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.
SIXTEEN books this week!
(Books are listed in order of pub date, then Adult SFF, Adult Other, YA SFF, YA Other, MG SFF.)
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic MC, chronically ill sort-of love interest, secondary sapphic characters, minor polyamory
Published on: 22nd October 2024
Goodreads
For fans of The Princess Bride and Gideon the Ninth: a bloody lesbian revenge tale and political fantasy set in a glittering world transformed by industrial change – and simmering class warfare.
Ichorite is progress. More durable and malleable than steel, ichorite is the lifeblood of a dawning industrial revolution. Yann I. Chauncey owns the sole means of manufacturing this valuable metal, but his workers, who risk their health and safety daily, are on strike. They demand Chauncey research the hallucinatory illness befalling them, a condition they call “being lustertouched.” Marney Honeycutt, a lustertouched child worker, stands proud at the picket line with her best friend and family. That’s when Chauncey sends in the guns. Only Marney survives the massacre. She vows bloody vengeance. A decade later, Marney is the nation’s most notorious highwayman, and Chauncey’s daughter seeks an opportune marriage. Marney’s rage and the ghosts of her past will drive her to masquerade as an aristocrat, outmaneuver powerful suitors, and win the heart of his daughter, so Marney can finally corner Chauncey and satisfy her need for revenge. But war ferments in the north, and deeper grudges are surfacing. . .
H. A. Clarke’s adult fantasy debut, writing as August Clarke, Metal from Heaven is a punk-rock murder ballad tackling labor issues and radical empowerment against the relentless grind of capitalism.
If you only read one book this year, it needs to be this one. Metal From Heaven is clarke’s Adult debut, an anarchist standalone all about queerness and revenge and labor politics, and it’s a masterpiece. Easily the best release of 2024.
You can read three separate excerpts here, here, and here!
Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Published on: 22nd October 2024
Goodreads
A warrior struggles through an apocalyptic landscape and the world after death
Kree Toronto has been raised as a warrior in a ravaged postapocalyptic, posthuman world, the population decimated by wars and civilization long since collapsed. After her attempt to avenge the death of her dog, Loka, goes horribly wrong, Kree finds herself lost in a world after death and wanders into the city of the terrible mendicants.
Under the Brothers’ totalitarian rule, Kree can lead a quiet life and forget her violent past, even if needles grow in her skull and hallucinatory blood rains pour down now and then to remind her. She can make friends: a shamanic healer with a shaking tent, a mysterious stranger hatched from an egg, and a gruff Tibetan electrician in a world without electricity. And she can have her Loka, as long as she toes the Party line and does as she’s told. When she can’t—when her friends start to disappear and the Brothers turn against her—Kree sets out on a quest, searching for a new way forward.
Multiply reincarnated and unstuck in time, Kree is the characteristically marvelous creation of Manuela Draeger, whose extraordinary stories, in the words of author China Miéville, “are as close to dreams as fiction can be.”
I believe this has been translated – I think from the French? – and I think it was a Very Big Deal in its original language! (I mean, I think books have to be a pretty big deal to get translated at all, probably?) Anyway, although I do NOT like the sound of rescuing the dog going wrong, I’m still interested in checking this out. It sounds so incredibly weird! (Which on THIS blog will always be a compliment!)
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC
Published on: 22nd October 2024
Goodreads
Aza Gen, curse cleaner and snooper at keyholes, never set out to break all the rules. She lives a sheltered life as a curse cleaner for Maripesa's ruling family. At thirteen, the day of her first period, she acquires an ability to split herself and see from two perspectives. She keeps it a secret, not knowing where this Talent fits in the magical structure of her society.
Magic can so easily slide into chaos. That's why the belief in it was phased out over eons. But the island of Maripesa took a different approach. They used those eons to breed a system that uses magic to maintain order. Types of spells are genetically bound to family clans. The upper clans curse. The mid clans repair or heal those curses. The lower clans have no magic. Anyone who breeds outside their clan is executed. It is a simple and perfect balance of power.
