Queer SF - February 2026
February 1, 2026
We Should Not Have Come Here — J.D. Mills
Genre: Horror
Rep: MLM
The host of paranormal reality show Phantom Files, Ash built their massive following on fake hauntings, possessions, and passing off special effects as honest-to-god spirit activity. When the team arrives at Crenshaw Castle to shoot the first episode of their new season, the dilapidated former reform school turns out to be more than they bargained for. The team’s exploration of the grounds leads to the discovery of horrific documentation detailing medical and psychological experiments performed on the institution’s wards.
The action begins to unfold violently as the crew clamors for a way out—only to find they’ve been sealed inside. Over the course of one harrowing investigation turned survival mission, Ash reckons with his own queer rage as he sees himself mirrored in the institution’s wards. Coming face to face with things he never thought possible—deadly spirits, an end to his own skepticism, and an ex-boyfriend he’d thought to be long dead—Ash must overcome the past in order to ensure he has a future.
Link: Goodreads
She-Wolf — E.K. O’Connor
Genre: Fantasy, retelling
Rep: Sapphic
In ancient Scandinavia, a land beset by monstrous creatures and legends, Beowulf is warrior of extreme renown. Born in battle and shaped by steel, she has spent years proving that strength is not solely a man's domain.
When the halls of Heorot threaten to buckle under the horror of a monstrous creature known as Grendel, Beowulf answers the call.
As she battles creatures of nightmare, she finds herself drawn to a queen who she should slay for the good of the realm, a woman whose heart holds both solace and peril.
In this sapphic retelling of the Old English epic, Beowulf fights not just for victory, but for the right to wield her own destiny, defend her love and stand toe to toe against monsters that lurk in the dark.
Link: Goodreads
February 3, 2026
He’s the Devil — Tobi Coventry
Genre: Horror
Rep: Gay
An exhilarating, darkly comic debut novel about a do-gooder whose world is turned inside out when his new roommate—who might be possessed by the devil—moves in.
Simon has always been a good guy, a charmer. He’s consistently employee of the month at his bougie restaurant job, neurotically tidy, and generally tries to do right by everyone. And his dark parts? He keeps those well-hidden. But when his best and only friend Josh moves out of their shared apartment, Simon’s world starts to fall apart when his new roommate Massimo moves in. Because Massimo has brought something—or someone—with him. He might just turn out to the be the roommate from hell...
Strange things start to happen. Weird noises come from Massimo’s room, smells of earth and spoiled meat drift through the halls, lights flicker, and Simon’s nights fill with disturbing and alluring dreams. Meanwhile, across the city, murders are being committed, bodies torn apart from the inside. Massimo and whatever he’s unleashed begin to awaken Simon’s wild and exciting and horrifying inner self. Whatever this new friend is could be the end of Simon—or a completely new beginning.
At once a visceral, unhinged, and comic novel about the roommate generation, He’s the Devil is a tantalizing literary thriller exploring possession and obsession, friendship and betrayal. Tobi Coventry’s debut is propulsive, funny, and touching, marking the arrival of a bold new literary imagination.
Link: Goodreads
Until the Clock Strikes Midnight — Alechia Dow
Genre: YA cozy romantasy, retelling
Rep: Black, queer, bipolar plus-size FMC
The Good Place meets the Brandy version of Cinderella in Until the Clock Strikes Midnight, a cozy, romantic fantasy from award-winning author Alechia Dow.
Darling is the most talented—and unusual—Guardian to get a chance at winning the coveted once-in-a-generation Mortal Outcome Council mentorship. Getting the spot would mean having the opportunity to shape the future happiness of all mortal realms—if she succeeds at her first assignment, Lucy Addlesberg. Darling thinks it’ll be an easy razzle-dazzle job… until she actually meets Lucy. Her life is a complete mess, from her failing bookshop in her downtrodden village to her doomed flirtation with the princess of Lumina. But if there’s one thing Darling’s good at, it’s a makeover.
Calamity is the most talented—and arrogant—Misfortune of his class. It’s his job to save mortals from their own terrible decisions made in the pursuit of the mythical “Happily Ever After.” When Calam is granted a shot at the Mortal Outcome Council mentorship, he thinks his dreams are finally coming true. But first, he must pass the test. It should be easy—Lucy Addlesberg has been unfortunate for years. All he has to do is continue her string of bad luck so she can finally come to terms with reality and settle for a safer, more logical path in life. Yet when he arrives, he finds that Lucy has a Guardian assigned to her too—a chipper overachiever who is as colorful as the magic pouring from her glittery wand.
To thwart each other, Darling and Calam insert themselves into Lucy’s life posing as a betrothed couple. As they try to guide her down what they each see as the best path for her, they start questioning their roles and ultimately what they truly want for themselves... and if those feelings of loathing they have for each other might actually be something more like love.
Link: Goodreads
The Hollow Dark — Toni Duarte
Genre: YA fantasy
Rep: Queer
A queer upper-YA dark fantasy about forbidden magic, fractured loyalties, found family, and the courage it takes to claim your truth in a world that demands your silence.
August is a cynical, unambitious prince with a dark secret: he can see the dead. Haunted by the relentless anchored spirits, he’d give anything to be free of the curse. But it’s not the ghosts he fears most, it’s the truth that could unravel everything: he’s a wielder—one of the very people he’s been raised to hate.
