With June comes summer in full force. Longer days and more sunshine are tempting to get out and have fun, but higher temperatures can leave many retreating into their cool homes. Whether you're out on the beach or staying indoors, a good book can make the lazy days of summer much more enjoyable.
This June brings quite a few debut science fiction and fantasy novels, with authors who worked in other writing and creative fields trying their hands at the supernatural and arcane. If you're looking for a new author to support, this list gives a pretty good variety.
There are also a few novels releasing this month from well-known authors and the continuation of stories we've been impatiently waiting for. Whatever you're in the mood for this summer, these science fiction and fantasy books are set to become your new favorites.
The Children by Melissa Albert — June 2
From Melissa Albert, author of The Hazel Wood series and Our Crooked Hearts, comes a new exploration of the boundaries between fantasy, gothic horror, and mystery. The Children may seem like literary fiction at first glance, with the main character coming to terms with the fame thrust upon her by her mother. But then the lines between reality and the fantasy series her mother wrote begin to blur.
In The Children, Albert sticks with a common theme in her other books: the complicated relationship between a mother and daughter. This time, however, an extra layer is added because Guinevere can only confront the ghostly memory of her mother. This fantasy deals with time distorting memories and the times when truth is stranger than the fictitious account of a child's life.
Guinevere Sharpe has two childhoods.
In one, she lives in the wooded shadow of her family's isolated Vermont farmhouse; in the other, the pages of her mother’s world-famous Ninth City books, where her magical adventures have made her a household name. In reality, Guinevere's childhood isn't the enchanted idyll her mother’s readers imagine: she and her older brother are growing up near-feral, unwashed and underfed, escaping each day to the lichen-clotted woods they’ve made their playland. As Edith Sharpe’s books explode into epic popularity, the threats of a rural childhood give way to the escalating perils of fame—until the night it all goes up in flames, leaving Edith’s series unfinished and her children the sole survivors.
Now an adult coasting on her mother's name, Guinevere is mid-promotion for a ghostwritten memoir when her estranged brother, an artist who has until now spurned his family's legacy, announces an upcoming installation titled Mother. As rumors swirl around a death connected to his last show, unsettling recollections from Guinevere’s childhood begin to surface. Her public facade starts to crack, forcing her to confront the questions she's spent the last twenty years running from: What really happened the night of the fire? And what dark history lies behind their mother’s creative genius?
Wise to the mythic weight childhood memories gather over time, The Children whispers to you from the hallway outside your bedroom, lights flickering as you turn the pages of a book that didn't seem so scary a moment ago. It's a story for anyone who's ever revisited an old favorite and found it cast in a darker light, the line separating magic and memory blurring as the gap widens between the authors we imagined and the people they turn out to be.
The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden — June 2
Katherine Arden uses her love of languages and linguistics to blend historical fiction and fantasy. She studied Russian and French at university, and her previous series, The Winternight Trilogy, is set in Russia. Now, she's set her next story, The Unicorn Hunters, in late Medieval France.
Arden weaves magic and Arthurian legend into the tale of the real Anne of Brittany and her fight to keep Brittany independent from France. History lovers will be interested to see how fantasy plays a part in Anne's evasion of King Charles and her connection to Maximilian I of Austria.
Anne of Brittany was a child when France invaded and drove her royal father to his death. Now she is a young woman, sovereign duchess of an occupied realm, and France means to crown their conquest by marrying her to their king. Such an alliance would put her title, her lands, and her body forever in the hands of her enemies.
But Anne refuses to be the last duchess of Brittany.
Her only hope of resisting conquest is another alliance sealed with marriage, so Anne arranges a daring last gambit: a secret betrothal to Charles of France’s greatest rival. But secrets are hard to keep in a world where rival courts spy on each other with diviners.
The forest of Brocéliande was once the haunt of Merlin the Enchanter and the long-lost faerie queen. But magic is long gone from Broceliande, except for the occasional sight of a unicorn and one critical quirk: This ancient forest is completely hostile to divination.