Years later, Maripesa's rigid calm devolves under an upper clan spellwar and, not coincidentally, Aza loses everything. Sick, fearful and grieving, she's thrust alone into the unfamiliar city where she encounters hypocrisy and deception—so much worse than the twin evils of curses and maladies. But there are also good people with wells of kindness and wisdom; the experience of romance and sexual awakening; profound new kinships; and a burgeoning awareness of her own power.
She finds women who have magic similar to hers. Women's magic—minimized, ridiculed, suppressed through generations—becomes her focus. Aza realizes that because it crosses and includes all clans, it can subvert the system. Her rage at mounting injustices will not stop until every outdated rule is undone.
Book One of The Last Magic City unfolds through four characters from different clans. In addition to Aza Gen, there are Ferjival Puraples, son of the ruler, and an angst-ridden antagonist; Benelek Kruik, a fun-loving, charismatic woman whose generosity and ambition don't always coexist easily; and Vijo Besin, healer of maladies, scholar of all magic, romantic soul with perhaps too much patience for his own good.
Aza, Ferjival, Benelek and Vijo show us the way through this charm-filled, twisty, heartfelt journey about the chaos that hypocrisy and hubris can bring and the healing that kindness will always manifest.
This didn’t quite work for me, but I think it will for other readers!
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: BIPOC, disabled, and queer MCs
Published on: 22nd October 2024
Goodreads
An imaginative anthology of climate fiction from emerging new voices, curated by the editors of Grist Magazine.
For many of us, the thought of our planet centuries in the future signals a volatile our world devastated by climate change, our people bitter and broken. But this shining anthology presents an alternative future. These twelve winning selections from Grist’s Imagine 2200 short story contest shirk the fear and mourning that often mark speculative climate fiction, daring instead to dream of humanity’s varied communities meeting planetary challenges in fascinating and novel ways.
Imagine 2200 was founded to counter the dominance of the dystopian in futurist writings, and to “ensure climate stories and characters represent diverse voices, authentic cultures, and the intersectional reality of the climate crisis.” Metamorphosis beautifully elucidates those themes, featuring a wide array of thought—Afro-, Asian, Indigenous, Latinx, disabled, feminist, and queer futurisms, hopepunk, solarpunk, and more. In “To Labor for the Hive,” a beekeeper finds purpose and new love after collaborating on a bee-based warning system for floods. “Cabbage A Prognostic Autobiography” presents an ecologically rebalancing California where an Indian family preserves traditions through food and dance across generations. And in “And Now the Shade,” a Mexican bioengineer finds the answer to a perplexing problem in the dreams of her dying grandmother. Each of these powerful stories offers a glimpse of a future built not on cynicism, but on “sustainability, inclusivity, and justice,” testifying to the power of human courage and collective resilience.
Edited by Grist and introduced by Sheree Renée Thomas, a New York Times best-selling author and editor of the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Metamorphosis will electrify and activate readers concerned about our “future ancestors” and the fate of all our attending flora and fauna. These stunning stories imagine a tomorrow in which we do more than we thrive—together.
Listen, the world’s on fire and I would like to read about a future that doesn’t make me want to give up on it – and it sounds like this collection is promising just that! Yes please!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Representation: Brown MCs
Published on: 22nd October 2024
Goodreads
Enter the Post-Roman Afro-Celtic icepunk regency fantasy world of the Spiritwalker Trilogy (Cold Magic, Cold Fire, Cold Steel).
Phoenician spies, well-dressed men, revolutionary women, and lawyer dinosaurs—eleven vivid stories are now gathered in one place by RT Reviewers' Choice winner and Nebula, World Fantasy, Norton, and Locus Awards finalist Kate Elliott.
When the emperor of Rome needs a rare book stolen from a well-guarded woman, he hires a rogue with his own dangerous secrets . . .