Felix is brilliant, driven, and dangerous—a rare triple-wielder with outlawed magic and a vision for a better world. He’s proud of who he is, but in a country where magic users are feared and punished, he knows being discovered means death. He’s spent his life hiding his power behind a mask of charm and control, forced to swallow back the growing resentment.
When August and Felix meet at a festival, their connection is instant, electric—and doomed. As wielders begin to vanish, a desperate search for answers ends in betrayal that twists friendship into enmity. Two years later, they meet again, this time as enemies forced to unite against an apocalyptic threat of their own making.
Link: Goodreads
The Darkness Greeted Her — Christina Ferko
Genre: YA horror
Rep: Sapphic
In this atmospheric sapphic horror, a troubled teen is sent to a remote therapy camp in the Appalachian wilderness, where she must unravel a mystery of deadly occurrences as she battles harmful visions of her abusive father, sinister motives, and a lurking monster.
Penny’s abusive father is dead... but she still hears his voice in her head, encouraging her to hurt those around her. She can’t go to school or be around her friends or even draw with a sharp pencil without her intrusive thoughts urging her toward violence. Desperate to get a handle on her OCD, she agrees to spend the summer at Camp Whitewood—an exclusive therapy retreat in the woods.
She feels optimistic when she arrives. The other girls all have their reasons for being there, which makes Penny feel a little less alone. But then she starts seeing things that can’t possibly be there: the gold watch her father was buried with, his favorite whiskey spilled on her cabin floor... a terrifying figure she calls the Shadow Man looming at the foot of her bed. Penny thinks she is losing her mind, but when a girl goes missing, and is later found dead, it’s clear that whatever is happening at Camp Whitewood isn’t all in her head.
As the hallucinations become increasingly intense and more girls wind up dead, Penny must work with whoever is left standing to figure out what is real before the Shadow Man uses their traumas against them and claims their lives.
Link: Goodreads
Regrettable Regards — J.S. Jasper
Genre: Fantasy romance
Rep: F/F
Cupid is over love.
Deeply and furiously done with love and frustratingly close to retirement. She can taste the heartbreaking ending on her tongue. Her final arrow is poised and ready to fly. If only her final target would get their head out of a book long enough for the arrow to strike.
Ira, the bane of Cupid’s current existence, refuses to fall for anyone. Cupid might have a bittersweet view of love now, but she’s never failed an assignment before.
Out of options and wanting to finally be at Cupid takes matters into her own hands. With hatred tucked beneath her wings, she travels down to Earth with the sole purpose of finding Ira the love of their life.
Oh, yes, Cupid is over love. But it’s never been her story before.
Link: Goodreads
Queen of Faces — Petra Lord
Genre: YA fantasy
Rep: Queer; trans girl MC
Series: Book 1 of Queen of Faces
A desperate girl at a cutthroat magical academy faces a choice between life and death: become an assassin for the enchanted elite or watch her decaying body draw its last breath. For fans of Leigh Bardugo, Brandon Sanderson, Lev Grossman, and R.F. Kuang.
Anabelle Gage is trapped in a male body, and it’s rotting from the inside out. In Caimor, where the magical elite buy and swap designer bodies like clothes, Ana can’t afford to escape her tattered form. When she fails the entrance exam to the prestigious Paragon Academy, her last hope of earning a new body implodes. As the clock ticks down to her last breath, she’s forced to use her illusion magic to steal a healthy chassis—before her own kills her.
But Ana is caught by none other than the headmaster of Paragon Academy, who poses a brutal ultimatum: face execution for her crime or become a mercenary at his command. Revolt brews in Caimor's smog-choked underworld, and the wealthy and powerful will stop at nothing to take down the rebels and the infamous dark witch at their helm, the Black Wraith.
With no choice but to accept, Ana will steal, fight, and kill her way to salvation. But her survival depends on a dangerous band of renegades: an impulsive assassin, a brooding bomb-maker, and an alluring exile who might just spell her ruin. As Ana is drawn into a tangled web of secrets, the line between villain and hero shatters—and Ana must decide which side is worth dying for.
Link: Goodreads
Boy, With Accidental Dinosaur — Ian McDonald
Genre: Science fiction
Rep: Gay
How to Train Your Dragon meets Mad Max in this story of an orphan in a fractured Southwest who just wants to ride a dinosaur under the lights.
Come one, come all to the dinosaur rodeo!
Tif Tamim wants nothing more than to be a dinosaur buckaroo. An orphan in search of a place to rest his head and a job to weigh down his pockets, Tif has bounced from circus to circus, yearning for a chance to ride a prehistoric beauty under the sparkling lights of a big-top.
To become a buckaroo, Tif needs to learn the tools of the trade, yet few dino maestros want to take a scrawny nobody from nowhere under their wing. But when Tif frees a dino from an abusive owner and braves the roving gangs of the formerly-American west to bring the dino to safety, he catches someone’s eye. And boy, how those eyes dazzle Tif from the back of a bucking carnotaur.
Link: Goodreads
Nightshade and Oak — Molly O’Neill
Genre: Historical fantasy
Rep: Sapphic
An Iron Age goddess must grapple with becoming human in this delightful historical fantasy of myth and magic from the author of the instant hit Greenteeth.
