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 stuff sneaks in occasionally too.
FIFTEEN books this week! Plus two released earlier but only belatedly being featured!
(Books are listed in order of pub date, then Adult SFF, Adult Other, YA SFF, YA Other, MG SFF.)
Insolence (Eisha's Hidden Codices Book 1) by Gwin Savage
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic MC, polyamory
Published on: 22nd September 2025
Goodreads
Insolence is book 1 of a duet, and will end on a cliffhanger. This is a dark romantasy with two toxic, morally gray FMCs, forced proximity, forbidden love, and open-door spice. (Please consult TWs in the front of the book.)
In a fantasy realm where Sapphic women possess arcane abilities, are we goddess-blessed or are we cursed? I awoke in this temple with no memory of who I am. The Sisters say I dedicated my life to the goddess, but that’s impossible. When I see something not meant for my eyes, it becomes apparent things darker than worship happen here. Far darker.
All I want is to find out who put me here. Until I’m summoned by the High Priestess.
Capricious and captivating, Elodie’s magnetism is hard to ignore no matter how wildly her moods shift. Then, when the sweet and charming Sadrie makes her interest known, a dire hunger awakens inside of me. The longer I spend in both womens’ presence, the more voracious it grows.
Forced together and forbidden from intimacy. Four years on top of this miserable mountain. Four years of strict discipline to guard my secrets, and there she is prowling my temple.
Beautiful and bratty, Tiss sees both sides of me and all that I am. She's also irresistible. Her presence disrupts everything I've worked for, and her willfulness could get us both killed. With so much to protect, I must stay away. But my discipline is faltering.
In a remote temple where danger lurks and questions abound, can we survive the Prioress and her twisted deeds?
Author’s Note: Insolence takes place in a close-minded, patriarchal realm inspired by the 1930s. As it unfolds, the series will explore themes of feminine rage and women taking back lost power. Polyamory is practiced in this world, and Tiss will not choose between love interests.
Will I enjoy romantasy if it’s queer and poly??? I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but I’m intensely curious about a setting where queer women have magic. (Because they’re queer???)
Beings by Ilana Masad
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Sapphic MC
Published on: 23rd September 2025
Goodreads
From the celebrated author of All My Mother's Lovers, a new novel based on true events asks whether extraterrestrial life might be what ties us to one another, to history, and to reality itself.
“Ilana Masad is an exciting talent."—Garth Greenwell
“Masad is a writer on the rise."—Kristen ArnettIn 1961, an interracial couple drove through the dark mountains of New Hampshire when a mysterious light began to follow them. Years later, through hypnosis, they recalled an unbelievable brush with extraterrestrial life. Unintentionally, a genre was born: the alien abduction narrative.
In Ilana Masad’s Beings, the couple’s experience serves as one part of a trio of intertwined threads: Known only by their roles as husband and wife, Masad explores the pair’s trauma and its aftermath and questions what it means to accept the impossible. In the second thread, letters penned by a budding science-fiction writer, Phyllis, to her beloved, Rosa, expose the raw ache of queer yearning, loneliness, and alienation in the repressive 1960s—as well as the joy of finding community. In the present day, a reclusive and chronically ill Archivist attempts to understand a strange forgotten childhood encounter while descending into obsession over both Phyllis’s letters and the testimony of the first alien abductees.
Over the course of a decade, Phyllis wrestles with her desires and ambitions as a lesbian writer, while the abducted couple grapple with how to maintain control of their narrative. All the while, the archive shatters and reforms, redefining fact and fiction via the stories left behind by the abductees, Phyllis, and the Archivist themself. Masad makes human what is alien and makes tangible what is hidden – sometimes by chance and sometimes intentionally – in the archive.
Not the kind of thing I usually read, but I have a vague idea I saw a review somewhere that caught my attention…
You can read an excerpt here!
The Unfathomable Curse (The Undetectables, #3) by Courtney Smyth
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic MC with fibromyalgia, brown sapphic MC, bisexual MC, major gay character
Published on: 23rd September 2025
Goodreads
A witty, witchy fantasy murder mystery packed with ancient magic and fiendish puzzles. When Cornelia’s twin sisters are taken by the Wickermere Reaper, Mallory, Diana and Theodore must race against time to uncover the buried secrets of the Broadwicks before it’s too late. Perfect for fans of supernatural mysteries and cosy crime by authors such as Ben Aaranovitch, Josiah Bancroft and Tammie Painter.
