Fantasy and Science Fiction May 2026 |
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Celebrate Pride Month in June
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Plastic, Prism, Void: Part One
by Violet Allen
A Ms. Magazine Most Anticipated Feminist Book of 2026
A them Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Book of 2026
A Book Riot Most Anticipated Queer Book of 2026
Jace MolloyAcrasia is in the ultimate long-distance relationship: with Opus Zhao, a man from another universe. She was a trans girl who was also an intergalactic moth-goddess. He was a trans guy who piloted a giant robotic tiger. They hated each other, then fell in love, then their universes moved apart. Now, years later, he's turned up in her dimension again. What won't she do to keep him there?
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Homebound
by Portia Elan
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK
It's 1983 and Becks can't wait to get the hell out of Cincinnati. She's nineteen, blasting her Walkman, and hiding from the fact that her beloved uncle, the only person who understood her, is dead. But she has work to do: he left her a half-finished game to complete--one last collaboration to find her way out of loneliness. Little does she know, what Becks is making will echo far into the future and shape the lives of a scientist, a sentient automaton, and a flinty sea captain in ways she cannot imagine. All are bound together by their search for connection--and by a futuristic traveler on a mysterious mission through space.
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Hell's Heart
by Alexis Hall
AN INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER
They are monsters, legends, gods.They are our prey. Earth is dead. Which leaves us stuck living in atmospheric domes on planets that will kill us if we blink wrong or run out of fuel. And by fuel I mean the cerebrospinal fluid of gargantuan, quasi-psychic space monsters. I joined the hunt hoping to get paid and maybe laid, but mostly paid. Instead, I followed a captain chasing abominations in the skies of Jupiter. We battled the M bius Beast itself, there in the red eye of the world. Spoiler: we lost.
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Ignore All Previous Instructions
by Ada Hoffmann
From the creator of the Outside trilogy, a heartfelt interplanetary epic of identity, longing, and a space pirate who smuggles inappropriate stories.
Kelli Reynolds loves creating stories more than anything in the world. But on Callisto, a generative AI company called Inspiration owns everything, including all the media, and only Inspiration determines which stories can be told. Kelli has a rare and coveted job where her autism is to her advantage: She precisely edits AI output into appropriate stories for Inspiration's massive TV audience. Her proudest creation is the pirate Orlando--a dashing do-gooder based on stories she used to tell friends. Reenter Kelli's ex-boyfriend Rowan, the person Kelli based Orlando on. Back when they were teenagers, their relationship was a secret. Kelli had thought that Rowan, a trans man, was her schoolmate Am, a girl. Rowan is tangled up in the black market after he needed to get money for gender affirming surgery. He needs Kelli's help with something . . . illegal.
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Year of the Mer
by L. D. Lewis
A dark, bloody epic fantasy reimagining of The Little Mermaid that goes far beyond the fairy tale to explore family legacy, war, and what we will sacrifice for vengeance--the perfect read for fans of The Priory of the Orange Tree and Circe.
The fairy tale mermaid Arielle might have gotten her happily-ever-after, but her granddaughter Yemi is having a much harder time. Her father, the king of Ixia, was assassinated years ago, her mother is slowly dying of a poisoned wound, and she faces whispers and slights from her own people. Yemi has been raised as the shield of the kingdom and is soon to inherit the throne, but she cannot shake her fury at how Ixia has treated her family after all they've sacrificed. Only her patient mother and steadfast personal bodyguard (and fiancée), Nova, help Yemi rein in that fury...most of the time. When the kingdom's discontented rumblings reach a fever pitch, a coup erupts and Yemi's throne is usurped, stripping her of her family and forcing her into exile. Now, only one being has the power to help her: Ursla. Like her grandmother before her, Yemi is tempted by a deal with the sea-witch.
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| The Red Winter by Cameron SullivanA bewitching historical fantasy from a debut author. A devastating love story. A blood-drenched hunt for purpose, power and redemption.
In the modern day, semi-immortal Sebastian reflects on his hunt for the dreaded Beast of Gévaudan in 1700s France. But conspiracies beneath the surface -- some tied to Sebastian's own demonic activities -- threaten to throw all of Europe into chaos. For fans of: queer historical fantasy with complex characters and uniquely intricate plots revolving around legends, such as Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian and S.T. Gibson's Evocation. |
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A Long and Speaking Silence
by Nghi Vo
From USA Today bestselling author Nghi Vo comes a beautiful new tale in the Hugo Award-winning Singing Hills Cycle.
