Fantasy and Science Fiction
June 2026

Recent Releases
Japanese Gothic
by Kylie Lee Baker

In 2026, Lee Turner has just killed his college roommate and he doesn't remember how or why. In 1877, Sen is hiding from imperial soldiers while trying to placate the whims of her traumatized samurai father. Their two tragic stories intertwine through a strange door in the home they share across time, and as Lee and Sen connect, gruesome secrets unfold. Kylie Lee Baker's lyrical and bloody horror fantasy evokes feelings of isolation and grief, and will be a hit with fans of Alma Katsu and Cassandra Khaw.
The Subtle Art of Folding Space
by John Chu

Ellie has enough problems in her life without the known universe falling apart. But when she and her cousin Daniel discover a mysterious device inside the apparatus keeping the universe in check, it will lead them on a dangerous journey with Ellie's mom at the center. John Chu's debut novel "finds a delightful and poignant intersection between the multiverse, family dysfunction, and dim sum" (Library Journal). For fans of: stylistically complex and emotionally resonant science fiction.
Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim
Sublimation
by Isabel J. Kim

A most-anticipated title from USA Today, Glamour, LitHub, New Scientist, The Nerd Daily, Library Journal, LibraryReads, and more Doppelg ngers, corporate intrigue, heartbreak, betrayal, and the harsh permanence of the border: Sublimation is a thrilling and provocative debut for fans of Severance that asks what you'd sacrifice for a different life from award-winning author Isabel J. Kim.One of the best debuts of the year. --John Scalzi, New York Times bestselling author of Starter Villain The border cuts you in two. When you immigrate, you leave a copy of yourself behind, an instance. 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 years old and never speak to their other selves again. Rose, in America, never imagined going back to Korea until her grandfather died and her Korean instance called her home for the funeral. She doesn't know that Soyoung plans to steal her body and her life. How far would you go to live the choice you didn't make? After Sublimation, the immigrant story will never be the same. --Junot D az, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Songs of the Dead by Brandon Sanderson
Songs of the Dead
by Brandon Sanderson

Featuring stenciled edges and original art for the front and back endpapers. A London rocker is faced with a life-or-death choice when he realizes that a powerful society of magic wielders are the only ones keeping London safe in this deft contemporary fantasy cowritten by #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson with author and musician Peter Orullian. When Jack Solomon, a struggling musician who works in London's West End, is killed, he awakens to a new reality in which light and music are used to create magic and where living eras of the past sprawl beneath modern London, layer upon layer, all the way back to recorded history. Jack also soon discovers that many of those who reside in the stratums of London's past have grown angry with the present world, and that their anger is being channeled by a powerful society of light-and-music-based magic wielders who can cross the realms between life and death, between the present and the past. A past where the dead are sowing revolution against the living, and all of history is at stake. Welcome to the Strata Wars.
Strange Familiars by Keshe Chow
Strange Familiars
by Keshe Chow

Two scholars of magical veterinary science must put their lust and loathing aside to save the world as they know it in this fantastical, romantic dark academia novel. All Gwendolynne Chan needs is to get through final year. As the top student in the magical familiars stream, she is on track to be awarded Dux of the entire school-as long as the unbearably pretentious Harrisford Briggs doesn't beat her to it. Harrisford Briggs' father, the Chief Financial Officer of Magecorp, a major global distributor of magic, expects him to come top of the year. Harrisford, though, can't help but notice that his father has been acting odd. And there are strange whisperings, too, of uncontrollable surges of excess magic. When these magical surges begin to rock London, causing chaos and explosions and familiars going feral, Gwen and Harrisford find themselves reluctantly involved, putting both of their academic careers at risk. Along with Gwen's snarky cat familiar, Gwen and Harrisford must team up to diagnose the problem. But as the two academic rivals fight their burgeoning feelings, they quickly realize that magic isn't the only thing surging-- Provided by publisher.
The Fossil: Science Fiction Thriller by Joshua T. Calvert
The Fossil: Science Fiction Thriller
by Joshua T. Calvert

