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Autumn 2026
Forthcoming SF Books
The Strangers by Naomi Alderman, Penguin, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-241-77766-4.
They had come from nowhere, and now they were everywhere. A few months after her mother dies, the novelist Naomi Alderman sets up a wildlife camera in the back garden of her parents’ home. It captures the first image of a strange new animal. Low to the ground, about the size of a badger, flat face, long trunk-like nose. Suddenly these ‘mimmoths’ are as common as foxes or dogs. And no one knows where they’ve come from. As Alderman negotiates the territory of grief – a place with its own logic and rhythms – the mimmoths spread. From the UK east and west, to the United States, to Russia, to India. They seem harmless, but oddly intelligent. They cannot be captured, they will not take food from humans, they have their own purposes. Alderman cannot shake the feeling that she has a particular connection to the creatures. Or is she just succumbing to ‘mimmoth psychosis’? As the impact of the mimmoths increases, she is pulled into the cross currents of conspiracy theories and global power struggles. Have her deeply personal forms of mourning lent recent events a surreal air, or is our reality changing drastically and irrevocably? From the award-winning author of the international bestseller, The Power, The Strangers is a thrillingly original and devastatingly moving novel that blurs the lines between fiction and reality, inviting us to reconsider what it means to be human. It’s like nothing you’ll have read before.
Ghost Station by S. A. Barnes, Bantam, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-857-50827-0.
An abandoned planet. A hidden past. A deadly danger. Psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her life to the study and prevention of Eckhart-Reiser syndrome (ERS)—the most famous case of which resulted in the brutal murders of twenty-nine people. It’s personal to her, and when she’s assigned to a small exploration crew who recently suffered the tragic death of a colleague, she wants to help. But as they begin to establish residency on an abandoned planet, it becomes clear that the crew is hiding something. And Ophelia’s crewmates are far more interested in investigating the eerie, ancient planet and unravelling the mystery behind the previous colonizers’ hasty departure than opening up to her. That is, until their pilot is discovered gruesomely murdered. Is this Ophelia’s worst nightmare starting—a wave of violence and mental deterioration from ERS? Or is it something even more sinister? Terrified that history will repeat itself, Ophelia and the crew must work together to figure out what’s happening. But trust is hard to come by…and the crew members aren’t the only ones keeping secrets.
The Forever Dead by John Birmingham, Ad Astra – Head of Zeus, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-789-54599-9.
With sheer weight of numbers, the Sturm's Combined Fleet of the (self-proclaimed) Human
Republic are driving ever deeper into the network of worlds they were exiled from over three centuries ago. At a horrendous cost, Commander Lucinda Hardy, Admiral Fraser McLennan, Sephina L'trel, Booker3 and Princess Alessia lead the only resistance to the Sturm's overwhelming forces. Amid the ruins of a civilisation utterly corrupted by the Sturm's horrific dark code malware, they must gather allies and weapons where they can. Old enemies must be overcome and unlikely partnerships forged. Surrounded, outnumbered and outgunned, the resistance cannot hold out. By strategy and deception, they must force a decisive confrontation with the Sturm.
The Sea Hides Its Dead by Megan Bontrager, Run For It, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-356-52960-8.
A group of academics are trapped in a sea cave who must reckon with unknowable horrors as they are forced to atone for their greatest sins. Grad student Caro has no idea what she wants to do with her life, but when an opportunity arises to act as a research assistant on an anthropological expedition for her professor and lover, Edward Beck, she doesn’t hesitate. Beck assembles a team of academics and professionals to study the ancient sea-based Cult of the Leviathan, and the expedition descends into the sea caves where the cult are said to have dwelt. But when the cave entrance collapses, trapping them inside, the expedition will find they are not alone in the darkness. Surrounded by strange artefacts and scattered bones, an ancient trial has been set in motion. One by one, the members of the expedition will be tested and forced to atone for their greatest sin… or die.
Paradox Inc. by Forrest Brazeal, Del Rey, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-96934-4.
Silicon Valley just invented time travel. The consequences are rewriting history. Meet the Bleb 1, the world’s first consumer time-travel device. It has the potential to change the world for the better – but for now, people are using it to steal limited edition Doritos from the 1990s, or kill their past selves for TikTok clout. Behind the device is Paradox Inc., a start-up prepared to do anything to stay ahead, even as the time-travel bubble threatens to destroy reality itself. As the industry spirals, three people find themselves at the centre of the chaos: an engineer who knows too much, a rival executive trying to impose order, and a journalist uncovering a conspiracy too vast for any tech giant to hide. Together, they confront the truth: the future may still be unwritten, but the past is no longer safe. After all, those who do not understand history are doomed to screw it up.
Wars In The Stars Short Stories byMiles J. Breuer et al, Flame Tree Press, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-83562-805-8.
Collecting the very best stories of war and escapades from across the galaxy, in which political allegiances are formed, other worlds discovered, aliens confronted and empires built and destroyed. Often impacted by environmental factors, governments, technology, and heroic individuals, the stories in this anthology ask us to explore all perspectives. Celebrating the epic adventure of space travel while also asking hard-hitting questions about war, this is a gripping new collection of stories from contemporary and classic authors.
As You Wake, Break The Shell by Becky Chambers, Hodderscape, £22, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
Life on Fortune is hard. The atmosphere is poisonous, the planet hardly fit for life. But for its inhabitants, it's home. Pilot Cora suffers from a rare and dangerous condition, brought about by her bond with Colibri, the alien animal she pilots to quarry vital water for the colony. If Cora seeks treatment, she risks losing her license - and her connection to Colibri forever. Then she meets Signy, a brilliant but reclusive botanist, whose bio-printed medicine is the only thing that can save her. But to do so, Signy must break the rules that govern their lives, risking her livelihood and the other colonists who rely on her for survival. As Cora and Signy navigate their balance of risk and trust, they are forced to confront what they owe to each other and to their community - and begin to question whether survival is enough…
Shell by Becky Chambers, Hodderscape, £22, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
Life on Fortune is hard. The atmosphere is poisonous, the planet hardly fit for life. But for its inhabitants, it's home. Pilot Cora suffers from a rare and dangerous condition, brought about by her bond with Colibri, the alien animal she pilots to quarry vital water for the colony. If Cora seeks treatment, she risks losing her license - and her connection to Colibri forever. Then she meets Signy, a brilliant but reclusive botanist, whose bio-printed medicine is the only thing that can save her. But to do so, Signy must break the rules that govern their lives, risking her livelihood and the other colonists who rely on her for survival. As Cora and Signy navigate their balance of risk and trust, they are forced to confront what they owe to each other and to their community - and begin to question whether survival is enough…
Voyagers by Meg Charlton, The Borough Press, £16.., hrdbk, ISBN Not provided.
When the Signal – a mysterious transmission pulsing from the edge of the solar system – arrives, the world changes overnight. Planes are grounded, satellites fail, and speculation abounds. With many believing it could be first contact with extraterrestrial life, humanity holds its breath. But for Alex, a thirty something lawyer, the Signal feels like the opening of an old wound. Decades ago, Alex and a girl named Ana both vanished for thirty-six hours while on vacation in Palm Springs. When they returned, dazed but unharmed, their account of the experience had all the hallmarks of an alien abduction. The media frenzy that followed and the long months of child stardom forged a seemingly unbreakable bond between them – until the mystery behind their disappearance began to tear them apart. Now, Alex is drawn back to the one person who might have answers. As the former best friends tentatively reunite, what starts as a quest to confront their original experience becomes a larger reckoning with friendship, faith, family, and truth itself.
Star Wars Outlaws: Low Red Moon by Mike Chen, Century, £10.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-804-95319-8.
ND-5 and Jaylen Vrax embark on their descent into the galaxy’s underworld in search of answers and opportunity, in this essential prequel to the Star Wars: Outlaws game. Jaylen Barsha, heir to his family’s immense power and wealth, had his life charted out for him neatly and meticulously by his parents. Then the Empire stripped it all away on trumped-up charges of conspiracy against his family. A battle droid arrives at the family compound with a mission to kill every last member of the Barsha clan. Jaylen manages to fend off the attack as the sole survivor, but realises the droid, who he reprogrammes, is his only chance to stay alive. But he can no longer be Jaylen Barsha – he’ll have to live now as Jaylen Vrax.
Time Out of Joint by Philip K. Dick, Gollancz, £10.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-035-93024-1.
This is a welcome reprint of a Dick classic. An idea that predates both The Truman Show and The Matrix from one of SF’s greats Ragle Gumm is an ordinary man leading an ordinary life, except that he makes his living by entering a newspaper contest every day – and winning, every day. He begins to suspect that his life – his whole world – is an illusion, constructed to keep him happy and docile. But if that is the case, what is his real world like, and what is he actually doing every day when he thinks he is guessing ‘Where Will the Little Green Man Be Next?’.
Scion by James Islington, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-64187-6.
This is the story of Azure, the cybernetically enhanced survivor of a mysterious explosion that killed his best friend. He becomes embroiled in a secret underworld of organised crime and world-changing technology.
The Rapture by Liz Jensen, Canongate, £10.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-837-26607-4.
Soon to be adapted as a BBC Drama starring Ruth Madeley and India Amarteifio. Psychologist Gabrielle is recovering from a devastating car crash when she takes on a job at a maximum-security facility for juvenile patients. Here she meets Bethany, a cruel teenager who insists she can predict natural disasters – a claim Gabrielle interprets as a symptom of her zealous, evangelical upbringing. But when disasters begin happening as predicted, Gabrielle questions whether she is a fervent manipulator or a messenger of global catastrophe. A haunting story of devotion, faith and fury, and Liz Jensen’s bestselling novel, The Rapture is an engrossing thriller that explores the extremes of mankind’s self-destruction in a world on the brink of collapse.
Everything Happens So Much by Andrew Hunter Murray, Orion, £15.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-398-71808-1.
Billed by the publisher as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets Alice in Wonderland for the twenty-first century Esme Good is an entirely unremarkable young woman, working a dead-end job in a first-draft universe that lies forgotten in one of the Creator’s cosmic drawers. Through one of the slightly more surprising quantum coincidences in recent memory, Esme ends up deleting every other possible version of herself in every other possible reality. This makes her not only the most important person in this, or perhaps any, universe – but it also makes her the target of an inter-galactic (wo)manhunt
Death's End by Cixin Liu, Head of Zeus, £10.00, pbk, ISBN 978-1-784-97165-6.
Half a century after the Doomsday Battle, the uneasy balance of Dark Forest Deterrence
keeps the Trisolaran invaders at bay. Earth enjoys unprecedented prosperity due to the infusion of Trisolaran knowledge and, with human science advancing and the Trisolarans adopting Earth culture, it seems that the two civilisations can co-exist peacefully as equals without the terrible threat of mutually assured annihilation. But peace has made humanity complacent. Cheng Xin, an aerospace engineer from the 21st century, awakens from hibernation in this
new age. She brings knowledge of a long forgotten program dating from the start of the Trisolar Crisis, and her presence may upset the delicate balance between two worlds. Will humanity reach for the stars or die in its cradle?
The Passing of the Dragon and Other Stories by Ken Liu, Head of Zeus, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-9292-8.
A new collection of thirteen stories that explore the boundaries of imagination. In these tales, dragons soar over small towns, mech-animals dream of freedom, and techno- witches weave spells against a world ruled by machines. A painter wrestles with transcendence, an aging scorpion helps his daughter escape tradition, and a consciousness aboard a starship witnesses the death and rebirth of the cosmos. Blending science fiction and fantasy with profound meditations on identity, memory, and connection, Ken Liu once again proves himself a master of the short form – offering stories that will linger long after the last page is turned.
Sleeper Straddle by George R. R. Martin, Harper Voyager, £9.99, pbk, ISBN Not provided.
An original collection ofinterwoven short stories set in the 'Wild Cards' universe, created by the author of A Game of Thrones. An alien virus ravages the world, with effects as random as a hand of cards. Those infected either draw the black queen and die, draw an ace and receive superpowers, or draw the joker and are bizarrely mutated.
Time Travel For Beginners by Jaclyn Moriarty, HQ, £14.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-0-008-72541-9.
Three strangers’ lives are forever changed when they’re all drawn to a mysterious agency claiming to have unlocked the secret to time travel. It’s a crisp, wintry Thursday when Anna is hit by a car. Possibly lightly concussed, possibly thinking clearly for the first time in a long time, she quits her miserable job and agrees to take on a role at the Time Travel Agency. Across town, Teddy has been lying flat on his back staring at the ceiling for the past three weeks. Since his wife left him for his brother, he just can’t seem to get up. When he spies an advert promising journeys into your past, he figures it might be time to understand what happened. Jade is journaling. A friend gifted her a ‘creative mentorship’ and now once a week she’s expected to open her mind and fill pages. She’s not particularly convinced, but there’s something that just keeps bringing her back. Over the course of one winter, three lives converge around this very unusual travel agency, which offers a chance to revisit the choices that have shaped their lives…
A Wall is Also a Road by Annalee Newitz, Orbit, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-0-356-52088-9.
story about what happens when the alien becomes familiar – and beloved. Gardenpath expected to finish their research, present their discovery, and take their place among the decorated scholars of the floating cities. But when they look at their wild new friend Murtis’s sensor bulb, attached to a bizarre electro-chemical control system, they begin to realise there's more to life than academic achievement. They’re not sure what it is, but they’re going to use science to find out.
Judge Dredd: Nordland Rising by Kenneth Niemand et al , 2000AD – Rebellion, £19.99 / Can$34.95 / US$26.95, pbk, ISBN 978-1-837-86852-0.
This full-colour graphic novel is a cross-over between Rogue Trooper and Judge Dredd. Thanks to advances in Nort technology, War Marshal Josef Jaegir has used the black hole around which Nu Earth orbits as a means of invading other universes. Reaching out to Sov War Marshal Kazan, he’s joined forces with East-Meg One to subjugate Mega-City One, and in other realities the Norts have allied themselves with the alien Krool, the Geeks, the Volgans and the Nazis. It’s a war on all fronts, with Jaegir demanding nothing less than total victory. Thanks to advances in Nort technology, War Marshal Josef Jaegir has used the black hole around which Nu Earth orbits as a means of invading other universes. Reaching out to Sov War Marshal Kazan, he’s joined forces with East-Meg One to subjugate Mega-City One, and in other realities the Norts have allied themselves with the alien Krool, the Geeks, the Volgans and the Nazis. It’s a war on all fronts, with Jaegir demanding nothing less than total victory… Can Judge Dredd and a team of mighty multiversal warriors including, Rogue Trooper, Major Eazy and Bad Company, overcome this overwhelming alliance of evil.
Massif by Garth Nix, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-62718-4.
They are called Massifs. Before their arrival, Earth was on the verge of collapse. The population was too high and war dominated the globe. But then a Massif appeared: a giant spaceship made of rock, customised for people to live on, populated by strange creatures and a single avatar of the sentient being that controlled the ship. However, not everything was so benign. Humanity isn’t prepared for what the Massifs are hiding… and how it might affect humans and the galaxy for ever.
As We Fall Through Time by Claire North, Orbit, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-356-52624-9.
In the beginning, the world will end. This is the story of what happens next. When Cal meets a soldier of the French Revolution, he knows his lover is destined to die. But what is the point of being a time traveller if you can't make a few small tweaks to the course of history? A little paradox here, an alteration there – nothing Cal can’t fix to save the man he loves. When Fadimatu walks into a museum in 2018, she stumbles upon her own mummified corpse, setting her on the path to a betrayal that has already killed her, and a murder that has not yet come to pass. And when a sudden rupture in the fabric of history rips through the lives these travellers have built, breaking both past and future, they must reckon with death foretold, love forsaken, and a secret that will shatter time itself.
Africanfuturism Short Stories by Chinelo Onwualu, Yvette Lisa Ndlovu & Minister Faust, Flame Tree Press, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-835-62273-5.
This is Africa, based in Kenya, defines Africanfuturism as located in "the
African point of view , experience, culture, themes, and history with technology based in Africa". So, while it shares similarities with its sister title Afrofuturism Short Stories, this new collection focuses on stories that are set in and about Africa – whether that's a future Africa, an alternative Africa or a parallel Africa. The genre leans towards science fiction rather than fantasy, and towards positive scenarios and concepts, but of course is open to interpretation: the publication of both books offers a dialogue that explores tradition and influence, and fresh insights both about our past, and visions of our future.
There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm, Cornerstone, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-804-95475-1.
Mind-bending science fiction about antimemes: ideas that attack memory, identity and the fabric of reality itself.
Merlin’s Way by Alastair Reynolds, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-61182-4.
Merlin never sets out for adventure – adventure finds him. He’s unable to resist a mystery or a puzzle – whether it’s a mysterious lost weapon, an abandoned hulk in the deeps of space, or a planet he’s found himself on by accident due to technical difficulties. And as one adventure leads to another, he finds himself in ever bigger – and more dangerous – situations.
Star Wars: Edge of the Abyss – Reign of the Empire 2 by Rebecca Roanhorse, Del Rey, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-94551-5.
From the Nebula, Hugo and Locus Award-winning speculative fiction writer. set in the year
before the first season of Andor, the sequel to The Mask of Fear. The second instalment in the 'Reign of the Empire' series follows Bail Organa, Mon Mothma and Saw Gerrera (along with their allies and enemies) thirteen years after the events of The Mask of Fear as they navigate the Empire’s nigh-unbreakable chokehold over the galaxy.
Frankenstein Rex by Adam Roberts, Gollancz, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-399-61772-7.
Frankenstein’s Monster is a splendid creature, in almost every respect superior to humanity. He is also effectively immortal. Such a being, released into our world, would sooner or later come to rule it. But although generations come and go believing their world dictator to be immortal, the creature himself now understands that he is dying. He reopens Frankenstein’s original research, to rediscover those lost skills and techniques and so create for himself an heir.
Blightfall by Brandon Sanderson & Janci Patterson, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-61729-1.
A brand-new Skyward series begins, and a new Galaxy-spanning adventure takes flight, in this brilliant new tale from Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson. The last of mankind fought their way out of an interstellar prison to reclaim the stars. They united their enemies, to take on an impossible threat – and won. But the battle is only beginning.
The Fires of December: A Novel of Hoid’s Travails by Brandon Sanderson, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-64090-9.
A new standalone novel for Christmas 2026. No other details available at the time of posting.
Monsters of Ohio by John Scalzi, Tor, £16.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-08289-0.
Richland, Ohio is the same tiny, sleepy rural community it's been for the last 150 years. But times are hard, as social and economic forces roil the once-placid town. Now Richland, Ohio is primed to explode. Just not in the way anyone expected. Because in Richland, the revolution doesn’t start with a protest. It starts with growing tentacles. Mike Boyd left Richland decades back, to find his own way in the world. But when he's called back to his hometown to tie up loose ends, he finds more going on than he bargained for. He becomes caught up in a sequence of events that will bring this tiny farm village to the attention of the entire world… and, perhaps, spell its doom.
Stranger Things: One Way or Another by Caitlin Schneiderhan, Penguin, £10.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-804-95905-3.
Nancy Wheeler andRobin Buckley must expose the corruptive forces sinking their claws into a desperate Hawkins. Following the events of Stranger Things: Season 4, Nancy Wheeler and Robin Buckley are hot on the heels of a new mystery – and they won’t stop until they solve it. When fellow classmate Joey Taft starts acting shifty at graduation, Nancy is convinced Vecna has found his newest victim. Joined by fellow amateur sleuth Robin Buckley, Nancy doesn’t waste any time questioning Joey. What the girls discover leads them down the path of a bigger story than The Hawkins Post could ever have assigned Nancy.
Time Jump by Adam Simcox, Quercus - Arcadia, £15, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-408-75051-3.
Billed by the publisher as The Ministry of Time meets Blake Crouch and Gillian McAllister in a high-concept, standalone, time-travelling thriller brimming with 1990s nostalgia… In 2026, time travel is a commodity like any other and Rachel grabs the chance to Time Jump back to 1997, days before she accidentally killed Oliver Jones and destroyed her life. But when she rewrites fate, rumours begin to circulate about young women going missing from Oliver’s rehab centres and Rachel starts to suspect that the man she travelled back in time to save was a monster in waiting.
Slow Burn by Amal Singh, Flame Tree Press, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-787-58988-9.
When Rishi Tripathi, a failed actor, falls through a mirror in an inverted Mumbai, he invites fame like he has never seen before. In this inverted city, he’s a superstar and a critically acclaimed darling. But he soon realizes that success bears a heavy cost. The cruel actions of his doppelganger catch up to him, and he’s forced to find an entity called the Maker of Mirrors to return to his actual city. But fame is also a drug, and Rishi has become an addict. Is he truly ready to return and embrace failure?
The Infinite State by Richard Swan, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-62774-0.
Katherine Fuller’s husband is dead. As an esteemed member of Pater Aeternus – governing party of the fascist, Galaxy-spanning Decurion Empire – he leaves behind an estate of immeasurable wealth. With her newfound fortune, Katherine is offered a dangerous opportunity: purchase a virgin world and create a fairer society. But the Empire cannot allow its wayward daughter to succeed. And as Katherine works in secret, recruiting unpredictable allies, she will discover how far Pater Aeternus is willing to go to stop her.
The Best of Adrian Tchaikovsky by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Ad Astra – Head of Zeus, £25, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-93024-1.
Hungry ants that want to reconstruct the world in their own image. Occult investigations
into private clubs. A philosopher’s attachment to his beloved pet. A new definition of battlefield archaeology. What the homunculi do when the wizard’s away. A trans-dimensional theatre troupe. Murder by flower-arrangement. The infectious consequences of a fairytale wedding. A magician conjures Sherlock Holmes. What happens when the mining robots mine, but not for you. The ultimate polycule. What is the groppler and why does it gropple? Spanning the full spectrum of science fiction and fantasy to the deliciously strange, this collection stretches Tchaikovsky's prolific career, accompanied by a foreword from author of Old Man's War, John Scalzi.
The Fist of Memory by Wole Talabi, Gollancz, £14.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-61571-6.
When a non-communicative alien spacecraft appears in the sky, the established world order is thrown into turmoil. But for Tope, a Nigerian assassin with a bionic arm and talent for lethality, it’s just business as usual. That is, until a routine job goes sideways… Itumeleng, a South African astronomer, has seen Tope and the alien craft in his dreams. Together, they must uncover how they, and all of humanity, are connected to the craft – before it lands and the world changes for ever.
This Crimson Ruin by Rebecca Thorne, Tor, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-07931-5.
Trapped in an underwater city, Nix and Kessandra fight against zombies and time itself, desperate to discover a way back to the surface. Death might be their only escape… When Sergeant Nix Marr signed up as her ex’s bodyguard for a trip to the domed city of Fall, she doubted she’d return alive. But neither woman could have predicted the cataclysmic event that stranded them both beneath the ocean. Worse, Fall has been completely abandoned, ruins of a once grand city. Aside from the occasional infected citizen, there’s no indicator where the rest of Fall’s population went. And as Nix and Kessandra hunt for clues, a deeper evil enters Nix’s own mind. With Fall’s iconic dome flooding and every answer creating more questions, the pair may have to descend deeper than they ever imagined to survive. Welcome to Fall.
