Queer SF - May 2026
May 1, 2026
All Things Devour — Mawce Hanlin
Genre: Dark fantasy romance
Rep: Queer, trans, polyam (F/F/M)
Is it the nature of monsters to be drawn to the dark, or is it fear which drives them to hide within its empty embrace?
All Theodore Villin has ever known is hiding from his own monsters—be that the feminine stranger he sees in the mirror, the sinful cravings that claw at the pits of his stomach, or the devil Father Thompson says has taken root in his very soul. His running never ends.
But when the abandoned manor atop Widow’s Peak is purchased at last, Theodore finds himself surrounded by monsters he does not wish to hide from. An artist who paints death and decay. A ghost being devoured by the wallpaper. And himself, whose monster lingers behind his teeth and waits.
He need only open his mouth, and eat.
Link: Goodreads
Chai and Charmcraft — Lynn Strong
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Queer, M/M
Series: Book 1 of The Charmcraft Chronicles
His Imperial Highness Nur-ul-shuruq Faraj al-Nadhir has never thought himself a charming sort of prince. He’s shy, round, middle-aged, and always dutiful. But he has also secretly spent years dreaming of a man tending jasmine in a sun-lit window—prophetic visions that led him at last to one blissful night with someone who sees his heart, not his crown.
He did not expect to wake up with a cat walking on his face.
Cat-familiars are forbidden in the Imperial fortress. They might be spies. They might be soul-charmers. They might even sharpen their claws on thousand-year-old tapestries. But Faraj cannot regret that sweet little Sahar chose him—just as he cannot regret Asharan bir Chameli, the enchanting owner of the House of Jasmines. Asharan wants nothing to do with Faraj’s title and power, only his kindness. And Faraj hadn’t expected either the delights or the dilemmas of Asharan’s magical, soft-pawed little gift.
The rules have always been different for the God-Emperor’s brother. Faraj never before realized how much.
Now he’s breakfasting from community cauldrons in back alleys full of children and kittens. His foresight shows him a thousand paths toward disaster, but not the way through. His devoted chamberlain fears that Faraj has been bewitched by a purring agent of chaos, and Faraj can’t exactly say he’s wrong.
When the choice comes down to betraying his lover’s name, his cat-familiar’s life, or his own use of forbidden magic, Faraj does the only thing he can: He gets himself put on trial for heresy, trying to change the laws of the Empire itself.
If his visions always lead him into trouble, he might as well make useful trouble.
Link: Goodreads
May 4, 2026
Dream in Darkness — Rose Santoriello
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Queer, sapphic
Series: Book 2 of Hel’s Carnival
The night is young, and you’re a winner. Enter the tent, become a sinner.
Yasmeena Al-Khalifa joined Hel’s Carnival as a means to an end, escaping the harsh conditions of Ira. Now that she’s a spy for The Devil’s Masquerade, she’s seeing more blood and death than she initially bargained for.
It’s a dog eat dog world, except the biggest enemy of the felion… are wolves.
Tempest Lupine—daughter of the leader of Pack Escalus—must pair up with Yasmeena for the performance of a a fake engagement, designed to bring their two warring species together.
As the battle between the felion and lupion continues, can Yasmeena and Tempest extinguish their fiery hate? Or will their flames grow into an inferno?
These violent delights might just meet a violent end.
Link: Goodreads
May 5, 2026
You Pierce My Soul — Jessica Mary Best
Genre: YA dystopian
Rep: Sapphic
Packed with shocking plot twists and sapphic yearning, this romantic and thrilling queer dystopian YA is perfect for fans of Rachael Lippincott.
In the utopian city of New Ionia, everyone gets a soulmate—and Zada can’t wait for hers. Now that she’s eighteen, it’s her turn to meet her destiny with the help of Heartsong, an algorithm that chooses your perfect match for you.
Then Zada crashes into her soulmate, setting off their shared Heartsong, and the unthinkable happens: she feels nothing for him. But the Heartsong program doesn’t make mistakes, and by the end of the night, Zada is engaged to a man she doesn’t love.
Desperate for a way out, Zada turns to her beautiful, reckless, and utterly impossible former best friend Daphne. Together, the two embark on a quest for the truth that throws Heartsong—and their entire world—into question. As time runs out, Zada must find the courage to choose what she believes and who she loves.
Link: Goodreads
Love Galaxy — Sierra Branham
Genre: Romantic science fiction thriller
Rep: Sapphic
Series: Book 1 of The Imperial Broadcasts
A romantic science fiction thriller in which a young woman from a dead-end planet gets cast on a reality TV show to compete for the hand of the prince—or princess. But not everyone is there for the right reasons...
Temmi, a young trash collector stuck in a dead-end job on a garbage planet, finds herself with a golden ticket she never expected: an opportunity to compete in an intergalactic dating show starring the brother and sister heirs to the galactic empire. Twenty-four women will compete on a televised program to marry the prince and princess—and future emperors—and to win the dynasty’s favor for their home planet.
Temmi may have been hand-picked to date the quiet, bookish prince, who is immediately taken by her brash personality and their shared passion for the sciences. But she can’t seem to keep away from the princess—and even though it couldn’t be a worse idea, their chemistry is undeniable.
But when contestants start turning up dead, and conspiracies begin to swirl around anti-imperial motivations of several contestants, Temmi among them, so much more than feelings are at stake.
In fact, very few of the participants of Love Galaxy have come on the show to find love. Sexy, snarky, and revolutionary, this fast-paced thrill ride will hook lovers of reality TV, fans of thoughtful sci-fi, and anyone who lives for drama.
Link: Goodreads
Shadows in Dream Stone — Kelly K Branyik
Genre: Dystopian
Rep: Sapphic
Series: Book 1 of the Dark Stars trilogy
What if the laws of nature resulted in imprisonment at the hands of political tyrants?
Abaddon Ordell is a teacher, sister, and wife turned prisoner. In the wake of a devastating miscarriage, Abaddon is cruelly handed over to the law by her husband and condemned to the infamous Dream Stone prison.
Hemmed in by aggressive inmates, guards steeped in misogyny, and a Warden whose sympathy is nothing but a sham, she grapples with her consuming grief and a deep rage over the oppressive forces that govern her reproductive rights. She isn’t sure she will survive, or if she even wants to.
Just when all seems lost, an unexpected ally offers her the strength and love she needs to endure this darkness, if only she has the courage to trust her.
As the dangers of Dream Stone escalate, Abaddon turns her suffering into strength to plot a revolutionary scheme that targets the heart of the oppressive regime. She just has to make it out of prison alive first.
Abaddon’s tale of survival serves as a testament to the indomitable spirit of those who fight against the chains of injustice, and a reminder of the thin line between order and oppression.
Link: Goodreads
Body Count — Codie Crowley
Genre: YA horror
Rep: Sapphic
In this sapphic slasher novel, Sundae Valentine made a deal with a monster in Wildwood, N.J., when she was a child, and barely escaped with her life. Six years later, Sundae’s braving Wildwood again for a killer beach party to celebrate prom with the cheerleaders and the football team. But the monster is back, too, and this time he’ll stop at nothing to make sure she pays her debts.
Link: Goodreads
Homebound — Portia Elan
Genre: Science fiction
Rep: Queer
Six hundred years. Five interlocking lives. One computer game. And the many paths that can lead us home.