When Malt, the goddess of death, is accidentally turned human by a wayward spell, she finds she’s ill-equipped to deal with the trials of a mortal life. After all, why would a goddess need to know how to gather food or light a fire?
Unable to fend for herself, she teams up with warrior Bellis on a perilous journey to the afterlife to try to restore her powers. Frustrated by her frail human body and beset with blisters, Malt might not make the best travelling companion.
But as animosity slowly turns to attraction, these two very different women must learn to work together if they are to have any hope of surviving their quest.
Link: Goodreads
Flour & Forge — Herman Steuernagel
Genre: Cozy fantasy
Rep: Queer
Series: Standalone in established universe
A cozy fantasy side quest adventure filled with warm hearths, wary hearts, and truly magical strudel.
Rudy has never felt like he quite measured up. He’s just a quiet baker with a big heart, a rolling pin, and a knack for pastries.
But when a mysterious portal hidden in a neighboring pub pulls him from his quiet routine into the realm of Hybarn, Rudy finds himself far from the comforts of his kitchen and right into the middle of a dwarven rebellion.
The dwarves have never seen a human before, and they don’t trust what they don’t understand. Especially not with a tyrant king waging war on magic. Rudy isn’t looking to be a hero, though. He just wants to help, one warm loaf, one kind word, and one fresh-baked strudel at a time.
Among the skeptical warriors is Tarvo, a brooding dwarf with battle scars and a past he won’t discuss. As Rudy bakes his way into the heart of his companions, Tarvo begins to lower his guard. Together, they discover that even in the darkest times, comfort can be found in baked goods, quiet company… and perhaps something deeper.
Flour & Forge is a heartwarming cozy fantasy about finding belonging, stepping beyond our comfort zones, the magic of simple joys, and the healing power of fresh bread and forged bonds.
Link: Goodreads
Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die — Greer Stothers
Genre: Fantasy romance
Rep: M/M
In this hilarious, off-the-wall queer fantasy romance, a reclusive sorcerer is forced to protect a cowardly knight after a prophecy ties their fates together.
All his life, Sir Cameron has stayed as far away from danger as possible. He is, quite frankly, too handsome to die a violent and pointless death in battle. But when the Church hands down a prophecy to his fellow knights predicting that the only way to defeat their nemesis, the mad sorcerer Merulo, is to kill Cameron, he finds himself in a situation too sticky for even his considerable wiles. Short of ideas, Cameron throws himself on the mercy of the one person who now actually wants him to survive: the mad sorcerer.
Merulo isn’t thrilled to be babysitting a spoilt, attention-seeking knight, but fate has tied them together. And transmogrifying Cameron into a vulture is at least a great source of entertainment. Cameron, meanwhile, is on a voyage of self-discovery. It turns out he’s really, really into surly sorcerers who lock him up and tell him what to do. Who knew?
As a legion of knights surround their stronghold, the sorcerer’s poisonous ambitions draw ever closer to fruition. Cameron is quite invested in not dying, but he finds he’s also invested in Merulo. And sometimes, supporting the sorcerer you care about means taking an interest in their hobbies. Even if that hobby is trying to kill God.
Even if it might get you killed, too.
Link: Goodreads
February 6, 2026
The Boy From Elsewhere — Kestral Gaian
Genre: YA fantasy
Rep: Queer
Series: Book 1 of Reality Quake
One town. Two worlds. No way home.
A boy washes up on the beach of a quiet seaside town, soaked, shaken, and wearing nothing but pyjamas. He insists he's from here, but the whole place feels... not quite right.
Then he meets David, a stranger who offers to help. What begins as an act of kindness soon becomes something far stranger. Questions multiply, and a chain of events set in motion centuries ago tightens its grip on the present.
Drawn into a secretive world of hidden histories and dangerous foes, David gathers an unlikely band of allies to uncover the truth and get their new friend back elsewhere. But some doors were never meant to open, and when they do, reality itself begins to unravel.
The Boy From Elsewhere is a gripping story of parallel worlds, found family, and the terrifying courage it takes to hold on to the people you love when the universe itself is trying to pull you apart.
Link: Goodreads
February 9, 2026
Lost Traditions — Claudie Arseneault
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Asexual, aromantic, non-binary, lesbian
Series: Book 7 of The Chronicles of Nerezia
Fate and friendship brought Horace, Rumi, Keza, and Aliyah together in Rumi’s sentient self-propelling wagon. Their travels across a world haunted by Fragments, dangerous shards that can possess travellers, has brought many answers about Aliyah’s past, her strange abilities, and the Fragments themselves.
Only one obstacle remains between them and the forest of Aliyah’s dreams: a cursed marsh filled with ever-shifting terrain and thick Fragment storms. When Keza spots the sacred flowers of her people, however, she drags Horace deep into the marsh, to a crumbled monastery. Nothing is left of its previous inhabitants but the angry Fragmented remains of an Inae Earth Master.
The master is desperate to pass on their knowledge, a technique far different from Keza’s water dance, but in order to do so, they require a body to possess and a worthy heir. Horace provides a perfect host, but Keza—abrasive, uncouth, and exiled from her own clan—is far from the ideal student. Sparks fly between mentor and pupil, and Keza will need to rein in her natural snark if she wants to free her friend and inherit her people’s lost traditions.
