The Septembers of the past might have brought crisp autumn breezes, but it seems Mother Nature isn't ready for summer to end this year. Is there a lizard somewhere that came out of its estivation ( a type of hibernation), saw its shadow, and gave us six more weeks of summer? If you are having trouble wrapping your mind around it being September with this heat, you're not alone.
Aside from the temperatures still being sky-high, September does bring with it a festive fall mood. A large part of that mood includes the longing to cozy up on the couch, a plush armchair, or a window seat and lose yourself in a good book. With quite a few titles being highly sought after, this month's latest fantasy and science fiction releases are just the thing to fulfill the autumn reading cravings.
Engines of Reason by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Elder Race #2) — Sept. 1
Adrian Tchaikovsky has been busy recently, having published his book Green City Wars in June, while the sequel to his hit novella Saturation Point was released on August 13, 2026. His third publication in three months, Engines of Reason, is also a sequel novella that continues the story of Lynesse Fourth-Daughter and the wizard Nyrgoth.
Nyr has become the imperial wizard, and the tutor for Lynesse's children, but the hollowness of being a man outside his own time still plagues him. He and Lyn have grown distant, but when news of another sorcerer reaches the palace, Nyr and Lyn must work together once again to discover this man's motives, and how to stop him from destroying their world.
On a planet where stories govern identity, where science and magic are merely a point of view, a fallen princess, a reluctant wizard, and a precocious child must unravel the past to shape the future.
Betrayal, ancient myths, and a clash of worlds converge in this spellbinding tale of courage, friendship, and self-discovery from one of science fiction’s most compelling voices.
Scion by James Islington — Sept. 1
James Islington's second novel in the Hierarchy series, The Strength of the Few, made our list of best fantasy books of 2025, so to say we're excited to see what he has next in store for readers is an understatement. While we won't be getting the third book of the series any time soon, we can enjoy this new sci-fi thriller Islington has for us.
Islington's Scion has been called "John Wick meets Blade Runner," but it also has some Murderbot Diaries vibes. The main character is a genetically modified being who works as an assassin for a billionaire corporation. But the latest job he's given has him completely out of his depth. A job's a job, though, right?
My job, when you think about it, isn’t so different from a lot of people’s.
The more old-fashioned crowd do still get hung up on the "killing people" part of it, I guess, but that’s a them problem: it’s been perfectly legal to take out lifers for ages. Besides, once ultrawealthy morons realised they had a way to live forever—limited resources be damned—there was only ever going to be one genuinely practical deterrent.
So, sure, I have to deal with a ton of boring planning. Inconvenient hours. Some pretty awkward face-to-face interactions. And like most of us, I’m really only clocking in to try to crawl out from beneath my debts. But someone’s got to do it.
Luckily, my genetic compatibilities make me really, really good at doing it.
Still. This next job...I don’t know. It’s something I haven’t had to deal with in years. Kind of the opposite of my regular duties. Strange, that it got thrown my way.
I’m sure it’ll all go totally fine though.
Driven by Mason Coile — Sept. 8
Mason Coile is the pen name of Andrew Pyper, who wrote the celebrated science fiction horror novels Exiles and William. Under his own name, he also published works like Lost Girls, The Damned, and The Demonologist. Pyper passed away in January 2025 from cancer complications, and his wife has prepared his last novel, Driven, to be published posthumously.
Driven is a Black Mirror episode in book form, giving readers a glimpse of what can happen if we let artificial intelligence grow faster than humans can keep up, and how supernatural forces might take advantage of that growth. After being haunted by ghosts everywhere he goes, Jamie decides that living in a self-driving car might be the answer to gaining some peace. But Jamie isn't ready for the true cost of giving up control to a machine.
Jamie Newcross wants to disappear. His wife and baby girl have abandoned him, and his only wish is to retreat from society. Because, as it turns out, Jamie Newcross is also being haunted. Every house, condo, or apartment he moves into is plagued with ghosts—at the end of the bed or when pulling back the shower curtain. He hasn’t been able to sleep in weeks.
But Jamie has a plan. He posts queries online and finds someone wanting to get rid of their Lion—the world’s most advanced self-driving car—a sleek, private, contained vessel that is one-hundred percent safe. Or so he thought.