Paprika by Yasutaka Tsutsui, Gollancz, £12.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-399-62325-4.
The Institute for Psychiatric Research is at the cutting edge of mental healthcare. Psychotherapist Atsuko Chiba has pioneered their dream therapy, and she wants to take it further. She has developed a device to enter dreams physically. Disguised as the beautiful Paprika, Atsuko has been testing the device, covertly, on people willing to pay for quick solutions to shameful problems. When a prototype is stolen, it becomes clear that it can be used not just to treat . . . but to control and harm.
Batman / Judge Dredd: Judgement on Gotham - Anniversary Edition (1991 / 2026) John Wagner, Alan Grant & Simon Bisley, 2000AD – Rebellion, £34.99, hrdbk, 64pp ISBN 978-1-837-86758-5.
One of the bestselling Judge Dredd comics of all time, this new edition of the critically-acclaimed and award-winning Judgement on Gotham by John Wagner), Alan Grant and Simon Bisley (who won an Best Artist Eisner Award for his artwork here) brings a classic back into print in a way it’s never been seen before! This new edition of the original Batman/Judge Dredd crossover is not only reprinted in a larger format than ever before (says the publisher) but uses brand new scans of the original printing film from 1991 – carefully restored by Rebellion’s experienced reprographics teams – to present Bisley’s groundbreaking fully-painted artwork in a glorious new light… Originally published in 1991, Judgement on Gotham pitted the Ultimate Lawman against the Dark Knight Detective, with Judge Dredd and his psychic colleague Judge Anderson forced to team up with Batman after the undead arch-fiend Judge Death escapes from Mega-City One to Gotham City and, alongside The Scarecrow, wreaks havoc – from murdering the masses to headlining a rock concert!
Infinite Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver, Bantam, £16.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-857-50786-0.
It is five years since a global vote elected an AI leader, Solomon, to give humanity one last chance of survival in the face of crippling climate change. The world might be in recovery, but humankind is suffering—and rebelling—under Solomon’s governance. The choice was far from unanimous, and resentment is running high. As acts of sabotage and civil disobedience increase, a disgusted Solomon offers the people of the world a final choice: Upgrade or Unplug. Upgrade means irrevocably merging with artificial intelligence as a way of deleting the destructive nature of the species. Unplug will brick every chip, including Solomon himself, and humanity will begin again in a pre-digital age. Humanity has eighteen days to decide before civilization tips over into complete anarchy. One vote. No appeal. A simple majority wins. How will humanity vote this time? And how much choice do they really have?
The Empire of the Ants and Other Stories by H. G. Wells, Oxford University Press, £18.99 / US$24.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-192-86232-7.
Wells is best-known today for his science fiction novels and his prophetic writings, but he began his career as a journalist and wrote an extraordinary number of tales, sketches, and thought-experiments, forty of which are collected here. This edition contains many acknowledged classics, but also collects some of the less celebrated gems found in the pages of the magazines and newspapers in which Wells learned his craft.
Judge Dredd: And To The Sea Return (2026) Rob Williams & Henry Flint, 2000AD – Rebellion, £19.99 / Can$34.95 / US$26.95, pbk, 112pp ISBN 978-1-837-86759-2.
When The Barge, an aquatic prison containing 10,000 violent inmates, crashes into a Mega-City One port, it brings with it a plague of black worms that infect the citizens Judge Dredd has sworn to protect. At the head of this horrific incursion is the prophet Carver, who claims immortality and heralds the arrival of a god from the depths determined to bring destruction to Dredd's city. Judge Dredd and Judge Anderson must stop an insane enemy that does not care one iota for his Law!
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Autumn 2026
Forthcoming Fantasy Books
Tonight, I Blaze by Katharine J. Adams, Orbit, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-0-356-52200-5.
A witch finds herself face to face with death as she stands at the centre of a magical rebellion and back to back with her enemies as she falls deeper into a seductive romance.
Cello's Gate by Maurice Africh, Hodderscape, £25, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
Captain Grey and his crew of sky pirates have a reputation for doing the impossible. From breaking into high-security military research facilities, to conning the iCity elite - there isn't a lock they can't pick, a safe they can't break, or a hidden treasure they can't find. Until now. Returning from a harrowing heist, Grey and his crew are approached by Dalia, the immortal daughter of the infamous ArchGovernor - and she has an offer. The job? Locate and steal the Stones of Indigo, seven fabled rocks invested with godlike power. The search for the first stone is a bona fide treasure hunt, guided by an ancient map to a deadly, uncharted island that's protected by a mysterious guardian. The score? One million credits per crew member, per stone. The catch? Well, that's where things get a little complicated. The stones don't exist. They're a myth. A bedtime story told to little pirates to make them believe that power and wealth are attainable if you just work hard enough. To make matters infinitely worse, Grey's never trusted immortals, and Dalia's definitely hiding something. Something bad. And if they don't figure out what it is, it might cost them their lives.
Christmas Horror Short Stories by Colleen Anderson et al, Flame Tree Press, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-83-562806-5.
Christmas, with its long dark nights, wintery forest walks and visceral memories, teases at the imagination in stories brought to get her here in a companion volume to the Christmas Gothic collection.
Alma Vampires by Elena Armas, Sphere, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-408-73635-7.
Dark academia meets billionaires meets vampires. Valle Aguirre’s life has drastically changed overnight. Previously a scholarship student barely making ends meet, she’s now the single beneficiary to Alma, a fashion empire she never suspected would be rightfully hers – and, with it, she’s become a target. Hadrian Cruz is calculating, ruthless and stops at nothing to get what he wants – and it’s very clear that he wants Alma. Even so, Valle can’t believe her eyes when she finds Hadrian standing at the front of an Icarus University classroom on her first day back. Her plan is to avoid him, but as danger closes in, Valle realises that she can’t rid Alma of its enemies without Hadrian – and she can’t trust him either. But Valle is also keeping secrets. Nightmares that haunt her, memories she can’t make sense of, and the impending epiphany that nothing and no one is what it seems. Not Hadrian, not the mother she never met, and perhaps, not even her. Valle Aguirre’s life has drastically changed overnight. Previously a scholarship student barely making ends meet, she’s now the single beneficiary to Alma, a fashion empire she never suspected would be rightfully hers – and, with it, she’s become a target. Hadrian Cruz is calculating, ruthless and stops at nothing to get what he wants – and it’s very clear that he wants Alma. Even so, Valle can’t believe her eyes when she finds Hadrian standing at the front of an Icarus University classroom on her first day back. Her plan is to avoid him, but as danger closes in, Valle realises that she can’t rid Alma of its enemies without Hadrian – and she can’t trust him either. But Valle is also keeping secrets. Nightmares that haunt her, memories she can’t make sense of, and the impending epiphany that nothing and no one is what it seems. Not Hadrian, not the mother she never met, and perhaps, not even her.
Tempest by Victoria Aveyard, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-62215-8.
May the sea always sing for you… Set in a world inspired by the Golden Age of Piracy, Tempest follows a former noblewoman facing execution for treason unless she helps the Empire capture their most wanted enemy – the last great pirate captain – and the only man she has ever loved.
Viper & Lilies by Lexie Axon, HQ, £20, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
No one would suspect the hunter to be the prey. That is the belief the Maeve sisters have clung to for years. As descendants of one of the five renowned hunters who exterminated Enchantresses, the Maeve sisters live at the top of society; their legacy providing protection against exposure as the final surviving bloodline of the same women their own ancestor burned at the stake. But when they discover an academic at the Vonstein Institute claims to have evidence that Enchantresses escaped the Hunt, the Maeve sisters fear their magic will soon be unearthed and prepare to silence the suspicions by whatever means necessary. The Maeve sisters must hide their magic and guard their hearts; but as war looms, and bodies drop, their bonds and beliefs are tested. With the investigation advancing and dangers doubling, the sisters can't help but wonder: what if tracking the strike of the match, only results in their burning?
Call of Crowns by Chinaza Bado, Harper Voyager, £18.99, hrdbk, ISBN Not provided.
The kingdom of Ahkelbulin is on the brink of war. Following a shocking death, the royal court is a viper’s nest of ambition and betrayal. The princes, once united, now eye the throne with hungry gazes, forging dangerous alliances that could tear their dynasty apart. In the heart of the palace, Zikora navigates the treacherous political currents. Far from home and concealing a powerful secret, she is drawn into a high-stakes game where one wrong move could mean her end. Elsewhere, a new commander, Khalil, finds his loyalty tested as he is caught between warring factions, forced to choose between duty and morality. As power shift s and loyalties are questioned, unlikely alliances will form and ancient powers will awaken. In a world where blood oaths hold immense power and the line between friend and foe is blurred, the struggle for the crown will demand unimaginable sacrifices. The very future of Ahkelbulin hangs in the balance, and not everyone will survive the call of crowns…
Tales from the Territory by Travis Baldree, Tor, £16.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-08335-0.
A collection of cosy short stories from bestselling author Travis Baldree, set in the same world as Legends & Lattes. Featuring bespoke full-page illustrations!
The Court of Venus by Bel Banta, Tor, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-08852-2.
In Alvion, magicians have always ruled beside kings. Blessed at birth by one of the seven planets, their abilities are miraculous and extremely rare. Magicians born under Jupiter influence luck. Saturnborn can speak to the dead. Venusborn read the desires of the living. At the moment of Bianca Mortlake’s birth, the stars and planets aligned just so, making her the first Moonborn magician in over a thousand years. A sorcery so rare that even the history books cannot say what she is capable of. After a childhood training under the realm’s most powerful magician – and alongside a most insufferable Venusborn named Roland – Bianca lives a quiet life far from court. Until a chilling missive arrives in the night, summoning her back. A mad and deadly court awaits. Two queens have met the executioner’s blade, and one wrong move could see any of them next beneath its steel. As power is pulled between ruthless royals and courtiers like the tides by the Moon, Bianca must rely on the last person she would ever want to—the infuriatingly alluring Roland. Because something is terribly wrong in Alvion. And only this Moon-blessed magician and her oldest rival can save the court – I and each other – from the dark fate they see written in the
stars.
Folklore Horror Short Stories by Patrick Barb et al, Flame Tree Press, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-835-62804-1.
Stories rooted in the dark side of the land and nature, exploring ritual and isolation, and encompassing global mythologies and folktales. Packed w ith classic stories of horror and folklore alongside new stories selected from a hugely popular submissions round, this latest anthology is not one to be missed.
Dead Beat by Leigh Bardugo, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-61729-1.
Hell is empty and all the devils are here… Alex Stern made it to hell and back more than once, but this time she left the door open behind her. Demons are creeping through the streets of New Haven and the Yale campus, feeding on the souls of the living, terrifying the dead. Alex and her allies can hunt them, but it’s only a matter of time before the gates to the underworld open and they face a war they cannot win. To stop it, they’ll have to reach deep into the secrets of Yale and its societies, and discover the truth hidden in Alex’s own blood. Hell itself is stalking the delegates of Lethe House, and they’re all about to learn that demons don’t play by human rules.
Damned If I Do by Alexandria Bellefleur, Penguin, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-804-99861-8.
Effie MacLeod is no stranger to making desperate decisions, but making a deal with Lucifer himself--sacrificing her soul to save a loved one--has got to be her most monumental. Several hundred years into her tenure as a demon, Effie's found herself engaged to Belphegor, a handsome, seductive, and successful Prince of Hell. It’s not a love match, but it’ll do. There’s just one teensy tiny little problem: she’s still bound to her sixteenth century Scottish husband. While Effie has completely cast her human life aside, Finn has been reincarnated through several lifetimes. Effie must convince Finn to renounce their age-old vows in order get the Office of Infernal Internal Affairs off her back. The kicker? When she finds him in this lifetime, Finn doesn’t remember anything, but he refuses her request for a divorce. Annoyed to be stuck with him in small-town Georgia until she can persuade Finn to renounce their marriage, Effie must convince him that yes, she does want to get on with her devilish shenanigans despite the physical pull she feels toward him. As they get closer in hopes of recovering his lost memories, Effie can’t help but notice murmurings of her deeply buried feelings resurfacing. But while all’s fair in love and war, that’s not the case in hell—and Lucifer may have his own reasons for wanting to keep Finn and Effie apart for the rest of eternity.
Exhumation by Nicholas Binge, Harper Voyager, £16.99, hrdbk, ISBN Not provided.
Speculative thriller. Private Investigator Arlo Abbas wakes up to discover £10,000 suspiciously deposited into his account. Except he’s not been approached with a case and he doesn’t know the sender. Then, he finds a scrap of paper stuffed through his mailbox. Find Sophie Banik. His investigation leads him to a mysterious cult and the grave of a murdered girl. But there is no body buried there. Instead, Arlo unearths a coffin full of journals belonging to Liz, a girl who claims to have been underground for sixty-three days and to no longer sleep. Each answer seems to bring new questions: Who is Liz? Can she be telling the truth? What happened to Sophie? And who hired him? Arlo begins to wonder if he even wants to solve this case, but he doesn't have a choice – it’s been keeping him up at night.
Thief of Night by Holly Black, Cornerstone, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-529-15004-9.
‘A delicious, dark, adrenaline rush of a book. I’m already dying to see Charlie Hall’s next con’ Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author of Starling House, ‘Dark, strange, thick with mystery and twists – a story so believable in its magic, you’ll be keeping one eye on your shadow as you turn the pages’ Leigh Bardugo, New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House.
Grim Tidings by B. K. Borison, HQ, £9.99, pbk, ISBN not provided.
Darcy Moore is tired of death. Which would be fine… if she
wasn’t the Grim Reaper. Gabriel Aetos is determined to protect his little corner of the world like his angel wings depend on it. When Darcy shows up to Gabriel’s faded old bar, she is hell-bent on outrunning her reputation as a villain. She won’t be dragging her next assignment to the underworld. She’ll be saving him instead. But Gabriel is convinced that Darcy is as deadly as it gets. And if protecting his people means staying close – very close – to this rogue reaper, then that’s exactly what he’ll do. Only, magic never comes without consequences… and these two spirits may just be forced to reap what they sow.
The Thief and the Traitor Bride by V. L. Bovalino, Orbit, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-356-52490-0.
A ruthless spy. A deadly mission. A thief who could ruin it all. Nore Gordon is a woman of many talents: she can speak a variety of languages, disguise herself in plain sight, and has made a name for herself as a successful wine merchant. But unbeknownst to those closest to her, it is all a front for Nore’s true role as the favoured spy of the Lindle crown. Tasked with infiltrating enemy lands in search of a powerful relic, Nore is forced to engage the services of a great thief. Unfortunately, the only person for the job is her estranged husband Caspian. Both Nore and Caspian bear the scars of the disastrous end of their marriage, but if they are to survive their deadly new assignment, they must pose as a happily married couple to avoid detection. As danger closes in, Nore finds herself tangled in a web of lies and deceit – and though Caspian is at the centre of it all, she may not hate him as much as she once did. But Caspian has betrayed her before, and trust can be far more deadly than deception.
Butter Cookies and Demon Claws by Peter V. Brett, Harper Voyager, £9.99, pbk, ISBN Not provided.
A fantasy novella set in the world of 'The Demon Cycle'.
The Lion and the Deathless Dark by Carissa Broadbent, Tor - Bramble, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-05167-0.
Some blood tastes like vengeance. Some blood tastes like grief. Some blood tastes like nothing at all. Under an eternal night, the world has been ravaged by ten years of war between humans and vampires. Kyrene scrapes by as a bounty hunter, bearing a blessed sword from the goddess of justice. But in the wake of a devastating loss, Kyrene commits a crime that makes her a target for mortals and gods alike – and she is still desperate for vengeance. Her only chance at survival – and revenge – is making a deal with her enemy, the silver-tongue vampire prince, Septimus, who offers her one final job: to slay the gods themselves. Together, Kyrene and Septimus must hunt the ultimate marks, all while navigating a web of prophecies and curses. Septimus is calculating and mysterious, masking secrets bloodthirsty enough to consume them both. Yet, most dangerous of all, Kyrene finds an unexpected kinship in him. Kyrene will stop at nothing to fulfil her ultimate goal: to kill the goddess of vampires. Even if it means sacrificing love for revenge.
The Need by Megan Mostyn Brown, Bantam, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-857-50846-1.
Billed by the publisher as Grady Hendrix meets What We Do in the Shadows with a cannibal twist in this pacey, darkly funny horror. THE NEED is a rare genetic disorder. Those who have it must consume human flesh, or die. For some The Need is power. For others it is a curse. Talia's been on the run with her two teenagers since the kids were babies, changing names and identities every time someone gets close to discovering her family's tragic secret. Sam is tormented by The Need, unable to stop giving in to his darkest desires, much to his mother's chagrin. While Rosie, his twin sister, who's escaped her family's genetic curse, is desperate for a life of normalcy -- like a TikTok account, Homecoming or a kiss with her mysterious new friend Naomi. But her brother keeps eating people and it's ruining her life. Vera, a former supermodel and member of New York City's elite Armstrong family, lives a life of luxury, haute couture and eating people. Unlike Talia, the Armstrongs secretly pride themselves on their genetic abnormality. But beneath Vera's opulent lifestyle is a woman who's ruthlessly haunted by a mistake from her past. It's corrupted her standing with the Armstrongs, ruined her relationship with her kids and is slowly unravelling her sanity. Vera will do whatever it takes to correct it. On the surface, these two families have nothing in common. But Talia is harbouring a secret from the twins -- one that will bring them crashing into the Armstrongs. And when the truth comes out, no one will ever be the same.
Gilgamesh: New & Ancient Mesopotamian Tales by Rocky Boudreaux et al, Flame Tree Press, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-835-62808-9.
The ancient hero from Mesopotamian mythology and legendary king of Uruk in Sumer, Gilgamesh is a hugely influential figure, not least on Homer's famous tales, the Iliad and the Odyssey , but also on modern culture. His stories, and later Babylonian interw oven narrative, have it all: quests to the underworld, epic journeys, ghosts, giants and beasts, a great flood, love and death. Together with the goddess Inanna (aka Ishtar) and his beloved companion Enkidu, Gilgamesh experiences adventure and self-discovery as gripping as any Hellenistic hero. This exciting book includes new stories that explore this character and all his virtues, flaw s, adventures and relationships.
Black Horror: Canonical Voices from Then to Now edited by Maurice Broaddus & Chesya Burke, Flame Tree Press, £16.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-835-62959-8.
A landmark anthology offering the evolution of Black American literary horror while imagining its future. The stories within recognise the legacy of Black horror, its literary milestones, cultural roots, and innovative voices, while pushing the genre into new, daring territory.
The Thrice-Bound Fool by Christopher Buehlman, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-473-23121-4.
Professional thief Kinch Na Shannack has always enjoyed a good book. But now his life, and the future of Manreach, depends on him deciphering a very bad book indeed: a stolen tome that tries to kill him every time he opens it. Galva, death’s sworn handmaiden, has vowed to protect Kinch while he mines the book for its dark magic. But trouble finds Kinch wherever he goes, and the pair may have traded the devil they know for hungrier and darker horrors.
The Night Market by C. A. Byford, HQ, £20, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
Vampire urban fantasy. Pepper Montgomery is a mortal woman on a desperate quest to save her dying sister. When a trail of cryptic breadcrumbs leads her to the elusive Night Market – a hidden bazaar where the supernatural thrives – she discovers a world of vampires, ancient relics, and dark bargains. But the Night Market is not just a place of wonder; it's a battleground for power among the vampire families. As Pepper navigates this treacherous underworld, she finds herself entwined with Laik Hewer, a brooding Enforcer cursed with a monstrous secret of his own. As tensions rise, Pepper must make a choice that could cost her everything. Will she risk it all to save her sister and the man who has become her closest ally?
The Soul Stealer by Miles Cameron, Gollancz, £25, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-399-63264-5.
In the far frozen north, a young academic seeks to use her time magic to conduct an archaeological survey of an historic battle. But she and her guide find themselves caught up in thwarting the abduction of a native woman and her child – an abduction that has implications beyond the wilderness, rippling back into the politics, conflicts and magic of their nation.
The Void Dragon by Annabel Campbell, Orbit, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-356-52421-4.
This follows a young woman whose strange powers may destroy the world, and, say the publishers, packed with intrigue, adventure and dragonfire.
Ancestral by Ramsey Campbell, Flame Tree Press, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 1-805-52038-2.
Long ago the Bystone and Stanton families were enemies – nobody remembers why. Lou Stanton and Ray Bystone are married w ith a young son Tim. It’s his choice to spend a holiday visiting places the families seem to remember although they’ve never been there: the dauntingly dark Boggart’s Grot, Umbrage Cove where the ocean turns voracious, Fay Woods that birds have good reason to avoid, Stalking Edge where the fog feels as solid as flesh… If he’s driven by inherited memories, what is he bringing home? If the ancestors w ho summoned what the sites hid couldn’t control them, can anyone?
The Game of 100 Candles: Chilling stories from Japanese folklore by Paola Cantatore, Bantam, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-857-50892-8.
Are you ready to play The Game of 100 Candles? Beneath the global fascination with manga and anime lies a shadowy realm teeming with Japan's yokai monsters, mutants, and vengeful mononoke spirits. These eerie entities have gripped imaginations with their terrifying allure since the Edo period, weaving a dark tapestry of folklore that continues to captivate and haunt to this day. In The Game of 100 Candles, 99 uncanny tales, known as 'kaidan', await to reveal the dark side of Japanese folklore. Discover a world of bizarre entities, animate objects, shapeshifters, and spectral hybrids that inspired modern art forms like kabuki theatre, Pokémon, J-Horror, and the monsters of Murakami Takashi. Step inside The Game of 100 Candles, but beware, this test of samurai courage may bring about an even greater horror.
The Last Star in the Void by Melissa Caruso, Orbit, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-356-52737-6.
The third instalment in Melissa Caruso’s 'Echo Archives'.
Ghosts of Chanterlands by Catherine Cavendish, Flame Tree Press, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-787-58991-9.
“You don’t belong here. None of you do. None but us….” 1940. Pamela Courtney is evacuated to Chanterlands – the home of her aunts: Jilly, the eccentric one, w ho dreams of her days as a star of the silver screen, and Bunny, the pragmatic one. But Chanterlands is home to more than just the living. There’s the spectral lonely boy w hose room Pamela sleeps in and, in the long-neglected attic, she discovers a sinister secret of this once-great house. But greater danger aw aits Pamela during that summer long ago w hen w ar raged all over Europe and the safety her mother had w ished for her took a dark and fatal turn.
No Laughing Matter: Horror Short Stories edited by Mike Chinn & Peter Coleborn, Flame Tree Press, £16.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-835-62814-0.
Dark fantasy, horror and weird fiction is not always about the gruesome or the gross out. It has long been acknow ledged that the line between horror and humour is thin to non-existent. The sudden jump shock will often be greeted by nervous laughter with the release of tension, while some forms of comedy can generate unease in the audience (and not simply because it’s bad comedy). Clowns – ostensibly figures of amusement – provoke feelings akin to terror in some people; they even named a phobia after it: coulrophobia. Fear and fun are inextricably mixed.