An elderly man retires at last, seeking peace to write his final masterwork on architecture . . . until that peace is disturbed by an outbreak of magic.
Everyone knows the story of Dido and Aeneas. But only Beatrice knows the correct version.
A shapeshifting sabertooth cat falls into the arms of two beautiful palace attendants . . . all too eager to pet him.
A powerful mage and his wife travel into enemy territory on an urgent mission . . . Surely the expedition will go exactly as planned . . . right?
These standalone stories and six others are accompanied by wonderful illustrations from fourteen featured artists. Eleven short essays that delve into the whys and wherefores of the setting and characters round out the volume.
Stories from Elliot’s Spiritwalker universe! Which has to be one of my favourite of her settings. (Can you blame me – a ‘Post-Roman Afro-Celtic icepunk regency fantasy world’?! Who WOULDN’T love that?!) Been waiting for this for ages and can’t wait to pounce on it!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Horror
Representation: Nigerian setting and cast
Published on: 22nd October 2024
Goodreads
A powerful Nigeria-set horror tale of possession, malevolent ghosts, family tensions, secrets and murder from the recipient of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement and ‘Queen of African Horror’. For readers of Tananarive Due, Chikodili Emelumadu and Paul Tremblay.
Bata, an 11-year-old girl tormented by nightmares, wakes up one night to find herself standing sentinel before her cousin’s door. Her cousin is to get married the next morning, but only if she can escape the murderous attack of a ghost-bride, who used to be engaged to her groom.
A supernatural possession helps Bata battle and vanquish the vengeful ghost bride, and following a botched exorcism, she is transported to Ibaja-La, the realm of dead brides. There, she receives secret powers to fight malevolent ghost-brides before being sent back to the human realm, where she must learn to harness her new abilities as she strives to protect those whom she loves.
By turns touching and terrifying, this is vivid supernatural horror story of family drama, long-held secrets, possession, death - and what lies beyond.
Wasn’t for me, but I think it’s going to be adored by the right reader! (Although from what I read of it, it wasn’t very Horror-y.)
Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Published on: 22nd October 2024
Goodreads
“It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism,” said philosopher Frederic Jameson. In Jordan A. Rothacker’s Domed-Atlanta of 2220, the former has led to the latter.
Assistant Sacred Detective Edwina Casaubon and her Sherlock Holmes-like mentor, Sacred Detective Rabbi Jakob “Thinkowitz” Rabbinowitz, who we met for their first harrowing case together in The Death of the Cyborg Oracle, are back to solve another future noir mystery in The Shrieking of Nothing.
A Filipino mountain goddess, a missing person last seen at an Ego Death Fest, and a serial killer on the lose who might have a hunger for avatars, are just a few of the wild aspects of Rothacker’s thrilling second exploration of what Publisher’s Weekly called a “fascinating postcapitalist world.”
After climate catastrophe, the Earth might be unlivable, but within the Dome, solar-power and future tech, shared-guilt and cooperative healing, and hope as a practice have created a world without want or greed. Free from the dependent abstraction of capitalism all goddesses and gods are reclaimed for individual worship and the minimal crime is split into Sacred and Profane. In The Shrieking of Nothing, these Sacred detectives face a whole new cosmic horror.
“In The Shrieking of Nothing, set in the year 2220, the detective Edwina Casaubon narrates her journey to find Momo, a missing young man who leads her and her partner through a world that is gorgeously fantastical and futuristic, yet grounded in real human emotions, familiar belief systems, and the forever mysteries of this universe we inhabit. A straightforward detective novel wrapped up in a spiritual quest, the Shrieking of Nothing is a gripping, moving account of the hopes and limitations of our desire for transformation and salvation, both of our spiritual and physical worlds. Simply beautiful.”
— Paula Bomer, author of Tante Eva“If not quite a key to all mythologies, Jordan A. Rothacker’s The Shrieking of Nothing seems nevertheless a key to many, and offers us something wonderful, vivid and a portrait of life after capitalism in the form of a sinuous noir that plumbs our deepest, most visionary impulses. Echoes abound—of J.G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick, Walter Tevis and Steve Erickson—but the vision here is wholly Rothacker’s own, and the result is transfixing.”