Link: Author’s Website
February 10, 2026
Cry Wolf — P.J.C. Cahill
Genre: Paranormal romance
Rep: Lesbian
Series: Book 1 of To a Monster Bound
Rieka Zorn is a werewolf without a pack. Tortured by loneliness, conflicted by her past, she settles in the woods near Elkrock, a ski resort town in the Colorado mountains.
Her life starts to change when she meets Jiya Malik, a local bartender managing her own tragedy with teasing humor and charm. Rieka falls for Jiya hard and fast, but is too afraid of revealing her secret to come close.
Rieka’s struggle between a loving, new home and her own nature is forced to the breaking point when the Russian mob send their own werewolf to the peaceful streets of Elkrock. Can she keep the people she cares about safe from her own secret and the mob?
Cry Wolf is a paranormal romance blending sweet, healing love between two very broken lesbians with visceral monster violence. If you like adorable fluffy feels AND roaring, furious women beating up each other and everyone who deserves it, this is the romance for you!
Link: Itch.io
Runaway Prince — Morgan Dante
Genre: Dark fantasy
Rep: M/M/F
A fairy prince named Florian, who ran off to the mortal world and now runs a drag club, is retrieved by his former best friend and current bodyguard to fulfill an oath: To marry a robber knight-turned-queen who has killed his father and usurped his mother. MMF fairy dark fantasy with romantic elements.
Link: Goodreads
The Regressor King — AJ Sherwood
Genre: Romantasy
Rep: M/M
Death, Paradise, and the gods themselves—all rejected for the sake of love.
When King James Kronenscheld dies at the hands of the Demon King, he thinks his suffering is finally over and he can join his Edwin in Paradise. And, hey, at least he’d taken the Demon King with him, right?
But then the gods try to send James to Paradise WITHOUT his Edwin, and that is simply unfathomable. So he does the unthinkable—he turns it down and negotiates for one more chance to fix his mistakes.
Armed with memories and regrets, James regresses to before he was crowned. He is determined to woo the man he lost, even if it means facing down all his previous failures. For Edwin alone will James face wraths and plagues, court politics, and demon kings. He will avoid the horrors of the crown and attain Paradise for them both.
Failing this time means losing Edwin forever. And that is not an option.
Link: Goodreads
To the Death — Andrea Tang
Genre: YA fantasy
Rep: Sapphic
Two teens are pitted against each other in a magical duel for revenge, but they’ll have to fight their growing attraction first, in this YA fantasy thriller from the author of These Deadly Prophecies.
Eighteen-year-old Samantha Chan wants only one revenge for her brother’s death in an illegal magical duel. Ever since that terrible day, she’s been quietly working with legitimate dueling champion Lysander Rook and biding her time until she can take down her brother’s killer: Mateus Blackwood.
Tamsin Blackwood is trapped. She wants to make a name for herself in the magical dueling circuit, but she can’t get away from the legacy of her father—and coach—Mateus Blackwood. When she receives a challenge from the undefeated Lysander and his assistant Sam, she jumps at the chance to earn enough fame and glory to finally escape her father’s influence.
Tamsin has no idea about Sam’s scheming, and Sam plans to keep it that way. Despite herself, though, she can’t help liking Tamsin, and the two girls quickly grow closer to each other than anyone else in their lives. But Sam won’t let anything get in the way of her revenge—not even her heart.
Link: Goodreads
Dawn of the Raven — T.L. Tyner
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Queer
Series: Book 1 of Tuatha Dé Danann Chronicles
Magic is forbidden. Druids are hunted. And a fractured kingdom is beginning to wake.
Sorcha is a gifted seamstress content with a quiet life—and the safety of invisibility—until rebellion threads its way into her world. Fiona, a palace cook and farmer’s daughter, has learned to endure duty and expectation, until an unexpected offer of marriage threatens to decide her future for her. Nemain, known only as the Reaper, is Ríocht na Meon’s most effective weapon—and its most carefully guarded secret.
As ancient powers stir and resistance takes root, the lives of these three women collide. In a realm built to fear what it cannot control, they must navigate loyalty, desire, and the weight of legacy—while magic long thought dormant begins to remember itself.
Dark, atmospheric, and rich with Celtic-inspired folklore, Dawn of the Raven is a character-driven sapphic fantasy about resilience, sacrifice, and the quiet defiance of women pushed to the margins. Hopeful yet brutal, it is the beginning of a sweeping queer epic where power awakens slowly—and nothing remains buried forever.
Link: Goodreads
February 14, 2026
The Gorgon and the Witch — Heaven Mejia
Genre: Fantasy, mythology
Rep: F/F
Hecate. Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Witch, Titan, and Goddess.
She lives her life in the Underworld, sequestered in the wastes of iron. Her life is quiet—peaceful. Until someone new makes the Land of the Dead their home.
A Gorgon named Medusa, weeping and broken, finds her way to Hecate’s door, where she is harshly turned away. Hecate will do anything to protect her solitude. Or so she thinks.
As the Medusa’s story unravels, Hecate’s heart begins to soften. Before she knows it, she is filled with feelings and emotions she has never had before, and she is faced with choices she never imagined she would have to make.