It’s 1983 and Becks can’t wait to get the hell out of Cincinnati. In the meantime, she has work to her uncle, the only person who understood her, has left her a half-finished game to complete.
What Becks is coding will outlast her by centuries and shape the lives of a scientist, an astronaut and a desperate sea captain in ways she cannot imagine. It will connect these four pioneering women across time, vast oceans and far-distant planets and introduce them to a remarkable robot destined to gather together this disparate crew and bring them home.
Homebound is a coming out and coming-of-age story, a wild and precarious sea adventure, a space odyssey. As it slips through time, loss, creativity, found family, it journeys deep into humanity’s future and capacity for love.
Link: Goodreads
Between Sun and Shadow — Laura Genn
Genre: YA science fiction fantasy, retelling
Rep: Sapphic
Hades and Persephone reimagined on a tidally locked planet, for fans of queer romance, mutant superpowers, eccentric robots, and speculative tech.
Sixteen-year-old Kori struggles to be a dutiful heiress to the Daylands, a post-cataclysmic society reliant on chip implants to retain memory. With a strict routine and an overly cautious mother, Kori has only one friend, Aspect—an industrial robot she’s repurposed. Determined to awaken sentience in her metal companion, Kori crash-lands in enemy territory while hunting for a memory that might do the trick.
Ravaged by radiation from a meteorite, the citizens of the Shadowlands have evolved into beast-like creatures with supernatural abilities. Adria, a winged mutant, has wrested control of the Shadowlands from her bloodthirsty parents—but not everyone is so willing to embrace her leadership. What better way to instill confidence in her court than by capturing a foreign princess and demanding ransom?
However, what began as a political maneuver transforms into a potent attraction as Kori’s longing for relationship echoes Adria’s own. Granted free rein of Adria’s fortress, Kori stumbles upon a startling revelation that could upend the Daylands entirely. As rebellion grows and Adria’s precarious hold on her throne wavers, Adria and Kori must join forces to avert all-out war. Does a queen of shadows really stand a chance with a princess of sunlight? Or has the chasm between their nations grown too wide?
A science fantasy “Beauty and the Beast,” this action-packed adventure is written in dual point of view and layered with a charming robot, a cuddly three-headed dog, mind-bending twists, and sapphic yearning.
Link: Goodreads
The Wives of Herrick Hall — Julie Lew
Genre: Fantasy, horror
Rep: Sapphic
Herrick Hall doesn’t let anything go without a fight. Least of all its masters’ dead wives...
After a dalliance with another woman leaves her reputation in shambles, Josephine Carter is banished to the isolated manor to serve as lady’s companion to Herrick’s mistress. Lady Nora Blake is a headstrong, capricious woman, who spends her days convalescing from a mysterious illness—and her nights witnessing her imminent death over and over. Shackled to her side, Josephine is certain life could not get worse. But then she meets the Herrick wives. Ghosts veiled in shadow stalk the halls and trespass into Josephine’s dreams, trapped forever in the fury of their last dying wish: to destroy Herrick and everyone beneath its roof. Josephine determines to escape by any means necessary.
Until she and Nora fall in love.
Together, Josephine and Nora must confront Herrick’s curse to battle their way to freedom. But Herrick has already claimed them as its next ghostly brides, and neither the house nor its vengeful wives will relinquish them without bloodshed…
Link: Kobo
The Cove — Claire Rose
Genre: YA horror
Rep: Queer
Midsommar meets Fear Street in this modern, sea-soaked folk horror debut about fighting to survive and fighting to be yourself.
Seventeen-year-old Lindsay Weinberg has just been kicked out of yet another prep school and exiled to her uncle’s farm in the cold, isolated town of Marbury, Maine. But Uncle Levi is gone, leaving the farmhouse under the strict rule of his new zealously evangelical wife, who runs a reform camp for troubled teens. Up at dawn. Manual labor all day. No phones. No computers. No way out.
When Lindsay meets the twins, Phin and Cass, who live on a nearby island, everything changes. One reckless night, she convinces the others to sneak out for a party. The night is unforgettable—at least, the parts they can remember. The next morning, they wake in their own beds, clutching seashell tokens, hearts pounding, with no memory of how they got home. Except one camper never made it back.
As disappearances mount and dark secrets rise, Lindsay and her friends must unravel the mystery of the island—before The Cove claims them all.
Link: Goodreads
Earthly Playing Field — Radhika Singh
Genre: Speculative fiction
Rep: Sapphic
A speculative novel of anti-imperialist queer imagination set in a science-fictional future that is rooted in the lovingly portrayed context of the Punjabi global diaspora.
Love and revolution in a crumbling world order...
Roma has a full-time job, a mortgage, and a loving family in Queens. Life is good in the center of the Empire, but on the outskirts, soldiers wage a brutal war against a besieged people. When her stepbrother Ranbir entrusts her with a mysterious plant, Roma discovers it’s a startlingly sophisticated piece of bioengineered technology that opens a portal for an extra-terrestrial spirit body that brings news of a liberated future.
While Ranbir joins forces with the spirit body to confront the nucleus of automated warfare, his brother Khushbir has more local concerns, and is organizing the Punjabi farmers’ protest. Meanwhile, Roma is occupied with existential questions about complicity and faith that have her reconsidering her role within this global struggle.
What follows draws Roma and her family onto the frontlines of the resistance—and in Roma’s case, into the path of a woman whose heart will only ever belong to the revolution.
Link: Goodreads
When Everything Was Fresh and Green — Bethany Tap
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Queer
When Tessa, a single foster mom, is charged with the care of Astrid, an abandoned teen witch, the world as she knew it disappears. Discovering secrets about her lost foster child Theo, Tessa follows Astrid and a fabulous witch named Cece to a magical house. There, she joins the ranks of Magix, including a burly siren, a snake-charming ogress, a morbid little vampire, a pair of wild werewolf toddlers, and a coven of ice fairies, all of whom are in hiding from a murderous organization hell-bent on destroying the magical and non-magical worlds alike.
Interwoven with Tessa’s journey is the story of three friends: Val, Tish, and Gunner. Letters between the three outline their work to prevent a looming climate crisis at all costs. As their story collides with Tessa’s, it becomes clear that Tessa, Astrid, Cece, and even sweet Theo are mixed up in something far more sinister than they realized. Tessa must set aside her disbelief, fear, grief, self-doubt, and even her growing infatuation with Cece to join Astrid on a journey to find her family, finding her own family and the truth of herself along the way.
Link: Goodreads
A Long and Speaking Silence — Nghi Vo
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Queernorm world; non-binary MC
Series: Book 7 of The Singing Hills Cycle (stands alone)
Every story begins somewhere.
On the banks of the Ya-lé River, the town of Luntien gathers to celebrate the start of the rainy season, but the celebration is marred by the arrival of refugees from the sea. Everyone has a story about the foreigners newly in their midst—lazy, violent, unwanted—while the refugees themselves grieve the loss of the home they loved.
Cleric Chih, very recently still Novice Chih, is also a stranger in Luntien. A moment of carelessness and bad luck leaves them waiting tables as they struggle to establish themself as a real cleric. A cleric’s job is to listen and record, but the stories emerging in Luntien are ugly and violent, as hard to predict as the river itself. With their hoopoe companion Almost Brilliant by their side, Chih must help the refugees while also unraveling a mystery that may have roots in their own faraway home in the abbey of Singing Hills.