— Matthew Specktor, author of Always Crashing the Same Car“Author, Jordan A. Rothacker, deftly tows that fine line between levity and lament, exploring what David Bowie called ‘the great salvation of bullshit faith’ with a clear note of warning, a strong dose of empathy, and dare I say, hope. This novel is a strange fascination, indeed!”
— Lillah Lawson, author of Monarchs Under the Sassafras Tree, So Long, Bobby, and Doomed Girls of Jefferson“Fun, fast, and smart, The Shrieking of Nothing is a gift and a question. Though Rothacker’s prose is taut and his worldbuilding singular, it’s the book’s clever central mystery that makes it unputdownable.”
— Mike McClelland, author of Gay Zoo Day“Whatever Jordan Rothacker writes, wherever the setting, whatever cast of characters, however how high the moon, or low the tide, whether in the future or in the past, whether in Paris, Atlanta, or Nowheresville, whether the world is sacred or profane… you will fi
This is the second book, and I haven’t read the first yet – but I’m so excited to! The setting sounds INCREDIBLE and I would love a lot more post-capitalist sci fi, please and thank you!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Horror, Queer Protagonists
Representation: F/F
Published on: 22nd October 2024
Goodreads
In a land lit only by the counterfeit warmth of magical technology, the Kler prays for the return of the sun, the moons, and the stars. Ceaseless night and the beasts lurking in the darkness keep the congregation within the Kolebka Wiecznej Nocy trapped in mirthless vigil. Their towns remain quiet as graveyards as they wait for day to come again. What no one knows about this ceaseless night is that the Kler themselves can end it. But they haven’t, and they won’t.
Long ago, the Kler banished the sun worshipers, but a heretical sect made the journey back to the land of darkness. Now, only one remains carrying their purpose heavy on her shoulders: a maverick technomancer named Basia. She alone will bring back the light, or no one will.
Armed with naught but her own cleverness and a sword imbued with sun-embraced charms, she searches for the Kler’s secrets and finds herself in Tawerna. With the Kler on her heels, she infiltrates a private feast and catches Hanka, a docile bard, in the middle of planning her own escape into the world beyond. Hanka wants nothing to do with the heretical outsider until she discovers that her purpose aligns with the darkness buried inside herself. Hanka knows the secrets the Kler keeps, and she knows just where to go to expose their lies.
With only each other and their heretical magic to rely on, Basia and Hanka face the eternal night and wonder, are they truly enough to bring light back to the world?
All right, I’m intrigued! And this is published by Robot Dinosaur, who I always keep an eye on with great interest…
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Published on: 22nd October 2024
Goodreads
In the Hugo-award winning, epic New York Times Bestseller and basis for the BBC miniseries, two men change England's history when they bring magic back into the world.
In the midst of the Napoleonic Wars in 1806, most people believe magic to have long since disappeared from England - until the reclusive Mr. Norrell reveals his powers and becomes an overnight celebrity.
Another practicing magician then emerges: the young and daring Jonathan Strange. He becomes Norrell's pupil, and the two join forces in the war against France.
But Strange is increasingly drawn to the wild, most perilous forms of magic, and he soon risks sacrificing his partnership with Norrell and everything else he holds dear.
Susanna Clarke's brilliant first novel is an utterly compelling epic tale of nineteenth-century England and the two magicians who, first as teacher and pupil and then as rivals, emerge to change its history.
Finally this book is getting a cover worthy of it! Not that I don’t have a lot of love for the simple raven of the original – understated genius much? As far as I know this anniversary edition doesn’t have any new content (bar Schwab’s introduction), but that cover makes it a Must for me!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Published on: 22nd October 2024
Goodreads
From the internationally bestselling and prize-winning author of Piranesi and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an enchanting, beautifully illustrated short story set in the Strange universe.