A Scholar's Guide to Demonology & Other Dark Arts by Genevieve Cogman, Tor, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-07392-4.
Philomela was happy with her life at Cambridge University – until her father’s mounting gambling debts forced her to leave the world of academia behind. So she can’t quite believe her luck when she is hired to be the new Latin teacher at Graynes, an all-girls school nestled in the remote Yorkshire Moors. But just when Phil is getting used to the odd staff members, not to mention the frivolous schoolgirl pranks, things take a strange and unexpected turn: her students are summoning demons in the cellar. Graynes, she discovers, is no ordinary school – it’s a training ground for the Queen’s elite force of demonologists. Protecting England from nefarious forces certainly wasn’t on the job description. And as Phil is plunged into a world of dark arts, demon pacts and witches-in-training, she soon finds herself entangled in a plot that threatens to destroy the magical realm from the inside out…
The Horror we Harbour by Emily Cooper, Solstice – Simon & Schuster, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-398-53583-1.
DON'T LET THE LIGHT GO OUT… Most lighthouses are a promise of sanctuary. Guinevere’s lighthouse is a threat. Its light fends off the horrors lurking in the ocean surrounding the isolated Ynys Halen. Guin has one job: keep the light on. So, when Guin slips up, monsters are free to ravage the island and terror ensues for all who live there. No longer confident that the lighthouse can protect them, the islanders are all too keen to return to the ritual sacrifices that once sated the sea. As punishment, first in the firing line is Guin’s more-than-a-friend, Catrin Morgan. In a month, Catrin will be thrown to the ocean to be devoured by the secrets beneath the waves. But Guin won’t let that happen. She can't. Because it’s not just Catrin’s life at stake; it will mean the floodgates for future sacrifices will be flung open, and anyone could be forced to pay the cost. To succeed against the island’s rapidly forming cult, Guin and the eerie Morgan sisters must take a stand, using the lighthouse as their fortress. And as the community descends into depravity, the women must unearth the pestilence beneath the waves and determine who the real enemy is.
Ghosts in My House by Eleanor Crewes, Virago, £18.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-0-349-02079-2.
A house may not start haunted . . . but it can become haunted. Over the decades, the occupants of Number 20 have noticed that their house, stood in the corner of a London square, feels a little more alive than most: voices in the wall, echoing footsteps, a cat who seems to bring a message from the other side… And for each of the characters in this book – Connie, Hedda, Orlaith, Teddy and Maud – the house seems to understand their deepest desires. But we all know you need to be careful what you wish for. Drawing from classic ghost stories and injecting them with themes of identity, desire and queer revelations, Eleanor Crewes makes the haunted house tale her own in this collection.
East of Envy by Nikki St. Crowe, Tor - Bramble, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-06033-7.
Oz smiles like a fairy tale and bites like a curse. And Dorothy is trapped in its teeth. Dorothy Gale has been betrayed by the Wizard of Oz; he used her, broke her, and left her stranded in a strange land. Now she’s forced to team up with the last person she should trust: the Tin Woodman. A heartless mercenary with an axe to grind and nothing left to lose. Because the Wizard didn’t just steal his heart, he took Tin’s little brother, Gabriel, too. Everything about Tin is dangerous. And the closer Dorothy gets, the harder it is to tell what scares her more-his blade, or the fire he ignites within her. Can Dorothy forget the Wizard's embrace and fall into Tin's arms instead? But defeating the Wizard won’t be easy. His magic hums beneath every brick and coils through every whisper, until you’re walking in circles on the Yellow Brick Road. He has all of Oz under his spell and more power than anyone. Or does he? Because Dorothy is more than she seems, and the longer she’s in Oz, the more she remembers. Things about her past, about what she is, and about the magic awakening inside her.
Helen of Troy: New & Ancient Greek Tales introduction by Benjamin Cyril Arthur et al, Flame Tree Press, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-835-62807-2.
Renow ned as the face that launched a thousand ships, Helen of Troy was a crucial figure in the epic Trojan war, that most important event in Greek mythology. Though the cause of the war rested w ith Eris, the goddess of discord, Helen's bewitching beauty, considered as she was to be the most beautiful woman in the mortal realm, is often held responsible for her elopement or abduction by Paris, inciting her husband's fury and instigating a conflict that was to rage for ten long years. Delving deeper into the character and backstory of Helen, modern short stories re-imagine and shine light on this enchanting figure, exploring beyond her most immediate link to the Trojan war.
Of Blood & Petals introduction by Ella d’Avoine, Flame Tree Press, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-835-62807-2.
Romantasy short stories. Where passion blooms, so too can peril… Tales of forbidden love, of hearts pricked by the thorns of sacrifice, of beauty veiled by darkness, and of love that demands it all. Will a rose be a gesture of forever? Or will its petals drip in crimson and longing? Enchanted gardens, otherworldly castles, kingdoms ruled by roses and ruin – in these stories laced with the fantastical, love and loss are inseparable, and petals fall like vows, fragile, fleeting, unforgettable.
The Malevolent Nine by Sebastien de Castell, Quercus - Arcadia, £16, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-529-44097-3.
With the Great Crusade between the Celestines and the Infernals finally over, everyone has gone back to business as usual: fighting for wealth, territory and fun. But every spell cast creates a breach between the mortal realm and the magic realm. Until now, those breaches healed over time, but now, with the veil between realities left in tatters by the Great Crusade, every use of magic worsens the rifts. The solution is simple: make people stop using magic. But, of course, no one wants to do that… Now, Cade Ombra, a guy who is sick to death of saving the world, is forced to reunite his infamous crew of war mages in a last-ditch effort to, yes, save the world. But can seven emotionally unstable wonderists protect the entire mortal realm from rogue bands of avaricious wizards, previously unimaginable horrors creeping through the veil, and their own dark impulses? As the mortal realm teeters on the edge of destruction, Cade and his crew must decide how far they are willing to go to defend a world that may not be worth living in.
Jenny Will Eat You Now by Gillian Daniels, Solstice – Simon & Schuster, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-398-56322-3 .
Sometimes you just want to eat the one you love...right? Jenny Greenteethhas watched civilizations fall and wars break out during her lifetime. Preferring to keep her own company, she has been living in Boston for the last few hundred years – currently, in an abandoned subway station. Here, she has access to the waterways, an interconnected subterranean system that allows her to travel around the globe. With a conviction that she is far superior to humans – who are petty, dangerous, and fragile – she has no qualms about satisfying her hunger with their flesh. That is, until she comes face to face with a human man who, for the first time, she doesn’t want to eat (but also…she kind of does). Confused by these conflicting feelings, Jenny is intrigued. So, when two other cryptids take up residence in her station –a satyr and a selkie –she (begrudgingly) asks them to help her find this mystery man in exchange for safe passage through her waterways. Together, they embark on a quest to track him down. On the way, Jenny experiences the modern world – discovering catcalling, pigeons, protests, fashion, friendship, and…Dunkin Donuts. On her journey to find the man that she couldn’t eat at first sight, Jenny goes on an unexpected deep dive into what it means to be human and to fall in love.
Tales of a Treacherous Fate by Jennifer Delaney, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-61603-4.
A new gothic fantasy filled with slow-burn romance and forbidden magic! Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Rachel Gillig say the publisher.
Earthbound by Saara El-Arifi, Harper Voyager, £18.99., hrdbk, ISBN Not provided.
Yeeran and Lettle’s world has been shaken by a revelation from the Fates that changes everything: the obeah are not what they seem. Lettle is on a quest to uncover the truth. Along with the human Alder, the last of his kind, she sets off on an arduous journey of discovery. But after a painful separation from King Rayan, she is struggling to find her way. Alder is determined to learn more about his origins. With no memories of his childhood, he retraces his steps to the cave where it all began. But what he finds there may shake him to the core. Back in the fae court, Yeeran has other priorities. The warrior-turned-ambassador must negotiate a peace treaty with the elven army to save them all. But it’s hard to bargain with a duplicitous enemy. And it’s even harder to negotiate with a broken heart. Secrets ripple like an earthquake across the land and love and power is at the core of them all…
Under the Iron Sky by A. T. Emerald, Del Rey, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-99349-3.
Vordell was beautiful once. Its people lived in harmony, and their civilisation flourished as they learned to harness and control the power of Light. Then the darkness came. The Iron Sky unfolded dark clouds across the land thick enough to choke out the light of the suns. The ground cracked, releasing vicious creatures that looked like humanity’s oldest fears. The Dar’rak – an enemy long believed to be buried and forgotten – returned to claim the world above. Soraya Tollmere has spent most of her life on the front lines of the brutal war that followed. Now a high-ranking commander, she knows loss better than anyone. By day, she leads troops across ruined landscapes and guides covert teams through enemy territory. By night, she meets with a Dar’rak defector who has kept humanity alive with his steady stream of secrets. On a mission to investigate his latest lead, Soraya is captured by The Demon, the Dar’rak’s most feared soldier. His orders are simple: break the human commander, uncover where the humans are keeping a weapon that could win them the war, and bring it to the Dar’rak. But as he gets to know the fierce warrior, the lines between interrogator and enemy, prisoner and ally, begin to blur.
Legacies of Betrayal: The Third Tale of Witness by Steven Erikson, Bantam, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-787-63284-4.
Endless training, gruelling marches, and the frenzy of battle against more enemies than can be counted - such is the life of a marine in the Malazan Empire. Year by year, month by month, week by week, day by day, moment by moment. Skills are honed to deadly precision, the secret language of the soldier in a world drowning in perpetual discontent, the eternal conflict against the fates. And we should forget the seemingly inevitable interference of mischievous gods and more often than not, the resurrected remains of ancient and once believed long dead entities. As a new holy war starts sparked in the fire-blackened cauldron of Seven Cities, the Fifth and Sixth squads are about to embark a mission they don't want for a cause they don't care about. Not that anybody asked their opinion. They can only hope that their objective isn't as hopeless as it seems, and that they aren't simply being used as pawns – a strategic sacrifice, if you will, in the machinations of their betters. So what's life like as a marine in the Malazan Army? Well, let's see, shall we...
Just Like a Dream by Lauren Evans, Orion, £10.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-398-72397-9.
Olivia and Connor work in the World Dream Centre. They build and implement dreams for their dreamers, but working together? That never worked out in high school, and definitely wouldn’t now. But when one of Olivia’s dreamers is stuck in limbo, it impacts the world of dreams and Connor is brought in to help. As the two reluctantly work together to fix it, Olivia cannot help but think of a vague reoccurring dream she’s had for years and wonder if Connor is the missing piece.
The Witching House by John Everson, Flame Tree Press, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-805-52023-8.
Angry and alone, Gianna tests urban legend and w rites the name Madelyn in blood on the mirror of the Witching House. When the ghost actually answers, she gains an unexpected friend. But soon Gianna learns friendship isn’t w hat the dead girl wants the most. Madelyn w ants revenge for her murder. Can Gianna stop her before half the tow n is dead?
Carmilla & Other Stories by Sheridan Fanu, Flame Tree Press, £9.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-806-94261-9.
The richly gothic and seductive tale of the feverish relationship between nineteen-year-old Laura and a strange and beautiful guest at their lonely castle, deep in a remote forest of Styria, Austria. This influential novella came 25 years before Dracula, and laid the foundations for many classic vampire tropes.
A Destiny so Cruel by Amanda Foody & C. L. Herman, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-61221-0.
For a millennium, Alderland had enjoyed a long, languid. Summer, interrupted by six weeks of brutal Winter, only survivable thanks to the Living Wands, and their chosen wielders. Winter was the enemy, its magic universally reviled. Until now. For the first time, months of the gentle kiss of prevailing Winter have reigned. And just as the people are beginning to feel at home in the cold, a new and terrible Summer arrives in a shock of blazing heat. Destiny isn’t done with its Chosen yet.
Styx: The River by Nikita Gill, Solstice – Simon & Schuster, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-398-53719-4.
The firstborn child of Titans, Styx is revered as the first of her kind –until she is eclipsed and forgotten amid her scores of siblings, the Oceanids and the Potamoi. Coming of age in a world simmering with paranoia and unspoken fear of Kronos, the volatile and unchecked god-king, Styx learns to conceal the rage ignited by her growing disillusionment with her parents and her vain and unkind siblings. Instead, she finds solace and sisterhood in her cousin, Asteria. Together, they train in the arts of creation and magic. And as they seek to learn their divine purpose and their place within the Titanomachy, they discover both the joy sparked by true love and the fierce resilience birthed from motherhood. In this lyrical and heartrending tale of sisterhood, identity, love, and war, Styx must carve her own path to womanhood –and ultimately, godhood.
King’s Maker: Volume 3 by Haga, Inklore, £16.99, trdbk, ISBN 978-1-911-72058-4.
Graphic novel. It’s always darkest before the dawn. The third and final volume of the hit BL manhwa by Haga and Kang Jiyoung. Time has passed since Soohyuk Shin was banished from the palace, and rebellion is brewing in the kingdom of Goldenleonard. Left alone, Wolfgang Goldenleonard, the fourth prince, gathers his allies in the shadows. As plans for his uprising fall into place, Wolfgang carefully distances himself from those he cares about most. But overthrowing a king is treacherous work, and sometimes the best intentions create the deepest wounds. When the king’s cruelty strikes within the heart of the palace itself, Wolfgang must act quickly to finally fulfil his promise to Soohyuk.
Delusion: Volume 1 by Hongjacga, Inklore, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-99349-3.
Graphic novel. Nothing is ever quite as it seems in this deeply sinister slow-build gothic horror comic, already a huge Webtoon hit and soon to be a major Disney+ series. It’s 1935 in Seoul, Korea, and struggling artist Yun Iho has been commissioned by the elderly, reclusive Madam Song Jeonghwa to paint an updated portrait of her. When Iho goes to pick up the art supplies from the previous artist’s room, he finds an ominous note tucked between paint tubes: ‘Do not finish the portrait’. When he actually meets Madam Song, he finds her to be startlingly young and beautiful, yet she asks him to paint her as though she were eighty. What could it all mean? Listening to her seemingly unrelated stories about a spate of unsolved murders in Shanghai that happened long before Iho was born does little to allay his confusion. In a slowly unfolding revelation, each panel drenched in more dread than the last, Iho learns that no artist has ever left Madam Song’s hotel alive. He starts to suspect the horrifying truth of what she is, and what, exactly, she might be capable of…
The Mirror of Infinite Endings by Stephanie Garber, Gollancz, £15.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-64177-7.
This novella is illustrated. Jacks and Evangeline Fox have finally found their happily ever after. Everything here in the Hollow is wonderful and perfect. Nothing is going to go wrong. No one is keeping a secret . . . except for maybe one. But don’t worry, it’s not going to rewrite reality or alter history or change the ending of Jacks and Evangeline’s story. Definitely not.
The Wretched Divine by Adalyn Grace, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-63003-0.
Aurelie Chantelune was born to serve. Raised as a knight in a kingdom ravaged by demons, she’s spent her life honing her blade. Her first kill will grant her a soulbond with Yuriel, an angel vital to her kingdom’s survival. But when those she loves turn into monsters, Aurelie is forced to forge a second and dangerous bond with Severin, a demon who claims to know how to end the war. Caught between angel and demon, Aurelie must decide who – and what – to trust.
The Divines by Rachel Greenlaw, HQ, £20, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
Romantasy. Brace yourself, for the Great Hunt has begun… In the aftermath of the Ordeals Sophia must hone her awakening power to fight the cold ones. Even as the waves of attack intensify, with Alden by her side she will gather their remaining allies for a new task, finding a key ingredient for an antidote. But as the true nature of the cold ones comes to light, questions arise over the gods. These are ancient beings who may have been biding their time so that Sophia and everyone from Killmarth will never be safe in any territory. Perhaps the great hunt cannot be stopped, for the gods are hungry and have a will of their own. As tragedy strikes and the one Sophia loves most is attacked, she must face the wrath and might of the gods to save him, her friends and her world. The battle is about to build to God-like proportions.
The Ordeals by Rachel Greenlaw, HQ, £9.99, pbk, ISBN not provided.
Sophia DeWinter has been bound to her cruel uncle, the Collector, since he exacted a blood bond from her as a child. At Killmarth, an elite academy for magic wielders, she could finally break free from his control. But first, she must prove her worth by competing in deadly challenges – the Ordeals. And that’s just the beginning, because hopefuls are also being viciously picked off one by- one. To survive, Sophia could team up with another challenger. Perhaps the powerful wielder Alden Locke. But how to identify an ally from a rival? Or even a murderer…
Vampire Tales by Nick Groom, Oxford University Press, £16.99 / US$21.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-198-81465-8.
This collection, edited by Nick Groom, explores the extraordinary variety and range of the vampire in English literature prior to the publication of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897): it includes classical and mediaeval vampires, Islamic and Caribbean vampires, aristocratic and penurious vampires, abject vampires and dandified vampires, erudite vampires and bestial vampires, invisible vampires and psychic vampires, and, of course, she-vampires.
This Shattered Tempest by Thea Guanzon, Harper Voyager, £18.99, hrdbk, ISBN Not provided.
Throughout their political marriage, Alaric and Talasyn struggled to resist the undeniable pull between them, even as rising tensions forced them on opposite sides of a looming war. Hand in hand, they vanquished the cataclysmic threat of the Moonless Dark – and started to hope for a future together. That hope is shattered when a devastating attack sets off a chain of events that tears them apart once more. Now, as two rival nations prepare for a final, decisive clash, the Master of the Shadow-forged Legion and the last Lightweaver fight to find their way back to each other. But the odds are stacked against them, and time is running out… Is love enough to rewrite destiny? Can a new beginning rise from the ruins of the past? Or are Alaric and Talasyn doomed to meet as enemies on one last battlefield?
Sleepers in the Snow by Joanne Harris, Gollancz, £15.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-60480-2.
Out on the moor, in the snow, a house stands beneath a pylon. It is a house full of memories, and full of old things. Only when night falls, and the weather takes a turn, so does the house. The cosy isolation becomes menacing, animals begin acting strangely, and it seems someone could be watching the house . . . and the diaries of the previous owners begin to reveal a tragedy – one which its new occupant may be unable to escape…
The Slantwise Histories by Alix E. Harrow, Tor, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-05181-6.
When I took up professional lying (writing fiction), I thought I was done with the truth. But when I paused and turned back to look at my almost-decade of stories, I didn’t find pure fantasy. I found history, fractured and recast, but not false. I am still telling the truth – but slant, by starlight. These are stories about the past as it wasn’t quite, but might have been, from ancient battlefields all the way up through roadside attractions off I-70. They’re about the people caught in the mean jaws of history: the women and workers, the soldiers and mothers, everyone shoved into the margins of the world. But these aren’t tragedies – these are the stories of the ones that got away. The ones who defected and dissented, who broke the rules, who ran and tossed a match behind them.
Warrior of the Shards by Sarah Hawley, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-64094-7.
Princess Kenna of Blood House has decided who to support as the next ruler of Mistei, but one wrong move shatters the fragile truce of the Accord and plunges the kingdom into civil war. In the chaos, hundreds of faeries lie dead, and Kenna and the two rebel princes are captured. But Kenna will never give up, no matter what horrors the enemy inflicts on her. But in striving to transform Mistei for the better, Kenna risks losing her greatest strength – her humanity.
The Halls Of The Dead by S. M. Hallow, Harper Voyager, £16, hrdbk, ISBN Not provided.
Irene Shallcross Haley has dedicated her life to necromancy, a forbidden, reviled art that is passed along through sentient grimoires bound in human skin. With her undead husband St. John – a marriage of kindred spirits and platonic convenience – she has been protecting the knowledge of generations of witches that came before her. Like any magic, it has come at a cost: her reputation, her relationship with her sister, and her soul. But when Irene’s love, Agnes, is hanged for witchcraft , Irene refuses to let Agnes be one more thing that is taken from her. A true resurrection has not been achieved in two thousand years, but Irene is determined. With the help of St. John, Irene bangs on the doors of the Halls of the Dead, demanding the third part of their triumvirate back… or did she? Because the Agnes that awakens comes with both a hunger for raw flesh and a malignant ghost tied to her soul.
Loving a Witch is Totally Foolish by Aura Hayes, Orion, £10.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-398-72959-9.
Ava McGuire should be moving on after her devastating breakup. Instead, she’s been thrust into the world of the paranormal. As if learning that your best friend is mated to a serial killer vampire wasn’t bad enough, she learns she has her own vampire mate. Valen has been held prisoner for longer than he can fathom. The human world is vastly different to the one he was taken from centuries ago. And he’s navigating the complicated urge to claim his mate..
The Shape of Monsters by C. L. Hellisen, Tor, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-037-40119-0.
A lost heir inherits her House's wild magic. Her feckless brother inherits nothing. Power is their birthright. But will magic bind them, save them or set them free? In a world where power is everything, Aleks and Vaira Kercheval ran from their heritage. A magical fire destroyed their family as children and they escaped to safety, but the siblings hadn’t seen each other for years. Then Vaira inherits Aubrey House, their ancestral home. Forming a reluctant truce, brother and sister travel to the abandoned mansion. But crossing the threshold plunges them into a world of ancient feuds, magic and monsters. The siblings are drawn deep into a war between rival mages – one Vaira is determined to win. Yet the powerless Aleks accidentally summons and binds a monstrous prince from the Void – a creature of immense power. As the lines between human and monster blur, the siblings must decide how far they’ll go to survive.
Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm, Run For It, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-356-52942-4.
A take on the haunted house novel. There is something haunting Nuhad’s childhood home in Haifa. Cats avoid its perimeter, strange noises come from within, and residents have been known to disappear entirely in its walls without a trace. Although Nuhad has not returned to her home since the Nakba in 1948, she always held a place for the house in her heart. And, in return, the house did the same for her. After Nuhad passes away, her granddaughter, Marina, is determined to visit her grandmother’s home in Haifa after a lifetime of being kept in the dark about her culture and family history. Marina’s mother, Haifa – named for the city that was lost to their family – reluctantly agrees to her trip, despite her omnipresent anxiety. When a long-buried spirit of the past begins to haunt both dreams and waking life, Marina develops breathing problems that cause her to feel as if she is drowning on dry land. Despite Nuhad’s warnings, Haifa rushes to help her daughter. As the three women converge in their ancestral haunted home, they must learn what the price of the past truly is.
The Witches of Cambridge by Alice Hoffman, Simon & Schuster, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-398-56529-6.
