Must-Have Monday is a feature highlighting which of the coming week’s new releases I’m excited for. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all books being published that week; only those I’m interested in out of those I’m aware of! The focus is diverse SFF, but other genres sneak in occasionally too.
August is starting with a bang: we have THIRTEEN books this week!
(Books are listed in order of pub date, then Adult SFF, Adult Other, YA SFF, YA Other, MG SFF.)
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: QBIPOC MCs, M/M
Published on: 1st August 2023
Goodreads
Arthur Pham didn't expect to spend his final year at the Stonebury Conservatory for Young Mages dating his archnemesis-fake dating, that is.
Arthur's particular brew of perfectionism and anxiety has served him well, landing him at the top of his class. Almost.
The number one spot belongs to Stonebury's most popular student, Mika Rivera-Arthur's sworn rival with a mirthful glint in his eye and an ever-present grin. But when Arthur's tuition check bounces, he must win the fellowship money granted to the top student in his class, or his future will come to a grinding halt.
When a spell reveals that the only obstacle in Arthur's way-Mika-is his soulmate, they enter into a fake dating ploy to stop their classmates' ridicule. On their rollercoaster of falsified romance, Arthur finds himself shoved into more compromising situations with his rival than he ever imagined, and he's horrified to find that he even enjoys some of them.
The real Mika-wickedly charismatic and earnest in equal parts-refuses to fit into the checkboxes on Arthur's meticulous to-do lists. Can Arthur put aside his pride to secure the future he has so desperately dreamed of? Or will his obsession with hating Mika cost him everything?
Don’t be fooled by the cover; this is New Adult, not YA. By all accounts it’s full of (well-written) romance tropes and is a ton of fun – every review I’ve seen has been glowing, making me very excited for it indeed!
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: M/M
Published on: 1st August 2023
Goodreads
Puts the opera back into space opera.
New York Times bestselling author Gail Carriger continues her cozy and engaging scifi about the power of art, celebrity, and found family.
Phex and his pantheon have become demigods and are taking their show on a galaxy-wide tour. Phex is shockingly good at singing but his voice is intoxicating and one wrong note can kill so everyone wants a piece of him - sometimes literally. But the aliens in charge of the divinity are hiding something even more sinister and it’s hurting performers and audiences alike. When his lover is pitted against his pantheon, Phex will have to choose between the family he has found and the god he adores.
Let’s take this show on the road - where the show is divine and the road is through the stars. Be careful, the moment you start listening you may never want to stop, and you just might kill to keep the music alive.
Becky Chambers meets Eurovision in the second of the Tinkered Starsong trilogy (follows Divinity 36) in which the mystery of the Dyesi is finally uncovered.
The second book in the Tinkered Starsong series, already! I’m not even done with book one yet!!! So I won’t be reading this right away, but you’d better believe I’ll be getting to it asap!
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer MCs, BIPOC MCs
Published on: 1st August 2023
Goodreads
An anthology of gender-bent, queered, race-bent, and inclusive retellings from the enchanting and eternally popular world of Greek myth, featuring stories by:
Marika Bailey • Alyssa Cole • Zoraida Córdova • Maya Deane • Sarah Gailey • Zeyn Joukhadar • Mia P. Manansala • Juliana Spink Mills • Susan Purr • Taylor Rae • Jude Reali • Suleikha Snyder • Valerie Valdes • S. Zainab Williams • Wen Wen Yang
Zeus, Athena, Apollo, Aphrodite, and the other denizens of Mount Olympus feel almost as present and larger than life today as they did when they were worshipped as gods. Humanity has been telling and retelling stories about the characters from Greek and Roman myth for centuries—heck, the Romans liked the Hellenic originals so much, they remade them faster than Marvel remakes Spider-Man movies. And from Virgil's Aeneid to Xena: Warrior Princess to Percy Jackson to The Song of Achilles, the obsession has never waned. Yet Fit for the Gods shows how these stories still have a power of metamorphosis that would impress Ovid. Brave, bold, and groundbreaking, the stories in Fit for the Gods will be like ambrosia for those craving fresh interpretations of their favorite myths, and give long-time fans a chance to finally see themselves in these beloved legends.