In the seventh entry of the award-winning Singing Hills series, we meet Chih and Almost Brilliant just beginning their journey together as Chih assumes their place on the road and in the world.
The novellas of the Singing Hills series are standalone stories linked by the Cleric Chih, and may be read in any order.
Link: Goodreads
Platform Decay — Martha Wells
Genre: Science fiction
Rep: Queernorm world; agender aroace MC
Series: Book 8 of The Murderbot Diaries
Everyone’s favorite lethal SecUnit is back in the next installment in Martha Wells’ bestselling and award-winning Murderbot Diaries series.
Having someone else support your bad decision feels kind of good.
Having volunteered to run a rescue mission, Murderbot realises that it will have to spend significant time with a bunch of humans it doesn't know.
Including human children. Ugh.
This may well call for... eye contact!
(Emotion check: Oh, for f—)
Link: Goodreads
May 6, 2026
The Forgetting Navigations — Marlee Jane Ward
Genre: Science fiction
Rep: Queer
Abandoned in a lifepod in the vastness of space, Evey is left for dead. When the bookish freight hauler Shirr rescues her, the two form a connection over tea and unspoken trauma. Just when things feel safe again, their peace is threatened by a relic of their past, and they’re forced to embark on a mission across the stars to protect themselves and others from the threat of violence.
THE FORGETTING NAVIGATIONS is a brutally honest exploration of what it means to be a survivor, set against the brilliant backdrop of the cosmos.
Link: Goodreads
May 7, 2026
Mercutio — Kate Heartfield
Genre: Historical fantasy, retelling
Rep: Queer
From Sunday Times bestselling author of The Embroidered Book and The Valkyrie comes an opulent 13th century epic retelling of the life of Mercutio before he ever encountered Romeo and Juliet.
On the battlefield, as warring factions deal out death, young Mercutio chances upon the charismatic poet Dante Alighieri. In their desperate stand against the enemy, they inadvertently open a crack between our world and Faerie, literally changing the stars over Mercutio’s head, and creating a mysterious presence who will follow Mercutio for all the days of his life.
With new stars come new destinies for young men who will travel to the ends of the Earth to honour the bonds of love and friendship.
As outcasts and exiles, Mercutio and Dante find family in a band of fighters called the Montecchi, near Verona. With his friends at his side, Mercutio will battle to change his stars, and to free the changeling upon whose fate hangs the future of the human world.
Link: Goodreads
The Last Best Quest Ever — F.T. Lukens
Genre: Cozy YA romantasy
Rep: Queer; F/X
A fraudulent teen quester must team up with a brooding, royal rival on a perilous adventure to save her brother’s life in this cozy young adult romantasy full of mythical creatures by the New York Times bestselling author of Spell Bound and So This is Ever After.
Seventeen-year-old Ellinore has the best questing record of anyone in the kingdom’s history. She also has a secret: her fame is built entirely on lies. Tired of the charade, she shocks the kingdom by retiring at a royal feast. But her plans for a quiet life are disrupted when her twin brother Zig bets his life that Ellinore can retrieve the horn of the mythical Elder Beast. To save Zig, she reluctantly sets out on one last, perilous quest.
Accompanying her are Zig, determined to help despite his recklessness; Aven, her envious rival eager to prove their superiority; an ambitious bar maiden turned adventurer; and a young, magic-wielding bard. Together, they face an arduous journey fraught with mythical challenges and shifting alliances. As they search for the Elder Beast, Ellinore grapples with her growing feelings for Aven, her fear of losing Zig, and her identity as a reluctant hero.
With time running out, Ellinore must confront not only the legendary creature but also her own truths. Can she save her brother, embrace her potential, and finally decide her path?
Link: Goodreads
May 9, 2026
Tangled Past — Claudie Arseneault
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Asexual, aromantic, non-binary, lesbian
Series: Book 8 of The Chronicles of Nerezia
Fate and friendship brought the Wagon Crew together in Rumi’s sentient, self-propelling wagon. Their travels across a world haunted by Fragments, dangerous shards that can possess travellers, has unravelled part of the mystery behind Aliyah’s past, her strange abilities, and the Fragments themselves.
At last, they have reached the forest of Aliyah’s dreams, in which they hope to find the rest of their answers. Hiding within the green foliage are the forest’s magical dwelllers, small spirits with bodies of mulch, faces of bark, and eyes that shine the colour of Aliyah’s magic. Their curiosity and wonder are only rivalled by Horace’s, and soon the Wagon Crew is hard at work trying to communicate with them and understand their place in the puzzle.
Link: Bookfunnel
May 12, 2026
All Hail Chaos — Sarah Rees Brennan
Genre: Fantasy romance
Rep: Queer
Series: Book 2 of Time of Iron
THE EMPEROR IS HERE. AND SHE MADE HIM WORSE.
Rae is a fantasy reader who's been transported to her favourite fictional world of swords and sorcery, castles and monsters. Playing the villainess, she thought she could change the narrative, but this version of the plot is far much more deadly than the one she knew.
Her friends are on the run: the Cobra shelters in an eerie manor haunted by dark secrets, while Emer and Lia stoke a revolution in the gutters. Undead armies roam the kingdom, raiders camp at the city gates, and the irresistible emperor—Rae’s favourite character ever, now possibly the greatest monster in the land—wants her to be his evil queen.
What’s a villainess to do? It’s time for wicked bargains and fake engagements, in a fantasy where the most dangerous thing you can do is believe in someone.
Link: Goodreads
Vile Lady Villains — Danai Christopoulou
Genre: Horroromantasy, retelling
Rep: Sapphic
With the consequences of her murderous actions closing in, Lady Macbeth turns to the three witches for help. She’s given a brew that transports her to an unknown realm. Desperately lost, she opens a door and comes face to face with a beautiful woman drenched in blood.
Klytemnestra, Queen of Mycenae, is exacting bloody vengeance on her husband. Yet as she revels in her triumph, an otherworldly door appears and a strange woman steps in. Thinking this stranger a spirit, she chases Lady Macbeth into the realm of stories.
Hunted by screaming wraiths into worlds that are hell bent on their demise, this murderous pair are forced to form an alliance or perish. Yet the realm’s goddess, The Mistress of the House of Books, claims to hold the key to saving them. But can they trust this ancient goddess?
As every threat brings our vile lady villains closer, turning ill intentions into fiery attraction that no author dare write, they have a remain within the confines of their original tales... or burn down the world to pen a new story together...
Link: Goodreads
The Lost Book of Lancelot — John Glynn
Genre: Fantasy, retelling
Rep: Queer
A “richly detailed and evocative” queer retelling of the legend of Sir Lancelot, following the famous knight as he grows up orphaned, falls in love, and attempts to fulfill his destiny at the Round Table—a stunning debut novel from the author of Out East.
Hidden away on the Isle of Women, a nameless orphan has grown up among the island’s sisterhood, but always at a distance. He hears whispers of a prophecy that may shed light on his destiny—and his true identity. Lancelot. Determined to master the skills and knowledge worthy of the knight he is meant to be, he begins training alongside the handsome Galehaut. As the two grow closer, they guide one another towards their truest selves. But no matter how tightly they cling to one another, each has a role to play in the wizard Merlin’s grand prophecies.