Once upon a time, women were drowned in the river and the only witnesses were the crows in the trees. The Puritans blamed Eve for the sins of the world. That was when we began to meet in the name of Lilith, Adam’s first wife – banished for refusing to do as she was told. By the 1950s, Cambridge, Massachusetts feels far removed from the legendary witch trials that marked its early days as a colony. Ava, a bright young woman from a small town in Maine, arrives for her first year at Radcliffe College. There, she meets Lauren, her opposite in every way—the wild and brazen daughter of a wealthy and well-established Cambridge family. But the two have more in common than they think. Both are recruited by the Lilith Society, a secret organization of witches at Radcliffe dating back to colonial times. As they learn more about their legacy, Ava and Lauren form a close bond that is put to the test as they learn to navigate their new power, friendship, and love. While Radcliffe seems like a safe haven, the shadow of McCarthyism looms large, an ever-present threat to the flourishing creative and intellectual life in Cambridge. And as girls from the Lilith Society begin to go missing, Ava and Lauren realize the witch trials of the past may not be as deeply buried as they once believed.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories by Washington Irving, Flame Tree Press, £9.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-804-17832-4.
First published in The Sketch Book in 1819–20, 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' tells the story of schoolmaster Ichabod Crane, who comes to live in Sleepy Hollow, a Dutch settlement near the Hudson River. It is a place that abounds with local superstitions, including one concerning a headless horseman. Crane’s eye is caught by Katrina van Tassel, the daughter of a wealthy farmer, and he starts to court her. This behaviour provokes the ire of another would-be-suitor, Brom Bones, a renowned village prankster. At a party, Crane confesses his love for Katrina, who rejects him. On his way home, he encounters the ‘horseman’, who hurls his head at Crane. Ichabod Crane is never heard of again. The only traces that remained of him were his horse, saddle, hat and a mysterious shattered pumpkin. What did happen to Ichabod Crane that night, and who w as the Headless Horseman?
Welcome to the Kokoro Cat Clinic by Syou Ishida, Doubleday, £14.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-97033-3.
Cats once again prove to be the best medicine in the wonderful third book following the award-winning, bestselling Japanese novel We’ll Prescribe You a Cat. When you are lost, the Kokoro Clinic for the Soul will
find for you. Dr. Nikké and his clinic are always ready to offer their unconventional approach to healing. Although one never quite understands how they ended up there, each person who has walked through the door has left with a cat and a deeper understanding of themselves. Every time, the clinic reaffirms that the unbreakable bond between cats and people has the potential to heal and transform lives. With Dr. Nikké as the constant that weaves each of these stories together, we meet a woman anxious about an upcoming competition, an overwhelmed young father, an illustrator questioning her career, and a young woman burdened with guilt. Digging ever deeper into the complicated minds of humans - and the love of their feline companions – this poignant story provides something richer and more challenging than mere comfort: compassion.
Redhaven by V. V. James, Gollancz, £10.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-399-63554-7.
Murder mystery meets dark fantasy in this scorching fusion of modern-day witchcraft, small-town secrets and the persecuted reclaiming their power – perfect, say the publishers, for fans of Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow and Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson.
Arthur: A New Life by Amy Jeffs, Quercus, £30, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-43168-1.
This mines the deep, elusive seams of a story we think we all know: the legend of King Arthur. But here he is anew: a larger-than-life warlord, a hero raised by fairies, a leader of the wild hunt, a monster-slayer, lying wounded under the ash cloud, longing to rise again. Tracing an epic story from Merlin’s conception and the building of the Round Table to the abduction of Guinevere and King Arthur’s ambitious quest for Empire, this Arthur is as real as any other, brought back to life from the earliest sources. Drawing out the dark and beautiful stories from the original medieval and early-modern texts, Amy guides the reader from citadels through forests, into volcanoes, caves and riverbanks and beyond, even as far as Hell and the Otherworld. Going further than merely the stories, she provides incisive commentary about each tale, emphasising the legends’ crafted nature and their symbiotic relationship with the political cultures of contemporary medieval Europe. Thirty original linocut illustrations map the inky Arthurian myth-scape, darkened by time, familiar as a dream.
Defy the Dusk by Danielle L. Jensen, Del Rey, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-95521-7.
The first book in a new post-apocalyptic fantasy romance duology. Lirien Flintspire, known as the Worldbreaker to most, is seeking redemption. Twenty years after an accidental explosion of her Earth magic brought civilisation to its knees, the remaining survivors of this great catastrophe live aboard high-speed railway rigs so that they can outrun the threats of their ravaged world. By night, monstrous creatures known as straxi rise from the earth to devour everything in their path. When Lirien is kidnapped by Vox, the mercurial king of the feralists who seems to swing between wanting to use her powerful magic for his own ends or to kill her, the fate of humanity hangs in the balance. Because Lirien has a plan and she’ll be damned if she lets the handsome, charismatic Vox get in her way. Yet with the battle to defy the dusk – and to defy her growing feelings – becoming ever more fraught, Lirien will have to decide where her trust lies. For Vox has a plan of his own: one that could save humanity… and break the Worldbreaker once and for all.
Hag: Forgotten Folktales Retold by Daisy Johnson et al, Virago, £10.99, pbk, ISBN 978-0-349-02079-2.
Dark, potent and uncanny, Hag bursts with forgotten folktales of our isles, retold for modern times by voices as varied as they are vivid, from Daisy Johnson to Eimear McBride and Irenosen Okojie. From the islands of Scotland to the coast of Cornwall, the mountains of Galway to the depths of the Fens, these folktales howl, cackle and sing their way into the twenty-first century. They swarm with boggarts, pixies, mermaids, strange bones and odd green children materialised out of nowhere, wildly re-imagined by some of the most exciting women writing in Britain and Ireland today.
You're The One That I Haunt by Katie Jung, Doubleday, £14.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-97033-3.
Who says romance is dead?
Libby Lakoski has started seeing ghosts. Admittedly, it's not the worst thing that's happened to her today - that would be attending the engagement party of her best friend, Carter Coldwell, who she's secretly in love with. But it's definitely a close second. And the ghost in question? Trip Coldwell, Carter's super hot, super annoying cousin, who's conveniently decided to haunt Libby until she helps to free him from the spirit realm. Libby doesn't want to work with Trip, until he points out that his predicament has been caused by the infamous Coldwell curse that's hung over his family for generations - and will one day come for Carter too. Desperate to save her best friend - and her chance at happily ever after - Libby agrees to help. But as she spends more time with the infuriatingly charming Trip, Libby soon realises she's being haunted by feelings for another Coldwell, too…
Mothsblood by Lynn D. Jung, Del Rey, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-97207-8.
Step into the heart of Paris with this lush and thrilling dark academia fantasy that follows a young alchemist running from a dark past. On a rain-soaked night in dreary Paris, Larkspur Lee has found herself at the heart of an impossible crime. Headmistress and immortal Petronelle Flamel’s death is as sudden as it is suspicious, and in its wake the school devolves into chaos. The mysterious investigator assigned to the case, Violaine, believes a cult known as the Promethean Genesis is responsible for Flamel’s murder. But Lark was once a Promethean initiate herself and she’ll do anything to keep her past hidden. When the mentor she crossed an ocean to escape re-enters her life, everything she’s built for herself begins to unravel. As the Promethean’s plans come to fruition, the university’s dark history comes to light, and Lark is torn between her ambitions and her growing affection for Violaine. Before long, the two women will have no choice but to set their suspicions aside and save one another when no one else will…
Quaint Folk by Bitter Karella, Run For It, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-0-356-52832-8.
Billed by the publishers as The Wicker Man meets The Twisted Ones in Bitter Karella’s Quaint Folk. From the outside, it looks like Jessica has the perfect life. She’s a stay-at-home mom, married to a man with a respectable job, raising a son they adore. Her family is as wholesome as all-American pie. But deep down, Jessica knows there’s something wrong with her; she knows she can’t escape her past. When her husband’s job has them move abroad, Jessica thinks this is her chance for a fresh start. On the remote island of Hasenhurst, the modern world can’t get in. The people there grow their own herbs, make their own jam, and mind their own business. They believe in folk tales and the power of dreams. They tell visitors, we’re a quaint, quiet people. The right sort of family would do well here. Jessica is determined to be the right kind of person for a family – and a life – like this. But as she tries to befriend the townsfolk and learn their ways, she soon realises that beneath the town’s cosy idyll, something sickly-sweet and rotten lies buried…
Captive Traitor King by Brigid Kemmerer, Harper Voyager, £29, hrdbk, ISBN Not provided.
CAPTIVE. Asher has always sworn loyalty to Jory, the princess he’s loved from afar—but now the King of Incendar has claimed a place in his heart too. Someone wants them both dead, and only Asher’s blade can keep them safe. TRAITOR. Princess Jory of Astranza agreed to marry the King of Incendar to secure peace, but betrayal runs closer than she ever imagined. With her own brother unmasked as her enemy, two kingdoms teeter on the edge. KING. Maddox Kyronan has discovered trust—and something more—with his reluctant bride and her deadly protector, but the fragile alliance between their nations still threatens to unravel. His people are starving. His enemies are circling in. Torn between the crown and his heart, Ky risks losing it all.
The Wolf of Whindale by Jacob Kerr, Serpent's Tail, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-800-81153-9.
A chilling gothic tale of magic, cults and werewolves – Perfect, say the publishers, for readers of Paul Kingsnorth, Andrew Michael Hurley and Alan Garner.
Highlander by Garry Kilworth, Sphere, £10.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-408-73455-1.
Ahead of the forthcoming cinematic re-make. ‘There can be only one’. The battle rages across the centuries, from the wind-scoured Sahara to the wild Russian steppes t the rocky crags of Scotland. And only one Immortal can survive. MacLeod is the Highlander. A Scottish clan warrior from the sixteenth century, he was taught the deadly arts by an ancient mentor, who then suffered the only wound that can end an Immortal’s life: decapitation. Now, seven lifetimes later, MacLeod faces the final test. The Kurgan, his ancient adversary, has tracked him all the way to the streets of New York City. The fight will be the same: blade to blade. Only the outcome is in doubt. Will the Highlander win? Or will the Kurgan’s scimitar stop him with a blow that will plunge the earth itself into an era of darkness and chaos? Ahead of the blockbuster film reboot starring Henry Cavill, the original, highly acclaimed novelisation of the 1980s cult classic.
Blood to the True Crown by Sung-il Kim, Orbit, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-356-52516-7.
Three heroes must unite to topple an empire…
Murmuration by T. J. Klune, Tor, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-037-41361-2.
Every small town has its secrets… In the idyllic town of Amorea. Mike works his dream job at the local bookstore. At the local the staff know his order – especially Sean, the waiter who has a special smile just for Mike and, after years of anticipation, is ready to take the next step in their burgeoning romance. But while everything might seem perfect, the edges of the town are beginning to fray. Odd things catch Mike’s attention, things no one else seems to notice or care about. There are no children or parents in Amorea and no one who’s left town for the far mountains has ever come back. One night, Mike wakes up to a storm cloud of uncanny starlings blackening the sky. And soon enough, he begins to question whether his name is even Mike. As Mike loses hold on his identity, violent memories of another life interfere with everything good about Amorea, Mike will do whatever he can to keep Sean from the darkness that’s coming for him. Nothing here is perfect, but there is someone worth saving.
The Burning God – Collector’s Edition by R. F. Kuang, Harper Voyager, £35, hrdbk, ISBN Not provided.
After saving her nation of Nikan from foreign invaders and battling the evil Empress Su Daji in a brutal civil war, Fang Runin was betrayed by allies and left for dead. Despite her losses, Rin hasn’t given up on those for whom she has sacrificed so much – the people of the southern provinces and especially Tikany, the village that is her home. Returning to her roots, Rin meets difficult challenges – and unexpected opportunities. While her new allies in the Southern Coalition leadership are sly and untrustworthy, Rin quickly realizes that the real power in Nikan lies with the millions of common people who thirst for vengeance and revere her as a goddess of salvation. Backed by the masses and her Southern Army, Rin will use every weapon to defeat the Dragon Republic, the colonising Hesperians, and all who threaten the shamanic arts and their practitioners. As her power and influence grows, will she be strong enough to resist the Phoenix’s voice, urging her to burn the world and everything in it?
An Uncertain Magic by A. M. Kvita, Orbit, £10.99, pbk, ISBN 978-0-356-52753-6.
As different factions of the magic world hunt Joan across the city, she gathers a new family of allies to help her. Soon, her race to the truth draws her deeper into the heart of the city’s magic, through uncertain alliances with a (very attractive) family rival, and far beyond the limits of everything she thought her own magic was capable of. Only now does Joan see… her power could rewrite the rules of the magic world – or bring the entire city to its knees.
Among the Thorns by Jennifer K. Lambert, Tor - Bramble, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-07590-4.
Twin sorceresses of unrivalled potential confront each other over fate and Prince Charming in this deliciously romantic fantasy from the author of Never the Roses, Jennifer K. Lambert. Ambitious young sorceress Rose of Northbrooke is about to graduate. She’s the only known dream sorcerer of her generation and she's a remarkable one. No wonder she has Prince Sebastien, one of the most eligible royals of the realm trailing her skirts. But when rumours of dream magic gone awry reach her ear, Rose discovers she’s not the only oneiromancer of her generation. And she might not be the most powerful. In a faraway cottage, Thorn has lived a simple and isolated life. She longs to be part of the world. When she discovers there’s another dream sorceress out there who owns everything Thorn has ever wanted, she hungers even more for all she’s been denied. When Rose and Thorn meet, the outcome is clear: only one sorceress can live out in the open and claim the prince’s loving hand.
The Lord of Stariel by A. J. Lancaster, Tor, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-037-40954-7.
The Lord is dead. His grand estate is sentient. And enemy Fae are knocking at the door. Welcome to Stariel: where the land chooses its master, and the family is far more magical than they let on. Everyone knows who the magical estate will choose for its next ruler. Or do they? Will it be the lord’s eldest son, who he despised? His favourite nephew, with the strongest magical land-sense? His scandalous daughter, who ran away from home years ago to study illusion? Hetta knows it won’t be her, and she’s glad of it. Returning home for her father’s funeral, all Hetta has to do is survive the family drama and avoid entanglements with irritatingly attractive local men until the Choosing. Then she can leave. But whoever Stariel chooses will have bigger problems than eccentric relatives to handle. Winged, beautifully deadly problems. For the first time in centuries, the fae are returning to the Mortal Realm, and only the Lord of Stariel can keep the estate safe.
The Shadow Queen by Mark A. Latham, Orbit, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-0-356-52450-4.
The Shadow Queen continues…
The Game at Carousel by Rob M. Lastrel, Bantam, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-911-75453-4.
In a town where horror movie tropes come to life, Riley's only chance to survive is to play his role, in this LitRPG series. When horror-obsessed Riley Lawrence and his group of college friends arrive in the small town of Carousel for their Centennial Celebration, the few decrepit cars parked in the street don’t scare them. But when they enter a dimmed theatre, the animatronic usher hands them each a ticket, and the lights dim, Riley realizes they’ve entered the inescapable patchwork of a horror movie set. And they’ve each been assigned an archetype - Scholar, Athlete, Eye Candy, Final Girl - to play out as the curtains rise. Assigned the Film Buff archetype, Riley’s doomed to repeat a pattern: knowing exactly who the killer is but never surviving the attacks himself. After all, film buffs may know what’s coming, but they’re always the first to be hunted down. Until, that is, Riley learns he can avoid a death or two by exploiting the Oblivious Bystander trope. It seems monsters and killers won’t harm him as long as he can convincingly pretend he hasn’t noticed them. To make it through this deadly game, Riley and his friends will need to leverage their tropes effectively to determine what’s trapping them there in the first place. But as the rounds continue and escape seems farther and farther out of reach, they’ll be forced to ask themselves: Would they survive in a horror movie?
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle, Penguin, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-804-99989-9.
A retelling and reclamation of H.P. Lovecraft’s most xenophobic story, 'The Horror At Red Hook', from the perspective of a black man. Set in 1920s Harlem, a hustler and musician known as Tommy trades in illicit occult items. When he agrees to deliver a magical tome to a secretive sorceress, he gains the attention of dangerous and incomprehensible beings that are best left slumbering. People move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn't there. Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table, keep the roof over his father's head, from Harlem to Flushing Meadows to Red Hook. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their cops. But when he delivers an occult tome to a reclusive sorceress in the heart of Queens, Tom opens a door to a deeper realm of magic and earns the attention of things best left sleeping. A storm that might swallow the world is building in Brooklyn. Will Black Tom live to see it break?
Son of the Serpent by Shauna Lawless, Ad Astra – Head of Zeus, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-91132-5.
Scions of Ireland's immortal races seek to harness their magical powers as the Norman invasion takes pace. An epic historical fantasy set in medieval Ireland. As invaders mass on Irish soil and kings lose their crowns, the immortals of Ireland seek to harness their magical powers. Winter 1169. After her ordeals at the hands of the Fomorians and the warring factions of Ireland, young Descendant Isolde has arrived at the stronghold of her magical kin. It soon becomes apparent that Isolde is incredibly magically gifted as her powers come to the fore. But as she learns to harness them, she is plagued by visions of death and destruction. Cuan, Isolde's beloved friend, journeys to the lands of his royal kinsmen. When strange rumours abound of his escape from certain death, Cuan is soon suspected of spying for rival kings. With Cuan at risk and confused about his own magical abilities, a mysterious holy man seems to have all the answers. But with Norman lords encroaching ever further onto Irish soil, the powerfully magical Fomorians pulling their strings, the royal families of Ireland will have to work together and fight as never before... or risk their whole world being destroyed.
The Bookshop Book by Mark Lawrence, Harper Voyager, £18.99, hrdbk, ISBN Not provided.
Bookshops have always been places where worlds collide. Places where ideas make war, where cultures meet and mate. Frederick 'Red' Archer is hanging on at the edge of society, in the care of the state, when he wanders into the bookshop that will change his life. Rose Penrose is watching the world from the other side of the page, exiled by an act of awful violence, and is now fleeing from story to story whilst searching for her own. The Great Smith has had a hand in both their pasts and an eye on their future. They are tools that he has fashioned for a greater purpose. Tools to be used up and discarded. All that is certain is that a story has them all in its jaws. And that it is about to bite.
Thunderstruck by Lisa Layland, Harper Fiction, £9.99, pbk, ISBN Not provided.
A mythology-infused romantasy with a divine love triangle at its centre. Althea Leos came to Oslo to study – not for a love triangle with a hot activist and an arrogant professor. But one night, after a quarrel spirals out of control, she stumbles into Asgard – the hidden realm of Norse gods. There, everything ignites: Torben is Thor, the electrifying god of thunder. Lukas is Loki, magnetic god of mischief. And Althea herself carries a spark of divinity that could alter the course of gods and humans alike. Bound to them both by more than desire, Althea must choose between mortal safety and immortal temptation. In a realm where love and destiny collide, which god will leave her Thunderstruck?
The Mighty Thor by Stan Lee et al, Penguin Classics, £25, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-143-13827-3.
Graphic novel anthology. Illustrated throughout, The Penguin Classics Marvel Collection presents specially curated cartoon anthologies of the world’s greatest superheroes. During the 1960s, under the hands of the inimitable creative team of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, Marvel’s Thor combined the raw material of ancient Norse mythology with the nonstop action of super-heroic adventure comics and the speculative reach of classic science fiction. The result was a heady brew: epic, operatic, melodramatic, even psychedelic. This collection gathers some of the most important story arcs from the foundational years of the series and includes seminal early appearances of characters such as Hercules and Ego, the Living Planet, as well as Thor’s first encounter with Galactus! The Penguin Classics Marvel Collection provides a detailed scholarly introduction, contextualizing Kirby’s work on Thor within his larger oeuvre, alongside an extended critical apparatus and an appendix of additional material drawn from Kirby and Lee’s popular back-up series ‘Tales of Asgard.’
Horny by Lucy Lehane, Tor - Bramble, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-035-07742-7.
Rachel is 'voluntarily haunted', meaning she shares her body with a poltergeist and according to her, she is now finally getting her life, or well, death together. But then Isolde moves in. Isolde, a unicorn in human form, that is bored of paradise and far too good at seeing Rachel’s darkest secrets (of which there are many). Between magical grudges and interdimensional attraction between the two, things are about to get messy. After all, since when did the undead ever make good choices?
To Dream in Darkness by Ann Liang, Tor, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-05044-4.
China in the age of brilliance, where gods freely wander the three realms. Amongst them is the cruel and beautiful Death God, who has never failed to collect a soul on time. Until now. For when he seeks out Rujia, the noble god of healing – she makes him an offer he can’t refuse: she will help lift the excruciating curse placed upon him if he gives her a one-month reprieve. Rujia's deal with Death is merely an excuse to buy herself time. But when her plan causes the Celestial Palace’s collapse and the beloved crown prince’s disappearance, she and Death are both held responsible. The only way to avoid the wrath of all the other gods is to travel across the realms and safely retrieve the crown prince themselves. As the unlikely alliance between them blooms into more, and Death’s resolve to kill Rujia weakens by the day, neither can outrun their intertwined fate without devastating consequences…
House of Curses by K. A. Linde, Tor - Bramble, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-05951-5.
Billed by the publisher as Sarah J. Maas meets Rebecca Yarros, Fae meet dragons… Against all odds, Kerrigan Argon passed her dragon training. She’s now an official member of the Society. Everything should be well. But somehow, nothing is. Her dark prince, Fordham Ollivier, has disappeared in hopes to break his curse. An unwanted wedding looms in her future. And the council election draws ever nearer. An election that she’s been unceremoniously nominated for. If all of that wasn’t enough, the Red Masks, an anti-half Fae, anti-human terrorist organization, are gaining ground. All because they have a spy inside the mountain, inside the Society itself. Someone is leading these monsters. And Kerrigan is determined to stop them at all costs.
Domain of Darkness by Marisa Linton, Hodderscape, £20, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
If Conan Doyle can't solve the deadly curse that's attacking the Ghost Club, can Evie Winstanley do any better? London, December 1904. In a rundown office, Evie has set up an occult detective agency, but supernatural cases are thin on the ground. She's almost out of money when Arthur Conan Doyle appears, requesting that she investigate the recent deaths of members of the Ghost Club-a secret society devoted to the paranormal. The creator of Sherlock Holmes can't risk public mockery for believing that the Ghost Club is cursed. But Evie has nothing to lose, and if she can pull off a successful case, everything to gain. Pulled into a world of spectres, secrets and shadows, Evie turns to Kit-a reluctant psychic whom she once turned down. He wants nothing to do with the supernatural, but as the bodies mount and the veil between worlds thins, Evie needs him. And perhaps, despite himself, Kit needs her too. Together, they uncover a conspiracy that extends from wild parties in Belgravia to the shabby streets of Soho. Behind it all lurks the most dangerous occult magician in London, ready to destroy anyone who gets in his way. He knows what Evie's capable of, and wants nothing more than to lead her into the darkness.
An Immaculate Deception by Isabela Livino, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-63318-5.
Gothic horror. Pernambuco, Brazil, 1875. Meet Madalena. Raised in a deeply religious household, Madalena knows Dante’s Inferno by heart and fears her mother as much as she fears God. When she falls pregnant with a child conceived in sin, her mother issues a threat: marry or surrender the baby. Before Madalena gets a chance to tell the father, an accident happens, forcing a retreat to his secluded mansion. As madness ensues, it becomes clear they all have secrets to take to the grave.
The Animals We Became by Finn Longman, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-62105-2.