Because now, Jamie has woken up to the Lion speeding down a dark road, the hood is dented—wait, is that blood?—and the car will not respond, or stop, or let him out.
As the miles rack up and Jamie becomes increasingly complicit in his car’s choices, he's forced to face the tragic past he has kept buried. Driven is a taut, near-future fever-dream. Mason Coile delivers another one-sitting read that blends science fiction and psychological horror to explore loneliness, grief, and the things that make us human.
Massif by Garth Nix — Sept. 8
Garth Nix has been writing science fiction and fantasy novels for 25 years, and before that, he worked as a literary agent, editor, and publicist. Massif is Nix's adult science fiction debut, though he has written several YA science fiction books and dozens of adult fantasy novels. The premise for Massif sounds like a Doctor Who episode — "The Beast Below," season 5, episode 2, to be exact. It will be interesting to see similar themes play out with the depth a novel can reach.
Over 200 years ago, humans discovered an alien lifeform and immediately found ways to exploit it for their own gain. Massifs are sentient mountain ranges that soar through space, and humans have been using them to travel to new planets and begin colonies throughout the galaxy. The massifs also transport weapons and supplies for the humans' wars. But humanity will be decimated if they don't learn the true history behind their relationship with the massifs.
Caught me a mountain
Rode it to the stars
It’s business as usual for Ship Leader Parnell Shi-Sawahla and the crew of the corvette Sassafras. Ride a Massif to a new system, fight the enemy, repeat. For more than two hundred years humans have been hitching rides on these sentient, starfaring mountain ranges, colonizing planets and exporting an on and off again war between Earth and Mars.
But the big questions are always there, behind every battle, every new colony, every new star system discovery.
Why do the Massifs carry humans to the stars?
Why do they help us export our wars?
What’s in it for the Massifs?
Ship crews aren’t supposed to ask these questions; they aren’t supposed to think about these questions, and they definitely aren’t supposed to go deep and talk to Massif avatars. But now Parnell and his tight-knit crew must try to find the answers, to save not only themselves but the future of humanity.
Strange is the Light by Sarah Maria Griffin — Sept. 8
Fans of Jumanji and Zathura will appreciate Sarah Maria Griffin's new novel, Strange is the Light. That's because it follows four childhood friends who open a portal to a different dimension while playing an RPG. Just like Jumanji, the friends stopped playing before the game was finished, and now, 20 years later, the adults must face the consequences.
Sarah Maria Griffin is an Irish poet and author, known for her novels Spare and Found Parts and Other Words for Smoke. She likes to take familiar stories, modernize them, and add some new twists. Her book Eat the Ones You Love is a sapphic retelling of Little Shop of Horrors. Strange is the Light will be an enjoyable read for anyone who ever wished to play D&D for real.
Strange Is the Light follows a passionately entangled group of childhood friends, fractured by the betrayals and secrets kept as they grew into adulthood.
Now, after twenty years, Daphne, Ronan, Leonie and Finn will finally have to face the consequences of cutting their last adventure short--having accidentally opened a rift into a dangerous alternate dimension while playing a mysterious RPG version of their childhood game.
Daphne never took her final turn... And there is a debt that must be paid.
Wickhills by Premee Mohamed — Sept. 8
For Premee Mohamed, working in scientific fields allowed her to write engaging and believable speculative fiction. She has degrees in molecular genetics and environmental science, but it is her award-winning stories that have earned her the most recognition. Her other works include Beneath the Rising, And What Can We Offer You Tonight, and The Butcher of the Forest.
Mohamed's newest book, Wickhills, is about an intelligence agent who thinks his latest mission is just to babysit a scientist, but things fall apart and he finds himself on the run. If you're familiar with Five's story in The Umbrella Academy, you will find some similarities to Vycol Ferec. Can he trust his handler, or even the agency itself?
Looking after a defecting scientist should have been Vycol Ferec's easiest mission. But now he's on the run from the intelligence agency he works for, dodging a handler who might have gone rogue and relying on a secret patchwork of illicit resources and dodgy contacts. Turns out his defector might be carrying an apocalypse-level magical weapon — and protecting it requires Ferec and his team to go underground, literally. Down here, the rules are very different... and the tense peace between every city in the world will shatter unless Ferec can drag their darkest secrets into the light.
