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January 2026 Releases

Through Gates of Garnet and Gold by Seanan McGuire will be out January 6, 2026. I read an advance copy of this 11th installment in the Wayward Children series and loved it!

Blurb: “A fan-favorite character returns in this action-packed instalment of the Hugo Award-winning Wayward Children series.

After Nancy was cast out of the Halls of the Dead and forced to enroll at Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children, she never believed she’d find her door again, and when she did, she didn’t look back. She disappeared from the school to resume her place in the Halls, never intending to return.

Years have passed. A darkness has descended on the Halls, and the living statues who populate them are dying at the hands of the already dead. The Lord and Lady who rule the land are helpless to stop the slaughter, forcing Nancy to leave the Halls again, this time on purpose, as she attempts to seek much-needed help from her former schoolmates.

But who would volunteer to quest in a world where the dead roam freely?

And why are the dead so intent on adding to their number?”

Blessed is the Rot by Sheri Singerling is set for publication on January 13, 2026. I have an advance copy of this and will be reading it when I finish The Witch of Willow Sound.

Blurb: “Fenrir is a mask. Before his fall from grace, he was Ashtin, a lauded surveyor responsible for containing distortions, corrupted pockets of space-time that twist all they touch into horrid creatures. Five years prior, Ashtin defied the teachings of the Church he once served, costing him privilege, purpose, and his old name. Now, he is Fenrir, a shadow of his former self, reduced to ringing a bell for his livelihood.

When a distortion claims Fenrir’s bell tower, the Church sends Surveyor Sophie to assess and contain the threat. She is a painful reminder of all that Fenrir has lost, but as the weeks slip by, Fenrir falls for her. And her him, even after learning his true identity.

But Sophie harbors an even darker secret. Her only hope of salvation? Commit an unforgivable sin by descending into ancient ruins festering with distortions and their horrifying victims. Fenrir accompanies Sophie on the journey, but the truths they uncover are heinous in their own right. He must make a choice—abandon Sophie to fate or throw the world into chaos.

Blessed is the Rot is a dark science fantasy novel, the first in the Bit Trilogy and part of the Alfom shared universe.“

Cleopatra by Saara El-Arifi is set for publication on February 24, 2026. After watching a couple of documentaries about Cleopatra this year, I was intrigued to read this historical fiction novel about her.

Blurb: “Queen, Legend, Cleopatra tells her own story in this evocative and sensuous historical epic Cleopatra, from the bestselling and award-winning author of Faebound and The Final Strife .

YOU KNOW MY NAME.
BUT YOU DO NOT KNOW ME.

Your historians call me seductress, but I was always in love’s thrall. Your playwrights speak of my witchcraft, but I was gifted my talents by the gods. Your poets sing of my blood-lust, but I was protecting my children. They cannot credit that a mere woman could be powerful, strategic, divinely blessed to rule. Death will silence me no longer. This is not the story of how I died. But how I lived.”

A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James comes out January 20, 2026. After loving The Sun Down Motel, and enjoying The Haunting of Maddie Clare, and The Broken Girls, I’m excited to check out another book by Simone St. James.

Blurb: “Siblings return to the house they fled eighteen years before, called back by the ghost of their long-missing brother and his haunting request to come home.

Strange things happen in Fell, New York: A mysterious drowning at the town’s roadside motel. The unexplained death of a young girl whose body is left by the railroad tracks. For Violet, Vail, and Dodie Esmie the final straw was their little brother’s shocking disappearance, which started as a normal game of hide-and-seek.

As their parents grew increasingly distant, the sisters were each haunted by visions and frightening events, leading them to leave town and never look back. Violet still sees dead people—spirits who remind her of Sister, the menacing presence that terrorized her for years. Now after nearly two decades it’s time for a homecoming—because Ben is back, and he’s ready to lead them to the answers they’ve longed for and long feared.”

February 2026 Releases

The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan is set for publication on February 24, 2026. I am seeing this book everywhere and some are saying it will be THE fantasy book of 2026. This is a debut fantasy that tells the story of the first werewolf and is a retelling inspired by the Beast of Gevaudan. I have an advance copy for this, so you should see a review for The Red Winter on this blog sometime in January.

Blurb: “A tragic love story, a bewitching twist on history, and a blood-drenched hunt for purpose, power, and redemption—The Red Winter by debut author Cameron Sullivan is the story of the first werewolf.

In 1785, Professor Sebastian Grave receives the news he fears most: the terrible Beast of Gevaudan has returned, and the French countryside runs red in its wake.

Sebastian knows the Beast. A monster-slayer with centuries of experience, he joined the hunt for the creature twenty years ago and watched it slaughter its way through a long and bloody winter. Even with the help of his indwelling demon, Sarmodel – who takes payment in living hearts – it nearly cost him his life to bring the monster down.

Now, two decades later, Sebastian has been recalled to the hunt by Antoine Avenel d’Ocerne, an estranged lover who shares a dark history with the Beast and a terrible secret with Sebastian. Drawn by both the chance to finish the Beast for good and the promise of a reconciliation with Antoine, Sebastian cannot refuse.

But Gevaudan is not as he remembers it, and Sebastian’s unfinished business is everywhere he looks. Years of misery have driven the people to desperation, and France teeters on the edge of revolution. Sebastian’s arcane activities – not to mention his demonic counterpart – have also attracted the inquisitorial eye of the French clergy. And the Beast is poised to close his jaws around them all and plunge the continent into war.