Blodeuedd never asked to be made. Created from flowers of oak, broom and meadowsweet to marry a man cursed never to have a human wife, Blodeuedd has no knowledge of the world, no family outside the marriage, and no power to choose. But a caged animal still has claws, and Blodeuedd will find a way to be free, whatever the cost. Gwydion knows what it is to be unmade. Haunted by the years he served in animal form as punishment for his brother’s crimes, Gwydion has turned his tricks to his nephew’s happiness – and the creation of Blodeuedd is the greatest trick of them all. But his creation asks questions he cannot answer and drags from the depths of the forest the past he has been trying so hard to forget. Now they both must face their unmaking.
At The Mountains of Madness & Other Stories by H. P. Lovecraft, Flame Tree Press, £9.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-806-94260-2.
Collection. A tale revealing hidden secrets, lost civilisations and alien origins, from the cosmic horror master H. P. Lovecraft. An expedition to Antarctica leads to disastrous revelations and a desperate struggle for survival. The novella is accompanied by a few other thematic pieces by the author, including the collaborative story 'The Challenge from Beyond', 'The Mound', and Lovecraft's fascinating 'Fungi from Yuggoth' sonnet cycle.
Ghost Cities by Siang Lu, Scribner – Simon & Schuster, £16.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-398-55987-5.
Inspired by the vacant, uninhabited megacities of China, Ghost Cities follows multiple narratives, including one in which a young man named Xiang is fired from his job as a translator at Sydney's Chinese Consulate after it is discovered he doesn't speak a word of Chinese and has been relying entirely on Google Translate for his work. The incident goes viral under the hashtag #BadChinese and attracts the attention of the eccentric film director Baby Bao, who uses Lu to attract press for his latest film. Bao’s movie, based on ancient legends, is to be filmed in one of China’s “ghost cities”. How is his relocation to a ghost city connected to a parallel odyssey in which an ancient Emperor creates a thousand doubles of Himself? Or where a horny mountain gains sentience? Where a chess-playing automaton hides a deadly secret? Or a tale in which every book in the known Empire is destroyed—then recreated, page by page and book by book—all in the name of love and art?
Sunsplitter by S. A. MacLean, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-61666-9.
Fi has toppled immortal beasts. Antal welcomes being conquered. After helping the Lord Daeyari reclaim his territory, semi-reformed smuggler Fi dons a daunting new role: rebuilding a city alongside her monstrous partner. But a greater danger lurks: the appearance of a creature that even the daeyari fear, burning its way through the Planes. With Antal’s father leading the hunt, they must ally with a team of immortals who could turn fangs on them at any moment. Or worse, strain their still-fresh love until it snaps.
Pictures of You by Josh Malerman, Tor - Nightfire, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-07344-3.
A woman becomes the unknowing subject of an artist's dangerous work in this intense Hitchcockian horror from Josh Malerman, the New York Times bestselling author of Incidents Around the House. After a magical night out on the town with her fiancée Jack, Emily wakes alone in a huge bed situated in a beautiful, well-lit room. But the pink ceiling, the mauve walls, and the deep, dark corners are nothing like the hotel she and Jack rented. More worrisome yet: Emily has no memory of this place from the night before. A woman’s voice directs her to remain in bed. And beyond the end of the bed, a picture frame upon an easel – a frame with no canvas, no painting, no art. Only… there is the silhouette of a person Emily does not recognize. A person emanating demand, danger, evil. And the way the woman talks… She’s acting as if Emily herself is the painting. The still life. The art. Emily is as confused as she is scared. But it’s immediately clear that she is trapped – and that Jack’s life is on the line along with her own. The clock is ticking… For Emily. For Jack. For being forever trapped.
This Wretched Alchemy by Tina Mars, Magpie, £18.99, hrdbk, ISBN Not provided.
In a fractured realm ruled by warring noble houses and the tyrannical Prime, the most coveted power lies with the legendary god-shards – divine fragments that grant extraordinary abilities to those who possess them. Revel’s brother was murdered in pursuit of one. And she’s putting her life on the line for vengeance and to save the only family she has left . She enters the Call – a bloody contest of heirs vying for the throne – on behalf of her enemies to assassinate the realm’s most formidable alchemist, the Warbringer. Victory means her family’s freedom. Failure means death. Thus begins a brutal race to fi nd the god-shard that could shift the balance of the realm. Everyone wants the win, but Revel wants the kill. Except, the Warbringer isn’t the monster she was promised. Bound by secrets of his own, he is as dangerous as he is disarming. With betrayals mounting and desire warring with duty, Revel must decide who to trust in a game where even the gods play favourites.
Bodies of Magic by Freya Marske, Tor, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-03933-3.
A dark academia fantasy set at a magical medical school, with
murder, magical discovery, and medical exams. Perfect, say the publishers for fans of Olivie Blake's The Atlas Six and R. F. Kuang's Babel. At the Academie of the Grand Duchy of Sieuxerr, every mage with the healer’s gift has five years to master their power and to prepare for the infamous Grand Exam—a five-day trial whose results will determine their entire future. The list of exam rules includes: - You will perform five practical cases. - Your exam group is chosen at random. - You pass together, or fail together. - It does not include: - On the first day, your exam group will find a classmate's dead body in the exam hall. And as they will soon discover, this particular group all have something to hide... and all have a connection with the dead girl, a brilliant scholar who would have been first in their class.
The Emperor’s Enemy by Jasmine Mas, Harper Voyager, £22., hrdbk, ISBN Not provided.
The Emperor’s Enemy – She is Zora Ravenal: Knight Mage, Bear of the North, and only hope of her people against the ravenous empire. The Hunter’s Mark – He is Aleksander the Sadistic: divinely ordained emperor and royal mage, hell bent on capturing Zora, once and for all. The Emperor will use everything and everyone in his power to possess her, even Tarantula, the deadliest assassin in the empire’s arsenal. But there is something they don’t realise. Zora is hunting them back… The Most Dangerous Game – For each, this obsession might prove their downfall.
Murder on the Haunted Express by Emma Mason, Bantam, £16.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-857-50670-2.
When ex-detective Midge McGowan embarks on a sleeper train to Scotland, she's hoping for a nice relaxing trip to enjoy the snowy highlands. Instead, the journey quickly turns into a nightmare. The train has a haunted history, as multiple witnesses have claimed to see a shadowy figure jumping out of the last carriage, before reappearing on board and repeating the loop. One of the passengers is a mysterious prisoner on release from jail, who won't speak to anyone and remains locked in his cabin, with a guard posted on the door. And then the lights go out, the train stops, and someone turns up dead. Their body is found inside a locked carriage – with no way in or out – so how was the crime committed? Is this really the work of a ghost? Or has one of the guests just pulled off the perfect murder? The only thing Midge knows for sure is that not all of them will reach their destination alive…
Emperor's Dragon by Taran Matharu, Harper Voyager, £18.99, hrdbk, ISBN Not provided.
The war for the empire has reached its breaking point. And if Jai is to succeed, he must continue to cultivate his powers so that he is strong enough to defeat the tyrannical Sabines. As High Khan, Jai has sacrificed everything to protect his people, forging fragile alliances, learning from those who would help him progress beyond a mere warrior, and fighting desperate battles against the Sabine Empire. Now, though, the stakes are higher than ever, the coalition Jai has painstakingly built is threatened from within by betrayal and from without by the overwhelming might of Emperor Titus. Jai must navigate a treacherous landscape of political intrigue where a single misstep could mean the end of his world. With his soul-bound dragon, Winter, at his side, he must confront his own heritage and make impossible choices that will determine the fate of empires. To secure a future for those he loves, he may have to risk becoming the very thing he fights against.
The Age of Blood and Magic by Hannah Mathewson, Harper Voyager, £16.99., hrdbk, ISBN Not provided.
Billed by the publisher as Succession with vampires. A hundred years ago, magic ran wild – belonging only to the fae, the witches, the vampires. Then the mortal Martin Maddock stole it, and forged Mythos, a company that bottles spells for humankind. Now his descendants rule a trillion-dollar empire – and Valentina Maddock is determined to inherit its throne. Then an unexpected guest arrives: a vampire. Luc Sayle has no known ties to Mythos, yet he carries a private invitation from the CEO himself. Drawn to the enigmatic and dangerously handsome stranger, Valentina senses Luc may be her only ally. But his polished words hide a bite, forcing her to question who the true monster really is. Set in a world of dark enchantments, glittering wealth, and cutthroat ambition, The Age of Blood and Magic blends paranormal fantasy, locked-room mystery, and romantic suspense into a razor-sharp, intoxicating tale where magic is power – and everyone’s out for blood.
The Women of Wild Hill by Kirsten Miller, HQ, £9.99, pbk, ISBN not provided.
It’s always three, isn’t it? Three furies, three fates, three graces. We don’t know why three works, but we know it does. Three is the number that gets the job done. Five generations of Sadie Duncan’s descendants claimed the beautiful Wild Hill as their home, each generation of witches stronger than the last. Then, in the aftermath of a tragedy, the last of the Duncans, prophesised to be the most powerful of their kind, abandoned Wild Hill forever. Brigid moved to California and turned her gift into fame and fortune. Her sister Phoebe settled on a ranch in Texas, where women visit in secret for her tonics, and Phoebe’s daughter, Sybil, became a famous chef. Now Brigid, Phoebe, and Sibyl have been brought back to Wild Hill for one thing: The Old One, furious at the path mankind has taken, has chosen them to lead a magical revolution. But first, the Duncan women must confront their pasts, because only once they have each stepped into their power can they fulfil their destiny…
Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Quercus - Arcadia, £16, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-529-45373-7.
Mexico City, 1988. Long before iTunes or MP3s, you said “I love you” with a mixtape. Meche, awkward and fifteen, discovers how to cast spells using music, uses her power to piece together broken families, and even find love… Two decades after abandoning the metropolis, Meche returns for her estranged father’s funeral, reviving memories from her childhood she thought she buried a long time ago. What really happened back then? Is there any magic left?
Once Written in Gilded Blood by K. M. Moronova, Cornerstone, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-804-96259-6.
Born with gilded blood, Alira is a demigod knight forged for war. When centuries of bloodshed threaten to tear the world apart, she is sent into a political marriage with Kalel Lornhelm, the infamous Blood Knight and ruthless demon commander of Devicit. Devicit is a kingdom of brutal beauty, and as Alira is pulled deeper into its glittering, dangerous court, mistrust ignites into desire – and she realises that Kalel’s connection to her fate runs deeper than she imagined. But beneath the city’s splendour lies a devastating truth built on sacrifice and blood. As the gods stir, war reignites, and ancient systems demand their due, Alira and Kalel must decide what they are willing to destroy… and what they are willing to become.
Ghost Lights: Horror Stories edited by Mark Morris, Flame Tree Press, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-805-52011-5.
Seventh volume in the non-themed horror series of original stories, show casing the very best short fiction that the genre has to offer, and edited by Mark Morris. This new anthology contains 20 original horror stories, 15 of which have been commissioned from some of the top names in horror, and 5 selected from the hundreds of stories sent to Flame Tree during a short open submissions window.
A Heart of Crimson Flames by A. K. Mulford, Harper Voyager, £9.99, pbk, ISBN Not provided.
Wolf pack politics, heart-pounding action, dark magic, newfound family dynamics, and shifter romance come to an explosive climax in the incredible conclusion of the 'Golden Court' trilogy by bestselling author A. K. Mulford.
The ix and the Carpet by E. Nesbit, Flame Tree Press, £8.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-806-94263-3.
The story of four children who, having accidentally set fire to their carpet, find themselves w ith a second-hand one that is magical and contains a strange egg. The magic carpet and the beautiful creature that hatches from the egg are the start of many great adventures.
Ravenous by Karin Nordin, HQ, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-0-008-77254-3.
Billed by the publisher as a chilling psychological horror for fans of Joe Hill and Stephen King. In the wake of the tragic death of acclaimed horror author Whistler Dodd, struggling writer Kirk Quade receives an unexpected opportunity: to finish Dodd’s final manuscript. Sequestered in the dead author's house, Kirk is determined to prove himself. But as he delves into Dodd's haunting world, he uncovers more than just words on a page. Time and Kirk's grip on reality are slipping, the boundaries between fiction and reality blur, revealing the terrifying possibilities that lie within the human psyche. As Kirk unravels the mysteries of Dodd’s final tale, he must confront not only the monsters lurking in the shadows but also the demons within himself. Will he finish the story and secure his place in the literary world, or will he become another victim of Dodd's haunting world?
A Taste of Magic by Tricia O'Malley, Simon & Schuster, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-398-54955-5.
She’s hexed. He’s her ex. And if they can’t bake in harmony, Briarhaven’sbig cooking competition might just go up in smoke.Lyra MacGregor’s magic is as unpredictable as her love life –especially when her spellwork starts misfiring during the filming of Briarhaven’sfavorite reality TV show: Bewitching Bake-Off. Even worse? She’s paired with Rabbie Barclay, her high school sweetheart turned heartbreak.He’s never baked a thing in his life. She turns spoons into hedgehogs when he’s nearby. But with the cameras rolling, the curse deepening, and old sparks reigniting, they’ll have to cook up more than just a winning cake to survive. Because in Briarhaven, baking is spellwork, and love is the trickiest recipe of all.
Homeward for a Spell by Jamie Pacton & Rebecca Podos, Cornerstone, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-804-95109-5.
Sage Wilderstone has made her living as a member of various adventuring parties but has never led one. So when she is offered the chance to hire her own crew for an expedition, it seems a dream come true. Until she realises that it is a winter adventure into the most inhospitable area of the kingdom. But then, how bad could it really be? Araphi Clauneck is looking for one last chance to perform. So when she sees a poster seeking a bard for a party, she heads eagerly for the audition, only to find that the party in question is an adventuring party, led by a woman she has been fascinated with since she first laid eyes on her. What follows is basically the worst winter camping trip ever, filled with danger and misadventures, and insane chemistry between a tough party leader and a pampered city-girl bard she has somehow decided to bring along.
The Wolf Queen by Lauren Palphreyman, Ardway, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-911-75115-1.
‘I won’t be a pawn, Blake. Not again.’ ‘Darling, we’re the ones who move the pieces.’ Aurora has spent her life being a pawn – to men, to alphas, and to gods. Now she intends to rule – but first she must defeat the Night God…
The Bloodfire Oath by Chloe C. Penaranda, Tor - Bramble, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-09581-0.
She entered the Guild to destroy it. She didn't expect him to hold the match. Under the iron fist of the Arcanum Order, magic belongs only to the elite. For Scythe Valethorne, survival isn’t enough. By day, she scrapes by in the city’s poorest district, by night she is an assassin to provide for her family. When one mission turns into a deadly gamble, Scythe risks everything to steal a place into the Arcana’s stronghold — the Guild. But when Asher Kyrell, the Guild’s most enigmatic leader, chooses her as his apprentice, Scythe is pulled into a lethal game of power and deception. His red gaze pierces her lies, his touch threatens her control, and every lesson draws her deeper into his fire. Yet Asher keeps his own deadly secrets, and every spark she feels for him could burn her mission to ashes. For one glance too long could cost her everything, and one stolen kiss could destroy them both. Through danger and desire, Scythe uncovers far more than she bargained for within the walls of the Guild; about herself, the other initiates, and the sinister fractures within the perfect Arcanum Order. Scythe must decide if her fate lies in enduring the regime – or breaking it. Because what if magic isn’t just gained… but is still born in the shadows, waiting to rise again?
Tales from the Kingdoms by Sarah Pinborough, Gollancz, £48.99, e-book, ISBN 978-1-399-63829-6.
Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty – stories you love, and that we all think we know… but what about the secrets hidden within them? Why would a prince fall in love with a woman in a coffin? Why would a queen try so hard to poison her stepdaughter? And what is a fairy godmother’s real motivation? Discover these classic fairy stories, told the way they always should have been.
They Say a Girl Died Here by Sarah Pinborough, Orion, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-398-72256-9.
Anna was once the life and soul of the party – until one night unravelled everything. Moving with her family back to where Grandma grew up, Anna becomes obsessed with two murders that took place in the town – three years apart, with the third anniversary looming… As Anna’s trauma deepens, and Grandma’s Alzheimer’s worsens, they share a bond made of missing memories. But when Grandma speaks, Anna listens. Above all, she fears that the girls are in there, and they’re trying to tell her something.
Cleopatra Queen Of Egypt: Tales of Heroes edited by Lindsay Powell, Flame Tree Press, £10.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-806-94258-9.
This book sheds light on one of the most renoned pharaohs of Egypt. Cleopatra had the rare distinction of connecting three great cultures. She was born of an ancient Greek dynasty that stretched back to the time of Alexander the Great, and as the last Pharaoh of Egypt she ruled before the once mighty kingdom became a vassal state under the all-powerful Roman Empire in the first century BCE. She is regarded as an astute, resilient leader w ho survived at a time of male domination, with her fame also as a wily lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony forever immortalised by Plutarch's Lives and through them, in the plays of William Shakespeare.
The Salt King by Natasha Pulley, Gollancz, £16.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-63297-3.
Hreodwater, and Avelyn Brocken is despatched to Investigate… Avelyn Brocken is a Jesuit priest. Originally from the salt mining town Hreodwater, his only ambition is never to return. When rumours of miracles being performed there are followed by a bizarre video showing someone turn to salt, the Vatican foreign ministry summons him. If these are miracles, the church must act. And if they aren’t – if the ancient, and frightening, Salt King is returning – then Avelyn may be the only one who can stop it.
How to Survive Camping: The Fairy and the Fomorian by Bonnie Quinn, Solstice – Simon & Schuster, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-398-54307-2.
A horror-comedy series adapted from an r/nosleepsubreddit thread with 16,000 passionate readers and originally self-published to cult fame. Every year, campground manager Kate sends out a pamphlet titled “How to Survive Your Camping Experience.” In it is a list of rules to help campers have an enjoyable experience and hopefully survive any encounters with the campground’s… other… inhabitants. With the land turning ancient, it is no longer just the campers that are in danger. Kate is the key to ascension and every inhuman entity is out for her blood. All the lesser creatures are making attempts on her life, from the hammock monster to the gummy bears. Kate isn't willing to let her land go without a fight. If these creatures are going to hunt her, then she'll hunt them in turn and eradicate everything from her land that cannot coexist with humanity. With the help of both her inhuman and human allies, it looks like Kate might actually have a chance at controlling her land. But ancient land attracts ancient things, and the town has a bad history with ancient creatures. A new entity has come to the campground, bearing an old grudge against one of the inhabitants. Its malevolent designs will put the entire land at risk -unless Kate can stop it.
The Sacred Space Between by Kalie Reid, Harper Voyager, £9.99, pbk, ISBN Not provided.
A devout iconographer must paint an exiled saint in this sumptuous gothic romantasy full of slow-burn tension and windswept moors, for fans of Divine Rivals and A Study In Drowning says the publisher.
Fangs With Benefits by Kath Richards, Sphere, £10.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-408-73662-3.
A centuries-old vampire joins the human corporate world for a change of scene and finds love instead. A paranormal workplace romcom perfect, says the publisher, for fans of My Roommate is a Vampire. Romance isn’t dead. But he is… Molly Mason is not a team player. She does more work than the rest of her team, but when a promotion becomes available, they bring in an outside hire over her. To add insult to injury, she’s tasked with training him. This is easier said than done, though, when he has the digital literacy of a toddler and is, infuriatingly, the hottest man she’s ever laid eyes on. Elijah Thorne’s reintegration into human society is going swimmingly. He scammed his way into a job, got new clothes, and successfully convinced a myriad of New Yorkers that he is human, not a vampire. The one person he can’t win over, though, is his intimidating colleague Molly. When Molly discovers Elijah’s secret, he realises that being human isn’t as easy as he thought. She’ll help him act the part if he’ll help her get promoted, but when they fall into a colleagues-with-benefits arrangement – no feelings involved – can they keep things professional?
The Tarot Trials by Katee Robert, Tor, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-08042-7.
In the tarot trials, betrayal is always in the cards… Kestrel has trained to compete in the Tarot Trials her entire life. Winning means becoming one of the five Cinque – a position of influence and power that could reshape the lives of people in her hometown slum, the Dregs. It's the position Kestrel’s mother should have had when she won the Trials twenty-two years ago as the Champion of the Moon. Instead, she was executed for treason after allegedly attacking the Minor Court. Determined to find out the truth, Kestrel joins the trials as the Moon’s new champion, desperately trying to master her new powers of shadow and illusion – and find allies she can trust (or trust enough) to survive both the Trials and the schemes of the Minor Court. Though enemies abound, she soon strikes some unlikely alliances: the coy and unnaturally lucky Wheel of Fortune, Vesper and the arrogant powerhouse Sun, Cato. She’s equally drawn to the mysterious and brooding Tower – whose alliance with Death, the man who killed Kestrel’s mother years ago, may lead to the answers she seeks. But, in the Trials, betrayal is a question of 'when', not 'if'. Kestrel will come to learn that winning the game isn’t about what she must do to win, but who she needs to survive.
Birth of the Witch by Nora Roberts, Piatkus, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-349-44744-5.
Niamh McShane was born a witch and died a witch in the same moment, at the tender age of thirteen. A victim of the madness that spread from Salem Town to her home on Piety Island. Over three hundred years later, on the same island, Neve McShane wakes with excitement on her thirteenth birthday to a revelation that will change her life. Neve learns that her aunts’ abilities go beyond simple kitchen magic and the potions they sell in their shop. Their tales of past lives aren’t just whimsical fantasies. They are witches, and so is she. Their lives – past and present – are bound together by that pivotal day centuries ago. Now Neve has been tasked with stopping a growing darkness. To prepare for the dangerous enemy that awaits, Neve hones her skills and searches for clues to aid in her quest. And at night, she dreams of a young man from Ireland whose eyes met with hers for a fateful moment, centuries ago.
A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross, Harper Voyager, £16.99, hrdbk, ISBN Not provided.
East and west. Humans and spirits. The tenuous balance of the Isle of Cadence is under threat from Bane, the spirit of the north wind. In the west, Adaira struggles to find her place. And, though magic blooms there, the spirits suffer beneath Bane’s harsh power, felt in every gust of wind. In the east, Jack Tamerlaine is adrift without Adaira, until he acquires a mission destined to lead him back to her. But among the Tamerlaines sickness is spreading and Torin desperately strikes a bargain with the spirits – a folly at any time. With their very land at risk, all will need to join together to confront Bane. Yet none can challenge the north wind without paying a terrible price, and the sacrifice required may be more than they can bear…
Yield Under Great Persuasion by Alexandra Rowland, Tor - Bramble, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-08755-6.
