Welcome to what at this point feels like a blog's tradition: it's time to take a look at all those releases in 2026 that I plan (a one man army) to cover, those titles that picked my attention and that I hope to feature (might depends on time and ARCs availability).

Just in case, as an answer to a frequent question, there's no particular order in this list; and obviously, I will probably end up covering more titles than the ones on the list. I'm not sure how many parts there will be, but it might be a few ones.

Let's dive in!

The Infinite State (The Decurion Saga #1), by Richard Swan (4th Aug 2026)

WHO GIVES YOU LIFE?
PATER AETERNUS.

Katherine Fuller’s husband is dead. As an esteemed member of Pater Aeternus—governing party of the fascist, galaxy-spanning Decurion Empire—he has left behind an estate of immeasurable wealth. And Katherine is going to inherit it.

WHO GIVES YOU PURPOSE?
PATER AETERNUS.

Life under the Eternal Father is rigidly stratified, surveilled, and controlled—each new day to be endured, not lived. But with Katherine’s newfound fortune, she is presented with a rare and dangerous opportunity: purchase a virgin world, and create a better, fairer society.

WHO GIVES YOU JOY?
PATER AETERNUS.

But the Empire cannot allow its wayward daughter to succeed. And as Katherine works in secret, recruiting allies she's not even sure she can trust, she will discover exactly how far Pater Aeternus is willing to go to stop her. Because Katherine is going to create something nobody has seen for many years.

A democracy.  

The Faithful Dark (The Brilliant Soul #1), by Cate Baumer (19th Feb 2026)

🗡♰ This is the city of miracles, but not everything miraculous is good 🗡♰

In a holy walled city where sin and sanctity are revealed through touch, Csilla - a girl born without a soul - is worth little to the Church that raised her. But when a series of murders corrodes the faithful magic that keep the city safe, the Church elders see a use for her she can assassinate their prime suspect, a heretic with divine heritage, without risking the stain of sin.

The heretic, however, makes Csilla a clear his name by helping him catch the real killer, and he'll use his angelic gifts to grant her very own soul. Meanwhile, ruthless Ilan, desperate to earn back his position as Church Inquisitor, sees the case as his chance at he'll bring in the murderer - or, failing that, Csilla and the heretic - and regain his title.

But as the death toll rises, and their hunt pits them against the all-powerful and callous Faith, Csilla finds herself torn. Will her salvation come at the cost of everything she believes in?

Saltswept (The Earthsalt Duology #1), by Katalina Watt (26th Feb 2026)

A ragtag crew. A perilous quest. First, they need a boat. Next, they need to learn how to sail it.

A pirate faces the gallows drop. A farmer is given a terrible ultimatum to save her daughter. An acolyte ascends to priestesshood . . . only to find that a blessing really can be a curse. These unlikely bedfellows band together with an inscrutable pickpocket and a talking ottercat in pursuit of the most hopeless of to sail into the Maelstrom - a raging whirlpool from which no one has ever escaped - and the mysterious treasure hidden within it.

The quest will test their fragile allegiance to its limits, but there is more at stake here than getting the magic of the world is in peril, and the barrier between life and death has never been so thin. And in the Bastion, the seat of power in Paranish, the queen has an unquenchable thirst that threatens the world and everyone in it.

Can there be honour amongst thieves? Without it, they might never see another sunrise.

Lush and lyrical, Saltswept is a vibrant debut - the first book in an epic fantasy duology based on Southeast Asian mythology. Perfect for fans of The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, The Bone Ships, and Godkiller.

In This City, Where It Rains, by Lyndsey Croal (3rd Feb 2026)

In This City, Where it Rains is a gothic horror novella set in an alternative version of Edinburgh.

Maggie is haunted by ghosts that only appear in the rain - and it always rains in this city.

At the edge of town, stands Tair House - a house that remembers, in a city that forgets. The mansion is so damned, it scares the clouds themselves from breaking, and the man of the house, Xavier Logan, and his wife Lucia, are harbouring a dark secret there - something that connects to Maggie and her ghosts.