When Lancelot is forced to follow Merlin to Camelot, he fights to protect his heart while seeking the fabled Holy Grail. As he grows closer to his fellow knights, Lancelot must keep an explosive secret to himself—the truth of what he left behind on the Isle of Women, of the man he truly is beneath the armor. All the while, Roman legionaries too scour far and wide for the grail. As an army encroaches on their kingdom, King Arthur and his knights must race to ensure that this powerful object doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
Steeped in rich medieval lore, THE LOST BOOK OF LANCELOT is an immersive, poignant reexamination of the most famous knight of the Round Table. It is the story of a once vulnerable boy who is forced to rise to the occasion, of a kingdom under siege, and of the battle between the old world and the new.
Link: Goodreads
Ignore All Previous Instructions — Ada Hoffmann
Genre: Science fiction
Rep: Queer; trans secondary character
A script supervisor for an AI media conglomerate is caught between her intense need for an orderly life and her deeper, darker queer desires. From the creator of the Outside trilogy, a heartfelt interplanetary epic of identity, longing, and a space pirate who smuggles inappropriate stories.
Kelli Reynolds loves creating stories more than anything in the world. But on Callisto, a generative AI company called Inspiration owns everything, including all the media, and only Inspiration determines which stories can be told.
Kelli has a rare and coveted job in which her autism is to her advantage: She precisely edits AI output into “appropriate” stories for Inspiration’s massive TV audience. Her proudest creation is the pirate Orlando—a dashing do-gooder based on stories she used to tell friends.
Reenter Kelli’s ex-boyfriend Rowan, the person Kelli based Orlando on. Back when they were teenagers, their relationship was a secret. Kelli had thought that Rowan, a trans man, was her schoolmate Em, a girl.
Rowan is tangled up in the black market after he needed to get money for gender reassignment surgery. He needs Kelli’s help with something... illegal. So, now Kelli has to decide: Will she risk the safe, tidy story of her life now for the world she once wished for? What would Orlando do?
Passionate, dangerous, and tender, Ignore All Previous Instructions is a sweeping, poignant novel about censorship, forbidden love, and growing up.
Link: Goodreads
Radiant Star — Ann Leckie
Genre: Science fiction
Rep: Queernorm world
Series: Standalone in established universe
Space opera’s sharpest mind returns to the world of the Imperial Radch in this brilliant standalone from award-winning author Ann Leckie.
The Temporal Location of the Radiant Star has always been a source of both conflict and hope for the people of Ooioiaa. However, the imperial Radch see it only as an inconvenience, an antiquated religious site soon to be absorbed into their own, superior culture. But local politics is complicated, and the Radch have made a final concession: One last man will be allowed to join the mummified bodies in the temporal location to become a “living saint.”
But this decision will ripple out to affect every part of the city. Amidst a slowly worsening food shortage, riots, and a communication blackout from the rest of the Radch Empire, a religious savant will entertain visions of his own sainthood, a socialite will discover hir comfortable life upended, and a young man sold into servitude will find unlikely escape.
Link: Goodreads
The Saw Mouth — Cale Plett
Genre: YA horror
Rep: Genderqueer MC
For fans of The Last Bookstore on Earth and Compound Fracture, a heart-pounding rural horror following a genderqueer teen who survives a near-apocalypse, only to be hunted by a mysterious monster whose very existence is entwined with their own.
From a breathtaking new voice in YA, this story is for anyone haunted by the sins of past generations—and fighting to right them.
When Cedar was a child, fragmented, tortured souls woke up in the world’s most complex machines, destroying them and pushing technology back decades. A fall. The Fall, some said, and they called it Autumn.
Ten years later, following a family tragedy, Cedar moves to the nowhere town of Sawblade Lake only to find something hunting them. A long, bent shadow that reeks like rot and has the mouth of a deep crevice. It’s after Cedar, and it’s willing to go to any lengths to break them, including preying on Cedar’s new queer family.
The closer it circles, the more it seems to weave through Cedar’s whole life. It might stretch back to their mother’s gruesome, inexplicable death, to the murk of their missing family, to the house they grew up in. Back and back and back to the first day of Autumn.
Cedar thought they understood how their world had changed, but they’re far from dredging the bottom.
Link: Goodreads
The Hanging Bones — Elle Tesch
Genre: YA fantasy
Rep: Aroace protagonist
From the author of What Wakes the Bells comes a rich, gothic fantasy about a girl who enters a dangerous, magical hunt with the goal of winning the death of her predatory overlord. Perfect for fans of Adalyn Grace, Maggie Stiefvater, and V.E. Schwab.
Some monsters are born. Some are made. All can be killed.
Once every few years, the Scavenge Moon rises. From beyond its pale glow steps the Breimar Stag, an otherworldly creature with eyes of burning gold. Any reckless adventurer who chooses to join the hunt for the stag only has until the Scavenge Moon sets to claim their prize—if they catch it, they are granted the death of any person of their choice. And if no one catches it, the stag will claim one of the hunters’ souls instead.
Katrin has lived on the border of the forest her whole life, raised on tales of the Folk that dwell within. As a gamekeeper for the baron who rules over the region, she is saddled with the onerous task of escorting the entitled nobles who descend upon her home for the Breimar Hunt. None of them respect the forest or its legends, and Katrin is only too happy to let them risk their foolish necks for what they see as a cheap thrill.
When her beloved cousin becomes the latest target of the baron’s lecherous appetites, Katrin knows only his death will keep her family safe, and the only way she can claim his life is to win the hunt herself. But something hungry has begun to stir in the woods, something even older and more powerful than the stag. As the horrifying, mutilated bodies pile up, Katrin begins to question where the true danger lies.
Link: Author’s Website
May 14, 2026
Andromeda — E.S. McLeod
Genre: Fantasy, mythology
Rep: Sapphic
Blessed by the gods with unparalleled beauty, Andromeda lives a life of ease within her Aethiopian palace walls. Content with her sanctuary, the young princess has no concerns other than the royal expectations her parents have for her—until a single, fateful proclamation changes everything.
When the queen defies the gods with a blasphemous claim, Poseidon, fearsome God of the Seas, delivers a deadly ultimatum that puts the queen’s life in Andromeda’s hands. Poseidon sends his loyal servant, the shape-shifting Ceto, to seal the princess’s fate.
But Ceto is not just a servant. With a sharp tongue and hardened heart, she has little interest in the princess’s appearance—and even less in the games of gods. Yet an undeniable tension begins to bloom between them, and both quickly realise Andromeda’s beauty is not only a gift, but a weapon to wield. As Poseidon’s judgement draws ever closer, the two women find themselves pulled into something far more passionate—and dangerous—than either could have predicted...
Link: Goodreads
Blood of the Gods — Wren L. Rivers
Genre: Seafaring fantasy
Rep: M/X; queer
Series: Book 1 of The Divine Archive
Falling. Frigid steel. Sharp, acidic pain. A mounting desperation to escape, even if it means diving into the ocean’s unforgiving depths.
This is all Stranger can remember.
When the crew of the Vengeance rescues them from certain death at the hands of Midir’s endless ocean, the gruff and obstinate Captain Jonah Morgan is quick to interrogate. Who are they? Where did they come from? Why was somebody drawing their blood?
But Stranger has no answers—not even a name to call their own. The only information they can offer is a description of the man who had tortured them.