Tam Becket has hated Lord Lyford since they were boys. The fact that he’s also been sleeping with the man for the last ten years is irrelevant. When they were both nine years old, Lyford smashed Tam’s entry for the village’s vegetable competition. Nearly twenty years later, Tam hasn’t forgiven him. Now Tam has reconciled himself to the fact that love and affection are for other people, that the gods won’t answer any of his prayers (not even the one about afflicting Lyford with a case of flesh-eating spiders to chew off his privates) and that life is inherently mundane, joyless and drab. And then, the very last straw: Tam discovers that Lyford (of all people!) bears the divine favour of Angarat, the goddess Tam feels most betrayed and abandoned by. In his hurt and anger, Tam packs up and prepares to leave the village for good. Tam soon finds himself set on a quest for the most difficult of all possible prizes: self-care, forgiveness, a second chance… and somehow the unbelievably precious knowledge that there is at least one person who loves Tam for exactly who he is, and always has.
Blood & Steel by Helen Scheuerer, Tor - Bramble, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-06736-7.
With her death foretold, Althea - Thea - only has three years to become what she’s always dreamed of being: a warrior legend. But in Thezmarr, women are forbidden to wield blades, so she has trained in secret her entire life. Now racing against the clock, she fights to secure her place in the elite guild charged with the protection of the five kingdoms. The sparring and hazing of the new trainees border on deadly, but even more dangerous is her growing attraction to Wilder Hawthorne, her unwilling warrior chaperone. All around them, schemes are afoot and darkness looms. Will Thea pass the perilous initiation test and take her place as a champion of Thezmarr – or will the invading evil snatch away her dream before it starts?
Kiss of the Black Flame by Helen Scheuerer, Penguin, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-911-76061-0.
Some bargains are sealed with blood…Others with fire…The deadliest are sealed with a kiss… Saige Grayson has always believed stories could heal – even when her own body refuses to. As the most promising bookbinder in the capital, she’s learned to work through chronic pain and crushing debt, restoring other people’s treasures while trying not to fall apart herself. But when the man she owes decides her rare talent is worth more than her payments, Saige is traded to the Azkari – an immortal race forged by the gods for war – and imprisoned in their ancient stronghold. Her only chance of survival lies with Archer, a fallen Azkari general imprisoned beside her – cursed, dangerous, and impossible to ignore. He offers her a way out, and in return, Saige must help him retrieve and restore an ancient book. But the book is made of living magic, powerful enough to stop a great evil – or unleash it. And as Saige works with Archer, the tome begins to awaken something dark and dangerous – both in the realm and within her. As their enemies close in and buried memories resurface, Saige and Archer must decide what they’re willing to sacrifice: their freedom, their fragile trust…or the spark that could ignite the world.
A Ghostly Little Book: Five Frightening Tales from Britain’s Favourite Authors by Elif Shafak et al, Penguin Viking, £14.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-241-81166-5.
From Edgar Allen Poe to Charles Dickens, from Shirley Jackson to Toni Morrison, the greatest writers have, in some way or other, always been drawn to that ancient, mysterious thing: the haunting. A Ghostly Little Book is a slim, beautiful testament to the enduring appeal ofm the spook, a landmark collection of especially composed modern ghost stories from five of the most acclaimed and exciting authors at work today. Elif Shafak, Roddy Doyle, Eliza Clark, Tom Crewe and Helen Oyeyemi are some of the most original and arresting writers on the planet, and their tales are a map of all of the many twists and turns the ghost story might take; at turns strange, unsettling, heartwarming, hilarious and, of course, blood-chilling.
Blood Drunk by Ben Shepherd, Tor, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-08383-1.
Billed by the publisher as Slow Horses meets Empire of the Vampire in this brutal, darkly funny urban fantasy about a South London gangster who discovers the only thing more cutthroat than the criminal underworld is the world of vampires. A gritty pub crawl from the blood-soaked streets of South London to the elite hallways of vampire royalty.
Freddie Burns just wants ten pints, a brawl, and the chance to take over his uncle's fading gangland empire. But when a routine hit goes tits up, Freddie discovers a new kind of organised crime – one where vampires are real and monsters hide in plain sight. Good thing Freddie has a nasty talent for giving vampires a good kicking – them, and anyone else who looks at him funny. Freddie's power to rip magical strength from the death of living things drags him to a world he never knew existed. Now he's staring down shadowy organisations, a magical underworld, gruesome vampire initiations and a blood-chilling covenant. It might be up to Freddie to save the world – or at least not wreck it entirely. He just needs a drink and a smoke first.
Board Games and Broomsticks by Selina Spellman, Penguin, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-804-99933-2.
Nyssa Hawthorne is at the top of her game: as a high-flying mage leading a coven, she has everything she’s ever wanted. But her job requires long days, late nights and endless spell-casting – this witch is burnt out! And when a simple enchantment almost goes disastrously wrong, Nyssa realises she needs to hang up her broomstick and put herself first. Retreating to her late grandmother’s lakeside cottage – a place she’s avoided for the last decade – Nyssa rediscovers her collection of beloved board games with endless worlds to escape into. Vowing to share this magic with the locals, Nyssaopens a board game café in the village with well-worn sofas, a stove in the corner, and blankets covering every surface. Soon, she’s surrounded by friends old and new. When an old enemy arrives on her doorstep, Nyssa mixes her witchcraft with the board-games in the ultimate roll of the dice. What follows is a tale of adventure, found family, romance and discovering your inner magic…
The Cat and the Halloween Murder by L. T. Shearer, Macmillan, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-07632-1.
Join Lulu Lewis, a retired detective with a knack for exposing mysteries, and Conrad, her extraordinary talking cat, as they take on their spookiest case yet… Lulu and Conrad dock in Stratford-upon-Avon to visit friends for Halloween. But the festivities take a haunting turn when a local midnight performance of Macbeth ends with the lead actor collapsing on stage. The plot thickens with the revelation of another cast member's recent mysterious demise. Can Lulu and Conrad unravel the town’s eerie secrets and uncover the truth behind these sinister Halloween deaths before the curtain falls once more?
Lore Olympus: Volume 11 by Rachel Smythe, Inklore, £25, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-911-72095-9.
Graphic novel from the Eisner-winning Rachel Smythe. The finale of Lore Olympus has arrived! Witness Hades and Persephone’s modern, romantic reimagining in this gorgeously illustrated, Eisner Award-winning comic – now including a never-before-seen bonus short story! ‘It’s time to set things right.’ The race is on to save the Mortal Realm, but tragedy strikes when Kronos hijacks Morpheus’s body and kidnaps Hades. Now alone and unsure of the right way forward, Persephone is called to a leadership meeting of the gods, only to find that Apollo can manipulate her powers. He claims the spectacle proves that, in order to save humanity, she must marry him. Meanwhile, Hades awakens in his worst nightmare, transported back in time – and right into his father’s clutches. But Kronos is not the only danger the gods face. Apollo is revealed to be receiving aid from Olympus’s original tyrant, Ouranos, and the Primordial God has come to collect on the debt that arrogant Apollo owes him. And if Ouranos is unleashed once more, it will be the end of everything… Can Hades and Persephone find their way back to each other and stop Apollo before he destroys the realms in his dangerous quest for power?
The Sins of Silas by Kylie Snow, Gollancz, £25, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-399-63882-1.
Five years ago, Silas La’Rune lost everything: his mother, his home and his love, Lena Daelyra. Now a feared Mage Hunter, upon finding his lost love alive, the pair form an unlikely alliance to topple the tyrant king, Silas’s father… Forced to hide their past, every stolen glance reignites a fire they cannot tame. As rebellion ignites and old loyalties fray, Silas can’t decide what will destroy him first: her lies or his Sins.
Turncloak by L. K. Steven, Del Rey, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-94093-0.
Three rival mages race for power, vengeance and the fate of Atherin in the second instalment in the 'Silvercloak' Saga. After the disastrous events in the Havenwood, Saffron Killoran’s revenge has slipped through her fingers. Still deep undercover within the Bloodmoon gang, she sees only one path forward: harness her long-dormant Timeweaver power to undo her most ruinous mistakes. But Levan Celadon, now kingpin of the Bloodmoons, has discovered Saffron’s true identity. As the ghosts of his past grow louder, he begins to question the cause to which he has devoted his life – and the fate of the traitorous mage he loves. Will Saffron’s attempt to unmake time cast her as a hero… or a villain? And just how far will her rivals go to stop her?
The Legend Eternal by Andrea Stewart, Orbit, £25, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-356-52075-9.
Loyalties will be tested, long-lost secrets will be revealed, and two sisters will face each other on the battlefield as the war between the gods continues.
The Book of the Dead edited by Jonathan Strahan, Harper Voyager, £16.99, hrdbk, ISBN Not provided.
Award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan collects brand-new stories of murder, myth, and misadventure including contributions from Garth Nix, Paul Tremblay, Stephen Graham Jones, Tamsyn Muir, and featuring illustrations from Galen Dara. From our earliest myths to our most advanced scientific theories, humanity has grappled with the nature of dying, and what, if anything, comes after. The Book of the Dead confronts our terrible mortality with unflinching honesty and breathtaking imagination, taking us on a journey from the dusty plains of the Australian Outback where wives mysteriously vanish, to the fog-shrouded interstates of a man’s regret, to the deep, dark tombs of Martian queens, and to the sombre shores of a world where the dead refuse to stay buried.
For Ever More by Sue Lynn Tan, Hodderscape, £20, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
Yining flees the Iron Mountains with her unlikely allies, seeking the truth about her newfound powers amid the secrets surrounding her ancestral home. But with a traitorous queen ruling the Three Kingdoms from a stolen throne, nowhere is truly safe, and Yining must decide whom to trust to keep her family - and her heart - from harm.
Guns and Sorcery by Lavie Tidhar, Ad Astra – Head of Zeus, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-92899-6.
Gorel of Goliris was born a prince. Now he’s a mercenary, a killer-for-hire, and a slave to the Black Kiss – the narcotic distilled from the blood of gods. His kingdom is gone, his family slaughtered, and his only obsession is to find the path back home. But in a world where gods walk and magic infects the land, the road home is paved with betrayal, blood... and bullets. From the scorched deserts of Meskatel to the drowned temples of Falang-Et, from necropolises where the dead refuse to sleep to cities ruled by frog-gods and hybrid spawn, Gorel’s journey is a brutal odyssey of hallucinatory wonders and horrors. Only one thing’s for sure: by the time this is over, there will be blood.
The Scarlet Ball by Nghi Vo, Del Rey, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-98012-7.
A dark and magical tale of ballrooms and bloodshed set in the Gilded Age, from multi-award-winning fantasy author Nghi Vo. Judith Ban – convent girl, courtesan and failed thief – is looking for her next identity. She’s no stranger to wealth or danger, but the glitter of New York’s Gilded Age hides a darkness even she has never imagined. Here, the city’s elite maintain their grip through opulent balls, whispered rituals and marriages with demons hungry for human devotion. When she crosses paths with the formidable matriarch of the Howard family, Judith is offered an irresistible bargain: to take the place of a missing debutante in the coming season. With Miss Iphigenia Marshall’s face stitched over her own, Judith becomes white, rich and ready to risk it all. If she can hold onto her charm, her wits and her life, her reward will be a husband with undreamt-of power. But in a world ruled by appetite and ambition, the most dangerous hunger of all might be her own.
Black Dagger Brotherhood 24 by J. R. Ward, Piatkus, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-349-44498-7.
Paranormal romance.
The Only Way is Up by Django Wexler, Orbit, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-356-51901-2.
A progression fantasy that will follow a magic user with the ability to create sentient constructs, which they use to progress from the lowest levels of society to the highest, by improving his skills and fighting in increasingly challenging tournaments.
Souls In Ruin by Jacqueline White, Solstice – Simon & Schuster, £16.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-398-56322-3 .
Billed by the publisher as Raven Kennedy’s Gild meets Jennifer L. Armentrout’s From Blood and Ash in this dark romantasy following an illegitimate princess caught up in the revenge of gods, the first book in a trilogy about survival, obsession, and the quiet fury of a woman who won’t be forgotten. A marriage forged in blood. A kingdom bathed in silence. And a princess who refuses to break. When Princess Mireille is wed to a foreign king with cold eyes and colder intentions, she expects distance, perhaps cruelty, not chains. Kept imprisoned within her own kingdom’s walls, she learns her father’s past sins are not easily buried. But neither is she. Asher world twists into something unrecognisable, Mireille finds herself caught between two powerful immortal beings –one who wants her obedience and one who wants what little soul she has left. But Mireille was not born to kneel.
Reliquary by Hannah F. Whitten, Run For It, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-356-52570-9.
a grieving woman is lured to her late fiancé’s remote island estate – only to uncover eerie family secrets, a haunting past and a monstrous hunger stirring beneath the sea. When Claire’s fiancé Elias mysteriously dies of an unknown neurological illness, his estranged family invites her to a three-day wake at Harrow Point, their family home on a remote private island. Claire feels like she’s being given the chance to find family again, to belong. But something isn’t right – their home stirs strange memories of the accident that killed Claire’s parents, and Elias’s brother seems insistent that she leave as soon as possible. As she dives deeper into the world of Harrow Point, she discover that there’s something swimming in the bowels of Harrow Point, and it is hungry. But as Claire’s window for escape rapidly closes, she starts to wonder, does she even want to?
The Splintered Sun by Tad Williams, Hodderscape, £25, hrdbk, ISBN not provided.
This fast-moving adventure follows bandit and chieftain Flann Alderwood - a mythic, swashbuckling figure whose name is whispered across the realm-and his band of misfit rebels as they navigate a kingdom menaced by dark sorcery and war. With the old King of Hernystir's health failing, warlords carve up the land and rival factions clash over the rightful heir. Into this chaos steps Flann, joined by allies both noble and common, to help the King's one legitimate heir claim his father's blessing and restore stability. But enemies, human and inhuman, stalk their every move, determined to end Flann's quest before it begins…
Disenchanted by Lucy Jane Wood, Macmillan, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-07374-0.
Sage Hemlock has no interest in embracing her witchy side. Magic has betrayed her before, bringing nothing but heartache, and she will not let something so foolish happen again. Instead, Sage has thrown herself into her work and studies, running the local museum and largely preferring the company of her library and her cat to other humans. Her one goal is to fly under the coven’s radar so that she can finally shed her blasted powers forever. But when a strange historical book accidentally triggers a curse, Sage’s quiet, small-town life is suddenly overrun and magic is running rife. A beanstalk grows in her garden, and her friend and co-worker Casimir starts to look an awful lot like a handsome prince. Fairy tales are coming true… Now, with the threat of the coven on her tail, Sage must confront the magic she’s always denied to solve the mysteries of the book and save everyone she’s come to love from being lost to a fairy tale forever. The question is, can she finally learn to be her own happily ever after?
The Divine by Harper L. Woods, Bantam, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-857-50839-3.
Tricked. She succumbed to death to save his life. Margot is no longer her own. Her life has been stolen? A soul for a soul. A price to pay for her love. But now the voice she cursed is the only thing that can save her. Save them. After all, death is only the beginning.
Heaven Official’s Blessing (The Comic): Volume 3 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu & STARember, Inklore, £24, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-911-74103-9.
Graphic novel. The third volume of the official manhua (webcomic) adaptation of the New York Times bestselling danmei novel by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. Featuring stunning art by STARember, the webcomic produced by BILIBILI COMICS is now available in English print for the first time. With the help of San Lang, the mysterious red-clad youth, Xie Lian has finally established a shrine dedicated to the Crown Prince Who Pleased the Gods. But before the paint has dried on the divine portrait, news arrives of deaths and disappearances on the road through the longfallen Kingdom of Banyue, and Ling Wen advises Xie Lian not to investigate – or at least to do so discreetly. To uncover the culprit, Xie Lian must travel to a land haunted by old resentment and dangerous magic, and he’ll once again need to rely on junior heavenly officials Fu Yao and Nan Feng. But the two junior officials are suspicious of Xie Lian’s new companion and are determined to prove that San Lang is not who – or what – he seems to be.
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Autumn 2026
Forthcoming Non-Fiction SF &
Popular Science Books
Quantum Drama: From the Bohr-Einstein Debate to the Riddle of Entanglement by Jim Baggott & John L. Heilbron, Oxford University Press, £12.99 / US$18.99, pbk, ISBN 978-0-192-84611-2.
Quantum mechanics is an extraordinarily successful scientific theory. It is also completely baffling. From the moment of its inception, its founders struggled to understand its meaning. This struggle was most famously encapsulated in the debate between Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein; Quantum Drama tells the story of their engagement and its legacy.
How to Build a Haunted House: The History of a Cultural Obsession by Caitlin Blackwell Baines, Profile, £11.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-805-22149-4.
A grand tour of the haunted house through art, architecture, ghost stories and more.
I: A Biography of the Biological Self by Buzz Baum, Allen Lane, £25, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-241-76884-6.
We are the product of four billion years of evolution, and of the divergence and merger of different evolutionary lineages. The unity of life on Earth becomes self-evident when we zoom in. Put our eye to a microscope and it becomes clear that sulphur-loving microbes in volcanic springs, malaria parasites, mushrooms, parrots and humans all share a common organisation, common parts and a common language. Zoom out. Once born, even if raised by wolves, we are embedded in families and wider communities from which we obtain our identity and purpose. We frame the story we tell about ourselves with a name our parents gave us, and narrate it in a mother tongue we did not choose to speak. We are parts of larger wholes: couples, a family, two extended families, friendship groups, organisations, tribes, cultures and societies, and a natural world. We live in a web of interactions that makes us who we are. Each of us is much more and much less than a simple ‘I’. By expanding the way we view the self to encompass these manifold aspects of being, this book aims to give readers a greater appreciation of what it means to be human and alive, and points to ways of aligning lives with those of the other creatures with whom we share this beautiful planet. The publisher publicity does not say it but the author co-wrote a very important paper that revolutionised the way we think proper cells (eukaryotes) arose from simple cells like bacteria (prokaryotes).
Meet the Neighbors: Life on Mars and How to Find It by Steven A. Benner, Allen Lane, £25, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-241-80830-6.
The search for life in the Universe is one of the biggest questions for humanity. In this explosive book, Steven A. Benner argues we’ve been looking in the wrong place. In 1976, NASA landed two Viking missions on Mars specifically tasked with looking for current (or extant) Martian life. Given how the results were interpreted, no space mission since has returned to search for life living on Mars today. With unparalleled access to the Viking archive, Benner explains why those results were misinterpreted, why it is possible that the Viking landers did find life, and why and how we can go back to be sure. In the fifty years since Viking, Mars science missions have deliberately steered away from the riskiest question: is anything alive there now? Now pioneering astrobiochemist Steven Benner reveals why we’ve been looking the wrong way, and lays out the practical path to find life on Mars. But what even is life? Would we recognise it if we saw it? One of the founding figures in the field of synthetic biology, Benner then unveils agnostic life detection – tools that can spot biology even if it doesn’t look like ours. With sample-return on the horizon but no rover yet built to seek extant life, Meet the Neighbors is the definitive, urgent brief on where to go, what to measure, and why the next discovery won’t just change textbooks – it will rewrite our place in the universe.
Phrased and Confused: What the World’s Great Quotations (Really) Mean by Eli Burnstein, Profile, £14.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-805-22699-4.
Hell is other people. You are what you eat. Ignorance is bliss. Or is it? We read them, perhaps give a knowing chuckle, and move on with next to no thought. But what do these timeless and iconic lines actually mean? Thankfully, language and philosophy obsessive Eli Burnstein is on hand to unpack forty-five of humanity’s most iconic statements with lightness and wit. From the words of Aristotle to Hannah Arendt, William Blake to Simone de Beauvoir, every delightfully illustrated entry will improve your grasp
of the meaning behind their riddle-some words, and deepen your appreciation for the big ideas for which they stand.
Crick: A Mind in Motion – from DNA to the Brain by Matthew Cobb, Profile, £12.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-800-81107-2.
The definitive biography of Francis Crick, by the Baillie Gifford shortlisted author of The Idea of the Brain.
Earth's Flips of State: The Co-Evolution of Life and Planet by Jonathan Cowie, Oxford University Press, £31.99 / US$49, trdpbk, ISBN 978-0-197-82537-2.
Finding climate change literally just too depressing (in common with other scientists working on this topic), this environmental scientist has turned to pastures new. His latest book provides a deep-time exploration of life's evolution and that of the biosphere/planetary system (the Earth system). The Earth's history is not a steady progression but a series of dramatic shifts, or 'flips', between distinct planetary states, driven by life's innovations interacting with the Earth system. These major flips of state include the great oxygenation event and the rise of multicellular life. Each of these transitions have a number of characteristics in common. That these characteristics are all exhibited today suggests that humanity itself might be on the cusp of another such major transition of the Earth system. If this narrative has any merit then it should be applicable to other world systems and so have implications for exobiology as well as the likelihood of extraterrestrial, technology-wielding species. This book is written in a cross-disciplinary way so that the biology is understandable to geologists and the geology clear to astronomers and so forth. As such, in addition to students, this has a potential popular science readership. Of relevance to science fiction aficionados, there a dozen SF references sprinkled though the book to provide popular culture reference points. Along the way there are SFnally-adjacent questions addressed, such as the Fermi Paradox and the possibility of a coming technological 'singularity'. Illustrated with diagrams. (Advance purchases now possible.)
How Many Pikachus Would It Take to Power a Lightbulb? The Real Maths of Fantasy Worlds by Tom Crawford, Hutchinson Heinemann, £18.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-15429-0.
How many daily calories would you need to feed a Charizard? Could the Death Star’s laser actually blow up a planet? What is the half-life of the Incredible Hulk? And is the meaning of life really ‘42’? Join Dr Tom Crawford on a tour through the real-world maths of the most absurd fantasy universes. Drawing on a decade’s research at some of the world’s leading universities, he answers the most bamboozling maths questions raised by Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars and more: from calculating Frodo Baggins’s life insurance premium for his journey to Mordor, to how rich Mario would be after he gobbled up all those coins. The result is both a dizzying compendium of fantastical ‘did you know?’ facts and a guide to the mathematics of life, the universe and everything. Tom Crawford is a maths fellow at the University of Oxford
42 Tales From Life: A Modern Bestiary by Richard Dawkins, Head of Zeus, £30, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-92435-6.
A witty and insightul menagerie of animal tales from Richard Dawkins, illustrated with Ernst Haeckel’s colourful and intricate drawings From the world’s greatest popular science writer. A romp through a menagerie of ingenious tales about how animals evolved into such intricately beautiful, intriguing forms. Dawkins delightedly talks us through the galloping of fish, the shape of the rhinoceros’ horn, the surprising similarities between horses and lizards, and why hummingbirds glow in such brilliant hues. This is popular science and incisive Darwinian analysis at its best. Dawkins delights in the surreal and incredible moments that make up the fabric of our world, finding the extraordinary in every creature and revealing the fundamental truths behind even the most unfathomable animal behaviours. His tales are accompanied by the astonishingly beautiful art of the German scientist and artist Ernst Haeckel, whose colourful illustrations of plants, sea creatures and other animals have long fascinated Dawkins. This is a book to learn from, to delight in, and to treasure.
Sleuth-Hound: The Case of the Real Sherlock Holmes by Lindsey Fitzharris, Allen Lane, £25, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-241-63261-1.