Dead Beat by Leigh Bardugo (Ninth House #3) — Sept. 15
One of the most anticipated novels of 2026, Dead Beat is the finale to Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House series. In an interview with TODAY, Bardugo said that the ending will be satisfying, even as it leaves readers "shaken." So, for those anxiously awaiting September 15: prepare yourselves, friends, because you're in for a ride.
If you haven't read the first two books of the Ninth House series, make sure to catch up before Dead Beat is released. You won't regret it. Galaxy "Alex" Stern uncovers all sorts of occult secrets hidden within Yale University, and now that the gates to hell have literally opened, she has to stop the demons from flooding the earth. Also, in this book, we get more from Alex's mentor, Darlington's, point of view. Can't wait until the 15th? Check out the first two paragraphs of Dead Beat at the end of Bardugo's TODAY interview!
Hell is empty and all the devils are here…
Alex Stern made it to hell and back more than once, but this time she left the door open behind her. Demons are creeping through the streets of New Haven and the Yale campus, feeding on the souls of the living, terrifying the dead. Alex and her allies can hunt them, but it’s only a matter of time before the gates to the underworld open, and they face a war they cannot win. To stop it, they’ll have to reach deep into the secrets of Yale and its societies, and discover the truth hidden in Alex’s own blood.
While she struggles to hold onto the dream of a future Yale once offered, Alex must contend with the machinations of a corrupt Lethe Board and a deadly vampire with his own connection to the societies. But for the first time in her life, she won’t have to face the fight alone. Dawes, Turner, Mercy, and even Tripp will have a role to play, none more so than Alex’s mentor Darlington, the golden boy who lived so long in her head, now back in the flesh and cursed with dangerous powers of his own. Hell itself is stalking the delegates of Lethe House, and they’re all about to learn that demons don’t play by human rules.
The Faerie Handmaid by Louisa Morgan — Sept. 15
Almost one year to the day since Louisa Morgan's The Faerie Morgana was published, The Faerie Handmaid jumps back into Arthurian legends. This time, we get the story of Braithe, the handmaid to the powerful sorceress Morgana. She comes to learn of her own power after helping Morgana unravel the mystery of King Arthur's curse.
If we didn't know better, we would think Louisa Morgan was a practicing witch herself. Her previous books are A Secret History of Witches, The Age of Witches, The Witch's Kind, and The Great Witch of Brittany. All of her books leave readers enchanted, but now that she's begun blending the magic of Camelot into her repertoire, Morgan feels like she could be a reincarnation of Morgan le Fay.
When Braithe was left as an acolyte on the Isle of Apples, she never dreamed she'd become handmaid to Morgana, the most powerful priestess in all of Camelud, but now she is content to live out her days in service to the Priestess. But when a powerful mage comes to Morgana and Braithe with concerns that the new king of Camelud is being cursed by powerful magic, the two must journey to the White City deep in fae country to investigate.
The magical city is nothing like Braithe imagined, and the fae are cold and callous toward humans and quick to bewitch. Despite the constant threat of danger, Braithe just may be the key to discovering who is cursing the king, but to do so, she will have to step into her own power.
Thoughts Be Bloody by Auden Patrick — Sept. 15
Auden Patrick is a trans-masculine author of several short stories that all deal with gender and what makes us human. He describes himself as a "drama prince," with an obsession for theater. Thoughts Be Bloody is Patrick's debut novel, a queer, dark academia retelling of Hamlet.
The Horatio of Thoughts Be Bloody is a transgender student at the magical university Elsinore. He might have thought his biggest problem was controlling his powers, until he and Carson Hamlett are visited by the ghost of their former professor, and Hamlett's father. Now, Horatio is cursed alongside Hamlett and if they do not avenge the professor's death, they will lose their souls for eternity.
The summer before his sophomore year, Horatio Bithersea walks into the university library to find Carson Hamlett, resident golden boy and master magician, cradling his father’s dead body. Life at Elsinore, one of the most prestigious universities in the secretive magical world, simply goes on when the professor’s death is ruled an accident—despite the mysterious circumstances and the bloody scene.