Slowly, they realize their missing memories play not only a pivotal role in their own personal identity, but also in the grander entanglement of mortality and the divine. The God King Einari’s cataclysmic Great Flood had ravaged Midir one thousand years ago—an act of divine rage that had drowned continents and killed billions. But even now, the prospect of human extinction looms beneath the endless waves.
Somewhere, locked away in Stranger’s missing memories, is the key to human salvation.
Link: Goodreads
May 18, 2026
Breath and Bone — K.V. Johansen
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Queer
A long-retired swordswoman, saviour of godlings and killer of emperors, takes to the road again with her shapeshifting companion and the ghost of her brother…
The vhalgod Hedge was once Naskanna Deathdealer, bastard daughter of the Emperor, Captain of the Second Company of his Golden Guard. In the last days of the wars she cut off the Emperor her father’s head and wandered away across the world, with the ghost of her vhaldrachen brother Jinn bound to a flute made from a bone of his wing.
The wild godling Thallyn, freed from captivity in the Emperor’s palace, also went wandering, homeless and heartsick. Her path recrossed that of Naskanna Deathdealer, and after more long years of wandering together, Hedge and Thallyn (Pony to her friends) settled down in the far north-west, with a garden and an orchard and some ducks; there, they thought, they would stay, and let the world get on without them.
But a human girl named Arrany has come in search of the legendary Naskanna Deathdealer: her brother Penryl has fallen prey to a life-draining witch. That witch, she claims, was once the magus known as Spider—with whom Hedge and Pony have an old, old score to settle.
Link: Author’s Website
May 19, 2026
The Color of Time — Millie Abecassis
Genre: Science fantasy, retelling
Rep: Sapphic
A science-fantasy retelling of Charles Perrault’s fairy tale “Peau d'Âne,” The Color of Time blends the whimsy of classic fairy tales with the sapphic romance of Fable for the End of the World and the large-scale politics of The Mercy of Gods.
Princess Cyrelle has always been faithful and true to her family, country, and Goddess. But now her brother, King Elias of Cicia, has asked for—no, commanded—her hand in marriage.
Desperate to avoid this incestuous union, Cyrelle requests a series of increasingly impossible gifts and petitions the Goddess for a sign to sway her resolute brother’s proposal. As Elias persists undeterred, Cyrelle must risk everything to escape the only life she’s ever known.
Soon, she becomes Green Scales, hiding and struggling to survive on her own, far across the galaxy. But Phau isn’t the peaceful refuge Cyrelle had hoped for, and when the leader of its burgeoning rebel faction recognizes the runaway princess, she is forced to choose between safety and freedom. With the fate of two kingdoms on the line and nowhere left to run, Cyrelle must decide what it means to be true to herself, to her people, and to her heart.
Link: Goodreads
Plastic, Prism, Void — Violet Allen
Genre: Science fiction romantasy
Rep: Trans MCs; M/F
A magical girl-gone-bad and a renegade mech pilot must stay on a date forever, even if it means destroying the world.
Don’t you want to help them?
“This Is How You Lose the Time War but on crack.” —Jace Molloy
Acrasia is in the ultimate long-distance relationship: with Opus Zhao, a man from another universe. She was a trans girl who was also an intergalactic moth-goddess. He was a trans guy who piloted a giant robotic tiger. They hated each other, then fell in love, then their universes moved apart. Now, years later, he’s turned up in her dimension again. What won’t she do to keep him there?
Combining Sailor Moon, Sex and the City, and House of Leaves, this riotous enemies-to-lovers romantasy roars off the page in the genre-exploding, galaxy-spanning, quick-quipping retro nostalgia futuristic thrill ride of a lifetime. Give in, succumb (you know you want to) to the unstoppable world of Plastic, Prism, Void.
Link: Goodreads
Together Is a Distant Star — A.J. Calvin, et al.
Genre: Speculative anthology
Rep: Queer
How far would you go to find where you belong?
A shapeshifting alien changeling raised by humans. The “wicked” child selected as the village sacrifice. People trapped in rigid belief systems, oppressive regimes, well-intentioned families, complicated relationships, and their very own bodies.
Is it better to succumb and survive, or escape by staking everything on a slender hope?
What triumphs in the end, love or vengeance?
And if all that remains is ashes, is it still worth it?
Grapple with these questions by diving into twelve new science fiction and fantasy stories. Together is a Distant Star is a collaborative anthology that encompasses authors hailing from Europe to Australia, South Africa to South America, and celebrates a kaleidoscope of perspectives—female, nonbinary, BIPOC, queer, and more.
Featuring stories from A.J. Calvin, C.B. Lansdell, Nancy Foster, V. Carvajal Leiva, Karen Lykkebo, Erika McCorkle, Branwen OShea, Alyse Steves, Delilah Waan, and Isabelle Wagner.
Link: Amazon
Canon — Paige Lewis
Genre: Literary fantasy
Rep: Queer; non-binary MC
Two unlikely heroes embark on quests to win God’s favor in this outrageously entertaining, profoundly heartfelt novel that announces an ingenious new voice in the tradition of Chain-Gang All-Stars, No One Is Talking About This, and Martyr!
Yara can’t comprehend why God has chosen them to slay Dominic, the ruthless leader of the army of Bad Guys. Cast out by their family and reeling from a destructive relationship, Yara has never felt weaker—but with nothing left to lose, they strike a deal. Abandoning their solitary days of embroidery and obsessive cleaning, Yara reluctantly embarks on a perilous odyssey designed to prepare them for the daunting mission ahead.
Meanwhile, Adrena, a disillusioned prophet with a terrifying secret power, is determined to become the hero of this story. Desperately seeking the glory of God’s approval and the promise of heaven, where she hopes to reunite with her beloved mother, Adrena must first persuade Harpo, the leader of the Good Guys, that her plan is God’s will.
As their journeys unfold in a series of unforgettable adventures, Yara and Adrena are propelled toward each other and transformative revelations about life, death, and destiny in this intensely captivating, irreverent epic from a singularly brilliant new voice in fiction.
Link: Goodreads
A Star-Cursed Heart — Annie Mare
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Sapphic
Two women are cursed to be mortal enemies, despite their love for each other, in this queer, fantastical novel by Annie Mare.
In the lead-up to the Salem witch trials, a desperate man made a deal with the devil—a deal that would drag two families down with him. Now, over 400 years later, the Steadfasts and the Prynnes remain caught in a curse that sentences both families to an existence of rigid rules, torturous consequences, and half-lives.
Lucy Prynne and Ashes Steadfast are the latest to take on the mantle of this centuries-old Lucy, born to try to reap the souls of the hopeful; and Ashes, born to stop Lucy, no matter the cost. But before they inherited their respective curses, it sure felt like Ash’s purpose was Lucy. Her best friend, her closest confidant, her true love.
Ash knows the rules. She keeps her head down, her emotions in check, and she fights Lucy, no matter the personal cost. They are doomed to an incessant battle between good and bad, self-righteous and carnal.
Or so Ash thinks. But when she resists her instincts to fight Lucy and finally starts to fight the curse instead, she realizes there might just be a way to end this once and for all. If not in this timeline, then the next. As generational secrets begin to unravel, Ashes and Lucy join forces against the true threat that has haunted their families for centuries, even if it costs them their lives—and their love.