The summer after the events of The Undead Complex, the unthinkable finally happens – Cornelia’s money is running out. Estranged from her family, furious at her parents following recent revelations, the Broadwick heir finds herself living on her own resources for the first time.
Meanwhile two crimes are rocking the Apparent community. The Wrackton Digger is stealing bodies from the cemetery, and a new serial killer – the Wickermere Reaper – has emerged. But when the Reaper snatches their next victims – Cornelia’s twin sisters – she must return to her family’s home, and seat of the Ghoul Council, to conduct the search.
With their resources split, and a ticking clock on the race to save the twins, The Undetectables must do what they do best – solve the strangest, most well-hidden magical mysteries to save the people they love.
Book three of the Undetectables! I adored the first book, and need to have another stab at book two. This is NOT the final book in the series, Smyth is under contract for at least one more instalment, so this isn’t a trilogy!
Terms of Service by Ciel Pierlot
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy
Representation: Queer MC
Published on: 23rd September 2025
Goodreads
When her cousin gets kidnapped by a dastardly trickster, Luzia is forced to sell herself in servitude to the Eoi in exchange for his life. But the terms of the deal turn out to be much more complicated than she ever imagined…
Luzia N.E. Drainway never really thought too much about the Astrosi. They lurk above and below Bastion City – a giant multileveled megalopolis she calls her home – and they tend to keep to themselves. On the rare occasions they use their magics to meddle with human affairs, most people with an ounce of sense steer clear of whichever unfortunate soul happens to be their victim. Luzia is far too dedicated to repairing and maintaining the frequently-damaged Bastion to pay them much attention, and prefers to ignore the Astrosi just like everyone else.
That disregard gets blown out of the water when a rogue Astrosi and nefarious trickster named Carrion kidnaps her nephew and sells him to the Eoi, one of the Astrosi courts.
With no other options to save her nephew, Luzia trades her life for his and finds herself in service to the Eoi. Unfortunately for her, Astrosi logic is acrobatic in ways even the most devious human mind can barely comprehend. It’s not until the deal is struck that she realizes she’s trapped in the most abstruse verbal contract imaginable. She is essentially conscripted into their ranks, and her devotion to her city becomes stretched to breaking point by her new masters’ orders.
As she struggles under this weight, she begins to uncover the secrets of the Astrosi people – the internal battles for power between the two kingdoms, the never-ending conflict between them, the trickster Carrion who somehow bridges that gap, and the very nature of the Bastion itself.
I have been promised space-elves!
You can read an excerpt here!
A Sword of Gold and Ruin by Anna Smith Spark
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Published on: 23rd September 2025
Goodreads
Readers of Shauna Lawless and Thilde Kold Holdt will love this Celtic-inflected adventure by critically acclaimed, grimdark epic fantasy novelist, Anna Smith Spark.
The sequel to the masterpiece folk horror high fantasy A Sword of Bronze and Ashes, a lyrical blend of epic myth and daily life.
Kanda and her family are on a quest to rebuild the glory that was Roven. Mother and daughters stand together as a light against the darkness. But mother and daughters both have hands that are stained red with blood. They walk a path that is stranger and more beautiful than even Kanda dared imagine, bright with joy, bitter with grief. Ghosts and monsters dog their footsteps - but the greatest monsters lie in their hearts.
The 2024 Independent Publisher of the Year, FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress
I’m about a third of the way through the first book in this duology, and it’s so beautifully written! Very eager to see where on EARTH this story is going!
You can read an excerpt here (but you probably shouldn’t if you haven’t read the first book!)
Spread Me by Sarah Gailey
Genres: Adult, Horror, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Queer MC/s
Published on: 23rd September 2025
Goodreads
Spread Me is a darkly seductive tale of survival from Sarah Gailey, after a routine probe at a research station turns deadly when the team discovers a strange specimen in search of a warm place to stay.
Kinsey has the perfect job as the team lead in a remote research outpost. She loves the solitude, and the way the desert keeps her far away from the temptations teeming out in the civilian world.
When her crew discovers a mysterious specimen buried deep in the sand, Kinsey breaks quarantine and brings it into the hab. But the longer it's inside, the more her carefully controlled life begins to unravel. Temptation has found her after all, and it can't be ignored any longer.
One by one, Kinsey's team realizes the thing they're studying is in search of a new host—and one of them is the perfect candidate....
It’s Sarah Gailey, so OBVIOUSLY I was going to read it, but I’m especially excited after finding this review over on FanFiAddict!
