye sneaks into an elite military academy to steal back her heritage, her path tangles with two strangers carrying secrets of their own: an insurgent sent to destroy the empire from within and an exile cast out by her family for her forbidden desires.
A dark epic of stolen magic, the price of power, and ancient forces that are not what they seem.
Link: Author’s Website
December 29, 2026
Lightning & Thunder — Sara Raasch
Genre: Fantasy rom-com
Rep: M/M; bi MC
Series: Book 1 of Heroes and Romance
Percy Jackson meets Thunderbolts in this action-adventure romcom where the descendants of gods protect humanity, and Zeus’s snarky, vigilante heir is forced to team up with the globally beloved descendant of Thor.
As a Zeus descendant, Pollux “Lux” Keraunos never intended to be a villain. But if the cyber-crime hat fits, he’ll wear it to destroy the tyrant Hero Council led by his brother.
Then his brother vanishes (not Lux’s fault). Zeus’s line must continue, and the Hero Council turns to Lux as the heir—with the caveat that he trains under Erik Thorson, his brother’s Viking-wannabe BFF. Lux’ll use this to bring down the Council, and he isn’t falling for Erik’s smoking hot with a heart of gold persona—
Even if Erik didn’t know Lux’s brother was corrupt.
Even if Erik actually helps people—and believes Lux can, too.
As Lux tries the good guy role, the truth behind his brother's disappearance surfaces, and he’ll have to decide if he still wants to destroy the Council... or if he wants someone else more.
Hero? Villain? Or a secret third option: disaster bisexual with a savior kink?
Link: Macmillan