The true story of Joseph Bell, the Scottish surgeon whose extraordinary talent for detection inspired Sherlock Holmes. Edinburgh, 1878. A medical student named Arthur Conan Doyle squeezes into the Royal Infirmary’s packed operating theatre, hoping to catch a glimpse of the celebrated professor whose uncanny powers of observation blur the line between diagnosis and detective work. That professor was Joseph Bell, who became one of the most celebrated surgeons and medical reformers of his age. With a flair for the theatrical and an eye for clues hidden in the tiniest details, he astonished his students with lightning-fast deductions about his patients’ backgrounds and ailments. Together with Edinburgh’s chief police surgeon, Henry Duncan Littlejohn, Bell also investigated some of the highest-profile murders of the century, including those of Jack the Ripper, and collaborated with forensic specialists such as a ballistics expert named Dr. Watson. And as Conan Doyle’s mentor, Bell inspired the creation of literature’s most iconic sleuth: Sherlock Holmes. International bestselling author Lindsey Fitzharris guides us through the smog-choked alleys and crowded slums of Victorian Edinburgh to tell the compelling, untold story of the birth of modern forensic science through the life of its most charismatic figure.
Hawking: His Life and Work by Graham Farmelo, John Murray, £16, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-529-33934-5.
Stephen Hawking was one of the world’s most remarkable thinkers – a brilliant theoretical physicist who, throughout his extraordinary career, expanded our understanding of the origins and structure of the universe and unravelled some of its greatest mysteries. But even more remarkable is that none of this should have been possible: an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age predicted that Hawking only had two years to live, not long enough to complete his PhD. In this vividly written and exhaustively researched first major biography of Hawking, Costa Award-winning biographer and science writer Graham Farmelo explores how the young Stephen – desperate for his voice to be heard – defied the odds to become the most famous and revered scientist of his generation. It reveals the man behind the theories – the political activist, the enthusiastic traveller, the reveller, the husband, the father, the disability advocate, the bestselling author, the international celebrity – who, even as motor neurone disease robbed him of his speech and mobility, continued to pursue his ambition of ‘a complete understanding of the universe’. Stephen Hawking defied all medical expectations and lived for 76 years. Hawking is the definitive portrait of this unique man and exceptional intellect.
Solly Zuckerman by Adrian Fort, Profile, £25, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-805-22676-5.
Environmentalist, zoologist and Whitehall mandarin, Solly Zuckerman became one of the Allied leaders’ most influential advisors during the war, and later the government’s chief scientific advisor. He was among the first to warn against the nuclear arms race, and of the threat of climate change caused by population growth. He was also a proponent for the construction of the Thames Barrier. Born in South Africa, Zuckerman published a bestseller on the social life of primates while a researcher at London Zoo. A friend of Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and many in the Bloomsbury Group, in New York he partied with Dorothy Parker, George Gershwin and Tallulah Bankhead. At the peak of his influence in the 1960s and 1970s, Zuckerman was secretary of London Zoo, professor of anatomy at Birmingham University and an all-powerful mandarin in Whitehall. Written with exclusive access to Zuckerman’s papers, Adrian Fort’s biography portrays a remarkable polymath who sat at the heart of political life for over forty years.
Galaxies by Jake Foster, Collins, £8.99, pbk, ISBN 978-0-008-79498-9.
An exploration of the universe on an expansive scale, examining the gargantuan structures of stars, planets, gas and dark matter that populate our cosmos.
Worlds of Fear and Wonder: Living with the Supernatural, Past and Present by Malcolm Gaskill, Profile, £12.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-805-22939-1.
The supernatural has always been part of human experience. Divine and diabolical forces were as dangerous and mundane as rotten harvests and sweeping sicknesses. Miracles and ghosts abounded. During the First World War, soldiers put faith in visions and protective charms, and Spiritualists were still believed to reach beyond the veil. When we understand the supernatural as a feeling, not an idea, we grasp the truth behind our ancestors’ fears and passions. In these thought-provoking pieces, Gaskill examines our haunted past from alchemical dens to witchcraft trials, and in uncanny encounters with mediums, vampires and flying nuns. Searching hearts as well as minds, he unlocks the secrets of the unseen world, opening a new perspective on the magical and the marvellous.
Humans: The First Seven Million Years by Chris Gosden, Oxford University Press, £to be announced /US$34.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-197-86913-0.
This offers the most comprehensive long-term history of humanity to date, revealing surprising patterns with provocative insights about human societies past and present it illuminates cutting-edge archaeological discoveries that are transforming our understanding of who we are and where we come from. For generations we’ve been taught a tidy arc of human progress: a march from primitive ancestors to Homo sapiens, from foraging bands to farming villages, from villages to cities, states, and empires. It’s a narrative that feels intuitive, and yet it obscures far more than it reveals. Humans overturns this familiar storyline, offering a truly global history that spans all continents and the full seven-million-year sweep of our past.
Harry Potter Official Sweets & Treats Cookbook by Veronica Hinke & Kim Laidlaw, Greenfinch, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-45062-0.
Recreate magical sweets from the Wizarding World with 60 sweet treats and baked good recipes inspired by the Harry Potter films. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to make your own Chocolate Frog? Satisfy your sweet tooth with sumptuous delights straight out of Honeydukes. This collection of 60 mouthwatering confections brings the magic of Harry Potter straight to your kitchen. With step-by-step instructions, handy tips and stunning photography, the Harry Potter Sweets and Treats Cookbook will have you making the Golden Trio’s favourite desserts from the comfort of your own home in no time.
For the Dead Remember: The Life of M. R. James by Darryl Jones, Oxford University Press, £25 / US$34.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-198-83523-3.
M. R. James: greatest of all ghost story writers, a repressed member of the English
establishment struggling against changing times. Every Christmas around the turn of the twentieth century, Montague Rhodes James would gather his friends and students together in his rooms at King’s College Cambridge, for what he once described as a ‘dark séance’, in which he read a new ghost story by candlelight at midnight. But the ghost stories are only one aspect of the life and writing of this fascinating, complex, troubled, difficult man. Monty James was widely recognized as perhaps the outstanding scholar of his generation, a man whose academic achievements were unparalleled, and who became the foremost living authority on medieval manuscripts, on stained glass, on Biblical apocrypha, and on the occult. He was also a formidable academic administrator, as Provost of King’s College Cambridge and then as Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, he led his institution through the difficult years of the First World War, in which many of his colleagues and students were killed. After the war, he returned to the sanctuary of his beloved Eton, which he served as Provost until his death. James’s life in Cambridge brought him into contact, and often into conflict, with many of the great figures and movements of his age, from Henry Sidgwick and the Society for Psychical Research to John Maynard Keynes, Lytton Strachey, and the Bloomsbury Group, with which he had many connections. He was the friend of A. C. Benson, the teacher of Rupert Brooke. He was a repressed gay man, whose friends recognized this even where he did not. He was often troubled by modern ideas and tendencies, widening social access to universities, degrees for women. This is also a story of the profound consolations of scholarship, and of a man who found meaning on the wilder shores of human experience, in a world of demons and ghosts.
The Discworld Bestiary: From the World of Terry Pratchett by Paul Kidby & Terry Pratchett, Head of Zeus, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-857-52949-7.
A spectacular guide to the creatures and critters of Discworld, packed with wisdom from the great minds of the Disc, as well as interjections from some of its more unconventional thinkers. Discover the best way to care for the Terrible Man-Eating Sloth of Clup, the eating habits of the Ambiguous Puzuma, and marvel at the startling prevalence of ominous ducks in cosmic matters. Wriggling with insights and crawling with wisdom, The Discworld Bestiary is packed with extra advice from Rincewind, Unseen University’s latest (and reluctant) adjunct professor of Perplexing Beasts and curator of its curiobiological museum. Fully illustrated with brand-new art from Paul Kidby.
The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore, Allen Lane, £25, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-241-83655-2.
‘The Artificial State is the factory farming of humans, the sorting and segmenting, the isolation and alienation, the destruction of both human community and the capacity for self-government’, writes the prizewinning historian Jill Lepore in her astounding, Orwellian account of how technology has undermined democracy around the world. Tracing the rise and fall of what she calls the ‘Artificial State’ over more than a century, Lepore examines how political campaigns have been reduced to the digital manipulation of attention-mining algorithms, how multinational corporations control public discourse, and how the era of the liberal nation-state is coming to an end, replaced by the rule of artificially intelligent machines. In a luminous, anguished rumination on everything from robot rights and Elon Musk’s origins to what data centres cost wildlife, Lepore offers a vantage and a history wholly missing from the debate about the decay of democracy, the destruction of the natural world, and the future of humanity.
The Longevity Delusion: Money, Myths and Bad Science by Seamus O'Mahony, Head of Zeus, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-035-92191-1.
This cuts through pseudo- scientific nonsense in this takedown of the longevity industry, a haven for deluded celebrities and billionaires. The longevity industry is a vast, pseudo-medical enterprise that has spawned countless bestselling books, social media frenzies and a huge network of conferences and pharmacological research. Seamus O'Mahony casts his sceptical and acerbic eye over this landscape in his brilliant quest to uncover the truth behind an industry – largely funded by Silicon Valley billionaires – which feeds off the gullibility of rich investors and death-phobic consumers. The antidotes: expensive drugs, stem cell therapy, gene therapy and intermittent fasting. He draws upon real scientific evidence to cut through the nonsense and to make a serious case for why longevity is a delusion, and why this industry is unlikely to find a solution to the inevitability of ageing. This narrative takes O’Mahony’s investigation deep into the world of longevity ‘experts’ as he attends their conferences and meets these infamous figures in their natural habitats. This is investigative writing at its best.
Wounds of Albion by Michael Moorcock, Gollancz, £15.99, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-60480-2.
In the final part of his fictional autobiography, fantasy grandmaster and publisher Michael Moorcock continues his adventures in both reality and a fantasy world only he can see. He needs to find a way to juggle his life, family and career with the demands of the group of myths, legends, heroes, villains, notable historical figures and creations of his own imagination who need his help or seek to destroy him.
The Bookshop: A History of Bookselling from the Dawn of Print to the Twenty-first Century by Andrew Pettegree, Profile, £25, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-805-22437-2.
Bookshops are a comforting sight: warm, welcoming spaces in which to browse, meet friends and buy books. Their history is a restless and turbulent one, however, filled with as many entrepreneurial hawkers and illicit traders as beloved institutions. The Bookshop journeys from cramped collectors’ shops frequented by Pepys to the feminist bookshops of the seventies, from the rise of monolithic chains to the realm of online selling. Connecting stories and lives that span centuries, countries and continents, Pettegree brings us into the beloved bookshops of today and considers the possible experience of the booksellers of tomorrow.
Ripley’s Believe It or Not! 2027: Wired Into Weird by Robert Ripley, Century, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-529-99160-4.
The ultimate annual full of amazing facts, weird but true stories, and eye-opening pictures is back. Reboot your curiosity and binge the bizarre with the all-new Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Wired Into Weird. In a world where AI-generated content has everyone second-guessing what’s real, Wired Into Weird proves that truth is stranger than fiction. Readers will meet incredible people, see quirky creations, visit far-off places, discover odd animals, and witness astonishing feats – and it’s all real! All-new and all-true: Latest edition of the bestselling series with hundreds of new stories from around the globe. No attention-span struggles here: Vibrant imagery, bite-size stories, fun lists and silly call-outs attract even the most reluctant reader. Family-friendly fun: Everyone from grandparents, adults, teens and kids alike will have a blast
exploring every page and sharing the unbelievable together.
The AGI Chronicles by Tricia O'Malley, Simon & Schuster, £22, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-398-55531-0.
This is not a futurist manifesto, an academic chin-stroker, a corporate biography, or a self-help manual. It’s the inside story of the birth of AGI, as told by the people who are bringing it into existence, or trying to stop it from coming into existence, and who are grappling with the consequences before anyone else. Building Artificial General Intelligence – a machine that is as smart or smarter than humans, at everything our brains can do – has been the goal for the world’s biggest technology companies for about the last decade, and it is probably the most consequential technological project in history. Only a few hundred people are fully awake to what’s actually happening on the AI frontier, or how short the timelines are. Powerful AI will reshape society –and most governments and big corporations already view this conclusion as obvious, as evidenced by the trillions of dollars they’re spending to get there first.
On the Equality of All Things: Physics and Philosophy by Carlo Rovelli, Allen Lane, £20, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-241-73370-7.
What can we really know about the world around us? With clarity and lightness, acclaimed physicist Carlo Rovelli guides us through the speculative depths of modern physics, unafraid to test their limits, not least because, as he suggests, there may be no final ground to reach. Electrons and minds, stones and laws, judgements and galaxies are not essentially different in nature from one another. They are ideas that illuminate each other. Reality, he shows, is shaped by this continuous play of reflections. From this emerges Rovelli’s central insight: the equality of all things. Like the ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi, who dreams he is a butterfly and wakes unsure whether he is Zhuangzi dreaming to be a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming to be Zhuangzi, Rovelli invites us to see reality anew, recognizing our knowledge is coherent but also uncertain and circular. We are made of the same stuff as the rest of reality – and so we are, in a deep sense, home in the world.
Green Crime: Inside the Minds of the People Destroying the Planet, and How to Stop Them by Julia Shaw, Canongate, £10.99, pbk, ISBN 978-1-837-26120-8.
Traffickers. Hit men. Outlaws. Thieves… Our planet is a crime scene – but can we catch the killers? Enter a world where people are murdered, ecosystems are destroyed and organised criminals terrorise communities. Closely following their every move are teams of secret agents, vigilantes and scientists fighting for our planet’s future. Criminal psychologist Julia Shaw takes us deep into some of the worst environmental crimes of our time and asks: how do the Earth’s killers think? What makes their crimes so deadly? And how can we stop them from stealing our future? From the Amazon rainforest to South African gold mines, Green Crime is the most far-reaching murder mystery ever told.
The Wordspotter’s Guide: Etymological Adventures Through the English Language by Olivia Swarthout, Profile, £18.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-805-22620-8.
Olivia Swarthout, creator of the viral sensation Weird Medieval Guys, turns her idiosyncratic and humorous eye to the fascinating roots of the English language. Here, she introduces readers to wordspotting, a hobby for those who love words and their peculiarities, origins and histories. From the seemingly modern ‘unfriend’ – which dates back to the seventeenth century – to the revelation that the leotard was named after the inventor of the trapeze, The Wordspotter’s Guide brims with fascinating linguistic titbits alongside advice and techniques for detecting the bizarre and unlikely commonalities between words and their meanings. An invitation to pay better attention to words and their stories, this etymological romp will bring out the wordspotter in everyone.
The King Under the Mountain by D. J. Taylor, Constable, £30, hrdbk, ISBN 978-1-408-72180-3.
A short, provocative and suggestive account of J. R. R. Tolkien’s extraordinary life. Rather than a mammoth life and times, The King Under the Mountain gives what this literary giant’s legacy needs: a shorter, provocative and more suggestive account of his life and work which explores hidden corners and previously unseen trails – obliquely executed, but determined to use them all to bring us back to the books that are deeply loved and respected across the globe.
Night Sky Almanac 2027 by Radmila Topalovic & Dr. Dominic Ford, Collins, £9.99, pbk, ISBN 978-0-008-81576-9.
Follow the progress of constellations throughout the seasons with this beautiful companion to the night sky from Astronomy experts Collins.
Valley Of Death:How Big Tech is Fueling the Future of War by Sharon Weinberger, Basic Books, £25, trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-399-83167-3.
A new military-industrial complex is arising from the cradle of Silicon Valley, with vast implications for American democracy and the global balance of power. Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Alexander Karp. These tech titans are fast becoming some of the most powerful figures in the realm of national security, with enormous implications for us all. The American military and spy agencies helped to create Silicon Valley as we now know it, and some of its biggest and most valuable companies today owe much of their success to the Pentagon and CIA. Beginning with the War on Terror and accelerating under Donald Trump, however, the old alliance between elected leaders and the unelected CEOs of Silicon Valley has grown increasingly uneasy as power has shifted to the private sector and Big Tech exerts greater and greater influence over its old patrons. The implications of this historic shift are poorly understood and fraught with peril. What happens when mercurial billionaires like Elon Musk control weapons and technologies that were once the preserve of the US government? How will this new military-industrial complex affect the way wars are fought, or even which wars are fought? That is the urgent question before us today, at the dawn of this new era – and as Weinberger reveals, it is one on which our collective future might well hinge.
The Last Humans: UFOs, Global Security, and the Threat to State Sovereignty by Alexander Wendt, Oxford University Press, £22.99 / US$29.99, hrdbk, ISBN 978-0-197-84116-7.
In The Last Humans, Alexander Wendt conducts a novel thought experiment that explores a future scenario in which global authorities conclude that Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) are extraterrestrials (ETs), and what this discovery would mean for both human security and the international state system. Drawing on the 2021 Pentagon UAP Report and international relations scholarship, Wendt contends that this situation would indeed be a national security threat, but not of the traditional, military kind. He argues that ontological shock from the state’s impotence in the face of ET power could cause it to lose legitimacy and collapse—even if ETs never intervene in human affairs.
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Autumn 2026
Rest In Peace
The last season saw the science and science fiction communities sadly lose…
Eddie Bell, the British publisher, has died aged 77. He began his career in publishing in 1973 as a salesman at Hodder & Stoughton, eventually rising to director of sales and marketing. In 1985, he moved to William Collins as managing director. He then relocated to the US following News Corp's acquisition of Harper & Row in 1987. But he returned to be chairman and chief executive of HarperCollins UK. At Harper Collins he famously let his editors like Jane Johnson directly handle the curation of the company's powerhouse speculative imprints (which eventually formed the Harper Voyager fantasy imprint). He also helped nurture the horror writer Clive Barker. In retirement he was executive director and then chairman of Haynes Publishing.
John Blanche, the British SF/F artist and illustrator, has died aged 77. His work regularly appeared in White Dwarf magazine, Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar. He became art director of Games Workshop.
Glen Boettcher, the US fan, has died aged 74. He was based in Milwaukee and was on the staff of a number of conventions including Worldcons.
Len Brown, the US bubble gum card creator, has died aged 84. His genre claim to fame was that he helped create the Mars Attacks cards which decades later became a film.
James Comer, the US author, has died aged 59. In addition to short stories he edited anthologies including Secret Stairs (2018), Lost Trails (2015) and Lost Trails 2: Forgotten Tales of the Weird West (2016). He was also a w contributor to the 'Werewolf: The Apocalypse Universe' by White Wolf Publishing.
Gerard (Gerry) Conway, the US comic book writer and editor, has died aged 73. He co-created the Marvel Comics vigilante antihero the Punisher as well as Peter Parker's clone Ben Reilly, the super villain Jackal, and the first Ms. Marvel. He is noted for the death of the character Gwen Stacy during his long run on The Amazing Spider-Man in the story arc 'The Night Gwen Stacy Died'. For DC Comics, he co-created the superheroes Firestorm, Power Girl, Jason Todd, and the villain Killer Croc, and wrote Justice League of America for eight years. Conway wrote the first major, modern-day intercompany crossover, 'Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man'. Away from comics, in 1993 he became the story editor of the television series Father Dowling Mysteries among much else, writing multiple episodes for over a score of series. In addition to comics and script writing, he wrote two science-fiction novels: The Midnight Dancers and Mindship. In the 1980s he also wrote some screenplays including for the film Conan the Destroyer (1984). He was included in the Eisner Hall of Fame in 2026.
John Crowley, the US author, has died aged 83. His first SF novel was The Deep (1975). He is arguably best known as the author of the World Fantasy Award-winning Little, Big (1981) which was also short-listed for a Locus, BSFA, Hugo and a Nebula, and his Ægypt series of novels. His Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr (2017) won the Mythopoeic Award in 2018 and was short-listed for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. His Great Work of Time (1990) garnered the World Fantasy Award for Best Novella. He also worked on documentary films. From 1993 he taught creative writing at Yale University.
Tim Curry, the British actor has died aged 80. He portrayed the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance (1982) for which he was short-listed for a Laurence Olivier Award for BestActor in a Musical. He also played King Arthur in the genre-adjacent Spamalot (2006–2007), a role that saw him short-listed for a Tony Award. For film he was in Muppet Treasure Island
(1996) and The Worst Witch (1986), the fantasy Legend (1985), the SF film Congo (1995) and the horror Scary Movie 2 (2001) as well as the genre-adjacent techno-thriller The Hunt for Red October (1990). For TV he starred in the mini-series IT (1990). He had a bad stroke in 2012 and then did voice-parts including for Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2012–2014). However, not just in genre terms, he is arguably best known for playing Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show (1973) and its cinematic spin-off The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). Cue the music.
Joel Davis, the US publisher, has died aged 92. With his father Bernie founded Davis Publications. At its peak they published 60 special interest magazines including Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction and Analog. He was also a past Westport Library president and also a past Brown University trustee. He also served on the Merritt Parkway Conservancy board.
John Dowd, the British SF fan, has died aged 74. His first convention was Novacon 12 (1982). He was a longstanding member of the Sheffield Science Fiction and Fantasy Society and its short-lived precursor in the 1970s. He was on a number of British national convention (Eastercon) committees including Eastercon committees, including Paragon (2001), Paragon 2 (2005), Contemplation (2007), LX (2009), Illustrious (2011) and Innominate (2017). He was treasurer for Loncon 3, the 2014 Worldcon, and co-chair of Concentric, the 2020 Eastercon that was cancelled as a result of CoVID-19. He and his wife Fran Dowd were fan guests of honour at the 2010 Eastercon.
Piper J. Drake,, the US author – real name Lalana Dararutana – has died aged 49. She had graduated with a degree in biology. Her first novel was Heart's Sentinel written as P. J. Schnyder (2010) and has a dozen to her name as well as eight novellas in romantic SF and fantasy/horror. She won a Prism Award from Futuristic, Fantasy and Paranormal Chapter of the Romance Writers of America in 2014, a 2013 Golden Leaf Award from New Jersey Romance Writers, and the same year a Parsec Award winner for Best Speculative Fiction.
Maureen Duffy, the British writer, the writer and campaigner for gay and authors’ rights, has died aged 74. Her novels include Gor Saga (1981) and In Times Like These (2013). Her awards include the Benson Medal (2004) from the Royal Society of Literature for her lifelong writings.
William J. Earls , the US writer, has died aged 83. His firs sales was for the short 'Jump' ( s William Earls) in Analog (1969). His work also appeared in Galaxy and Asimov's. His one novel was the futuristic, semi-dystopic, sports-based novel The Gladiator (1981).
Mary Wallace (Wally) Funk, the US aviator and astronaut, has died aged 87. She got her flying licence early in her 20s before completing a BSc at university. She became a professional pilot and was the first female flight instructor at a U.S. military base. In 1971, she earned the rating of flight inspector from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), becoming the first woman to complete the FAA's General Aviation Operations Inspector Academy course. In 1974, she was hired by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as its first female Air Safety Investigator and at the same time race airplanes. She was chief pilot for five aviation schools across the country.[15] As a professional Flight Instructor she soloed more than 700 students and put through 3,000 Private, Commercial, Multi-engine, Seaplane, Glider, Instrument, CFI, Al, and Air Transport Pilot. In February 1961, Funk volunteered for the "Women in Space" Program. and was the third best in the program which the media called the Mercury 13 program. Despite this, the program was cancelled before the women were to undergo their last test. When NASA finally began accepting women in the late 1970s, Funk applied three times. Despite her credentials, she was turned down for not having an engineering degree or a background as a test pilot. However she did enter sub-orbital space in 2021 on a commercial Blue Origin flight.