While pretending compliance with France, Anne plans a unicorn hunt in Brocéliande. A bit of pointless pageantry. A diversion so she can wed in secret.
Or so she thinks.
Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim — June 2
After writing several award-winning science fiction short stories, Isabel J. Kim is debuting her first novel, Sublimation, in June. The plot is actually an expansion of her short story, "Homecoming Is Just Another Word for the Sublimation of the Self," which first appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine in March 2021.
Sublimation is an exploration of identity within the immigrant story, with a sci-fi horror twist. It sounds almost like Single White Female, but if instead of roommates, it was two copies of the same person. Doesn't the copy who never immigrates deserve the same rights and choices as the one who did? Which of them is the more authentic identity: the one who left their culture or the one who stayed?
The border cuts you in two.
When you immigrate, you leave a copy of yourself behind, an instance. One person enters their new country; the other stays trapped at home.
Some instances keep in touch, call each other daily, keep their lives and minds in sync in the hopes of reintegrating and resuming a life as one person. Others, like Soyoung Rose Kang, leave home at ten years old and never speak to their other selves again. Rose, in America, never imagined going back to Korea until her grandfather died and her Korean instance called her home for the funeral.
She doesn’t know that Soyoung plans to steal her body and her life.
How far would you go to live the choice you didn’t make?
The Traveler by Joseph Eckert — June 9
If you love time travel stories and the emotional wreckage that comes with them, like The Time Traveler's Wife and Interstellar, then you'll want to check out Joseph Eckert's The Traveler. This debut novel is largely about the relationship between father and son, but also how that relationship waxes and wanes due to the father's slipping through time.
Eckert already has a deal with Paramount to make The Traveler into a film, as the script, written by Austin Everett, has been circulating in Hollywood since 2019. Why the book has taken this long isn't certain, but it is true that if you end up loving the book, you (hopefully) won't have to wait too long for the film adaptation.
It’s a day like any other when Scott Treder first jumps forward through time. One moment, he’s on his way to work, fingers drumming the steering wheel. The next, he’s tumbling headlong down the road, his car gone, a dozen panicked voicemails from his wife waiting on his cell.
7:51am. Monday, April 13th.
A blink of an eye.
7:52am. Tuesday, April 14th.
An entire 24 hours, gone.
This one moment—this first spontaneous slip—marks a change in the course not only of Scott’s future, but that of the world. From this point on, at precisely 7:52 am every morning, Scott inexplicably travels forward in time in ever-doubling intervals. First, one day lost in a blink, then two, then four, until weeks, even years, are passing him by in an instant.
Meanwhile, his wife is left alone to pick up the pieces of the life they once shared together, and, before long, Lyle, Scott’s genius seven-year-old son, will surpass him in age.
Because while his dad is rocketing forward in time, Lyle is growing up–graduating early, studying at Berkeley, becoming the foremost scholar of quantum physics, all in an attempt to bring his father back…
This Immortal Heart by Jennifer Saint — June 9
Jennifer Saint is back with another Greek myth told like never before in This Immortal Heart. Saint's previous novels include Ariadne, Hera, Elektra, and Atalanta, with Aphrodite's tale now being added to the list of often-overlooked women in Greek mythology.
Though Aphrodite is often portrayed as vain and flighty, This Immortal Heart delves into what it means to be the Goddess of Love. It is a romantasy, with the passionate love affair between Aphrodite and Ares, God of War, being told throughout the centuries. But it also looks at Aphrodite in a more holistic way, and softens the sharper, darker aspects of the myths she is part of.
From the moment Aphrodite emerges fully formed from the sea, she is devastatingly beautiful and imbued with ancient power. Driven by passion yet strategic in how she moves through the halls of Olympus and the earthly realm alike, the free-willed goddess wields unparalleled influence over every living being.
When fate brings her face to face with Ares, she bristles at this surly, hot-tempered warrior who’s seemingly her opposite: disliked by everyone and devoted to stirring up conflict. Yet these gods are no more immune to the dizzying highs and lows of love and loss than anyone else, and soon, they are irresistibly drawn to one another.