You can read an excerpt here (where it says Read Excerpt under the cover)!
Slashed Beauties by A. Rushby
Genres: Adult, Horror
Representation: Sapphic MC
Published on: 23rd September 2025
Goodreads
A gothic feminist body horror in two timelines revolving around three Anatomical Venuses—ultrarealistic wax figures of women—that come to life at night to murder men who have wronged them.
Seoul, present day. Antiques dealer Alys’s task is nearly complete. She has at last secured Elizabeth, the final anatomical Venus in a dangerously intertwined trio. Crafted in eighteenth-century London and modeled after real-life sex workers to entice male medical students to study female anatomy, these eerie wax figures, known as slashed beauties, carry unsavory lore. Legend has it that the figures are bewitched, and come to life at night to murder men who have wronged them. Now Alys embarks for England, where she knows what she must sever her cursed connection to the Venuses once and for all.
London, 1763. Abandoned and penniless in Covent Garden, wide-eyed Eleanor and another young woman, Emily, are taken under the wing of beautiful and beguiling Elizabeth, one of the city’s most highly desired courtesans. But as Eleanor is seduced deeper into a web of money, materialism, and men, it seems that Elizabeth may not be the savior she appears to be.
As past and present begin to intersect, it becomes clear that the women’s stories are linked in deeper, darker ways than it initially seems. And that the only method for Alys to end the witchcraft that binds her legacy is to gather all three models in one place and destroy them.
The problem is, Elizabeth is not ready to burn. Far from it. Centuries on, she is determined to rise again, and she will obliterate anything standing in her path. Including Alys herself.
I’d never heard of the Anatomical Venuses before this book, proving once again that you can pick up all kinds of fascinating trivia from fiction! I’ve found myself properly hyped for this one, no idea what kind of resolution I should be rooting for with this premise…!
You can read an excerpt here!
One Morning Sun (Sãoni Cycle Book 3) by Avi Silver
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: Aromantic MC, nonbinary MC, asexual MC, queerplatonic F/NB/M
Published on: 23rd September 2025
Goodreads
Sohmeng Parminhal is ready to face the unknown.
The mountain community of Ateng is safe at last, but Sohmeng and her partners have a new challenge defending Gãepongwei from the invading Qiao Sidhur Empire. While Soh is convinced that open conversation can turn her adversaries into allies, Prince Ahnschen isn’t so sure. His older sister, the charming and ruthless General Ólawen, has never been one to concede defeat.
With the future of the rainforest at stake, the hmun are uniting for the first time in living memory—and the animal kingdom has its part to play. But as self-appointed guardian of Eiji, Hei questions if the relationship between humans and sãoni is indeed symbiotic as they walk the line between skin and scales.
The dark of Minhal is coming. Inside that darkness, infinite possibility. In the final heartfelt chapter of the Sãoni Cycle, Hei, Ahn, and Sohmeng must decide their place in the perfect system, and become who the world needs each of them to be.
It’s the finale of the beautifully weird Sãoni Cycle! I have absolutely no idea where this trilogy is going to conclude, and I’m Extremely Anxious about it. This series is Perf for anyone who wants fantastical gender systems and cultural worldbuilding!
Unending (The Unseelie Duology, #2) by Ivelisse Housman
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: Autistic MC, sapphic MC
Published on: 23rd September 2025
Goodreads
In this high-octane conclusion to the Unseelie duology, two sisters discover that the things that make them different can lend them more power than they ever imagined.
Isolde Graygrove has always put her changeling twin sister first. But ever since Seelie returned from the faerie realms with a newfound confidence in her magic and secrets she’s keeping even from her twin, Isolde can’t help but wonder: who is she, if not her sister’s protector?
Seelie knows there are some problems even magic can’t solve. Like the distance between her and Isolde, the terror of her growing and unfamiliar emotions for Raze, or the fact that the world’s last firedrake has imprinted on her like a baby duckling. Still, she can’t help but try.
When Seelie accidentally splinters the three realms, tangling the human and faerie worlds together into something new, the vicious faerie Gossamer is determined to take full advantage of the chaos unleashed. Seelie and Isolde will need to spill their secrets, decide who they can trust, and navigate the sinister glamour of the faerie courts to save humankind and fae alike.
Teen!Sia would have KILLED for this duology, and honestly adult!Sia is still Extremely Excited! I need to reread book one, but then I will be DIVING into this!