Soon all roads lead to Tair House, where Maggie hopes only to uncover more about her family's past and her muddled memories.

But the house is hungry, and something is waking deep within its roots...something that has been waiting a long time for Maggie.  

The Girl With A Thousand Faces, by Sunyi Dean (5th May 2026)

From the USA Today bestselling author of The Book Eaters comes The Girl with a Thousand Faces, a Gothic tale set in a historical Hong Kong that meshes ancient myths and local legends into a haunting story of ghosts, grief, and women who will not forgive.

When Mercy Chan washed up on the shores of Hong Kong with no family, no money, and no memories, she was thrust into the horrors of World War II. She only survived by hiding in Kowloon Walled City, an infamous, ghost-infested slum full of lost and traumatized civilians. Since the end of the war, she has rebuilt her life and found work with the local triad as a ghost-talker, dealing with the angry and bitter spirits who haunt this place. These days, the filthy gutters and cramped alleyways of Kowloon feel like home.

But the past she can’t remember won’t let her go. An unusually powerful ghost has infested Kowloon’s waterways, drowning innocents and threatening the district. Unnervingly, it claims to know Mercy―and her forgotten childhood. As Mercy is drawn into a deadly cat-and-mouse game with this malignant spirit, she begins to realize that the monster she fights within these walls may well be one of her own making.

33 years before, mere days ahead of the Japanese invasion, Sung Siu Yin and her mother flee Hong Kong, intending to hide out on her mother's ancestral island home. It’s beautiful, tranquil, and remote. . . but also inhabited by ghosts ever since the entire village drowned in a storm many years ago. Still, it’s better than living under occupation.

But as the war drags on and isolation sets in, Siu Yin is increasingly drawn into the island's grim past―a past that may still have a hold on the present. There is a darkness lurking beneath that idyllic ocean, and it has been waiting many years for someone to return.

She Waits Where Shadows Gather, by Michelle Tang (5th May 2026)

Parents should pass down stories, not spirits…

Avery and Carlos Tam have built their lives on logic, not legends. Carlos, the host of a hit reality show that exposes paranormal hoaxes, has made a name disproving the supernatural.

But when they travel to his ancestral home in the Philippines, darkness clings to every corner. The mirrors are shrouded. The housekeeper won't stay in the house alone. And no one will speak of the tragedies the family has seen.

Then a brutal car crash leaves Carlos trapped in his own body—silent, helpless, and utterly vulnerable. As Avery tends to him, the house begins to stir. It watches. It listens. And it speaks—in a voice only Carlos can hear—offering a twisted kind of comfort.

And as the lies buried by Carlos and his family begin to surface, Avery must confront the if the past won't rest, their future may never begin.

Some inherit memories. Others inherit monsters.  

The Library of Traumatic Memory, by Neil Jordan (12th Mar 2026)

The first literary science fiction novel from Neil Jordan, visionary director of The Company of Wolves and Interview with the Vampire

In a windswept corner of a forgotten peninsula, love and loss echo through the halls of a mansion built on secrets. Here memory is currency of the future, and the past refuses to stay buried.

In the year 2084, Christian Cartwright, a quiet librarian at the enigmatic Huxley Institute, spends his days archiving the world’s most painful memories in the Library of Traumatic Memory.

But when his lover Isolde dies in a mysterious car crash, Christian secretly resurrects her as a digital consciousness — an act of grief, obsession, and defiance.

As Christian navigates a world where memories can be edited, dreams harvested, and the dead made to speak, he uncovers a deeper conspiracy buried in the Institute’s foundations — one that stretches back centuries to his 18th-century ancestor Montagu Cartwright, the architect of the Huxley Mansion.

Montagu’s obsidian mirror and copper model may hold the key to a reality where architecture shapes fate and time loops back on itself.