As their love affair spans mortal lifetimes, Aphrodite begins to question the gods’ games and her role in them. But there’s only so much room for fire and passion in Zeus’s kingdom. Before long, she must test her devotion to her own divine purpose—and to a love that can only lead to ruin.
Inkpot Gods by Seanan McGuire (Alchemical Journeys #4) — June 9
Inkpot Gods is the fourth book in the Alchemical Journeys series by Seanan McGuire. Each book in the series can be read as a standalone, but Inkpot Gods definitely ties together characters and plot lines from the previous novels. There is a sense that with this book, the series, which is planned to end with a fifth novel, is reaching its climax.
The story of Inkpot Gods follows a budding, young alchemist named Lilianne. She looks up to the famous Asphodel Baker, and longs to meet the descendants of her creations. But, you know what they say: "Never meet your heroes." Or, at least, learn the truth behind your heroes. Because Lilianne finds the darkness hidden underneath the shiny exterior and must decide whether to continue or dismantle the work of their world's greatest alchemist.
The gods live and die at our whim.
More than a century has passed since Asphodel Baker refined the process, allowing her to imbue alchemically created life with power in a way no one else had ever been able to achieve. More than a century since she built the Impossible City on the ruins of Olympus, forging it from nothing more than imagination and spite, and penned it in plain view, enabling it to be read and cherished and believed by children the world over.
And now, so long after her exit from the world, the descendants of her dark alchemy—who exist in a reality that inches ever closer to the hellscape of her imagination—step into a place of birth, of discovery, of horror, to make amends for the sins of the past.
Can the gods of today defeat the evils of their maker, or will the legacy of the most powerful alchemist the world has ever known prove to be their undoing?
The Reimagining of Thornwood House by Jaleigh Johnson — June 9
Looking for a cozy fantasy with Studio Ghibli vibes this summer? Then you'll need to add Jaleigh Johnson's The Reimagining of Thornwood House to your reading list. It tells the story of a witch and her daughter becoming caretakers of a sentient house. If that doesn't remind you of Howl's Moving Castle, then you probably need to brush up on that film and/or book. But not before you check out this book!
Johnson has written fantasy and fiction for children, young adults, and adults, and her middle-grade book, The Mark of the Dragonfly, was a New York Times bestseller. She's also known in the fandom community for her books written in the Dungeons & Dragons, Assassin's Creed, and Marvel universes. The Reimagining of Thornwood House is her first cozy fantasy book, but she knows her way around magical worlds.
Evelyn Sharpe is accustomed to dealing with natural disasters as a land witch, but she longs for a life with a little less danger for her and her adopted daughter, Ruby. So when the opportunity to take over as Caretaker of Thornwood House—a sentient home that acts as the magical heart of the village of Iskendra—arises, it seems almost fated.
When they arrive in sunny Iskendra, Evie and Ruby find the house is nothing like what they expected: First of all, it has walked away from the address. Thornwood House is also grumpy, guarded, and extremely hesitant to allow the two witches through its doors.
Armed with gentle hearts and wild magic, Evie and Ruby begin to form tentative bonds with the house and the citizens of the small town. But there’s something deeply damaged about the building seeping into the forests surrounding Iskendra, and Evie will have to use all her power to protect the roots she’s started to grow.
Songs of the Dead by Brandon Sanderson and Peter Orullian — June 16
If you aren't familiar with Peter Orullian's work, his epic fantasies are worth looking into. Hopefully, this collab with Brandon Sanderson, who needs no introduction on this site, will showcase Orullian's talents in writing and music to more fans. Just knowing that Sanderson wanted to work with Orullian on this series tells fans that his books are worth your time.
Songs of the Dead is the first book in The Strata Wars series, which Sanderson and Orullian have planned as a trilogy. It takes Orullian's experience as a musician to weave a story about how music can be used to create magic, but only in the world of the dead. The spirits of London are angry with the living, and now they have the power to do something about it.