Link: Goodreads
February 15, 2026
As Old As Thyme — Alix Nicoud
Genre: Historical romance with fantasy elements
Rep: M/F; T4T; bisexual FMC; gray-aroace MMC
Brunehaut lives a dangerous existence as her village wise woman, brewing abortion potions and body-altering elixirs for women like her, despite the townsfolk’s growing suspicion of her unconventional ways. When her childhood best friend Théoderic suddenly crashes back into her life after years of separation, everything she’s built threatens to crumble.
Like Brunehaut, Théoderic has shed his past, but he’s chosen a more dangerous path, now posing as nobility while peddling false remedies to her very clients, threatening to shatter the delicate trust she’s worked years to build. Yet beneath his deception, Théoderic is captivated by Brunehaut’s transformation into the woman she was always meant to be, and desperately longs for the same miraculous change for himself.
As Théoderic embraces his true identity, Brunehaut finds herself drawn to her old friend in ways she never expected, rediscovering the boy she once knew in the man he’s becoming. Their time together reawakens feelings long buried, but as their bond deepens, they must navigate a world that would condemn them both for daring to live as their authentic selves.
A T4T F/M childhood best friends to lovers medieval romance novella between a HRT-brewing bisexual wise woman and the gray-aroace scammer who walks back into her life.
Link: Goodreads
February 16, 2026
The Squire and His Prince — Briar Niran
Genre: Romantasy
Rep: Ace, M/M, queernorm world
Series: Book 0.5 of The Sun King and His Knight
For eighteen-year-old squire Kaelen, the crown prince is everything—ruthlessly clever, disciplined, devoted to his siblings, and a man Kaelen has hopelessly loved since childhood.
Richard, however, barely notices his existence.
When the king invites the Estaran royal family for marriage talks, the court rejoices. Richar’s refusal to share his bed with any man or woman has, to them, long been a strange defect—one that a political marriage would solve. But Kaelen is left heartbroken.
Worse, when the Estaran prince—Richard’s intended consort—boasts his crude intentions, Kaelen retaliates with his fist.
The single punch explodes into a diplomatic crisis. Caught in the middle, Kaelen soon realises that worse than losing his life—he may lose his prince.
Link: Goodreads
February 17, 2026
The Chamos Project — Alexis Ames
Genre: Science fiction
Rep: Queer, M/M
Twenty years after an attack perpetrated by androids takes the lives of those closest to him, Doctor Leander Dade is living a reclusive life on Earth—until the Alliance Fleet recalls him back into service aboard the first extrasolar colonization vessel, Ariadne. Unable to refuse this order, Leander returns to space and finds himself serving alongside androids, whom he has never forgiven for the attack.
Tensions are high from the start, but when a mysterious accident strands Ariadne years away from aid, the ship’s crew and colonists—humans and androids alike—must band together for survival. Leander is forced to work with the very enemy who nearly cost him his life, and he soon finds himself falling for the last person he expected: Mac, the ship’s android chief engineer.
After a mutiny splits the ship in two, Mac comes to the realization that he alone can save the ship and everyone on it, and Leander faces an impossible choice: intervene, or allow Mac to risk his life and their love for each other.
Link: Books2Read
This Wretched Beauty — Elle Grenier
Genre: YA historical fantasy, retelling
Rep: Queer; non-binary MC
Haunted by a portrait that seems to taunt them, a conflicted young aristocrat spirals down a path to the worst possible version of themself in this suspenseful retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray, perfect for fans of The Spirit Bares Its Teeth and These Violent Delights.
Happiness needs to be earned in the face of impossible odds, or there’s no beauty in it.
London, 1867. Dorian Gray is the heir to a title and their family’s estate, but they’ve never been given the chance to decide whether that’s actually what they want out of life. Forcibly estranged from their father by their manipulative grandfather, Dorian feels trapped in the life that has been decided for them.
Then one night they sneak out of their grandfather’s house, they meet a sweet and talented young painter named Basil, who immediately recognizes Dorian as his new muse. They agree to sit for Basil for a portrait, and Dorian is struck by the beauty and depth that Basil paints into their likeness―and they dare to begin hoping there might be more to life than being their grandfather’s perfect, empty-headed heir.
Dorian is further elated when Basil introduces them to the world of molly houses and drag performers―they’ve never seen such joyful variety of humanity and gender expression. But, as the barrier between the London they know and the one they're discovering begins to crumble, Dorian must face the fact that freedom and safety do not come hand in hand.
The aftermath of this realization pulls Dorian into a terrible downward spiral, torn between guilt over their own actions and hatred for the suffocating expectations of society. They push away those closest to them, surrounding themself instead with vapid courtiers and decadent socialites. And as Dorian’s spiral of self-loathing deepens, something strange happens―Basil’s portrait of them begins to change. Their smile becomes a little sharper, the glint in their eyes a little colder.
Dorian will have to choose―embrace the wickedness within and allow themself to become what they were always meant to be, or dare to try for something far more fragile and dangerous: a life of their own making.
Link: Goodreads
Gods Beneath the Ice — Alexandra Kennington
Genre: Romantasy
Rep: M/F; asexual
Series: Book 2 of the Blood & Souls Duology
Heartbroken and grappling with unwanted powers, Revna must work with the person she swore to forget if she’s to lead her people and unravel the secrets behind her new magic in this page-turning conclusion to the Blood & Souls duology.