You can read an excerpt (of the first book) here!
This Raging Sea by De Elizabeth
Representation: Bisexual MC
Published on: 23rd September 2025
Goodreads
18-year-old Briar Winters must untangle the horrifying eldritch secrets of her picture-perfect coastal town in order to save the boy she loves after he disappears from time itself in this YA dark fantasy for fans of Bly Manor.
Historic Loch Creek is a witchy New England tourist trap—but it’s just a trap for Briar, who’s convinced she’ll die there among the waves that devoured her twin brother thirteen years ago. But when her best friend who she's loved since childhood, Finn, vanishes from the seaside carnival, there’s only one person who can help Briar find him: Morgan, her biggest enemy who knows her darkest secret.
As Briar uncovers hidden truths as deep and dark as the water that haunts her, it quickly becomes clear that Finn has gone much further than anyone could have imagined. He’s lost in time, and neither of them are safe. If Briar and Finn look too hard, they might find terrifying answers—not just about what’s buried beneath the shores, but also the threads tying them to each other. As past and future collide, the seductive yet evil underwater entity that intends to claim Briar still needs its sacrifice . . .
And it’s too hungry to go unsated.
Equal parts epic bisexual romance and pulse-pounding horror, This Raging Sea is a dual POV dark fantasy as sweepingly powerful as the ocean that threatens to consume everything and everyone Briar has ever loved—prepare to be devoured.
This LOOKS like the kind of book I’d usually pass by, but I’ve been hearing incredible praise for it, so I shall give it a go!
You can read an excerpt here and another here!
Extraordinary Quests for Amateur Witches by Kayla Cottingham
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: M/M
Published on: 23rd September 2025
Goodreads
After accidentally cursing his ex-boyfriend, a reluctant hero must complete a dangerous quest to undo his spell . . . all while falling for a brooding new crewmate with dark secrets.
Kieran has never had much luck in love or magic. Other than being freed from a family curse that would have killed him and doomed his twin sister, life isn’t going his way.
So, after getting put on notice by his boyfriend and accidentally writing a poem so bad (and magically hazardous) that it makes him invisible to the guy, of course Kieran returns home to find the Witches Council sitting in his living room, demanding he complete his magical training. Panicked, he blurts out that his Calling—a kind of magical thesis—will be to find a magical cure-all that can break any curse . . . an enormous task that he absolutely doesn’t have the power to pull off.
Nevertheless, Kieran sets off on this dangerous journey, accompanied by his sister Briar, her girlfriend Delilah, and a swoony new crewmate, Sebastian. If he survives, he may just learn how to turn his luck around and figure out what kind of witch, person, and boyfriend he wants to be.
I’m expecting lots of giggles and fluff!
You can read an excerpt here (where it says Look Inside under the cover)!
The Guardians of Dreamdark: Windwitch (The Guardians of Dreamdark, #1) by Laini Taylor
Genres: Fantasy, YA
Published on: 23rd September 2025
Goodreads
When the ancient evil of the Blackbringer rises to unmake the world, only one determined faerie stands in its way. However, Magpie Windwitch, granddaughter of the West Wind, is not like other faeries. While her kind live in seclusion deep in the forests of Dreamdark, she's devoted her life to tracking down and recapturing devils escaped from their ancient bottles, just as her hero, the legendary Bellatrix, did 25,000 years ago. With her faithful gang of crows, she travels the world fighting where others would choose to flee. But when a devil escapes from a bottle sealed by the ancient Djinn King himselfthe creator of the worldshe may be in over her head. How can a single faerie, even with the help of her friends, hope to defeat the impenetrable darkness of the Blackbringer?
At a time when fantasy readers have an embarrassment of riches in choosing new worlds to fall in love with, this first novel by a fresh, original voice is sure to stand out.
This is a new edition of Taylor’s debut, then titled Blackbringer. I know a lot of people loved it, and pined for the sequel; hopefully this republishing means we’ll be getting the whole series this time! Taylor has said this is the same book as the first edition; it hasn’t been rewritten, so if you’ve read Blackbringer already, this won’t have anything new for you – except the gorgeous cover!
You can read an excerpt using the Read Sample function on the book’s Big River page!
Beasts of the Four Nations: Creatures from Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra by John O'Bryan, Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino, Nickelodeon, Devin Elle Kurtz
Genres: Fantasy
Published on: 23rd September 2025
Goodreads
Discover the creatures of The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra with this in-depth exploration of the Four Nations’ animal inhabitants!