When Jack Solomon, a struggling musician who works in London’s West End, is killed, he awakens to a new reality in which light and music are used to create magic and where living eras of the past sprawl beneath modern London, layer upon layer, all the way back to recorded history.
Jack also soon discovers that many of those who reside in the stratums of London’s past have grown angry with the present world, and that their anger is being channeled by a powerful society of light-and-music-based magic wielders who can cross the realms between life and death, between the present and the past. A past where the dead are sowing revolution against the living, and all of history is at stake.
Welcome to the Strata Wars.
“Kill All Wizards” by Jedediah Berry — June 16
“Kill All Wizards” is a fantasy novella that comes with lots of hilarity. A barbarian seeking revenge against the wizards who used him has to try and blend in with polite society to get close to them. Even trying to exact vengeance is an arduous ordeal when you have to attend tea parties and salons, but this barbarian will endure even the frilliest of sleeves if it means taking back his power.
Jedediah Berry wrote “Kill All Wizards” as the first in The Barbaric Ledgers series, and while it's a quick read, that is due more to the entertainment value than the page numbers. Berry's other works include The Naming Song and The Manual of Detection. He has also co-written for The Wildendrem tabletop game, the first volume being The Valley of Flowers.
SWORDS, SORCERY, AND A SPOT OF TEA
We could think of nothing but the barbarian. He had come here, surely, to murder or marry someone, to exact revenge, or to say or do something very scandalous. We could hardly wait to see which it was. We hoped it would be all of them.
The barbarian traveled far to consult the wizards of the empire. Instead of lending their aid, they ensorcelled him, exploited his strength, and stole his sword. They should not have done that.
Now the barbarian plans to kill every wizard who wronged him, even if that means blending in with their vile society: dressing in finery, taking tea in exclusive clubs, and reserving the best box at the theater.
Oh, he hates it all with the fiery passion of his savage heart—but not as much as he hates these wizards.
Six Savage Thrones by Holly Race (Queens of Elben #2) — June 16
The Queens of Elben series by Holly Race, a fantasy retelling of the six wives of Henry VIII, continues with Six Savage Thrones. Where the first book, Six Wild Crowns, focused on queens Boleyn and Seymour, Six Savage Thrones adds Queen Howard and Queen Cleves to the story. This series is a mixture of the feminism and sexuality of SIX, the Broadway musical, and the political intrigue and ancient magic of Game of Thrones.
Six Savage Thrones, along with the first and third books that will make up the Queens of Elben trilogy, is Holly Race's adult debut, though she has also penned a YA trilogy, The Midnight Twins.
The kingdom of Elben is in turmoil. One of its magical palaces lies in ruins at the bottom of the ocean, and the king is on the hunt for the traitor Queen Seymour. He will not stop until he brings her to her knees.
No one would ever suspect Queen Howard of treachery or spy craft, but she is no longer content to be the king's songbird. She will see to Henry's downfall. But there is a new gentleman at court, one who seems to know more about her true motives than he should - is he friend or foe?
Queen Cleves has already survived a war. She knows what she must do to protect herself, but now she finds herself fighting a longing for another queen that is so fierce it might swallow her up.
Amidst the turmoil, King Henry's sister Cecilia vies for the power she has been denied. But the queens will soon learn they must work together to break the bonds that tie them to the king. For Henry is delving deeper into strange old magics, ones that could birth a monster.
Voyagers by Meg Charlton — June 16
Another debut author on this list, Meg Charlton has written for Slate, Vice, and The Yale Review. Her essays also appeared in the anthology, Letter to a Stranger: Essays to the Ones Who Haunt Us. She has an MFA in writing and is an instructor with Sackett Street Writers. This may be her first book, but Charlton is far from inexperienced.
Voyagers is a literary science fiction novel about two friends who were abducted by aliens as children. One fully embraced the experience and created support and advocacy groups for people with alien encounters, while the other tried all he could to repress the memories and live a "normal" life. But when it looks like the end of the world is near because of extraterrestrial unknowns, the friends reunite and try to rebuild their bond.
