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Fantasy and Science Fiction August 2026 |
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| To Cage a Wild Bird by Brooke FastTo protect her younger brother, bounty hunter Raven Thorne let herself get arrested to join him in Endlock, Dividium's brutal prison where the rich can pay to hunt inmates for sport. With danger around every corner, Raven will have to decide if destroying the system is worth risking their lives -- and if she should trust the prison guard with nebulous motivations. This steamy dystopian romance teeming with intrigue will be a hit with fans of Ariel Sullivan's Conform. |
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The Dragon Has Some Complaints
by John Wiswell
Garrodigh was once a four-headed dragon, among the most powerful in Kardosa. After an unfortunate incident, he now has three heads, one stump, and a daily whirlwind of internal bickering. Centerhead wants to rain death upon all humanity, Bottomhead is like a feral cat, and Upperhead is under the delicate delusion that he is, in fact, human. When a nearby battle goes awry, Garrodigh sneaks into an elite dragon rider academy, pretending to be tame to get free food and a warm bed. Lucky for him, rider Rania Charv tov is desperate enough for a dragon of her own that she overlooks his eccentricities. As Garrodigh recovers under Rania's care, all three heads start to turn, for the first time, in the same direction. Each wants to protect her from the invaders who killed their fourth head--the same invaders who seek to conquer Kardosa. When the academy comes under attack, can this wild dragon and his wilder rider save their homeland together?
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The Photonic Effect
by Mike Chen
The starship Horizon's crew spent ten years trapped across the expanse of space. Now they're finally home--only it's not the home they knew. The Cluster, once a peaceful coalition of planets, has fractured in the wake of civil war. Captain Demora Kim wants nothing more than to protect her surviving crew. It's what she owes them after years of instability and terror. But in times of war, no one is allowed neutrality. After an attack on a mining station leaves thousands dead, Demi's efforts become almost impossible. Every ship is needed on the frontline. Thrust deeper into a conflict she barely understands, Demi considers a bold choice--one that might keep her promises but tip the galaxy further into chaos.
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The Geomagician
by Jennifer Mandula
Mary Anning wants to be a geomagician--a paleontologist who uses fossils to wield magic--but since the Geomagical Society of London refuses to admit women, she's stuck selling her discoveries to tourists instead. Then an ancient egg hatches in her hands, revealing a lovable baby pterodactyl that Mary names Ajax, and she knows that this is a scientific find that could make her career--if she's strategic. But when Mary contacts the Society about her discovery, they demand to take possession of Ajax. Their emissary is none other than Henry Stanton, a distinguished (and infuriatingly handsome) scholar . . . and the man who once broke Mary's heart. She knows she can't trust her fellow scholars, who want to discredit her and claim Ajax for their own, but Henry insists he believes in the brilliant Mary and only wants to help her obtain the respect she deserves. Now Mary has a new mystery to solve that's buried deeper than any dinosaur skeleton: She must uncover the secrets behind the Society and the truth about Henry.
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The Hospital at the End of the World
by Justin C. Key
In a year not so far from our own, society is run by the shepherds, a global AI system. The shepherds have controlled every aspect of Pok's twenty years of life-they decided what schools Pok went to, what jobs he was eligible for, what foods he ate, and even his medical care. He's content living a carefree life until his father is killed by a mysterious illness. Searching for answers, Pok decides to follow in his father's footsteps and travel to the very last hold-out city and train at the one hospital that still practices human-led medicine: Hippocrates. As Pok works his way through medical school, he's pulled into the terrifying mystery of a strange illness plaguing immigrants who grew up under shepherd rule. Will Pok be able to uncover what's truly going on in the inner sanctum of the shepherds?
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Hopeless Necromantic
by Shiloh Briar
When new recruit Helspira takes on the doomed mission that no other soldier wants, life--and death--start to get a little complicated. Helspira must play escort to Sikras--a frustratingly handsome necromancer with the power to raise the dead--as he attempts a mission that he's failed twice before; stopping an undead army at the edges of the kingdom. No one thinks he will succeed. Not even Sikras. But the more time the two spend together, the more they find they can imagine a brighter future. As secrets come out and the two grow closer--and Sikras's lively skeleton companion Benjamin tries desperately not to be a third wheel--will Sikras' and Helspira's changing feelings for each other be enough to overcome the growing danger?
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Earth 7
by Deb Olin Unferth
Two women meet on a beach of artificial sand. One was raised in a pod in the ocean and the other may or may not be a robot. Their love--or any love--seems so unlikely. Earth is severely depopulated. Some people have given up, gone off to Mars. Others pursue eternal life as digital code. And yet others, like Dylan and Melanie, are holdouts--and some of those holdouts are constructing a vast molecular collection in hopes that a future person may be alive to make a new Earth. Foolhardy? Misguided? Quixotic? Probably. But what can a human (or a robot) do? By the end of Unferth's wild, poetic, revelatory, and slyly philosophical novel, the reader has traveled to the very edges of the cosmos as a soul globule and between grains of sand as a microscopic tardigrade.
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| The Book Witch by Meg ShafferRainy March knows the rules of being a book witch: real people belong in the real world, and characters belong in their books. Knowing this hasn't stopped her from falling in love with fictional detective the Duke of Chicago, though she's forbidden from seeing him. But when a priceless book is stolen and her grandfather goes missing, Rainy knows there's only one detective who can crack the case. With a feel-good plot and likeable characters, this fluffy bookish fantasy is a treat "for anyone who ever wished they could walk around in their favorite book" (Kirkus). |
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| Moss'd in Space by Rebecca ThorneCargo handler Torian Razner gets more than she bargained for when she discovers that the dilapidated spaceship she just bought is covered in sentient moss. Running afoul of Moss' previous owner (who has also accused Torian of stealing the ship), the unlikely pair enlist the help of Amelia Perrosk, Torian's former captain and would-be lover. This action-packed 1st in a new series is perfect for fans of Julie Leong. |
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Sea of Charms: A Spellshop Novel
by Sarah Beth Durst
Marin has always belonged on the great blue sea. Betrayed by love, she lives and works as a supply runner, sailing from island to island, delivering an array of goods with Perri the sea serpent and Ree the sailor shrub as her crew. On one of her routine trips to the capital, Alyssium, Marin finds a revolution underway--and her friend Dax in the line of fire. What starts as a rescue evolves into a deal: She will keep Dax on as a member of her crew if he pretends to be her boyfriend at the End-of-Harvest Festival back home. But against her better judgment, Marin finds herself intrigued by his stubbornness, his passion for stories, his charming smile--and realizes that perhaps she isn't saving him. Maybe it's the other way around.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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