A year later, Horatio is keeping his head down, attempting to graduate without his out-of-control magic harming his classmates. That changes when the ghost of Hamlett’s father appears and places a curse on Horatio and Hamlett: avenge his death by destroying Elsinore and its heart, lest the ghost robs them of their minds, memories, and their very souls.
Elsinore has given Horatio everything—knowledge of his magical ability, an escape from his abusive family, and freedom to pursue his life as a transgender man—and now he’s to be its doom. As the two uncover more of Elsinore’s secrets, Horatio finds himself becoming more and more ensnared in Hamlett’s dark but charismatic web.
The question is not if Horatio will manage to destroy Elsinore. The question is if Hamlett will destroy him first. This twisty, queer, dark academia is a brand-new take on the questions that haunt Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
The Age of Blood and Magic by Hannah Mathewson — Sept. 15
After writing two YA novels, Witherward and Wayward, Hannah Mathewson decided to try her hand at adult fantasy. The Age of Blood and Magic is her adult debut, and it feels like a Knives Out mystery if Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) was a vampire and magic mixed with the darkest parts of capitalism.
A human corporation found a way to sell magic potions, levelling the playing field with the magical species. But when the CEO dies just before launching an immortality potion, suspicion falls on human and magical enemies alike. Now, the CEO's daughter must work with a mysterious vampire to find the culprit as the death toll begins to climb.
A hundred years ago, magic ran wild—belonging only to the fae, the witches, the vampires. Then the mortal Martin Maddock stole its secret. With it, he forged Mythos, a company that bottles spells for humankind. Now his descendants rule a trillion-dollar empire of magical technology—and the uber rich are hungry for more.
The world’s most powerful elites descend on the Maddock estate for a lavish weekend to unveil Mythos’s latest innovation: an elixir promising immortality itself. But when the CEO suddenly collapses before the product’s unveiling, the celebration turns deadly. His daughter, Valentina Maddock, is thrust into a vicious succession battle against her playboy brother, her brilliant scientist mother, and a ruthless CFO. And with Mythos’s future on the line, everyone at this party has a motive, because anyone might kill for a taste of forever.
Then an unexpected guest arrives: a vampire. Luc Sayle claims he has no ties to Mythos, yet he carries a mysterious invitation from the CEO himself. Drawn to the enigmatic and dangerously handsome stranger, Valentina senses Luc may be her only ally. But as suspicion mounts and bodies begin to fall, Valentina will have to decide who to trust in a mansion built on illusion—and who the true monster at this party really is.
Bodies of Magic by Freya Marske — Sept. 15
Freya Marske is best known for her queer romantasies like The Last Binding trilogy, Swordcrossed, and Cinder House. Her newest novel, Bodies of Magic, is less a magical romance than a magical murder mystery. There are still queer relationships, but they're the B plot compared to the secrets and suspense.
The Academie of the Grand Duchy of Sieuxerr is a magical medical school for healing mages. After five years of study, these mages must pass a final exam or lose the chance to practice healing at all. A group of students have their exam derailed, however, when a classmate winds up dead. Now, everyone in this group is a suspect. Group projects are always terrible, but having your grade and your future hingeing on a murderer would be far from ideal.
At the Academie of the Grand Duchy of Sieuxerr, every mage with the healer’s gift has five years to master their power and to prepare for the infamous Grand Exam—a five-day trial whose results will determine their entire future.
The list of exam rules includes:
• You will perform five practical cases.
• Your exam group is chosen at random.
• You pass together, or fail together.
It does not include:
• On the first day, your exam group will find a classmate's dead body in the exam hall.
And as they will soon discover, this particular group all have something to hide... and all have a connection with the dead girl, a brilliant scholar who would have been first in their class.
Five scholars. Five secrets. Five days in which to solve a murder, pass the most important exam of their lives, and uncover a secret larger than all of their own combined. One with the potential to change the world.
Are you ready?
Let’s begin.
The Gates of Midnight by Helene Wecker (The Golem and the Jinni #3) — Sept. 15
A subgenre gaining a lot of popularity recently is historical fantasy, and Helene Wecker does a marvelous job blending Jewish and Arab mythologies with the real-life history of immigrants in turn-of-the-century New York. The Golem and the Jinni series shows the intersectionality between culture, beliefs, and identity that all immigrants go through, while adding in magical elements.