When the Signal—a mysterious transmission pulsing from the edge of the solar system— arrives, the world changes overnight. Planes are grounded, satellites fail, and speculation abounds. With many believing this could be first contact with extraterrestrial life, humanity holds its breath. But for Alex, a thirty-something lawyer who’s spent years distancing himself from the unexplainable, the Signal feels deeply personal—the opening of an old wound.
Decades ago, Alex and a girl named Ana both vanished for thirty-six hours while on vacation near Palm Springs. When they returned, dazed but unharmed, the six-year-olds’ account of their experience had all the hallmarks of an alien abduction. The media frenzy that followed made them famous, and the long months of child stardom, of talk shows and sitcom cameos, forged a seemingly unbreakable bond between them—until the mystery behind their disappearance began to tear them apart.
Now, with the world on edge and the Signal growing stronger, Alex is drawn back to the one person who might have answers. Ana—now a professional advocate for experiencers of extraterrestrial contact—is leading a retreat near Palm Springs, a stone’s throw from the site of their childhood disappearance. As the former best friends tentatively reunite, what starts as a quest to confront the reality of their original experience becomes a larger reckoning with friendship, faith, family, and truth itself—what it means to see the stories we tell ourselves for what they really are.
With the imaginative scope and propulsive storytelling of Station Eleven and The Ministry of Time, Voyagers is a thrillingly original and brilliantly ambitious literary debut about friendship at the end of the world.
Retro by Jessica M. Goldstein — June 23
Jessica M. Goldstein is another journalist who has stepped into the realms of fiction. She has previously written for publications like The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vulture, and Marie Clare, discussing entertainment and pop culture. She is now debuting as an author with her science fiction book Retro.
Retro is a futuristic time travel story, where travel agents take clients on vacations throughout history. It may sound like a pretty sweet job at first, that is, until the time travel agents find their personal histories and memories warping. These might not be the dream vacations they've been made out to be, and all of time could be at stake.
When Ash spots an ad for Retro during a depressing Instagram scroll—she’s in debt and unemployed; everyone else is, evidently, thriving—she’s surprised the algorithm sent it her way. She’s heard of recreational time travel, but it’s way out of her budget. Then she sees the caption: Come away with us! We’re hiring.
So begins Ash’s life as a Time Travel Agent, leading wealthy tourists on vacations to historical hotspots. She takes bachelorette parties to live out their cowboy-romance fantasies in the Old West; she chaperones “’20s for your twenties” birthday excursions to speakeasies; she smiles politely as rich Wall Street guys give prospecting a shot during the Gold Rush. It’s all thrilling, outrageous, and totally surreal. Bygone America is just a Retro Metro ride away.
Despite Ash’s tendency toward cynicism, she finds herself swept up in her dazzling new job. Sure, Ash isn’t the actress she’d always dreamed she’d be. But isn’t this so much better? It’s like Ash’s life is a movie, complete with an impossible love triangle. How is she supposed to choose between her mysterious office crush and the handsome private eye pursuing her in 1937?
For the first time in years, Ash’s life feels enviable—so she’d really rather not pay attention to the strange things happening to her memory and relationships outside Retro. But as her trips threaten to unravel her real life, she confronts an unsettling truth: Escaping into the past was never really an escape at all.
The Sixth Nik by Daniel Kraus — June 23
The Sixth Nik is Daniel Kraus's first science fiction novel, but he already has an incredible reputation as a fantasy horror author and writer for TV and film. Kraus worked with Guillermo del Toro on the novel and film adaptation of The Shape of Water. He also co-wrote The Living Dead and Pay the Piper with filmmaker George A. Romero, of the Living Dead films fame.
Given Kraus's reputation for horror, you can expect The Sixth Nik to reach into the darkest corners of science fiction. An interesting group of misfits makes up the crew of The Sickness, an intelligent spaceship made of biological materials. The main character is a nine-year-old who has been enhanced with technology, and her mission is to save a planet dying of a plague.
Kraus said the idea for the novel came from the 1962 film, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, though the story no longer resembles the film at all.