I know I’ve said I’m TiredTM of Greek myth retellings – but a) Maya Deane is in it, which makes it a mandatory read for me, and b) it’s a collection built around boundary-pushing retellings! Not generic ones, but ones that are genuinely trying to do something new. So yes, I’m very hopeful that this’ll be great!
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi, Magical Realism
Representation: Trans Puerto Rican MC
Published on: 1st August 2023
Goodreads
Vero has always felt at odds with his community. As a trans man in near-future Puerto Rico, he struggles to gain acceptance for his identity and his vision of an inclusive society.
After a hurricane decimates the island and Puerto Rico is abandoned by the United States, Vero leaves his home to petition the centralized government for aid and seek the truth about new colonists arriving on the island. But in the Yucatan, Vero finds a landscape ravaged by an ecological disaster of humanity’s own making—the Hydrophage, a climate technology warped into a weapon of war and released onto the land by the dictator Caudillo.
Amidst the destruction, Vero finds both desperation and hope for regrowth as he documents the lives of the survivors. Details about the colonists’ intentions emerge when Vero meets the Loba Roja, an anti-Caudillo revolutionary who imagines the renewed power of the Maya. Intrigued by her vision of the future and her unapologetic violence, Vero is faced with life-changing questions: can an Indigenous resurgence protect his beloved island? And what must he sacrifice to support it?
I only heard about Sordidez at the very last minute, but it immediately sounded like a book I wanted to check out! It’s a novella, and supposedly has sci fi and magical realism elements??? SIGN ME UP!
Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy
Representation: Queernorm culture, bisexual love interest, bisexual secondary characters
Published on: 1st August 2023
Goodreads
The lush epic fantasy that inspired a generation with a single precept: “Love As Thou Wilt."
Returning to the realm of Terre d’Ange which captured an entire generation of fantasy readers, New York Times bestselling author Jacqueline Carey brings us a hero’s journey for a new era.
In Kushiel’s Dart, a daring young courtesan uncovered a plot to destroy her beloved homeland. But hers is only half the tale. Now see the other half of the heart that lived it.
Cassiel’s Servant is a retelling of cult favorite Kushiel’s Dart from the point of view of Joscelin, Cassiline warrior-priest and protector of Phèdre nó Delaunay. He’s sworn to celibacy and the blade as surely as she’s pledged to pleasure, but the gods they serve have bound them together. When both are betrayed, they must rely on each other to survive.
From his earliest training to captivity amongst their enemies, his journey with Phèdre to avert the conquest of Terre D’Ange shatters body and mind… and brings him an impossible love that he will do anything to keep.
Even if it means breaking all vows and losing his soul.
“Decadent and dark, Cassiel’s Servant reveals the secrets of the mysterious Cassiline brotherhood. In this gorgeously realized novel, Carey returns to the world of Terre d’Ange and offers us a new and dazzling perspective on a character we thought we knew.”—Nghi Vo, author of The Chosen and the Beautiful and Siren Queen
I really didn’t love this, but I can’t bring myself to not include it. And lots of other readers have enjoyed it, so you might too! But definitely don’t pick it up unless you’ve already read Kushiel’s Dart. Do not read Cassiel’s Servant first!
Genres: Fantasy
Published on: 1st August 2023
Goodreads
Bryony Moss didn’t plan to become a god, but accidents happen, and giving up immortality once you have it is easier said than done. Convinced her life is in danger, she infiltrates the crew of the infamous Black Armada with plans to dispatch their godhunter before she is discovered. But all her plans begin to unravel as soon as she learns the truth.
Far from the ruthless pirates she imagined, the Black Armada are akin to ruthless librarians, distributing banned books to fight the tyrannical rule of the angels. Once she’s in, Bryony can’t imagine killing any of them. She might even be tempted to join them for real. To top it off, she seems to be falling for the flagship’s navigator, a kind but isolated giant named Michael.
Everything about Godhunter sounds amazing – becoming a god by accident? Pirates distributing banned books? Angels somehow in charge of everything? GIMME!
Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Brown MC
Published on: 1st August 2023
Goodreads
Despite Rosha's best efforts, she will never fit in. To her classmates, she is forever an outsider, a girl from the fringes of the empire just lucky enough to have well-off parents. To her teachers, she is either a charity case or an exception to the rule that Gorenten just aren't capable of performing complex magic. Worse, still, she is nothing but a status symbol to her father—a child gifted with magic to show his powerful friends that even people like them could belong in the empire. As if she doesn't have enough problems already.