Blending gothic mystery, speculative science, and philosophical depth, The Library of Traumatic Memory is a haunting meditation on love, loss, and the ethics of memory.

As the past and future collide, Christian must decide what it means to remember — and what it costs to forget.

Ballad of the Bone Road, by A.C. Wise (27th Jan 2026)

Port Astor is a city of secrets. Once home to the Hollow Queen and her court, the fae have been driven out by industrialists and religious leaders. But just below the surface, their legacy remains in traceries of hidden roads, strange apparitions and spectral hauntings.Brix and Bellefeather are paranormal investigators, clearing out Port Astor's ghosts and devouring its demons. Both have their own Bellefeather shares her body with a demon, Belezial; Brix has trapped the ghost of his fiancée in the world of the living, unwilling to let her go.

When Brix is asked to investigate an apparent haunting at the prestigious Peony Hotel, he comes across a young couple tangled up in one of the city's most infamous stories. They have summoned the ghost of Jimmy Valentine, tragic movie star and supposed favorite of the Hollow Queen herself. Meanwhile, Bellefeather is called back to her childhood home by her estranged sister, whose preacher husband Clarence has gotten a young woman from his congregation pregnant. But when Bellefeather arrives, she realizes whatever has taken over Clarence and his 'flock' is more sinister than faith, and Ava's is no normal pregnancy.

The fae have not forgotten that Port Astor once belonged to them. And the Hollow Queen won't give up her kingdom so easily.  

Sublimation, by Isabel J. Kim (4th Jun 2026)

Sublimation is the debut novel by Isabel J. Kim, winner of two Nebula Awards, the Locus Award, the British Science Fiction Award, and the Shirley Jackson Award, and a finalist for the 2025 Hugo Award and 2023 Astounding Award.

The border cuts you in two.

When you immigrate, you leave a copy of yourself behind. One person enters their new country, the other stays trapped at home.

Some instances keep in touch, call each other daily, keep their lives and minds in sync in the hopes of reintegrating and resuming a life as one person. Others, like Soyoung Rose Kang, leave home at ten and never speak to their other selves again. Rose, in America, never imagined going back to Korea until her grandfather dies and her Korean instance calls her home for the funeral. When she arrives, she discovers that Soyoung plans to steal her body and live her life whether Rose wants to reintegrate or not.

Sublimation is a literary speculative fiction novel that pits the lives we choose against the lives we leave behind. It’s an immigrant story like no other, capturing the longing for another life and twisting it into a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse.  

The Sixth Nik, by Daniel Kraus (23rd Jun 2026)

A startling hybrid of the Alien franchise and Ender’s Game, The Sixth Nik is the first sci-fi novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Whalefall and Angel Down.

Deep into space, far past the triworld outposts, beyond range of the lethal trollbot internet, soars The a ship woven from biomatter and capable of reacting to every need of its human crew. Sisilla, a nine-year-old cultist with a brain enhanced by arcane tech known as “niks,” has boarded to investigate the enigma of Fém—a plague-riddled planet that has abruptly gone rogue.

The mysterious crew includes a faceless assassin, a beautiful engineer jigsawed by plastic surgery, a peyote-addicted medic, and—most lethal of all—a rugged, NonModded captain with a score to settle with Sisilla. Other dangers abound. A hacked robot begins to believe Sisilla is its daughter. The Sickness itself is mutating, possibly even pregnant. And the secret of Fém is more horrific than anyone could have imagined. To survive, Sisilla will need to forsake her predetermined fate and embrace the unknown.

A Dance of Burning Blades (Invoker Trilogy #2), by M.H. Ayinde (9th Jun 2026)

War rages on in the second heart-pounding novel in M. H. Ayinde’s relentless epic fantasy series The Invoker Trilogy, a sweeping epic of revenge and rebellion set in a richly drawn world of warring clans and ancestor magic.