'A church is a sort of wood. A wood is a sort of church. They're the same thing really.'
Nineteen-year-old Merowdis Scott is an unusual girl. She can talk to animals and trees - and she is only ever happy when she is walking in the woods.
One snowy afternoon, out with her dogs and Apple the pig, Merowdis encounters a blackbird and a fox. As darkness falls, a strange figure enters in their midst - and the path of her life is changed forever.
Featuring an introduction by Susanna Clarke and gorgeous illustrations truly worthy of the magic of this story, this is a mesmerizing, must-have addition to any fantasy reader's bookshelf.
And a new Susanna Clarke story!!!
Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Published on: 22nd October 2024
Goodreads
"Can the absence of words tell a story? Like a pattern in lace, the holes as important as the threads?"
A search. A puzzle. Sixty protagonists―all of whom are dead.
Told entirely through obituaries and ricocheting through time, Remember You Will Die is an innovative, genre-bending epic about the messy tapestry of human history and the threads that connect us, told through the eyes of Peregrine, an AI mother grappling with the unexpected death of her human daughter, Poppy.
And from the newspaper clippings of individual lives emerges something else unexpected: generations entwined through blood and art and the consequences of their actions, betrayals and redemptions that traverse our dying world and beyond.
Spanning continents, centuries, planets, and genres, and centering a diverse mix of human experiences, Remember You Will Die is a provocative exploration of who we are and what we could be.
This sounds like such a fascinating format to tell a story in! Excited to see what it’s like in action!
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: M/M
Published on: 22nd October 2024
Goodreads
In the gorgeous first installment of the hit Webtoon series Castle Swimmer, two young mermen reject their destinies and embark on an epic adventure full of romance and danger, featuring exclusive bonus material.
From the moment Kappa tumbles into existence on the ocean floor, his life’s purpose is already decided for him: He is the Beacon, a light to all sea creatures, and destined to fulfill their many prophesies. In high demand and under immense pressure, Kappa quickly realizes that fame and glory are small compensation for a life of predetermined self-sacrifice.
Unable to resist the call of destiny due to a magical yellow cord that appears from his chest and pulls him inexorably to any sea creatures he swims by, Kappa ultimately finds himself drawn to the Shark kingdom, where he is immediately imprisoned. The Sharks’ prophecy states that the curse maiming their people will only be lifted once their prince, Siren, kills the Beacon. But when Prince Siren decides to defy fate and help Kappa escape, Kappa realizes that there might be more to life than fulfilling endless prophesies, leading to a raucous adventure as big and unpredictable as the ocean itself—and a romance that nobody could have predicted.
Episodes 1-19 of Webtoon's Castle Swimmer Season 1 is collected in this stunning graphic novel, which also includes a never-before-seen bonus chapter featuring Kappa and Siren.
Mermaids! Queer mermaids! With adorable art! I am SOLD!
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: MLM MC
Published on: 22nd October 2024
Goodreads
Bridgerton meets The Bachelor in this queer regency romance of a vampire competing for the heart of a duke.
After being run out of his castle by vampire hunters, Count Lucian encounters the god of vampires, Vrykolakas, while in hiding. Unhappy with how many vampires have been bested by hunters, Vrykolakas gives Lucian a test: Infiltrate the future duke’s marriage games as a suitor and uncover the clandestine vampire hunters Vrykolakas suspects lurk in their midst. The god strips Lucian of his immortality so he can walk amongst mortals―making him human for the first time in centuries. If Lucian succeeds, Vrykolakas will make him the most powerful vampire in existence, but if he fails, the god of vampires will torture him for the rest of his life.
Unfortunately, Lucian isn’t prepared for the emotions that come with humanity, nor the treacheries of courting season with fellow nobles posing as friends, enemies, and wholly unsuitable romantic
Vampires + Bridgerton is one hell of a pitch; here’s hoping this lives up to it!