Haunted by the invisible rules that pull her dreams just out of grasp, she walks out on the eve of her final exams, throwing away her one chance at becoming an official mage of the empire. She practices magic outside the mage council's grasp, one of the worst crimes anyone could commit. A dropout. A failure. An outlaw.
Years later, her father's shoddy business deals have finally landed him in trouble and he disappears without a trace. Rosha reluctantly enters the services of a rich sorcerer, his last known connection. The sorcerer’s sudden death leaves her stranded in a sea of enemies—and the knowledge that the man is the voice behind the ageless, faceless emperor. To protect herself and her family, Rosha must impersonate the most powerful man in the empire. As she becomes everything she has ever hated, she stumbles upon conspiracies that seek to break the empire from within...
From the author of the Bitch-Queen Chronicles! I think this is set in the same world, but possibly in a different time??? Either way, this sounds VERY up my alley with all the political and magical intrigue!
Genres: Horror
Published on: 1st August 2023
Goodreads
Robert R. McCammon’s Boy’s Life meets H. P. Lovecraft in Wild Spaces, a foreboding, sensual coming-of-age debut in which the corrosive nature of family secrets and toxic relatives assume eldritch proportions.
An eleven-year-old boy lives an idyllic childhood exploring the remote coastal plains and wetlands of South Carolina alongside his parents and his dog Teach. But when the boy’s eerie and estranged grandfather shows up one day with no warning, cracks begin to form as hidden secrets resurface that his parents refuse to explain.
The longer his grandfather outstays his welcome and the greater the tension between the adults grows, the more the boy feels something within him changing —physically—into something his grandfather welcomes and his mother fears. Something abyssal. Something monstrous.
I always pay attention to Tordotcom’s releases, and this new novella definitely has me intrigued. But nothing bad had better happen to the dog!
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: F/F,
Published on: 1st August 2023
Goodreads
In a universe governed by a continuous cycle of reincarnation, death and time are no match for sorcerers Eva and Tir or their committed, queer love. But while Eva takes a hard-earned rest between lives, a villainous Edward plots revenge and sets out to destroy the universe. Moments before complete annihilation, Eva awakens and travels back in time to erase Edward's destruction. Returning to present day, Eva searches for Tir and devises a plan to prevent Edward from enacting his plan a second time. Once back with Tir, Eva faces off with the darkness consuming the universe. But her feelings of insecurity surrounding who she is threaten to upend their relationship. While fighting for a safe future together, they explore the history of their singular love. Could their unique powers grow with their love for each other? And is it enough to defeat the evil forces at work? Traversing time and space, they seek to uncover Edward's true identity. And when the dust from their adventure settles, they face off against Edward, armed with their collective powers of time and soul. Journey to a mythical world of dragons and magic and discover a love story that transcends gender and embodies an authentic representation of queer relationships.
Okay, the blurb sounds a little messy, but having read the opening pages, I’m actually really impressed by Huffman’s prose and premise. Definitely snatching up a copy of this one for my never-ending tbr!
Genres: Queer Protagonists
Representation: QBIPOC MCs
Published on: 1st August 2023
Goodreads
On the steps of New York's City Hall, five ageing Mothers sit in silent protest. They are the guardians of the vogue ball community - queer men who opened their hearts and homes to countless lost Children, providing safe spaces for them to explore their true selves.
Through epochs of city nightlife, from draconian to liberal, the Children have been going missing; their absences ignored by the authorities and uninvestigated by the police. In a final act of dissent the Mothers have come to pray: to expose their personal struggle beneath our age of protest, and commemorate their loss until justice is served.
Watching from City Hall's windows is city clerk, Teddy. Raised by the Mothers, he is now charged with brokering an uneasy truce.
With echoes of James Baldwin, Marilynne Robinson and Rachel Kushner, Niven Govinden asks what happens when a generation remembered for a single, lavish decade has been forced to grow up, and what it means to be a parent in a confused and complex society.