It's been 30 years since the events of the first book, and while Chava still lives in Brooklyn, Ahmad has moved to Chicago. But after the stock market collapse in 1929, Ahmad returns to New York, along with other characters linked to the jinni and the golem. The evil rabbi-turned-sorcerer who created Chava has also found a way to come back, and it will take everything Chava and Ahmad have to stop him permanently.
At the beginning of The Hidden Palace, the second book in Helene Wecker’s Golem and Jinni trilogy, Ahmad the jinni travels to Syria with the copper flask that holds the captured wizard Yehudah Schaalman. There in the desert, he buries the flask for all time… or so he thinks.
In The Gates of Midnight, the riveting conclusion to the saga of the Golem and the Jinni, it’s 1930 and three decades have passed since Schaalman’s defeat. Chava the golem quietly tends to her house and garden in Brooklyn, hoping to create a refuge for other magical beings. Meanwhile, Ahmad has found employment as an architect in Chicago, helping to build its towering skyline above the prairie.
But all is not well in the desert. Schaalman has managed to trick an unsuspecting passerby into digging up the flask, and now it passes from hand to hand as the wizard possesses his victims -- first a French soldier traveling to New York, then a small-time mobster -- all in an effort to get to Chava, the only one who can release him from his prison.
Meanwhile, others are gravitating to New York as well: Ahmad, who has lost his job following the 1929 stock market crash; the mysterious Thomas Beshara, a riveter on the rising Empire State Building, who also has hidden ties to Chava and Ahmad; and Kreindel Altschul, who still grieves her own destroyed golem Yossele. Does the reluctant Kreindel hold the key to saving Chava from Schaalman’s revenge? Will Schaalman succeed in escaping the flask, binding Chava to his will, and re-enslaving Ahmad? Or can they find a way to finally defeat him and free themselves from his power? An earth-shaking finale to the brilliant trilogy.
Bright and Broken Things by Ryan Graudin — Sept. 22
Ryan Graudin is another talented author writing historical fantasy. From a wolf-shifter trying to kill Hitler to a woman dying of tuberculosis making a deal with a devil in 1900s Paris, Graudin doesn't limit her fantasy to any one time period. Bright and Broken Things is set in the 1920s and gives a mystical reason for why people were obsessed with all things Egypt at that time.
Ezra Bright is a British Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby, but with magic powers in addition to the war trauma and keen observations of the wealthy class. It's his magic that the socialites of London want, in order to obtain some of the most powerful relics of Ancient Egypt. The glamorous parties are a facade that hides something dark and sinister, and it needs Ezra's powers.
Ezra Bright has returned to London after serving in World War I, but like many surviving soldiers, he's haunted--by the horrors of the front lines, the loss of his adoptive brother, and the strange magic flickering at the edge of his vision. Desperate to outrun his past, Ezra falls into a dazzling new world of socialites known for their elaborate costume parties and sprawling scavenger hunts.
But these Bright Young Things are hungry. And none more than Celia, a disgraced heiress, who warns Ezra that these parties are only a glittering façade for a secret society of magicians. For centuries, the Order, at the behest of its mysterious leader, has plundered magical relics. Their ultimate prize lies buried in Egypt, and unlocking it requires ancient magic--one Celia believes Ezra alone possesses.
When a note in his room is mistaken for the opening clue of a scavenger hunt, Ezra and his friends are launched into a high-stakes race across Egypt. As secrets are unearthed and the dead refuse to stay buried, Ezra must confront the truth of his heritage--and the full cost of his power--before the Order claims it first.
The Henchperson's Guide to Unionizing by Marshall J. Moore — Sept. 22
Looking for fantasy with a sense of humor? Marshall J. Moore's The Henchperson's Guide to Unionizing is a hilarious look at the life of a sidekick to a classic horror villain. Igor, the assistant to a mad scientist, joins a vampire's bride and a witch's familiar to stop their masters from destroying the world. All in a day's work, right?