Revna knew ruling would be difficult, but she never anticipated ruling with a newfound Lurae. The godtouched fear her, the godforsaken don’t trust her, and her best friend doesn’t know the truth she’s been hiding. When the war-ending treaty is signed, Revna will reveal her secrets and finally put the Hellbringer behind her.
Except the Kryllian Queen refuses to sign the treaty when she discovers how volatile Revna’s bloodsinging is. Desperate for any alliance, Revna begrudgingly agrees to the queen’s proposal: if Revna can learn to control her magic in three weeks, negotiations will resume. But there’s a catch—the queen’s general will be the one training her.
Revna will work with the Hellbringer once more, but she won’t make it easy. But when the general reveals that the dead are unable to pass on, they realize there’s more at stake than their tangled relationship. Ancient, powerful secrets tie the realm—and Revna and the Hellbringer—together, and their only hope of lasting peace is to unweave them.
Link: Goodreads
The Rainseekers — Matthew Kressel
Genre: Science fiction
Rep: Sapphic MC
Burned out and looking to put her past behind her, a former addict and recovering influencer interviews her fellow travelers en route to witness the first rain on Mars.
Sakunja Salazar had it all. Money, toys, women, and all the drugs money could buy. A breakout Holo influencer, seemingly overnight she lifted her family out of their tiny Mexico City apartment and into the world of the rich and famous. That all changed when she hopped on a rocket and blasted into the cosmos, never to hawk lavender moisturizer again.
What goes up must come down, and when Sakunja finally crashed back down on Mars an alcoholic, addict, and has-been, she thought her life was pretty much over. That is, until a magazine editor discovered her photography and offered her a job. Now, she’s the resident documentarian on a barebones expedition seeking to be the first humans to witness rain on Mars. For the first time in her life, Sakunja is turning the spotlight on someone else—interviewing her fellow travelers about what brought them to join this incredibly foolhardy crew of souls adrift in a world unseen.
Link: Goodreads
A Soul Made of Thunder — Alexandra Marco
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Sapphic
Enemies bound by necessity, yet torn by desire. Can love survive when magic and vengeance collide?
Thea wields stolen magic and well-hidden secrets that could topple kingdoms. Fyn is a relentless mage-hunter who lost everything to magic, and she’ll never forgive those with the blood on their hands. When a pirate’s plot threatens both their worlds, they strike a fragile truce.
But every clash sparks something dangerous. Desire coils beneath their rivalry, and one wrong move could turn their newfound alliance into annihilation. As secrets unravel and loyalties fracture, Thea must decide: save her people or surrender to the storm brewing in her heart.
Perfect for fans of The Priory of the Orange Tree, Gideon the Ninth, and The Jasmine Throne, this sapphic fantasy delivers enemies-to-lovers tension, high-stakes intrigue, and a love that burns like lightning.
Link: Goodreads
Postscript — Cory McCarthy
Genre: YA post-apocalyptic
Rep: Queer
From Stonewall Honoree Cory McCarthy, joyful, affectionate, read-in-one-sitting novel about letting go of the things we can’t change and holding on to the passion of our instincts.
On the far side of a swift and unknowable apocalypse, a few sapiens are surviving off the last scraps of humanity. No longer recognizable as Cape Cod, the dunes of their archipelago are empty apart from regrets and ruins—until West blows in like a storm.
West is a prophet of instinct, the last amateur anthropologist, ever aware of being present in life. He can’t help but move through Ani’s rage, Karen’s anxiety, and Emil’s immense longing with curiosity and care. West’s unbridled love and grief challenge the survivors to defy extinction with the most beautifully human thing imaginable: a family.
He may even impress Death.
“Simultaneously tragic, existentially terrifying, heartwarming, and sensual."—Kirkus, starred review
Link: Goodreads
The Obake Code — Makana Yamamoto
Genre: Science fiction
Rep: AAPI lesbian MCs
Series: Book 2 of Hammajang Luck (stands alone)
An all-new, stand-alone sci-fi caper from the author of Hammajang Luck: a bored hacker is forced by vicious gangsters to take down a crooked politician...only to find herself up against a code she might not be able to crack.
After the heist of a lifetime, Malia has it all: a loft apartment aboard the massive Kepler Station, expensive clothes, and a dev credit in her favorite video game. She’s also bored as hell. Three years after retiring her mantle as the Obake, the most infamous hacker in the quadrant—and arguably the galaxy—Malia hasn’t taken well to civilian life. So what’s the harm in rigging a few cybernetic prizefights and making a little cash on the side?
When Malia’s scheme is uncovered, she runs afoul of Jeongah Song—the dangerous leader of a local gang with a reputation for brutality. Malia is ready for retribution. But what she gets instead is an offer she can’t refuse: take down the local politician leading a “clean up the streets” campaign displacing residents and hindering Jeongah’s operations on the space station… or die. Without another way out, Malia takes the deal.
Luckily, she has some friends she can call on in times of need: a master thief, a street racing wheelman, and a femme fatale grifter. But as Malia digs deeper into the politician’s shady dealings, she finds herself embroiled in a conspiracy that might be too big for her to handle. One that has roots in her own rise as the Obake—a cybernetically enhanced superhacker created by a power-mad genius… a superhacker whose mods are rapidly degrading. Faced with threats on all sides, Malia may finally be in over her head... or stuck—forever—inside her own mind.