Part of what everyone loves about the Four Nations is all the strange and wonderful (and sometimes scary!) creatures that inhabit them! From the Air Nomads’ flying bison, to Kyoshi Island’s elephant koi, to the Earth Kingdom’s singing groundhogs and the little purple pentapus, look to this hardcover volume for images and information on Avatar and Korra’s creatures large and small.
Several amazing artists I follow have pieces in this, so I’d be pouncing on it even if I wasn’t interested in the lore – which I very much am!
You can preview a bunch of pages here!
A Fleurlings Field Guide by Kaitlin Hoyt
Genres: Fantasy
Published on: 23rd September 2025
Goodreads
Step into the enchanted world of animal-flower hybrids with A Fleurlings Field Guide! From floral frogs to wildflower wolves, this whimsical handbook unveils the curious creatures of a long-lost magical island. Should you ever set foot on its shores, keep this guide close—but beware, linger too long, and you might just start to bloom yourself!
About the author
Kaitlin Hoyt is a wildlife illustrator whose work explores themes of growth and interconnectedness through whimsical fusions of flora and fauna. Inspired by early scientific illustrators and the magic of fairytales, her art is a celebration of nature’s resilience and adaptability—qualities that have also shaped her self-taught creative journey.
Since committing to painting in 2019, Hoyt has participated in multiple artist residencies, written and illustrated children's books, and shared her work with collectors around the world.
What’s a fleurling??? A MOST DELIGHTFUL AND BEAUTIFUL FLOWER–BEASTIE HYBRID! Each word of the previous sentence will take you to the page of a different fleurling, some of my favourites – you’re welcome! So excited to see a bunch of them gathered together in one book!
The Queer Thing About Sin: Why the West Came to Hate Queer Love by Harry Tanner
Genres: Adult, Nonfiction
Published on: 25th September 2025
Goodreads
'BOLD AND BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN' TOM HOLLAND
'MY GOD, THIS BOOK IS NEEDED. HISTORY HAS NEVER SEEMED MORE ALIVE...' RUSSELL T DAVIES
A gripping new journey through ancient history, uncovering the origins of homophobia and the untold stories of those who dared to love.In the early days of ancient Greece, queer love was celebrated. The most famous warrior in antiquity loved another man, the poet whose lyrics were memorised by philosophers and kings sang of her desire for women. Men could swear oaths of undying love and live out the rest of their lives together in peace. What fragments survive of this ancient world all tell us one it was not a sin to be queer.
In this extraordinary book, Harry Tanner sets out on a journey to discover the origins of homophobia in the West. From the rise of belligerent tyrants to civil unrest and the birth of radical new philosophies, Tanner follows the traces of this sinister idea as it swept across the ancient Mediterranean. Wherever he discovers the roots of homophobia taking hold, from ancient Judea to imperial Rome, Tanner finds a confluence of crises mirrored across the centuries. Inequality, fear and an obsession with self-control – this is how societies turn on their queer citizens, time and time again, since the dawn of history.
This is a powerful story that draws on the rich world of the ancients to reveal how homophobia infected Western religion and ideology - the consequences of which we are still living with today - and to that end how we can move forward and resist homophobia in the future.
'EXTREMELY COMPELLING' ALAIN DE BOTTON
'SCINTILLATING' ORLANDO READE
'FASCINATING' PATRICK NESS
I’m one of those annoying people who always wants to know WHY bigots are bigots, so this sounds right up my alley. ‘Caus yeah, I would really like to know where Western homophobia comes from (beyond early Judaic faiths associating it with ‘enemy’ religions, which isn’t a full answer anyway because I don’t know WHY men having sex with men came to represent ‘the pagans’. Perhaps Tanner will have thoughts on it?)
Belated Feature
The Rooster Princess and Other Tales: Jewish Stories Re-populated with Spunky Heroines, Wise Women, Brave Crones, and Powerful Prophetesses by Debra Gordon Zaslow
Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Jewish cast
Published on: 9th September 2025
Goodreads
Female protagonists turn Jewish folktales on their heads!
What happens when stories with traditional male protagonists are updated with female characters? Timeless plots and values remain, while old tales transform to inspire and captivate a new generation.
When Debra Gordon Zaslow first ventured into Jewish storytelling in the mid-1980s, she was surprised at how difficult it was to find Jewish tales featuring powerful female characters. This seemed odd, given the obvious strength of Jewish women. Over the years, she found herself slipping female characters into stories and changing male protagonists into females. Her criterion was if it didn’t change the basic meaning or plot of the story, the character could be female. There was always the sense, however, of meddling with something sacrosanct. These Jewish stories have been handed down for centuries, and who was she to change them?