Tension simmers across Nine Lands. In the capital, the people of Lordsgrave seethe with resentment after the horrors of the greyblood attack. Clan Adatali is in open rebellion against the king, and as war in the Feverlands rages on, a humble tree feller—who looks a lot like missing invoker Jinao Mizito—has not forgotten the promise he made to avenge his brother.

Meanwhile, in the shadows, the king’s daughter Lyela continues to move her pieces across the board. Can the people of the Nine Lands reclaim their stolen history and unlock the secrets that have been kept from them for centuries?  

The Republic of Memory, by Mahmud el Sayed (14th May 2026)

The Safina is a city ship, two hundred years into its voyage from the ruins of Earth towards a new habitable world. Its crew maintain the ship, generation after generation, while protecting their 'ancestors' - the final remnants of Earth's doomed Network Empire - by keeping them alive in cryostasis.

But a lot can change in two hundred years, and people are starting to ask questions. Why should the crew continue to toil for people none of them remember? What exactly gives Administration its authority over everyone else?And when the blackouts start, they set in motion a chain of events that will change life on the Safina forever. A reckoning is coming. The system is only secure so long as those in power maintain the obedience of those beneath them.

And the crew has had enough.

A science fiction odyssey of breathtaking scope, The Republic of Memory is a gripping examination of what divides us, and what brings us together. This is a modern and ambitious work of Arabfuturism, and is perfect for fans of The Expanse, A Memory Called Empire or Children of Time.  

Aicha, by Soraya Bouazzaoui (24th Mar 2026)

TEMPTRESS. MONSTER. WARRIOR.

The ultimate female rage fantasy, Aicha is a fierce and devastatingly powerful romantic epic fantasy perfect for fans of The Priory of the Orange Tree and She Who Became the Sun.

The Portuguese flag has been planted across Morocco, its empire ruling with an iron fist. But eventually, all empires must fall.

Aicha, the daughter of a Moroccan freedom-fighter, was born for battle. She has witnessed the death of her people, their starvation and torture at the hands of the occupiers, and it has awakened an anger within her. An anger that burns hot and bright, and speaks to Aicha's soul.

Only Aicha's secret lover Rachid, a rebellion leader, knows how to soothe her. But as the fight for Morocco's freedom reaches it violent climax, the creature that simmers beneath Aicha's skin begs to be unleashed. It hungers for the screams of those who have caused her pain, and it will not be ignored.  

These Familiar Walls, by C.J. Dotson (14th Apr 2026)

A spine-chilling, heart-pounding suburban horror novel at the heart of the genre, perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher, Cassandra Khaw, and Catriona Ward.

In 1998, desperate loneliness pushes preteen Amber to ignore the misgivings of her family, particularly her younger sister, when she befriends the troubled new kid in the neighborhood—a boy with dead eyes, a fascination with fire, and no remorse. Their turbulent relationship is brief but creates lasting consequences.

Twenty-two years later, in 2020, he resurfaces to kill Amber’s parents, and is in turn betrayed by his accomplice and killed in Amber's childhood home.

After the deaths, Amber inherits the house and, in an effort to save money, moves in with her husband and two children, hoping to reclaim some sense of stability in the grief and chaos surrounding her. Instead, she finds that the familiar walls are haunted by more than just bitter memories and lockdown stress. She shifts in and out of dreamlike trances, her reflection won’t blink, and a menacing voice whispers to her from the gathering shadows. Although she tried to brush off the strange happenings as stress-fueled hallucinations, Amber is soon forced to admit that something much more real—and more dangerous—haunts her family. But Amber has deadly secrets of her own, and she must resolve these long-buried truths or lose the life she’s contrived for herself.  

A River from the Sky (Natural Engines #2), by Ai Jiang (21st Apr 2026)

From the Nebula and Bram Stoker Award-winning author comes the lyrical and moving science-fantasy follow-up to A Palace Near the Wind, as Lufeng and her sister Sangshu fight to protect their culture and their world. For readers of Nghi Vo, Amal El-Mohtar and Kritika H. Rao.