Every story begins somewhere. On the banks of the Ya-l River, the town of Luntien gathers to celebrate the start of the rainy season, but the celebration is marred by the arrival of refugees from the sea. Everyone has a story about the foreigners newly in their midst - lazy, violent, unwanted- while the refugees themselves grieve the loss of the home they loved. Cleric Chih, very recently still Novice Chih, is a stranger in Luntien. A moment of carelessness and bad luck leaves them waiting tables as they struggle to establish themself as a real cleric. A cleric's job is to listen and record, but the stories emerging in Luntien are ugly and violent, as hard to predict as the river itself. With their hoopoe companion Almost Brilliant by their side, Chih must help the refugees while also unraveling a mystery that may have roots in their own faraway home in the abbey of Singing Hills.
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| Nobody's Baby by Olivia WaiteA wild baby appears! Dorothy Gentleman, ship detective, is put to the test once again when an infant is mysteriously left on her nephew's doorstep.
This 2nd entry in the Dorothy Gentleman mystery series follows the intrepid auntie detective as she tries to figure out who left an abandoned baby on her nephew's doorstep and what to do as her nephew and his partner grow increasingly attached to the child. "Waite blends a cozy locked-room mystery and inventively logical world building" (Booklist) in this well-crafted romp for fans of Becky Chambers, Malka Older, and Mur Lafferty. |
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| After the Fall by Edward AshtonPart alien invasion story, part buddy comedy, and part workplace satire, asks an important question: would humans really make great pets?
John has lived like the rest of the world has for the last 100 years: as a human pet for the invading alien force known as the grays. But when his supposedly "good" gray owner Martok puts him up as collateral for real estate, John's limits on what he will do to protect his own life are tested. From the author of Mickey7 comes a unique post-apocalyptic story with tight world-building and compelling character relationships; fans of Edward Ashton's other works and Adrian Tchaikovsky will be delighted. |
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| Operation Bounce House by Matt DinnimanAN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
When gamers from Earth are enlisted to "evict" the inhabitants of the isolated colony planet New Sonora with remote war machines, Oliver Lewis must take up arms against them to defend the only home he's ever known. From the author of the critically acclaimed Dungeon Crawler Carl series comes a new standalone, with biting humor and thought-provoking commentary on genocide, artificial intelligence, and fear of the other. |
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| The First Step by Tao WongA thrilling blend of progression fantasy, Xianxia, and Chinese mythology in this irresistible tale of an underdog hero who dreams of something more.
Join rice farmer Wu Ying as he is conscripted into the life of a cultivator, embarking on a dangerous and exciting journey through a world rich with magic and monsters. The chi mastering martial art of cultivation is brought to life in this intriguing series opener for fans of wuxia fantasy stories like The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang and other Asian-inspired historical fantasy like The Book of Fallen Leaves by A.S. Tamaki. |
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| The Forest on the Edge of Time by Jasmin KirkbrideA dazzling piece of time-travel climate fiction.
Two women travel across space and time -- one to ancient Athens, one to the far future -- to try and stop a climate-fueled ecological disaster. They meet together in dreams to try and piece together what can be done to save humanity. "As harmonious as it is mysterious" (Library Journal), this inventive and hopeful debut will be a hit with fans of Terrestrial History by Joe Mungo Reed. |
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| The Fox and the Devil by Kiersten WhiteAn obsession with an immortal serial killer entangles a vampire hunter's daughter in a sapphic romance in this enthralling gothic fantasy.
A tale of revenge and obsession unfolds as a vampire hunter's daughter pursues a terrifying serial killer who has murdered her father, crossing paths with a mysterious beautiful woman who may be more than the monster she seems. In turn both horrific and romantic, this gothic historical fantasy will be a treat for lovers of the sapphic and macabre. |
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| The Obake Code by Makana YamamotoA 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.
Hacker Malia finally has everything she's wanted, except it comes with a price: boredom. But when she is forced by a vicious crime syndicate to take out a crooked politician, she finds that the tech she's up against may finally be too tough for her to hack. The author of Hammajang Luck returns with a new standalone cyberpunk caper with "queer protagonists, action-packed chase scenes, a nasty AI, and a couple of betrayals to boot" (Booklist). |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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