Link: Goodreads
The Fake Divination Offense — Sara Raasch
Genre: YA contemporary fantasy
Rep: M/M
Series: Book 2 of Magic and Romance
From New York Times bestseller Sara Raasch, sports romance gets a Dungeons & Dragons makeover with the next book in the Magic and Romance series that follows half-giant Orok, forced into a PR relationship with a feisty, fan-favorite cheerleader.
Orok Half-giant. Rawball defensive tank on the Philadelphia Hellhounds. Follower of Urzoth... only Orok’s tired of following the god of aggression.
Alexo Cheerleader. Human? A dancer with a stadium’s worth of secrets.
When Orok saves Alexo at a bar, fans go feral for the star athlete protecting the pint-size dude-in-distress. The Hellhounds propose that Orok and Alexo start a PR relationship to put a positive spin on Orok’s god. Orok is set to refuse and renounce Urzoth—but that wouldn’t let him see Alexo again.
So, like a sap, he agrees.
As Orok tries to drop the fake part of their fake-relationship, Alexo’s dangerous truths emerge. To save him, Orok will have to sacrifice far more than his divine association.
Link: Goodreads
Take Me With You — Steven Rowley
Genre: Contemporary fantasy
Rep: Gay MC
College professor Jesse del Ruth has been abandoned. Thirty years into their relationship, Jesse witnesses his husband Norman get out of bed late one night, walk into their Joshua Tree backyard, step into a strange beam of light and... disappear. How could Norman desert him after a lifetime together? Where did he go? And, most confoundingly... will he ever return? Jesse knew they were longing for something, both feeling stuck. But had Norman been so stuck that his only option was to leave Jesse behind?
As Jesse struggles to understand Norman’s disappearance, he tries to piece together his new reality. Is he expected to wait patiently for a partner who may never come back? Or is this an opportunity for reinvention? He is, after all, alone for the first time in his adult life. Should he return to the classroom? Put in a pool? Get a dog? Call his estranged mother? What does it mean to be alone when you’ve always been one half of a whole?
When Norman’s sister Lally lands on Jesse’s doorstep with an urgent request, Norman’s absence becomes even more profound. Add to Jesse’s grief and confusion a conspiracy-theorist neighbor, a strange man following him, and suspicions that he may have had a hand in Norman’s disappearance, and Jesse starts to crack under the pressure. With his husband missing and the world closing in, all eyes are on Jesse. Before he can understand how Norman could leave it all behind, Jesse must confront what it means to stay.
In Take Me With You, Steven Rowley brings his resonant wit and emotional insight to an epic love story—an exploration of the forces that draw two people into the same orbit and the gravity that threatens to pull them apart.
Link: Goodreads
Blood Cute — Rachel A. Stine
Genre: Cozy paranormal mystery
Rep: Queer; polyamory
When eight children go missing in the small town of Bayhorn, the only ones who seem to care are a vampire (Ori), a zombie (Zelda), and a hume (Juniper). The three band together to crack the case and track down their missing loved ones.
Through coffee runs, lemon squares, and stakeouts, the three manage to keep their spirits high and their caffeine intake higher as the investigation leads them to an internet predator and a local woman who might be a child-napping witch.
And the more time they spend together, the stronger their feelings for one another become. But can their newfound relationship survive the investigation as secrets are revealed?
Link: Kobo
The House of Now and Then — Edward Underhill
Genre: Contemporary fantasy
Rep: M/M; trans man MC
Harlowe could use a break. With his academic future over, just like his relationship with his long-term boyfriend Jackson, a suspiciously cheap summer rental on the Cape feels like just the escape he needs.
But when he arrives at the picturesque seaside cottage, he’s alarmed to find his discouraging old professor in the living room. His father making coffee in the kitchen. And a handsome young repairman fixing things in the bedroom. Worst of all, Jackson is in the bathroom. None of them will leave. No one else can see them. And they won’t leave him alone.
The house isn’t magic only for Harlowe, and as the summer grows hot and thick with tourists, old wounds and fresh secrets—both in and outside its walls—begin to transform him. It’s clear the house is trying to tell him something, and he’s sure it has to do with the mysterious repairman who suddenly seems to be everywhere he looks… But can Harlowe let go of the past long enough to listen?
Evoking all the windswept dunes and Fourth of July fireworks of a perfect Cape Cod day, The House of Now and Then asks who you would find, if all your unfinished business was just behind one door.
Link: Goodreads
Decomposition Book — Sara van Os
Genre: Horror
Rep: Sapphic
An emotional, electrifying, and darkly hilarious debut about a woman who finds a dead body and can’t give up its ghost, for fans of Mona Awad, Yellowjackets, and weird girl fiction.
Spiraling from a disastrous falling-out with her best friend, Savannah retreats to her parents’ empty lake house in upstate New York to tend her wounds. Isolated and reeling from rejection, she spends her days in a fog, drinking and overthinking in equal worrisome measure. Until she wakes up one morning in the woods behind the house—next to a dead body.
Instead of calling the police, Savannah reads the journal she finds nearby, reliving the last desperate months of this woman’s life lost in the wilderness, fighting for survival. Ava, as it turns out, is more than just a cold, lonely corpse. She was funny. She was smart. And Savannah has finally found someone she can talk to...
As she pushes deeper into Ava’s harrowing story, Savannah notices a change, a shift in her reality. Each page brings her closer to the Ava from the journal... and the ghost before her now. Before long, Savannah feels something for Ava she hasn’t felt for anyone else—and there’s a good chance letting go would haunt her for the rest of her life.
Is Savannah finally losing her grip? Or has she found the friend she’s needed all along?
Link: Goodreads
Villain — Natalie Zina Walschots
Genre: Superhero
Rep: Bi MC
Series: Book 2 of Hench
The Boys meets Starter Villain and Assistant to the Villain in Natalie Zina Walschots’s electrifying, sharp, violent, and hilarious sequel to the highly acclaimed novel, Hench, in which the Auditor must confront the near-impossible in order to right the many wrongs in the superhuman industry... or cause more of them. She’s not picky.
Anna, better known to superheroes as the Auditor, has carved out a name for herself. Any hero unlucky enough to cross her path knows her potential and powers. Surely, success should taste she has an incredible job with lots of perks, and her boss will literally annihilate anyone who crosses her, and her greatest enemy, the former hero Supercollider, has been utterly defeated and literally ground to a pulp.
But Anna still has her sights set on a greater destroying the Draft, the organization that makes, trains, and manages the world’s most powerful superheroes. These “heroes” have shown time and time again that they do more harm than good, and now is the time to stop the damage at its source.
Yet all is not well for the Auditor and her fellow evildoers. Her employer, Leviathan—the world’s most feared supervillain—is not coping well with Supercollider’s defeat at someone else’s hands. Moreover, her unlikely ally and unexpected friend, Quantum Entanglement, has vanished without a trace, leaving Anna to examine all the ways they deceived each other. Tension and uncertainty fill the air, and fear that this moment of triumph is about to crumble looms over all of them.
Anna soon finds herself facing down an opponent unlike any she’s taken on before—not another superhero, but someone like her... someone much more the Draft’s Chief Marketing Officer. This isn’t a test of physical prowess, but ideas, and as the fight spirals deeper and deeper, with new foes popping up every day—she’ll need more than just her superpower—data research—to keep ascending through the supervillain ranks.