Stan Eling, the British SF fan, has died aged 90. He was a stalwart and one of the founding members, of the Birmingham SF group that was originally behind the long-running Novacon series of conventions. Indeed Stan Chaired the committee of Novacon 7 in 1977 that saw two of SF² Concatenation's founders attend. He also Chaired the previous year's event. Both as were some earlier Novacons, in addition to author interviews and talks, were noted for screening art-house SF films. Additionally, along with Dave (Ansible) Langford, he helped move the Nova Awards from being juried to being determined by democratic vote. He was also on the committee for Skycon, the 1978 Eastercon held at a hotel next to Heathrow airport. He was married to fellow fan Helen. When Helen succumbed to long-term illness, around the turn of the millennium, both had to drop out of fandom.
John Guidry, the US fan, has died aged 81. He was part of New Orleans' fandom and was a conrunner, especially noted for Chairing the 1988 Worldcon, Nolacon II, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He helped found the New Orleans Science Fiction Association. He also chaired DeepSouthCon 9 and DeepSouthCon 11. His fanzines include Nola-Zine and with others A Silly Millimeter Longer.
Anthony Head , the British actor, has died aged 72. His initial fame in Britain was in the 1980s for a plot-arced series of instant coffee adverts (alongside Sharon Maughan). In genre terms he is best known for playing the 'Watcher', the school librarian Rupert Giles, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003) and then later Uther Pendragon in Merlin (2008–2012). Also of genre note in the theatre he played Frank N. Furter in the 1990–'91 London West End revival of The Rocky Horror Show.
Inge Heyer, the German born US astronomer and fan, has died aged 65. She pursued her passion for astronomy, which was sparked by watching Star Trek when at school, gaining a degree and a master's. From 1992 to 2006, she worked as a senior data analyst at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, analysing images from the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide-Field and Planetary Camera 2. She arranged for Hubble images to be available for episodes of Babylon 5 and Star Trek franchise shows. She went on to work at the Joint Astronomy Centre in Hilo, Hawaii as its Public Information Officer. She garnered a PhD in science education in 2012. She was a longstanding member of the Shore Leave Star Trek group and regularly contributed to conventions' science programme streams.
Dafydd ab Hugh, the US author, has died aged 65. His books include Heroing: or, How He Wound Down the World (1987) plus various Star Trek novels. His novelette “The Coon Rolled Down and Ruptured His Larinks, A Squeezed Novel by Mr. Skunk” was a 1991 Hugo and Nebula finalist.
Hermann Huppen, the Belgian comics and graphic novel writer and artist, has died aged 87. He wrote under the name Huppen. He is arguably most famous for creating the post-apocalyptic comic Jeremiah (1979) which was made into a television series, and the comic is still going today.
Brian Johnson, the British special effects designer, has died aged 86. Early in his career he joined the team of special effects artist Les Bowie, working on productions such as On the Buses TV series, and for Hammer Films. He is known for his special effects work on TV series including Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds (1965–'66) (as Brian Johncock) and Space 1999 (1975-'77) as well as films including Alien (1979), for which he received the 1980 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects (shared with H. R. Giger, Carlo Rambaldi, Dennis Ayling and Nick Allder). Previously, he had built miniature spacecraft models for Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) but uncredited. He also won an Academy Award for The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Other notable SF films on which he worked include: Quatermass 2 (1957) as an effects assistant; A Clockwork Orange (1971) – uncredited; and Aliens (1986).
Robin Johnson, the British turned Australian SF fan, has died aged 88. He moved to Australia in 1969 already having had Australian fan connections. He regularly attended conventions, including Worldcons, through to 2024. He represented the new Australia in '75 Worldcon bid at Heicon, the 1970 Worldcon, became chairman of the bid (when John Foyster resigned) in 1972 and went on to chair the first Australian Worldcon, Aussiecon, in Melbourne in 1975. In 1983 he garnered a Special Ditmar Award for Contributions to (Australian) Fandom. In 2009 he won a Worldcon Big Heart Award.
David Kopaska-Merkel , the US geologist and also SF/Fpoet, has died aged 69. He was named the Science Fiction Poetry Association’s Grand Master of 2017, and SFPA presented him with the President’s Lifetime Service Award to in 2025. He served as the organisation’s president from 2011-2014.
Rick Katze, the US fan, has died aged 81. He was a member of the NESFA (the New England Science Fiction Association) and MCFI (Massachusetts Convention Fandom, Inc.) as well as SCIFI (the Southern California Institute for Fan Interests). He chaired Boskones XXI (21), XXVIII (28), and 41. He served several times as Hugo Award Administrator for Worldcons.
Michael Keating, the British actor, has died aged 79. One of his earlier genre roles was as Goudry in 'The Sun Makers', Doctor Who story (1977). He is best known for playing the thief Vila Restal in Blake's 7 (1978-'81).
John Lent, the US SF academic and editor, has died aged 89. He is particularly noted for founding International Journal of Comic Art in 1999, which he then edited for 27 years. He authored or edited 91 books about comics, animation, political cartoons, cinema, and other forms of mass communication. The International Comics Arts Forum named its prize for best graduate student paper after him. The sequel book, InterGalactic Journal of Comic Art (IGJOCA)
Prospectus: John A. Lent 90th Birthyear Fanzine, was due to be presented to Lent for his 90th birthday but unfortunately he died beforehand.
Lars (Lon) Olsson, the Swedish fan artist, has died aged 87. He drew a prolific amount but is arguably best known for the comic strip Blixt-Grodon that concerned one Hilmer Grannas who, often behind the woodshed, transformed himself into Blixt-Grodon, the terror of evildoers.
Marcia Lucas, the US film editor, has died aged 80. Originally, she edited promotional films and trailers. Her major genre contribution was for editing the original Star Wars film (1977). She married the Star Wars director George Lucas, in 1969. Marcia Lucas, Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew shared the Oscar Academy Award for Best Film Editing. Famously, Marcia suggested to her husband that he should kill off Obi-Wan Kenobi and have him act as a spiritual guide to Luke. Prio to Star Wars she worked on George Lucas' THX 1138 (1971) for which she served as an assistant editor.
Kathleen McBride, the US fan, has died. She had lived in the Washington, D.C. area before moving to Georgia.
Dick Matena, the Dutch comics writer and cartoonist, has died aged 83. His work ranged from humour to erotic comics, but was known for his graphic novel adaptations of famous literary novels. His works include the SF series Storm (1978-1980; art by Don Lawrence). He also wrote Starship (1987-8).
Rudolph Marcus, the Canadian chemist, has died aged 102. He is best known for his work on electron transfer that began in the 1950s, at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in New York. Researchers were trying to understand what governed the rate of certain reactions involving the transfer of a single electron between molecules. He received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his contributions to the theory of electron transfer reactions in chemical systems".
Ian Maule, the British fan, has died aged 74. Active through the 1970s to the early '80s, he was first a member of the Newcastle upon Tyne, Gannets SF group. When he moved to London in the mid 1970s, and to the Home County of Surrey, he became a leading member of the Surrey Limpwrists. He edited many fanzines, notably: the personal-zine Paranoid; genzines Maya (which he took over from Ian Williams and then passed onto Rob Jackson) and Nabu; and the newszine Checkpoint (which he inherited from Darroll Pardoe and then passed back to its founder, Peter Roberts). He also co-published By British: A Fanthology of the Seventies (with Joseph Nicholas). He was the founder of the apa ROMPA in 1974, chaired the Tynecon 1974 Eastercon and was a committee member of Skycon 1978 Eastercon (the first of a number to be held next to Heathrow airport). He gafiated in the early 1980s, apparently due to a growing interest in computer gaming. He had a brief return to fanzines with some revival issues of Paranoid in 2010–12 and was on the committee of Corflu Cobalt in 2010.
Desmond Morris, the British zoologist, TV presenter and artist, has died aged 98. His PhD specialism was in reproductive biology and especially that of the ten-spined stickleback. In 1956 he moved to London as Head of the Granada Television and there hosted over 500 episodes of its Zoo Time animal show. Throughout, on an off he painted and he had a number of exhibitions of his art. In 1964, he delivered the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on 'Animal Behaviour'. In 1967, he spent a year as executive director of the London Institute of Contemporary Arts. That year saw the publication of his popular science book The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal which became an international best-seller and enabled him to write full time for the next half decade. In 1994, he wrote and presented the BBC documentary series The Human Animal and authored its accompanying book. In 2017, his paintings were the focus of a BBC Four documentary The Secret Surrealist.
Will Murray, the US novelist, journalist, short story, and comic book writer, has died aged 73. He is also an SF fan and edited the fanzines Duende and Skullduggery. He wrote franchise books ibncluding Tarzan, Doc Savage, and Agents of SHIELD. A contributor to numerous prose anthologies, Murray has written short stories of the characters Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Ant-Man, the Hulk, the Spider, The Avenger, Gray Seal, the Green Hornet, The Secret 6, Sherlock Holmes, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Honey West, Zorro and Lee Falk's the Phantom. Notably, for Marvel and with artist Steve Ditko, he co-created the superhero Squirrel Girl. Amog his awards, he received the First Fandom Hall of Fame Award in 2023 for his many career achievements.
Dave Nee, the US book dealer and fan, has died aged 73. He was active in Bay Area SF fandom. He was one of three (along with Debbie Notkin and Tom Whitmore) who founded The Other Change of Hobbit bookstore. He was also the long-term chair of the Safety Committee for SF Pride.
Sir Nigel (Sam) Neill OBE, the British-born New Zealand actor, has died aged 78. He is known for a number of genre-related roles including Event Horizon (1997), Bicentennial Man (1999), and especially playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park (1993), a role he reprised in Jurassic Park III (2001) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022). He also starred in the genre-adjacent techno-thriller The Hunt for Red October (1990). On television he played Merlin in Merlin (1998) and Merlin's Apprentice (2006). At the time of his passing he had been slated to appear in Godzilla x Kong: Supernova.
Andrew Nisbet III , the US fan, has died aged 77. He was based in Oregon and helped organise a number of conventions including Con, OryCon, and Westercon and served on the board of Oregon Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (OSFCI). He was also a gaming fan. He leaves his wife, the filking fan, Cecilia.
Yoshihiro Nishimura, the Japanese film director, make-up and special effects artist, has died aged 59. His films include: Anatomia Extinction (1995); Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl (2009); Mutant Girls Squad (2010); and Zombie TV (2013).
Bill Oddie OBE, the British comedian and ornithologist, has died aged 85. He is best known, and much loved by a certain generation of Brits, for being one of the comedy trio The Goodies whose TV series ran 1970–1982 and, for a reunion tour, 2005–2006 (video teaser here) along with Tim Brooke Taylor and Graeme Garden. They were contemporaries of the Monty Python team and, along with them, the trio were also part of the Cambridge Footlights. Their humour was surreal which also occasionally employed some SFnal and fantasy tropes and references. He had an extensive TV and film career in comedy. Notably, he was also a birder (amateur ornithologist) and bird artist. As such he presented and co-presented a number of wildlife TV programmes. He became president of the West Midland Bird Club in 1999, having been vice-president since 1991, and was a former member of the council of the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) and a vice-president of the BTCV (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers).
Dame Professor Bridget Ogilvie CBiol, FIBiol, FRS, AC, DBE, the Australian, biologist, has died aged 88. Though she grew up in New South Wales, Australia, she moved to Britain to research for a PhD on the life cycle of the parasite Nippostrongylus Brasiliensis and its interactions with its host's immune system. She continued to specialise in parasite – host immunology interactions. Following a sabbatical running the independent charity the Wellcome Trust's tropical medicine funding, she became permanent at welcome and eventually became its director (1991 to 1998). Her time there enabled her to interact with UK government funding of science and with joint funding from the Medical Research Council (one of government's independent agencies' funders of science) and the Wellcome Trust, Hixton Hall in Cambridgeshire was bought and developed into the Sanger Institute (now the Wellcome Sanger Institute) which played a key part in the UK's sequencing of the human genome in 2003 and which insured that the sequence was publicly available. With Wellcome she also enabled the construction of a number of biological research hubs including at Dundee. She was also centrally involved in getting the UK government to match £300 million (US$403m) of charity funding to update and refurbish UK university science in 1998. She also served on the Board of Board of pharmaceutical company Zeneca, and then the rebranded AstraZeneca (1997–2006). In 2016 the Wellcome Sanger Institute named their new sequencing operations building after her.
Sara Paul , the US fan, has died aged 78. She was based in Philadelphia.
Margret Rosenberg, the US biologist, has died aged 89. In his career he made significant contributions to plant evolution, classification and biogeography. He is best known in USA botany circles for heading up the Missouri Botanical Garden in St Louis (1971–2010). To botanists generally, he is arguably best known for his 1964 paper, 'Butterflies and Plants: A Study in Coevolution' with Paul Ehrlich, in the journal Evolution, on plant and butterfly co-evolution, a concept they pioneered: while their butterfly-plant example does not carry the science heft it once had, co-evolution is now a standard concept in ecology and a growing concept in Earth system science: the idea is that different species can influence each other’s evolutionary trajectories. He also elucidated how the distribution of flowering plants is linked to plate tectonics and Earth’s geological history. He is the author of two important books: Biology of Plants (1970 and seven subsequent editions) and Environment (1993). In 2000, the American Society of Plant Taxonomists established the Peter Raven Award in his honour to be conferred to authors with outstanding contributions to plant taxonomy and outreach to non-scientists.
Justin Richards, the British sci-fi writer, has died aged 64. In addition to writing, he has had a career in computing with IBM. His early writing is exemplified by his parallel time (1930s and present day) crime series whose time and temporal paradox tropes were evident in his later 'Time Runners' series (2007-'08). He also wrote Doctor Who books (1994–2013) and Big Finish audio adventures.
Margret Rosenberg, the US filk fan, has died aged 72. She belonged to Denver Filk.
Alan Stewart, the Scottish fan, has died aged 81. He moved to London in 1964 and married the German fan Elke in 1968. They moved to moved to Frankfurt am Main in 1971 where they were members of SFCD. In 1975 they returned to London. He was a regular Eastercon go-er in the mid-1970s. He served a terms as BSFA administrator (1976-1977) and he edited the 1976 BSFA Yearbook. His fanzines include the Frankfurt Amateur Magazine Review (FAR) (1973) and London SF (1977), the latter co-edited with Elke Stewart.
Koji Suzuki, the Japanese author, has died aged 68. He is noted for Ring (1991) and it subsequent series of books, Dark Water (1996) and Edge (2008). A number of his stories were made into film. He garnered a Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2022 and a Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel with Edge in 2012.
George Ternent , the British SF fan, has sadly died. He had been an Eastercon and a Novacon regular.
Thomas Tessier, the US horror and SF writer, has died aged 78. Early on he went to University College Dublin before living in London for several years where he was the managing director of Millington Books before returning to the United States. His debut was with The Fates (1978) that is an episodic hybrid of horror and science fiction, about a mysterious force which causes death and destruction in an American town. His Fog Heart (1998) was short-listed for a Bram Stoker Award and also won an International Horror Guild Award as did Ghost Music (2000). Both Father Panic's Opera Macabre (2001) and the story 'The Goddess of Cruelty' (2003) were also short-listed for an International Horror Guild Award. His Phantom (1983) was short-listed for a World Fantasy Award.
John Thiel, the US fan, has died aged 81. He was a fanzine fan with his longest running zine – of the many with which he was involved – being Pablo Lennis. He belonged to the N3F (National Fantasy Fan Federation), was a member of N'APA, and in 1977 founded the apa SLAPHAPA. He was president of JAS-FAP, and a member of the Lafayette Interstellar Association. He was also a member of The Cult. He is particularly noted for compiling An Index to Popular American Fanzines. He was the N3F's Kaymar Award winner in 2017 and received the N3F's Franson Award in 2022.
Barrie Tomlinson, the British comics editor, has died aged 87. In comic circles he is perhaps best known for his work on the football strip Roy of the Rovers -- especially that strips promotion and getting celebrity writers such as Eric Morecambe. However in genre terms it was his roles as comics supremo ('group editor’) at IPC where his hands-off and quiet encouragement approach allowed 2000AD to flourish. He was also behind the re-launch of the old classic comic Eagle and its iconic SF strip Eagle. Barrie Tomlinson is arguably something of an unsung hero in British comics but was certainly a mover and shaker in that world.
Susumu Tonegawa, the Japanese molecular biologist, has died aged 86. who was the sole recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1987 for his discovery of V(D)J recombination, the genetic mechanism responsible for antibody diversity. Following his Nobel Prize win, changed fields to neuroscience ,examining the molecular, cellular and neuronal basis of memory formation and retrieval. His use of precision gene-edited mouse models enabled researchers to control, spatially and temporally, neurons that are activated when a memory is formed. His lab showed that such neurons (called engram cells) could be programmed to manipulate memories, generate false memories and even retrieve memories in mice that were otherwise amnesic. His lab also pioneered introductory transgenic and gene-knockout technologies in mammalian systems which became a much-used biological tool from the late 1990s. Finally, he was the part-time director of what is now the RIKEN Center for Brain Science near Tokyo from 2009 to 2017. He enjoyed playing Pac-Man with a colleague or two at night after work.
Katharine Trowbridge, the US book and comic publicist, has died aged 68. She had a career in publishing but for nearly two decades worked on the UK science fiction/fantasy books and comics publisher Titan's US operation and became its US Publicity Director.
Craig Venter, the US biochemist and molecular biologist, has died aged 79. Having graduate in biochemistry and then taking a PhD, he became a lecturer at State University of New York at Buffalo. From 1984 he worked for the National Institutes of Health. He then began an interest in sequencing the human genome using the shotgun method as it would be fast. This method was not favoured by his peers on the human genome project who wanted to sequence the human genome in strict order. He left the project to start a private company, Celera Genomics, to shotgun sequence the genome. Celera and the Human Genome Project both had their human genome published in 2001. The Human Genome Project consortium published the first Human Genome in the journal Nature, followed one day later by a Celera publishing in Science. Venter left Celera in 2002 and began sampling genomes found in the ocean. In 2005, he co-founded Synthetic Genomics to genetically modify microbes to produce biofuel. In 2010 he led a team that successfully synthesised DNA and used that in a bacterium so creating synthetic life. In 2016, he led the team that created Syn 3.0, a synthetic genome having the fewest genes of any freely living organism (473 genes). In 2018 he formally retired from Synthetic Genomics but remained on its board as a scientific advisor to focus on the J. Craig Venter Institute he had founded in 2006: a non-profit body that researches in synthetic life. Notably, Sam Levy sequenced Venter's own genome in 2007. His autobiography is A Life Decoded (2007).
Batya (Betty) Weinbaum, the US feminist and SF/F editor, has died aged 74. From the late 1970s she wrote feminist papers in political journals. From 1984 to 1986, she taught courses at SUNY Buffalo. She then founded and edited feminist journal, Femspec in 1997, dedicated to science fiction, fantasy, magic realism, surrealism, myth, folklore and other supernatural genres.
Martin Weisskopf, the US physicist, in part turned engineer, has died aged 84. He spent 1969 January through 1977 September at Columbia University, first as Research Associate and then eventually Assistant Professor. There he performed numerous pioneering experiments including the conception, design, construction, calibration, and flight of the sounding rocket experiment that first detected X-ray polarization from the Crab Nebula. Among much else he was also a 'Co-Investigator' of what would become the Einstein Observatory. He worked for NASA and was Chief Scientist for X-Ray Astronomy at MSFC. He was a senior co-investigator of the European Space Agency's international X-ray imaging experiment, called IBIS, and the originator of a major experimental research program that began in 1978 that currently continues to concentrate on the development of X-ray optics.
Robin Postal White , the US fan, has died aged 79. She was a longstanding fan since the 1960s and a member of the New York Fanoclasts group. She was married to Ted White for around a decade in the 1960s to '70s.
Ted White, the US fan and author, has died aged 87. He joined fandom in 1951 and active in the NY and Washington, DC, areas. His many fanzines included: Zip (1953), the co-edited Void (1958-1969), Pong (1980-1992) and the Faan Award-wining Blat! (1993-1994). He was short-listed for a fan writing Hugo in 1969. As a con-runner he co-chaired (with Dave Van Arnam) NYCon 3 Worldcon (1967) and also chaired Lunacon 11, Lunacon 12 and Lunacon 13. As a professional editor he worked on F&SF (1963-1968) as assistant, Amazing and Fantastic (1969-1979), Heavy Metal (1979-1980) and Stardate (1985-1986). His editorials and book reviews from Amazing and Fantastic were collected in the Ansible Editions paperbacks The Amazing Editorials (2023) and The Fantastic Editorials (2023). He was short-listed for a Best Editor Hugo 1in 1973, '74, '75 and '76. His first novel under his own name was Android Avenger (1965). He also co-authored novels with Dave Van Arnam as Ron Archer, and with Terry Carr as Norman Edwards. He was short-listed for a Nebula for one of his short stories. He was also a musician who played keyboards and saxophone. He was part of an improvisational music group called Conduit, which started in 2004. They recorded 110 albums and several EPs.
Sally Woehrle, the US fan, has died aged 84. Sally Woehrle was a Seattle-based fan who was a founding member of SWOC (the Seattle Westercon Organising Committee) and also a member of the Northwest Convention League. As a conrunner she is noted for chairing Westercon 73, Westercon 50, and ConComCon 23. She was a member of the unsuccessful Seattle in 2002 Worldcon bid committee. Initially, Sally Woehrle and Bobbie DuFault were co-chairs of Sasquan, the 2015 Worldcon in Spokane, but DuFault died two weeks after the bid was won. She was a fan guest at Rustycon 31, and Baycon 2014.
Jane Yolen, the US author, has died aged 87. She is the author or editor of 450 books, of which the best known is The Devil's Arithmetic, a Holocaust novella. Her other works include the Nebula Award–winning short works 'Sister Emily's Lightship' and 'Lost Girls'. Her collection The Emerald Circus won a World Fantasy Award (2018). In 2006 she won a Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book for Pay the Piper. She garnered a World Fantasy Society Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009 (along with Ellen Asher) and deemed an SFWA Grand Master in 2017. She was also short-listed for a world Fantasy Award three times (1984, 1986 and 1987) for 'Best Anthology / Collection', a 'Best Novella' (1989) and 'Best Novel' (1993), this last for the aforementioned The Devil's Arithmetic. The Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association presented her the Dwarf Stars Award for 'Last Unicorn' (2007), and the Elgin Award for her book The Last Robot and Other Science Fiction Poems (2023). She served as president of SFWA from 1986-1988. She was Guest of Honour at the World Fantasy Convention (1984) and the World Science Fiction Convention (2005), and many regional and local conventions.
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