Link: Goodreads
February 19, 2026
The Faithful Dark — Cate Baumer
Genre: Gothic fantasy
Rep: Ace; transmasc; bisexual
This is the city of miracles, but not everything miraculous is good.
In a holy walled city where sin and sanctity are revealed through touch, Csilla—a girl born without a soul—is worth little to the Church that raised her. But when a series of murders corrodes the faithful magic that keep the city safe, the Church elders see a use for her she can assassinate their prime suspect, a heretic with divine heritage, without risking the stain of sin.
The heretic, however, makes Csilla a clear his name by helping him catch the real killer, and he’ll use his angelic gifts to grant her very own soul. Meanwhile, ruthless Ilan, desperate to earn back his position as Church Inquisitor, sees the case as his chance at he’ll bring in the murderer—or, failing that, Csilla and the heretic—and regain his title.
But as the death toll rises, and their hunt pits them against the all-powerful and callous Faith, Csilla finds herself torn. Will her salvation come at the cost of everything she believes in?
Link: Goodreads
February 20, 2026
Hallowed Be Thy Name — Brooke Winters
Genre: Horror
Rep: M/M
Augustus Saint murdered his mother. Her ghost now haunts the House on North Lane.
Augustus has always been told the Devil lives inside him. He didn’t know it was true until a failed exorcism results in his mother’s disappearance, binding him to a Devil only he can see.
As recurring nightmares bleed into reality, his darkening mind and growing paranoia leads him to the chilling realisation that he is becoming the very thing he has always feared—the villain of his own story.
A sliver of salvation infiltrates Augustus’ guarded walls upon meeting classmate Nathaniel Carrington. Forced to collaborate on a university assignment, their research incites a desperate search for the cult that stole Augustus’ mother, confronting him with the truth buried deep inside the House on North Lane. As Nathaniel and Augustus grow closer, the Devil fights to keep them apart.
In this tale of psychological turmoil, Augustus must navigate the treacherous depths of his own mind to escape the House’s suffocating grasp. Will he emerge from the shadows triumphant, or will he become just another forgotten ghost inside the House on North Lane?
Link: Goodreads
February 24, 2026
The Gods Must Burn — T.R. Moore
Genre: Fantasy romance
Rep: M/F; bi
A disgraced war hero is transformed into the Wolf God, protector of the Forest God, and must earn her trust in this healing dark fantasy for fans of The Wolf and the Woodsman and Princess Mononoke.
War hero Basuin doesn’t know what to believe in anymore. All Basuin knows is life as an army captain and the pain, loss, and disgrace it has brought him. Demoted and humiliated by his legion commander, he is led into the forest for one more mission: capture a god.
But when his commander uses innocent wolf pups as bait, Basuin dies saving them. The Wolf God, impressed by his sacrifice, deifies Basuin to protect the forest and its beautiful, sharp-tongued god from the legion’s deforestation.
To the Forest God, Basuin is nothing more than one of the men sent to burn her forest down. Betrayed by humans too many times, she rejects him, working alone to protect the spirits of the forest as her home disappears around her. To save the god he is growing to love, Basuin must untangle the feelings between them.
Otherwise, they’ll burn together.
Link: Goodreads
The Quicksand Theatre Company — Molly Ringle
Genre: Romantic fantasy
Rep: Queer; non-binary MC
Series: Standalone in established universe
A swoony, slow-burn, cozy, queer romantic fantasy of runaway secrets, fae bargains, and sequins in the spotlight. A standalone third book set in the same world as Lava Red Feather Blue and Ballad for Jasmine Town.
When Vai Delvecchio leaves their home in the night, fleeing a family scandal, they knock on the door of the least likely but most alluring of sanctuaries: the traveling Quicksand Theatre Company. Actor Leo Takahashi—a.k.a. Leonidas the Obstreperous—grants Vai a bed in his caravan in exchange for Vai’s magical assistance in theatrical productions. Vai finds their respectable, dignified life transformed into a whimsical world of sequins, makeup, and irreverent comedy sketches.
In the caravan’s close quarters, it’s inevitable that Leo and Vai grow curious about each other, a feeling that blossoms into mutual desire. But trouble waits in the wings. Vai has to face the fallout of their family’s mistakes, and Leo guards a somber secret: soon, an unbreakable deal he made with a malevolent faery will take effect, destroying his freedom and potentially his life.
Yet it may be in the darkest lairs of the fae realm, and in the painful longing of separation, that Vai and Leo each find the truth that makes them whole again.
Link: Goodreads
Daughter of the Cursed Kingdom — Jasmine Skye
Genre: YA fantasy
Rep: Queernorm world; F/F
Series: Book 2 of Witch Hall
Two girls, bound by magic, must work together to stop an oncoming war, while grappling with unresolved feelings and terrible secrets in Daughter of the Cursed Kingdom, the thrilling conclusion to Jasmine Skye's queernormative romantasy duology.
“If I ask you to walk into danger with me, Rosamund Holt, will you do it?”
Born a bone witch, with the power to raise the dead, Shaw has spent her life preparing to take her place as Death’s Heir, so she can lead her people to victory in an unavoidable, prophesied war. But then she met Rosy, sweet, stubborn Rosy, the most powerful bone familiar she’s ever known, and the only person Shaw has never been able to predict. Rosy, who doesn’t believe in the prophesied war that has consumed Shaw’s entire life.