It’s guerrilla ad warfare, and the Auditor might have finally met her match.
Link: Goodreads
May 22, 2026
Spar of Hearts — Katherine Crowe
Genre: Romantasy
Rep: M/F; queernorm world
Series: Book 2 of Season of Souls (stands alone)
Spring has sprung… and the swords are out!
Lord Roderick Bryson spent his life blending into noble shadows while his people lived in exile. So when a mysterious illness plagues young Centarians, he jumps at the call for aid. It’s sure to absolve his guilt, and distract him from the wolf-masked mystery maiden who stole his heart at the Melusine Manor Masquerade. With his nautical experience and swordplay prowess, this voyage will be a piece of cake. His co-captain, however, is not.
Lycanian Princess Anya Delemond has been kept in a gilded cage her entire life. Clawing for a breath of freedom from the royal monotony, Anya finds escape leading the crew of the Lupus Star in an expedition that’s sure to quell her wanderlust once and for all, and prove her a worthy heir to the Valerian throne. Until he sinks his fangs into it.
Through sharp-tongued spars and sassy wyvern rides to sojourns in spring fields and underground fights, Roderick and Anya find themselves in uncharted waters that make unexpected feelings blossom, and force them to choose:
Duty… or heart?
If you love…
- Han x Leia, Anastasia x Dimitri vibes
- Vampires, werewolves, and elves
- Rivals-to-lovers
- Damsels who distress others
- Sensual swordfights
- A happy ending guarantee
You’ll love Spar of Hearts, a rivals-to-lovers romantasy novel set on the high seas of a queer-positive, post-medieval inspired world.
Link: Goodreads
May 25, 2026
Capture the Rain — Jules Gillem
Genre: Contemporary apocalypse romance
Rep: Gay
Series: Book 1 of Subtrocalypse
If there ever was a safe time to make a terrible decision, the end of the world might as well be it.
It’s been a long year for Glendale Peterson, and it’s only May. Dumped and kicked out by his toxic fiancé and in a fragile state of mind, he throws everything he owns into a trailer and drives. Over 2,500 miles, in fact, from the Colorado high desert to the sunny farmland where he grew up, south of glamorous downtown Miami. His part of town sees more mangoes than movie stars, more celery than celebrities, but he’s desperate for some quiet to recuperate. Unfortunately for Glendale, just a few weeks after his sudden return home the whole world falls apart.
A zombie apocalypse just seems par for the course for the year, really. Fresh off a slew of bad experiences and not quite ready to trust, a near-death experience puts him in the path of Marcelo Gonsalvez, a man so incandescent he’s almost beyond belief. Holed up from the hordes with only the bubbly stranger who rescued him for medical attention, things could go sideways fast.
Fortunately for Glendale, sometimes life stops throwing curve-balls and lets you catch your breath. While he’s at it, he’s also going to catch feelings.
Capture the Rain is a gay contemporary apocalypse romance featuring two neurodivergent protagonists (Autistic, AuDHD), a fat MMC, a Dominican Afro-Latine MMC, low gore, medium spice, and maximum feelings. A single POV slow burn teeming with emotional intimacy, self-acceptance, caretaking, and touch-starved/touch-generous moments, Capture the Rain will delight readers who need a bit of queer love hopecore to make it through this timeline.
Link: Books2Read
May 26, 2026
Waiting on a Friend — Natalie Adler
Genre: Historical fantasy
Rep: Queer; lesbian MC
East Village, summer of 1984. Renata is a young dyke-about-town who happens to have the ability to see ghosts, which has been happening more and more frequently as her friends have started dying of what has recently been named AIDS.
So, when her best friend Mark dies, she assumes she’ll see him again. There’s no way Mark wouldn’t give her a chance to say goodbye, would he? But to her disappointmen—and increasingly, her concern—Mark doesn’t appear.
Renata has other problems, too. There’s something strange happening in her advertisements for paranormal ‘exterminators’ who promise to clear out bad energy keep showing up. At first she’s sure they’re scam artists, but it becomes clear they’re actually trapping ghosts as part of a city-wide gentrification plot to make downtown safe for Reaganites.
Told with humour and pathos, Waiting on a Friend is a genre-bending retelling of Queer history that manages to be both heartbreaking and healing.
Link: Goodreads
The Boy Maeve — Kai Ash
Genre: YA fantasy
Rep: Trans boy MC
He only knows two things for sure: his name is Maeve and he’s a boy.
It’s 2002, and fourteen-year-old Maeve—an adopted, closeted trans boy—is facing another lonely year at school. At least he’s got Jeremy, his lifelong imaginary friend, for company. But even Jeremy, in all their wild wisdom, can’t explain the weird things that are happening to Maeve.
Like why Maeve’s hair spontaneously changes colour overnight. Or how Maeve knows his granny Beattie is dead, long before anyone can confirm it. Or why a stranger’s voice sounds uncannily familiar…
Maeve is full of questions—about his birth family and adoption, about Beattie and Jeremy, and about himself. But the answers are out of this world… and Maeve may have to give up everything he’s ever known to discover the truth.
For fans of Margo Lanagan and Alison Evans comes this dazzling, beguiling novel about a trans boy, his adopted family, and the search for self-acceptance, from extraordinary debut author Kai Ash.
Link: Goodreads
I Accidentally Locked Down a Witch — Jessica Cage
Genre: Fantasy rom-com
Rep: Sapphic
Series: Standalone in established universe
Who has time for crazy ex-girlfriends and witches from new worlds when you’re trying to build an empire?
Shontae Carter has built her fitness sanctuary from the ground up, armed with protein bars, sass, and zero tolerance for diet culture nonsense. She’s not just helping women lift weights, she’s helping them lift each other up. And with a big TV spot to drum up new business, everything is right on track… until a mysterious (and absurdly gorgeous) new client named Likosa walks through the door with killer cheekbones and an energy that crackles…literally.
Likosa isn’t your typical gym-goer. She's a witch from a shadowy realm known as The Bane. Her plan? Cozy up to Shontae, tap into the strange power hidden in her aura, and use it to break open a portal home. But nothing in her ancient practices prepared her for protein smoothies, cardio class, or the devastatingly cute way Shontae blushes when Likosa flirts with her.
As the two women team up for "personal training" (emphasis on personal), sparks fly, spells misfire, and hearts get caught in the crossfire. With demons from The Bane tracking Likosa’s every move, and Shontae discovering secrets about her own power, they’ll have to fight for their separate homes, or build one together?
Spicy, snarky, and full of heart, I Accidentally Locked Down a Witch is a magical rom-com for anyone who believes strength comes in all sizes. And that love might just be the strongest magic of all.
Link: Goodreads
Season of the Serpent — Suyi Davies Okungbowa
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Queer
Series: Book 3 of The Nameless Republic
Award-winning author Suyi Davies Okungbowa returns in the final installment of the Nameless Republic trilogy with a tale of villains, allies, and a world on the brink of destruction, perfect for fans of Tasha Suri, Evan Winter, and James Islington.
The old world has fallen. Now is the time of serpents.
The continent is split. The islands have sunk. The empire of Bassa is no more. With the resistant Nameless Republic and the conquering Kangalaland on the brink of war, all must choose a side: ally, or fall. Oon’s heroes and villains must rise from their ashes and meet a Third Great War.