Fleeing from the bone palace and crashing into the waters below its steep walls, Lufeng and her siblings reach Gear, with its huge deadly water wheels, where their sister Sangshu is waiting for them. In the chaos of the enormous waves, within moments they're snatched away and taken into rebel territory, where they learn more of the deadly experiments Zinc has wreaked upon the people.

Loyal to Copper now, Sangshu herself is a victim of Zinc's experiments. Desperate to find her family, she races through Gear to Engine, ruthless Zinc's industrial heartland, where she burns with a desire to fix her own mistakes and those of others and find a way to save her world.

This powerful, beautifully told novella explores the bonds of family, the pain of leaving all you have known behind, and the terrible price of our industrial future.  

The Harpy Knight (The Chaos Constellation #2), by Sara Omer (28th Jul 2026)

In this thrilling sequel to The Gryphon King, old rivalries and new threats pull Bataar and Nohra into a swirling cauldron of gods, monsters and djinn.

The second book in the sweeping Southwest Asian-inspired epic fantasy trilogy, perfect for fans of Godkiller and Shannon Chakraborty.

With Bataar's campaign to conquer Dumakra victorious, he turns his eyes to Aglea in the north, where pagan berserkers rule over inhospitable marshes and ritualistically butcher unicorns. Prince Nassar and his entourage have also fled to Aglea to rally his supporters—taking the ghoulish variant of vermilrot they unearthed from the abandoned depths of Anhabar with them

Nohra and Bataar are soon to be married. Nohra has not forgiven the rhah's sins against Kalafar or her family, but her thirst for vengeance wars with her feelings for Qaira. Bataar’s supernatural gifts are increasingly powerful, and his hold on Dumakra more secure by the day. Serving him is now the only path Nohra can see that ends with her younger brother one day restored to Kalafar's throne.

The power struggle between Bataar and Nassar fast becomes a swirling conflict of religions and  the Agleans revere Darya for her demonic powers; Nohra and Qaira are heralded as the two manifestations of Dumakra's Goddess; and Bataar is the walking embodiment of his people's Preeminent spirit. In this febrile atmosphere, the ghoul sickness is spreading rapidly, and monsters continue to encroach on human towns, causing violence and dismay. The war—and the world—hangs in the balance. Just one wrong move could tip everything into chaos.  

The Sea Hides Its Dead, by Megan Bontrager (14th Jul 2026)

The Descent meets The Ritual in a cult aquatic horror about a group of academics trapped in a sea cave who must reckon with eldritch horrors as they are forced to atone for their greatest sins.

ATONE OR DIE.

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.  

The Obake Code, by Makana Yamamoto (17th Feb 2026)

An all-new, stand-alone sci-fi caper from the author of Hammajang Luck: a bored hacker is forced by vicious gangsters to take down a crooked politician...only to find herself up against a code she might not be able to crack.

After the heist of a lifetime, Malia has it all: a loft apartment aboard the massive Kepler Station, expensive clothes, and a dev credit in her favorite video game. She’s also bored as hell. Three years after retiring her mantle as the Obake, the most infamous hacker in the quadrant—and arguably the galaxy—Malia hasn’t taken well to civilian life. So what’s the harm in rigging a few cybernetic prizefights and making a little cash on the side?

When Malia’s scheme is uncovered, she runs afoul of Jeongah Song—the dangerous leader of a local gang with a reputation for brutality. Malia is ready for retribution. But what she gets instead is an offer she can’t refuse: take down the local politician leading a “clean up the streets” campaign displacing residents and hindering Jeongah’s operations on the space station… or die. Without another way out, Malia takes the deal.

Luckily, she has some friends she can call on in times of need: a master thief, a street racing wheelman, and a femme fatale grifter. But as Malia digs deeper into the politician’s shady dealings, she finds herself embroiled in a conspiracy that might be too big for her to handle. One that has roots in her own rise as the Obake—a cybernetically enhanced superhacker created by a power-mad genius… a superhacker whose mods are rapidly degrading. Faced with threats on all sides, Malia may finally be in over her head...or stuck—forever—inside her own mind.  