Decades later, comes this collection of stories. The maggidot (Jewish women storytellers) who wrote and compiled this innovative anthology have created a collection to honor Jewish values while featuring female characters in every central role. Some stories are female-centered versions of traditional tales (e.g. “The Fishmonger and the Shiviti” and “The Shekhinah Is in Exile”), others are original fiction inspired by perennial Jewish themes (“A Queer Soul in the Shtetl”).
Very annoyed with myself for missing this when it was released, but I can feature it now instead! I’m not at ALL familiar with the stories being retold here, but that just makes it much more interesting!
Gaywyck (Gaywyck Quartet Book 1) by Vincent Virga
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Gay cast, M/M
Published on: 16th September 2025
Goodreads
Sensitive, blond, emerald-eyed Robert Whyte is seventeen, living in a small town where his father is schoolmaster and his mother quite mad. When the local parish Father arranges an introduction to Donough Gaylord, the young, gorgeous, sophisticated (and fabulously wealthy) lord of the manor of Gaywyck, a Long Island estate, a deal is Robert will become the librarian and move into Gaywyck forthwith.
Donough's eye-popping New York digs at Gramercy Park, with displays of Van Goghs, Cézannes and Monets, pales in comparison to the riches found at Gaywyck. Donough's part-time mentoring leaves Robert much time to explore the estate, its secrets and physicalities (a waterfall, gardens, beaches, riding trails, a cave of paintings, hidden closets), and the dark past shared by the inhabitants. His coming of age is bombarded by sexual desires, lies, betrayal, journals full of secrets everyone reads, suicide and murders, erotic encounters, and the sea, always the sea, tranquil or agitated ....
Robert, smitten from first meeting, yearns for Donough as lover. The older man, haunted by guilt from childhood secrets, fights his intense, growing passion even as hidden evil rushes to destroy them both.
A cherished classic for almost 50 years. This new edition features a foreword by Damon Suede and an afterword by the author.
“Gaywyck is the very definition of classic. Using gothic romance to explore the love that once “dared not speak its name,” Gaywyck proves compelling fiction and love are truly timeless.” – Rick R. Reed
“A fascinating mixture of Wilde, the gothic, and, above all, the souls laid to rest in New York.” – Angus Wilson
“A groundbreaking romance classic by a trailblazing author, Gaywyck blew open the doors of romance, proving what Vincent Virga has said for Genre has no gender. Merging the lushness of the best gothics with the big emotions of modern historicals, this is a story that transforms the way you think of the romance novel.” – Sarah MacLean
“An extraordinary tour de force that merits special praise.” – The Advocate
“As of 2024, Mr. Virga is one of the only surviving members of a pantheon of gay novelists who changed the way queer stories got told, forever. Suckled on pulps, they wrote books that escaped the camp gulag by sheer force of will via humor and hubris, poesy and porn … entire subgenres of pop-culture redefined by brilliant queers writing against the grain.” – Damon Suede
I ALSO SOMEHOW MISSED THIS?! Excuse me while I scream into a pillow – I’ve only been waiting for Virga to republish this series since TWENTY-FOURTEEN. No big deal!!! This is a massive, very gay, very Gothic Gothic novel – it is so very over-the-top, there are more problematic elements than you could shake a stick at, the prose is VIBRANTLY purple, and I love it a truly ridiculous amount. Think Jane Eyre, without Jane’s good sense and (alleged) heterosexuality. (Jane would have had Gaywyck sorted in a month, tops.)
As far as anyone seems to know, this was the first gay Gothic novel in English, and one of the first trad-pubbed queer novels to have a happy ending. You will either love it or hate it, I have yet to meet anybody who was just ‘meh’ about it.
(Yes the new cover is hideous, hence my including the original cover in the hopes that you will be convinced by IT instead of put off by the newer one.)
(Also yes hi QUARTET?! It’s going to be a QUARTET now?! Does this mean we’re getting a whole new book or is one of the original trilogy being split in two?! I’M SCREAMING.)
Will you be reading any of these? Did I miss any releases you think I should know about? Let me know!
I just re-read books 1 and 2 of the Sãoni Cycle so I’d be ready for book 3. Hope it’s good!
I’m pretty sure it will be! :D