Debut author Cameron Sullivan tears the heart out of history with this darkly entertaining retelling of the hunt for the Beast of Gevaudan. Lifting the veil on the hidden world behind our own, it reimagines the story of Europe, from Imperial Rome to Saint Jehanne d’Arc, the madness of Gilles de Rais and the first flickers of the French Revolution.”

March 2026 Releases

From the author of The Light Between Oceans, M. L. Stedman, comes a new Historical Fiction called A Far-Flung Life. March 3, 2026

Blurb: “Western Australia, 1958. A truck rumbles along a lonely outback road. A moment’s inattention, and in a few muddled seconds the lives of the MacBride family are shattered.

Instead of leaving them to heal, fate comes back for them in a twist of consequences that will cause one of them to lose their life, and another to sacrifice theirs for the sake of an innocent child.

Set in the expanse of a vast and flat landscape, where the weather is a capricious god and a million-acre sheep station is barely a dot on the map, A Far-flung Life explores the hearts of a handful of isolated souls and the secrets they shield in order to survive.

Capturing a family, a community, A FAR-FLUNG LIFE tells of the many ways humans can do each other wrong and how we move on when things can’t be put right. With shimmering prose and a delicious wit, the mysteries of being human are laid bare in this hopeful meditation on time and resilience and the lengths we go to to protect what we love.“

Rebecca Roanhorse has a new short story collection called River of Bones and Other Stories set for publication on March 3, 2026.

Blurb: “A stunning collection of award-winning fantasy and science fiction short stories from the New York Times bestselling author of the Between Earth and Sky trilogy—including a new novella set in the world of Trail of Lightning.

Rebecca Roanhorse’s first publication, “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™”, was awarded both the Nebula and Hugo award for best short story, and on its strength, Roanhorse was awarded the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. Although Roanhorse began to publish novels including Trail of Lightning and Black Sun, she has continued to write piercing stories that examine the American experience through marginalized perspectives.

“River of Bones” returns to the Sixth World series with a novella, this time from Kai’s perspective, as he and Maggie travel back to where he grew up to save his ex from the people who almost beat him to death—his ex’s family.

Based on the Tewa fable of Deer Hunter and White Corn Maiden, “A Brief Lesson in Native American Astronomy”—winner of the 2019 Ignyte award—explores the tradition of celestial-based storytelling, set in a future where virtual reality is nearly indistinguishable from the real world and celebrities can project their images into space as literal stars.

“Falling Bodies” follows a young student at a space station university caught between two disparate worlds—the one he currently inhabits and the one he has desperately tried to escape—as he searches for his place in the universe.

First published in Jordan Peele’s Out There Screaming, “Eye and Tooth” is a story of black horror about the hunters who hunt the monsters and the monstrous among us.

Through a range of contemporary to outright fantasy and science fiction, these stories will immediately capture your attention from one of our premiere writers of speculative fiction whose work is always at the vanguard of American fiction.”

I don’t usually read Young Adult books anymore, but I’ll read anything Alexis Henderson writes. Although An Academy For Liars was just okay for me, I loved House of Hunger, and so I’m looking forward to reading When I Was Death which is set for publication on March 10, 2026.

Blurb: “A group of teen girls does Death incarnate’s bidding in this haunting speculative young adult novel by the author of The Year of the Witching.

Roslyn Volk isn’t herself anymore. It’s been a year since her sister, Adeline, died in the woods under mysterious circumstances, and Roslyn is still tormented by her absence. So when the elusive caravan of girls that Adeline spent her last summer with rolls back into town, Roslyn joins them to finally figure out what happened to her sister.
Strange, beautiful, and intriguing, the girls are closed off from the world. And as it turns out, they’re brought together by a force more sinister than Roslyn’s nightmares could have conjured Death himself.
Death has spared the girls from untimely endings, and to pay for their lives, the girls travel the country reaping souls on his behalf. Now Roslyn must decide if finding closure is worth the price of striking the same deal.”

This cover! Whoever designs the covers for T. Kingfisher books, I need them to design a tattoo for me. I’m very excited to read Kingfisher’s Wolf Worm. March 24, 2026.

Blurb: “Something darker than the devil stalks the North Carolina woods in Wolf Worm, a new gothic masterpiece from New York Times bestselling author T. Kingfisher.

The year is 1899 and Sonia Wilson is a scientific illustrator without work, prospects, or hope. When the reclusive Dr. Halder offers her a position illustrating his vast collection of insects, Sonia jumps at the chance to move to his North Carolina manor house and put her talents to use. But soon enough she finds that there are darker things at work than the Carolina woods. What happened to her predecessor, Halder’s wife? Why are animals acting so strangely, and what is behind the peculiar local whispers about “blood thiefs?”

With the aid of the housekeeper and a local healer, Sonia discovers that Halder’s entomological studies have taken him down a dark road full of parasitic maggots that burrow into human flesh, and that his monstrous experiments may grow to encompass his newest illustrator as well.”

After enjoying Strange Sally Diamond, I’m happily anticipating Liz Nugent’s newest novel, The Truth About Ruby Cooper, set for publication on March 3, 2026.

Blurb: “If my sister hadn’t been beautiful, none of it would have happened.

Ruby Cooper and her sister, Erin, live an idyllic life in their close-knit church community in Boston. But when Ruby is sixteen, she is involved in an incident that causes her family’s world to implode.

Across decades, the fallout leaves a wake of destruction behind Ruby in Dublin and Erin in Boston.

Not that Ruby wants to think about the past.

But it can’t stay a secret forever.”

Well, those are my most anticipated reads for the first three months of the year. What are you looking forward to reading?

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