The Bloodweaver (The Weaver Saga #1), by C. N. Kuster (23rd June 2026)

A divisive magic. A shattered family. A brewing war.

In a world where some can manipulate life with a single touch, siblings fight on rival sides, forced to reckon with the choices that led them there.

Three generations ago, ancient and mysterious beings introduced the world to the arcane art of Bloodweaving, which allows its practitioners to manipulate life with merely a touch. Now, Bloodweavers must hide in plain sight or risk being hunted by violent regime soldiers known as Breakers, who will stop at nothing to eradicate weaving once and for all.

Though his family's vineyard has flourished thanks to Bloodweaving, Kerick DeLuvena has kept his powers a secret from everyone, including his beloved fellow triplets, Mel and Emiel. When a squad of Breakers arrives on the day of Emiel's wedding, Kerick weaves himself a new face and flees to protect his family, setting out in search of the Ravel, a secret society of Bloodweavers who stand on the precipice of an uprising.

Meanwhile, Mel's girlfriend is identified as a Bloodweaver and arrested. Devastated by so much loss, Mel hatches a plan to get captured in the same raid, hoping to protect her love at all costs, even if it means allying herself with the Breakers' ruthless commander and serving the very force that tore her family apart.

As the consequences of the siblings' diverging paths ripple across a divided and hostile world, both must eventually face the same Is Bloodweaving a miracle—or a curse?

The gripping debut of the Weaver Saga is perfect for fans of V. E. Schwab, Andrea Stewart, and Fonda Lee

Dream of the Jet-Black City, by Pablo Valcárcel Castro (14th May 2026)

This exciting and innovative debut fantasy features intricate worldbuilding, political intrigue, a magic system based on dreams, a mythic storm raging above a city - and secrets from the past that threaten an entire nation. Perfect for fans of Brandon Sanderson, Mark Lawrence and Adrian Tchaikovsky.

All such Nightmares were born out of Dreamers' minds - angry, cruel, terrible Dreamers, yes, but still men and women. Here, in the Library, the Nightmares have sparked from dying stories, from the anguished echoes of poets and scribes carved into the crevasses of codexes.

Ash and his crew race across rooftops in pursuit of living lightning from the perpetually raging Motherstorm. This energy the jet-black city of Onyxia depends upon is all that stands between them and starvation. When a monstrous nightmare attacks, death is all but certain - until Ash dreams a shadow panther into existence to protect himself. But this new power comes with a either conscription to the harrowing Academy or indebtment to a wealthy patron.

Daerna belongs to a devout sisterhood who sing canticles to pacify the eternal storm. When she learns of a mysterious sickness spreading through the city's populace, she feels it is her duty to help, even though her order has abandoned the afflicted to their fate. With fellow rebel sisters, her search into the root cause will lead her away from the light into the dark heart of the city where danger lurks.

Geil is a creature born of Dream and bound to the Drake form she conjured to survive her Academy training. While nightmare-hunting she encounters a young girl with the dreamer gift and feels compelled to save her from enduring the same cruel fate she faced. But this means returning to the jet-black city, home to the past she has tried to outrun and navigating the political turbulence in the wake of an election.

As each pursues their own ends, they soon discover that they share common goals. But can they find a way to learn from the secrets the city has buried within its past before their whole world turns into a living nightmare?  

The Rise of the Celestials (Divine Dancers #2), by Kritika H. Rao (7th Apr 2026)

Internationally bestselling author Kritika H. Rao weaves a stunning tale of love, seduction, and betrayal in this enchanting and romantic conclusion to the Divine Dancers duology that started with The Legend of Meneka.

After completing her dangerous mission to seduce Sage Kaushika—and unexpectedly finding love in the process—Meneka enjoys a fragile freedom. She now lives in the mortal realm with Kaushika, both learning to trust each other. Yet deep differences linger between them, and conflicting loyalties may still tear them apart.