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: Gay MC
Published on: 22nd October 2024
Goodreads
In this darkly magical, romantic YA fantasy debut, a closeted teenage psychic in small-town Washington foresees the death of his sworn enemy, and is forced to work with him to save his life. Sparks fly, but the dead are restless, and some ghosts don't want to stay buried...
Perfect for fans of The Raven Cycle, Cemetery Boys and Sixteen Souls.
Sixteen-year-old Miles Warren hails from a long line of psychics. Resigned to a life in the (not especially profitable) family business, Miles is perfectly happy, thank you very much―except for the part where he's constantly exhausted from long nights digging up graves, hiding his sexuality from his family, and unable to fulfil his dream of going to art school one day. Perfectly happy.
But Miles' comfortable routine is interrupted when has a premonition of a violent supernatural murder. He soon discovers that the victim is none other than Gabriel Hawthorne, whose family have a mysterious, decades-long feud with Miles' own. Gabriel is everything Miles expects from a Hawthorne―rude, snobbish, and irritatingly good-looking―but Miles isn't just going to stand by and let someone murder him. The two form an uneasy alliance, trying to solve Gabriel's murder and prevent it from taking place.
The odds are against them; death premonitions are notoriously hard to alter. As they uncover secrets about their families' feud and dark magic swirls around the pair, Miles is horrified to realize that he doesn't hate Gabriel as much as he's supposed to. He might even like him.
Too bad Gabriel is almost certainly going to die.
I’ve heard good things about this one, so on the list it goes!
You can read an excerpt here!
Genres: Fantasy, MG
Representation: Desi cast, bisexual Desi MC
Published on: 22nd October 2024
Goodreads
Trouble is brewing at Margaret's Academy of Tea and Brewing, and unlucky Misha has one chance to fix it with the recipe for the perfect enchanted cup of chai, in this magical, heartfelt, and funny adventure about the power of believing in yourself, perfect for fans of A Taste of Magic and The Marvellers.
All it took was one majestic frog and a love brew gone wrong—and faster than you can say ribbit, Misha got expelled...again. Things aren’t much better back home. A rival tea shop opens across the street, and rumors spread that the Dayaans' tea is cursed. Determined to fix her family’s reputation, Misha’s only got one option left: attend the infamous Margaret’s Academy of Tea and Brewing and brew her way to the top of her class—even if it means a little bit of spice sabotage.
But when Misha finds herself up against the girl from the tea shop across the street and things start going wrong—ghostly tea leaves, living scarecrows, and rumors of missing tea witches—Misha starts to realize the truth: she’s jinxed. And if she can’t turn her luck around, her family tea shop, her classmates—and even all of Margaret’s Academy—will have a fate worse than cold tea.
Emi Pinto's heartfelt, hilarious, and hijinks-filled Chai Jinxed is a stand-alone adventure for everyone who has ever felt the pressure to succeed, with an affirming story about friendship, family, and self-love.
Listen. LISTEN. I love everything about this. A SCHOOL OF TEA MAGIC? A PUNNY TITLE? A STEAM-CAT ON THE COVER??? GIVE IT TO ME IMMEDIATELY!
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Trans MC
Published on: 25th October 2024
Goodreads
John and Emily are a perfectly normal couple living in near-future suburban America, with plans to attend a perfectly normal Halloween party with Emily dressed in a perfectly normal android costume. But Emily has an accident, so John steps up to take her place, and that’s where things start to go wrong. Because the hollowed-out android they bought from John’s brother is supposed to be dead, and isn’t supposed to be influencing his actions, and when the time comes to take it off, it’s supposed to let him out...
A novel of transformation, alienation, and isolation.
After the amazing-ness of Welcome to Dorley Hall I am PSYCHED for a sci fi from Greaves!!! I wonder how much THIS one is going to mess with me…? Looking forward to it, though!
Will you be reading any of these? Did I miss any releases you think I should know about? Let me know!
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