'Niven Govinden is a true force of fierceness and beauty' Olivia Laing
'A vital book' Andrew McMillan
'Vivid prose reinventing ideas of motherhood, belonging and taking us into the community of drag balls and protest, both personal and political' Jenni Fagan
'A powerful and poetic book' Kerry Hudson
I’ve been craving a (non-tragedy porn) novel about ball culture, and while I don’t think This Brutal House is the book I’ve been dreaming of, I’m still tentatively interested. It might be too grim for me, but I’d like to try it.
Published on: 1st August 2023
Goodreads
What happens when we imagine loving the people--and the parts of ourselves--that we do not believe are worthy of love?
A transformative collection of intimate and lyrical love letters that offer a path toward compassion, forgiveness, and self-acceptance.
"Required reading."--Glennon Doyle
Kai Cheng Thom grew up a Chinese Canadian transgender girl in a hostile world. As an activist, psychotherapist, conflict mediator, and spiritual healer, she's always pursued the same deeply personal mission: to embrace the revolutionary belief that every human being, no matter how hateful or horrible, is intrinsically sacred.
But then Kai Cheng found herself in a crisis of faith, overwhelmed by the viciousness with which people treated one another, and barely clinging to the values and ideals she'd built her life around: justice, hope, love, and healing. Rather than succumb to despair and cynicism, she gathered all her rage and grief and took one last leap of faith: she wrote. Whether prayers or spells or poems--and whether there's a difference--she wrote to affirm the outcasts and runaways she calls her kin. She wrote to flawed but nonetheless lovable men, to people with good intentions who harm their own, to racists and transphobes seemingly beyond saving. What emerged was a blueprint for falling back in love with being human.
I don’t read a lot of non-fiction, but a) I’ve loved Kai Cheng Thom’s fiction, and b) …this sounds like a book I really need right now. And maybe you too?
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic Filipino-American MC
Published on: 1st August 2023
Goodreads
Queer Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Filipino folklore in this horror comedy about a high school stage manager who accidentally sells her soul to a demon.
Seven years ago, Cordelia Scott’s abusive father left without a word, and life has been normal ever since. The seventeen-year-old spends her days stage managing the school play (which is going great, if anyone asks), pining over her best friend, Veronica, and failing one too many pop quizzes.
She’s never been sad that her father left, but she knows something is...missing. When her school guidance counselor, Fred, reveals during a session that he’s actually a demon, she learns that something is indeed a piece of her actual soul. Why? She unwittingly made a deal with him to make her father disappear – then bargained to have the memory erased. To make matters worse, Fred is here to make another Help him with a “little” demonic problem, or she’s doomed to spend eternity in Hell with her father.
The deal? Help Fred neutralize a rival demon, who means to do more harm in her hometown than your average demon deal.
Oh HELL yes! (…pun totally unintended, I swear.) This sounds absolutely awesome; I’m definitely grabbing this one tomorrow! I can’t believe I only found out about it today: INTERNET, YOU ALMOST FAILED ME!
Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Asian-coded cast, queer and disability rep
Published on: 1st August 2023
Goodreads
Sailor Moon meets Cinder in Guardians of Dawn: Zhara, the start of a new, richly imagined fantasy series from S. Jae-Jones, the New York Times bestselling author of Wintersong.
Magic flickers.
Love flames.
Chaos reigns.Magic is forbidden throughout the Morning Realms. Magicians are called abomination, and blamed for the plague of monsters that razed the land twenty years before.
Jin Zhara already had enough to worry about—appease her stepmother’s cruel whims, looking after her blind younger sister, and keeping her own magical gifts under control—without having to deal with rumors of monsters re-emerging in the marsh. But when a chance encounter with an easily flustered young man named Han brings her into contact with a secret magical liberation organization called the Guardians of Dawn, Zhara realizes there may be more to these rumors than she thought. A mysterious plague is corrupting the magicians of Zanhei and transforming them into monsters, and the Guardians of Dawn believe a demon is responsible.
In order to restore harmony and bring peace to the world, Zhara must discover the elemental warrior within, lest the balance between order and chaos is lost forever.
I was somehow under the impression Zhara was being released at the end of the month – but no, it’s out on the 1st! This is a book I’ve been looking forward to for a while, and although the reviews have been pretty mixed, I’m still planning on giving it a go!
Will you be reading any of these? Let me know!
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