Deep into space, far past the triworld outposts, beyond range of the lethal trollbot internet, soars The Sickness: a ship woven from biomatter and capable of reacting to every need of its human crew. Sisilla, a nine-year-old cultist with a brain enhanced by arcane tech known as “niks,” has boarded to investigate the enigma of Fém—a plague-riddled planet that has abruptly gone rogue.
The mysterious crew includes a faceless assassin, a beautiful engineer jigsawed by plastic surgery, a peyote-addicted medic, and—most lethal of all—a rugged, NonModded captain with a score to settle with Sisilla. Other dangers abound. A hacked robot begins to believe Sisilla is its daughter. The Sickness itself is mutating, possibly even pregnant. And the secret of Fém is more horrific than anyone could have imagined. To survive, Sisilla will need to forsake her predetermined fate and embrace the unknown.
Green City Wars by Adrian Tchaikovsky — June 23
What if Rocket Raccoon was a private investigator in a film noir? Then you would have Adrian Tchaikovsky's standalone novel, Green City Wars. Talking animals might sound like children's literature, but this book is written for adults, and the animals have been genetically modified to act as servants for humans.
Tchaikovsky is a seasoned author of both fantasy and science fiction, with series like The Children of Time, Final Architects, The Tyrant Philosophers, and Echoes of the Fall in his repertoire. He also has several standalone novels and novellas, such as “Saturation Point,” which is getting a film adaptation. Tchaikovsky has also recently released his first graphic novel, Salvation's Child.
In the solar cities of the future, the humans relax in the sun and the animals work in the shadows. Genetically engineered Little Helpers, serving humanity—unseen, unheard.
Meet Skotch. Raccoon, PI—yours for a few buttons as long as the job isn't too illegal, whatever that means.
A mouse has gone missing. Normally, this wouldn't raise any hackles, nor any alarms, but this mouse has something that everyone seems to want, though nobody appears particularly eager to say what that something is.
The fee is good—perhaps too good. Certainly not something Skotch can easily turn down.
If only Skotch can work out where the mouse is hiding, what he’s hiding, and why his secrets are upsetting a lot of animals caught up in the Green City wars.
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay — June 30
Paul Tremblay loves mixing horror and dark humor with his fantasy and science fiction, and Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep is no different. With this novel, however, Tremblay gives us a glimpse into the future of AI when it's implanted into human beings. If you loved Netflix's Black Mirror, this book will hook you and haunt you in all the right ways.
Tremblay's other works include Horror Movie, Survivor Song, and Disappearance at Devil's Rock. His novel The Cabin At the End of the World was adapted into the film, Knock at the Cabin. Another of his novels, A Head Full of Ghosts, made the list of books that scared Stephen King. If you haven't read any of Tremblay's work, now is the time to start!
Meet Julia Flang, a twenty-something former semi-professional gamer, living with her retired uncle, and working two jobs she doesn’t like. Out of the blue, her estranged mother, a CFO for one of the world’s largest tech companies, offers her a temp job with a payday Julia can’t refuse. One sham interview later, she’s offered the job: to chaperone a man in a vegetative state—one with proprietary AI implanted in his head—from California to the East Coast.
To sum up in Julia’s own words: “You want me to remote control this dead dude across the country.” In a word, yes. But he’s not dead dead.
Meet a middle-aged man who wakes within a disorienting hellscape filled with monstrous grotesqueries. Worse than the fluid, morphing reality in which he’s trapped, he has no memory of who he is. He certainly doesn’t remember getting the rabbit tattoo on his arm. He only knows that he must find a certain person. Who? He can’t remember.
Using a cell phone modeled after a video game controller, Julia fumblingly navigates the man she calls “Bernie” from the company campus and onto planes and through one of the largest airports in America. All the while, the man endures an ever-changing and worsening nightmare that offers clues as to who he was—and who he must track down. And as their two lives intertwine, Julia and Bernie become unlikely allies and fugitives on a collision course with reality.
Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep is a heady, horrific genre-bender from one of the most groundbreaking voices in fiction today.
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