“I won’t be their weapon, but I will be yours.”
Shaw has won Rosy’s loyalty, but Rosy has made it very clear she’s not willing to share her heart, a fact that Shaw is determined to respect... no matter how much it hurts. But now, as tensions with Vinland rise and secrets about the Witch King’s motivations are revealed, Shaw needs Rosy and her entourage more than ever. Will Shaw become the conquering warlord she was prophesized to be, or will she be strong enough to find a new path forward?
Link: Goodreads
The Iron Garden Sutra — A.D. Sui
Genre: Science fiction, horror, murder mystery
Rep: Queer
Series: Book 1 of The Cosmic Wheel
Klara and the Sun meets S. A. Barnes’s Dead Silence with a touch of Becky Chambers’ A Psalm for the Wild-Built in Nebula Award-winning author A.D. Sui’s darkly philosophical murder mystery, as a death monk and a team of researchers trapped onboard a spaceship of the dead encounter something beyond human understanding.
Vessel Iris has devoted himself to the Starlit Order, performing funeral rites for the dead across the galaxy and guiding souls back into the Infinite Light. Despite the comfort he wants to believe he brings to the dead, his relationships with his fellow Vessels are distant at best, leaving him reliant on his AI construct for companionship.
The spaceship Counsel of Nicaea has been lost for more than a thousand years. A relic of Earth’s dying past, humanity took the ship to the stars on a multi-generation journey to find another habitable planet yet never reached its destination. Its sudden appearance has attracted a team of academics eager to investigate its archeological history. And Iris has been assigned to bring peace to the crew’s long-departed souls.
Carpeted in moss and intertwined with vines, Nicaea is more forest than ship. But the ship's plant life isn’t the only sentience to have survived in the past millennia. Something onboard is stalking the explorers one by one. And Iris with his AI construct may be their only hope for survival...
Link: Goodreads
The Red Winter — Cameron Sullivan
Genre: Historical fantasy
Rep: M/M
A devastating love story. A bewitching twist on history. A blood-drenched hunt for purpose, power, and redemption.
In 1785, Professor Sebastian Grave receives the news he fears most: the terrible Beast of Gevaudan has returned, and the French countryside runs red in its wake.
Sebastian knows the Beast. A monster-slayer with centuries of experience, he joined the hunt for the creature twenty years ago and watched it slaughter its way through a long and bloody winter. Even with the help of his indwelling demon, Sarmodel—who takes payment in living hearts—it nearly cost him his life to bring the monster down.
Now, two decades later, Sebastian has been recalled to the hunt by Antoine Avenel d’Ocerne, an estranged lover who shares a dark history with the Beast and a terrible secret with Sebastian. Drawn by both the chance to finish the Beast for good and the promise of a reconciliation with Antoine, Sebastian cannot refuse.
Link: Tor
Within These County Lines — Brian Zepka
Genre: YA contemporary fantasy
Rep: Gay
Eighteen-year-old Stetson Delancey never thought breaking up with his boyfriend would turn him invisible.
In Penango County, Pennsylvania, high school couples carve their names into the legendary Ardor Tree, a rite of passage said to grant love that lasts. Stetson and his boyfriend were no exception. But a bitter breakup just before college splinters their future, and in a moment of anger, Stetson does the unthinkable: he hacks their names from the tree.
That’s when everything in his rural hometown goes from boring to bizarre. Shadows flicker where they shouldn’t. Strangers pass by like he’s not even there. And some people stop seeing him altogether.
With just two months left in Penango and his college dream slipping away, Stetson races to uncover the tree’s secrets before he vanishes for good. But when he meets a boy only he can see—a boy who may have secrets of his own—Stetson begins to wonder if breaking free from his hometown means letting go of everything or learning to hold on to what matters.
WITHIN THESE COUNTY LINES is a queer coming-of-age novel about the unraveling of first love, hometown magic, and how sometimes we can’t uncover the truth about others without confronting the truth about ourselves.
Link: Goodreads
February 25, 2026
Deathcap — Lara Elena Donnelly
Genre: Horror, science fiction
Rep: Queer
Two space marines trapped in a doomed spaceship confront the desires that will destroy them both.
Link: Goodreads
February 26, 2026
Saltswept — Katalina Watt
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Sapphic
Series: Book 1 of The Earthsalt Duology
A ragtag crew. A perilous quest. First, they need a boat. Next, they need to learn how to sail it.
A pirate faces the gallows drop. A farmer is given a terrible ultimatum to save her daughter. An acolyte ascends to priestesshood... only to find that a blessing really can be a curse. These unlikely bedfellows band together with an inscrutable pickpocket and a talking ottercat in pursuit of the most hopeless of to sail into the Maelstrom—a raging whirlpool from which no one has ever escaped—and the mysterious treasure hidden within it.
The quest will test their fragile allegiance to its limits, but there is more at stake here than getting the magic of the world is in peril, and the barrier between life and death has never been so thin. And in the Bastion, the seat of power in Paranish, the queen has an unquenchable thirst that threatens the world and everyone in it.
Can there be honour amongst thieves? Without it, they might never see another sunrise.
Lush and lyrical, Saltswept is a vibrant debut—the first book in an epic fantasy duology based on Southeast Asian mythology. Perfect for fans of The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, The Bone Ships, and Godkiller.
Link: Goodreads