Moore has also written cozy pirate fantasy series, Son of a Sailor, and the high fantasy series, Rites of Resurrection. The absurd comedy found in The Henchperson's Guide to Unionizing is a big part of Moore's writing style, as seen in his children's book Postcards from a Lake Monster, about a young monster who is diagnosed with autism. His works show both humor and heart.
As the laboratory assistant to the brilliant but demanding Doctor, Igor spends his nights robbing graves, stitching together body parts, and ensuring that his master doesn’t electrocute himself (too badly).
When a mob of peasants wielding torches and pitchforks drives them out of town (again), Igor and the Doctor relocate to the isolated Ravenwald Manor to resume their experiments creating new life from dead flesh. But Igor and the Doctor are not the only ones seeking refuge within the walls of Ravenwald. The manor is already home to a vampiric Count and his highly dissatisfied bride, Cornelia—and an enigmatic witch and her feline familiar, Grimalkin, intend to use it as the site of a magical ritual.
At Igor’s suggestion, the three pairs come to an uneasy agreement to cohabitate in Ravenwald, lest they attract the suspicion of the nearby village. In the wake of this truce, Igor, Cornelia, and Grimalkin soon begin to realize that they might have more in common with one another than their respective masters. When the trio discovers that they've been unwitting participants in a horrible plan to destroy the world as they know it, they must work together to stop their masters from bringing on armageddon . . . and stop the increasingly suspicious villagers from reaching for their pitchforks and torches.
Igor, Grim, and Cornelia must unite to cast off the chains of their masters and embrace life on their own terms in the hilarious, heartwarming, and just-scary-enough The Henchperson's Guide to Unionizing.
Blood Drunk by Ben Shepherd — Sept. 29
Ben Shepherd spent 20 years as a diplomat and policy analyst while dreaming up a fantasy crime novel. Now, he's finally ready to make his publishing debut with Blood Drunk. After all the time he spent trying to stop organized crime, Shepherd is giving readers the point of view of an aspiring crime boss who learns that monsters are real.
The crime syndicates of London have always worked in the shadows, but Freddie Burns never realized what else was lurking in that same darkness. A vampire-run crime organization has been working to take over everything, and Freddie suddenly finds himself playing the part of the hero who must save the world. He's not a hero, but he'll do what he can to get back to life as usual.
Freddie Burns just wants ten pints, a spot of football violence, and to take over his uncle's fading South London crime business. But when a gangland execution goes wrong, Freddie discovers a new kind of organized crime—one where vampires are spine-breakingly real, and monsters hide just out of sight.
Good thing Freddie has a supernatural gift for giving vampires a kicking—them and anyone else that looks at him funny.
Dragged into a world of shadowy organizations, secret sorcerous pacts, gruesome vampire initiations, and a plot to rule it all, Freddie realizes it's up to him to save the world—or at least not wreck it entirely. He just needs a drink first.
The Only Way Out is Up by Django Wexler — Sept. 29
Django Wexler is the author of several fantasy and sci-fi series, including Wells of Sorcery, Dark Lord Davi, and Burningblade & Silvereye. The Only Way Out is Up is the first book in Wexler's newest series, Sigilist. No official word yet on how many books will be in this series, but it's likely to be a trilogy like Wells of Sorcery and Burningblade.
The Only Way Out is Up is the story of Taj, a scrap collector who built his own robot, or construct. His dream is to win in the construct fighting arena, which would get him out of the junkyard and give his family a better life. But when the chance comes, Taj realizes he's in way over his head.
Taj lives in a junkheap, scavenging scrap to keep his family fed and dodging the monsters who live among the wreckage. His only edge is a smart-ass construct named Star he built himself.
Taj dreams of winning big with Star in the construct fighting circuits, but victory always seems just beyond his reach, and the debt collectors are at the door.
His world changes forever when someone there makes him an offer that seems too good to be true: a chance to fight in the Ascent, the ultimate fighting tournament, for a prize beyond his wildest fantasies. But things that seem too good to be true usually are, and Taj finds his new benefactor comes with plenty of new enemies.
As he ventures beyond the only world he's ever known, he discovers it's not just his money on the line in the Ascent—it's his life. When you start at the very bottom, the only way out is up ...
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