The illusion of peace shatters when Meneka is abruptly summoned back to the City of Immortals by Lord Indra, who demands her help in facing a threat from the demonic realm. Meneka wants nothing to do with Indra’s schemes, but she can’t return to Kaushika unless she complies. If she fails, her immortal home will fall, Kaushika will be lost to her, and her very identity as an apsara will become forfeit. 

To save all she loves, Meneka must navigate the darkest corners of the Immortal Realm, pursued by monsters and demons. But the greatest danger lies in a truth she cannot outrun—one that could shatter her bond with Kaushika forever. 

This sequel to The Legend of Meneka brings the celestial dancer’s saga to a thrilling conclusion, delving deeper into Hindu mythology as she faces an ancient threat—and confronts truths buried in her own heart.  

Bodies of Magic, by Freya Marske (15th Sep 2026)

Grey’s Anatomy meets A Deadly Education in this dark academia fantasy from USA Today bestselling author Freya Marske.

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.

Five scholars. Five secrets. Five days in which to solve a murder, pass the most important exam of their lives, and uncover a secret larger than all of their own combined. One with the potential to change the world.

Are you ready?

Let’s begin.  

Mortedant's Peril (The Trials of Irody Hasp #1), by R.J. Barker (19th May 2026)

In a city of ancient automata, strange spirits, and sleeping gods, a cleric of death finds his own life on the line in this vividly imagined fantasy murder mystery from the acclaimed author of The Bone Ships and Age of Assassins.

Irody Hasp is a Mortedant, a cleric tasked with reading the last thoughts of the dead—though no one thanks him for it. No Mortedant is popular, but Irody is scarcely tolerated even by the other members of his own guild, and rarely selected for anything but the lowliest of jobs.

This impoverished existence would be dismal enough—but after reading the corpse of a low-level records keeper, Irody's troubles quickly multiply when his own apprentice is murdered, and all fingers point to him as a suspect. The only way to save his own skin is to find the real culprit himself, an investigation that quickly attracts powerful enemies with few scruples, and draws him into a plot that threatens the entire corrupt yet wondrous city he calls home.

Perfect for fans of The Lies of Locke Lamora, Foundryside, and Witness for the Dead, this investigative misadventure begins a perilous new series by award-winning author RJ Barker.  

Kayak, by Kristal Stittle (24th Mar 2026)

For eighteen-year-old Keith—floating alone on a series of lakes and rivers, lost and without supplies—his kayak is his means of survival. Solid ground means certain death at the scissor-claws of vicious invading creatures.

What he needs is to find more people; but terrible guilt anchors him in solitude. A year earlier, when the creatures first appeared, it was Keith's choices that brought disaster to the island community that took him in.

Now, it's time to take responsibility for his actions, heal his scars, and survive.

Told in two alternating timelines, Kayak is a story of family, the strength we draw from others, and the strength we learn to draw from ourselves.  

First Mage On The Moon, by Cameron Johnston (14th Apr 2026)

Cameron Johnston returns in this innovative space fantasy, where wizards race to be the first on the moon – also known as the land of the gods. A fast paced read perfect for fans of Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Ella Pickering is drowning in debt. Once a Unity skymage trained to make aerial supply runs in the great war with the Ranneas Empire, following a crash she now uses a wheelchair and works gruelling shifts making magical weapons in the Unity workshops, thinking of better days.

One night Ella witnesses an experiment by engineer Jackan Grissom go awry. His device morphs into a crude rocket blasting skywards before falling into the war’s spell-ravaged No Man’s Land. But this inspires a dangerous could such a device reach the moon – the forbidden home of the gods? Could they go and beg them to stop the war?

They will need help, but as more folk get involved in their blasphemous plot, can they keep it under wraps? Can magic get them to the moon? Or will their heresy lead them to the gallows?