A human fossil on Mars. An astronaut who lost her memory and a powerful organization that keeps a secret in Antarctica-one that will change the world forever. In 2018, Canadian archaeologist Ron Jackson makes a mind-boggling discovery in Antarctica-right before disappearing without a trace, leaving behind only his controversial theory that humans have lived on Earth far, far longer than we think they have. Decades later, in 2042, when Jackson's wife dies under mysterious circumstances, an unlikely pair of investigators, Agatha Devenworth and Pano Hofer, begin investigating whether her death might be connected to Jackson's disappearance. What exactly was it he found before he vanished? Why is the Human Foundation, a hyper-powerful business empire built on an endless series of game-changing inventions it has been rolling out, one after another, for over twenty years, trying to hide the truth from the two investigators? And what could it possibly have to do with the first manned mission to Mars, which ended in disaster leaving countless conspiracy theories in its wake?
The Last Contract of Isako
by Fonda Lee

Isako's long legacy as a legendary samurai for hire is close to an end. When she's offered one last job she can't refuse, she's suddenly thrust into a world of espionage far more complex than she can handle...and secrets that may change all of humanity. Immersive, evocative, and full of unique worldbuilding, this space opera with an older female protagonist will be a treat for readers of Shannon Chakraborty's The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi and Bethany Jacobs' These Burning Stars.
The Midnight Train by Matt Haig
The Midnight Train
by Matt Haig

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES TODAY SHEREADS WOMAN'S WORLD PARADE THE NERD DAILY HER CAMPUS BOOKPAGE When your life flashes before your eyes, where would you stop? No one can change the past, but the Midnight Train can take you there.The chance to re-live the moments that meant most. To see what kind of person you really were. For Wilbur his best days were with Maggie, the love of his life. On his honeymoon in Venice. Before he gave it all away. He wishes he could go back and live differently. But to do so risks everything . . . A magical, time-travelling love story, from the world of The Midnight Library.
Palaces of the Crow by Ray Nayler
Palaces of the Crow
by Ray Nayler

In Ray Nayler's speculative novel of the recent past, four young teens caught between Nazis and the Red Army survive winter in the woods with the help of a flock of highly intelligent crows with a magnificent secret of their own to protect. Neriya, a young Jewish girl who dreams of becoming a biologist, has befriended a local flock of crows in her shtetl. Czeslaw is an underage Polish soldier who deserts the Red Army and runs into the freezing Lithuanian woods. Kezia is a Roma horse trader whose family is on the run from Soviet collectivization. As the German blitzkrieg crashes across the border in June 1941, all three are caught up in the onslaught. Along with Innokentiy, an abandoned boy who cannot speak, they are driven into the primeval forest, where they survive by forming an unbreakable bond with one another--and with Neriya's intelligent crows, who for years have been bringing her intricate gifts suggesting they are no ordinary corvids. As the war goes on, the crows warn the children of danger and help them hide from the human threats of the forest--not only the Germans but also Russian deserters, Polish partisans, fascist Lithuanian police, and the other bandits and outcasts wandering the benighted landscape. From the Ray Bradbury Prize and Arthur C. Clarke Award finalist, and Hugo and Locus Award winner, Ray Nayler, Palaces of the Crow blends history and haunting speculative wonder into a story of survival, loyalty and the fragile beauty of life in the darkest of times.
Seek the Traitor's Son
by Veronica Roth

Two women on opposite sides of a war -- soldier Elegy and general Rava -- are drawn together by a prophecy. The victor of the conflict is not clear, but one thing is: their fates hinge on one man, the son of an exile, who Elegy is destined to fall in love with. Featuring intricate world-building, surprising twists, and a dash of romance with well-developed characters, Veronica Roth's latest will please fans of other popular romantasies such as Alix E. Harrow's The Everlasting and Samantha Shannon's The Bone Season.  
Don't see what you're looking for in our catalog? You can always make a purchase suggestion, or check our Interlibrary Loan system!
Phillipsburg Free Public Library
200 Broubalow Way
Phillipsburg, New Jersey 08865
908-454-3712
http://www.pburglib.org/