Peace won’t come easy. Long-lost family will fight to reach Danso before war erases him forever. Lilong has survived the island catastrophe but lost her power, and will do anything to get it back. And fate will find Esheme where it left her—will the dead queen rise again?
For Oon, the first season of the five states is a season of serpents. After the storms pass and winds blow, what will remain? And who will survive?
Link: Goodreads
Being Aro — Madeline Dyer (ed.) & Rosiee Thor (ed.)
Genre: Anthology including several speculative genres
Rep: Aromantic
Explore expansive aromantic love and connection in stories across genres.
These twelve stories showcase aromantic people breaking generational curses, finding acceptance, and protecting the vulnerable while highlighting the infinite ways people find connection and love without romance.
A high school matchmaker learns a lesson about love. A rebellious spaceship pilot defies his culture’s compulsory coupling. A boy magically transforms banned romance novels into living dragons. A teen immune to romance, and the zombie virus, fights to survive the apocalypse. Being Aro is full of stories throughout real and imagined worlds that cross genres and disrupt the status quo.
Contributors include a mixture of established and emerging YA writers, such as Lammy Award-finalist Madeline Dyer, Lammy Award-nominated Rosiee Thor, USA Today bestselling Kemi Ashing-Giwa, and NYT bestselling authors Kalyn Josephson and Laura Pohl.
Link: Editor’s Website
Price of a Thousand Blessings Volume 3 — Ginn Hale
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Queer
Series: Book 3 of Price of a Thousand Blessings
Cymin has agreed to become a spy, defeated a fiery curse, inadvertently derailed a train, and survived a bloody ambush in the Sacred Necropolis―all to escape conscription in a Storm Tower. Now, at last, he and his companions have reached the vibrant canal city of Yanyeo. From here they plan to sail to Saigrath, leaving Chyre and its Storm Towers behind. Ahead of him lies the promise of new magic, deepening friendships and an opportunity to share more than secrets with the Waethir, Laithondi. Cymin can hardly wait to depart.
Unfortunately, two of Cymin’s companions lost their lives on the journey to Yanyeo. Their violent deaths have turned the people of Chyre against the expedition―and the Waeithir. Soon the entire undertaking is threatened. Now Cymin and the Waethir must throw their energy into challenging the bad press and winning the respect of Yanyeo’s leaders. But just as they are winning over the people, Cymin’s traveling companions begin to go missing.
But deep beneath the canal waters a curse has been released and an enemy from Cymin’s past is on the move. Talented mages all across the city are quietly going missing while mutilated remains have washed ashore.
Then Cymin’s friend Xaon disappears.
Racing to find him, Cymin and Laithondi must plunge into the lair of a criminal syndicate and risk not only exposing their secrets but their very lives.
Link: Goodreads
That Which Feeds Us — Keala Kendall
Genre: YA supernatural thriller
Rep: Queer
A native Hawaiian teen travels to a luxury island resort in search of her missing twin and uncovers the dark side of paradise, in this YA supernatural thriller that’s Mexican Gothic meets She is a Haunting.
For the world’s wealthiest, Kōpaʻa Island Resort is more than a destination. It’s the ultimate escape. With no cell service or Wi-Fi, the Hawaiian island is a coveted wellness retreat renowned for its persimmon orchard and promises of rejuvenation.
But their dream vacation is Lehua’s nightmare. When her twin sister, Ohia, goes missing, Lehua follows her trail to Kōpaʻa to find her. Instead, Lehua is cut off from civilization—and help—after the island’s boat leaves without her, stranding her with the resort’s lavish guests and enigmatic staff.
As Lehua investigates Ohia’s disappearance, she discovers her missing sister isn’t the island’s only mystery. Kōpaʻa’s rich exterior and sweet persimmons hide its dark plantation past. And Lehua can’t ignore the dreams haunting her each night—nor the warning telling her to leave the island at once. To uncover what happened to Ohia, Lehua will have to unearth the island’s bloody history and face the horrors that lurk within its sugarcane fields—or risk being consumed by them.
Sharply observed and gorgeously written, That Which Feeds Us explores the true cost of paradise as Lehua must fight to reclaim the land, the stories, and the very souls of her people.
Link: Goodreads
We Could Be Anyone — Anna-Marie McLemore
Genre: YA historical fantasy
Rep: Queer
True deception is a work of art.
Lola and Lisandro are actors during Hollywood’s Golden Age, but you won’t see them on any silver screen. Instead, these siblings use their talents to scam the rich and famous out of their ill-begotten cash. They have their act down to a science: Lola plays the tragic ghost who haunts the mansions of the wealthy, and Lisandro plays the brave spiritualist who will help her soul find peace. For a small fee, of course.
The siblings have their sights set on their next target: The Coterie, the opulent estate of newspaper tycoon Bixby Fairfax and his famous mistress Blythe Bell. A score this big will allow them to move… well, anywhere but here. But this job requires them to do something they’ve never done before: switch roles. And as strange things keep happening at The Coterie… things that even Lola and Lisandro can’t explain.
As they are drawn deeper into The Coterie’s gleaming façade and tensions rise between brother and sister, one question looms over them. Will they be able to pull off their act? Or will this be their last performance?
Link: Goodreads
Bromantasy — Máire Roche
Genre: Romantasy
Rep: M/M
Two heroes. One brain cell.
BROMANTASY is a cozy, queer fantasy about the mortifying ordeal of being known by your totally platonic best friend and the epic quest that might force you to confront the truth.
Fellas, is it gay to kiss your bff while on a quest through the forest you’re unqualified for?
Juniper O'Reilly is good at only two things: demolishing a pint of mead and finding the perfect skincare routine. Everything else—taking care of the farm, bartering for goods, any sort of manual labor—falls to Juniper’s best friend, the absurdly capable, endlessly patient Mo Elmthorn.
But when Juniper accidentally volunteers them both for a quest to kill a fearsome monster, he knows he’s finally gotten in over his head. Juniper hates camping, he hates the dark, and there’s no way all these foraged mushrooms are going to sit well in his stomach. One thing he doesn’t hate? How good Mo’s thighs look in his questing pants—he doesn’t have time to think about that, though, with a monster to hunt and their futures on the line.
But monsters come in all shapes and sizes. When Juniper and Mo realize that the terrifying beast they’ve sworn to kill is just a scared little girl torn from their family, they’re off to find not only the true villain of the story, but maybe even a happy ending.
Link: Goodreads
Bone of My Bone — Johanna van Veen
Genre: Historical fantasy, horror
Rep: Sapphic
The year is 1635.
Sister Ursula, a young nun fleeing the ruins of her convent, and Elsebeth, a sharp-witted peasant, escape a band of marauding soldiers and disappear into the Bavarian forest. War scorches the land, and no one survives it alone. Amid the devastation, they find something in the arms of a dying the gilded skull of a saint.
It is said that if you reunite the saint’s skull with her body, a wish will be granted. Desperate for salvation, and each with secret desires of their own, Ursula and Elsebeth follow a ragged map across the blighted countryside. But darkness follows them. A necromancer, drawn to the relic’s power. The saint herself, whispering at night. And as the lines between blessing and curse blur, the women must face a harrowing the magic they seek comes at a cost.
At the journey’s end, they’ll face an impossible choice—one that could tear apart everything they know... or bind them to each other forever.
Link: Goodreads