A brilliant addition to the growing genre of trans horror, Byron’s debut is narrated by an unnamed trans woman struggling to make it as a writer in New York City. Her emotional demons stem from a stint in conversion therapy and a soul-sucking retail job, but she’s also matter-of-factly pursued by literal demons from the very first page. Meanwhile, her ex-girlfriend turned best friend, Ash, has started an all-trans-woman commune called Herculine in Indiana and is constantly trying to entice the narrator to join her there. But when the narrator tries to escape the monsters by leaving the city for Herculine, her demons give chase in increasingly frightening and unexpected ways. The result is a piercing portrait of trans community and solidarity. The author brings enough humor to the proceedings to prevent the horror from becoming too all-consuming while keeping the pages flying with a thrilling plot and a moving examination of loneliness, desire, and hope in the wake of trauma. Byron proves an exciting new voice in horror fiction. Agent: Julia Masnik, Watkins Loomis Agency. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 08/15/2025 | Details & Permalink

Daly’s strong debut uses a classic haunted house story to probe themes of chronic illness, religious trauma, and queer desire. Brigid, a young woman suffering from debilitating and undiagnosed chronic pain, sets about cleaning out her family home following the mysterious disappearance of her estranged mother. Brigid’s memories of her mother’s abuse, coupled with the resurfacing of childhood fears, cause reality to blur as a series of inexplicable and possibly supernatural events occurs within the house. Brigid is plagued by nightmares, a crow follows her around, and everyday objects are replaced by severed body parts. As the haunting ramps up, so does Brigid’s resolve to face her ghosts head on, exorcise her demons, confess her feelings to the woman she loves, and claim control over her own life. Daly’s description of female pain and how it is treated (or ignored) by doctors is unflinching and refreshing. Though the pacing feels a little wobbly at times, with a slow setup and a somewhat rushed conclusion as Daly attempts to juggle myriad themes, the ghostly imagery of the haunting is wonderfully eerie, complete with several effective jump scares. It’s a memorable first outing. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 08/08/2025 | Details & Permalink

The deeply moving sophomore novel from de la Chevotière (We Were Not Kings) is a magical realist coming-of-age story chronicling a young man’s life in the West Indies. The lush island of Guadeloupe is the only home six-year-old Fidel Rossi has ever known. But when tragedy strikes and Fidel is orphaned, he moves to his mother’s homeland of Dominica. As Fidel is shuffled between extended family members, he learns more about his heritage and family secrets come to light. Sent to Catholic school, he must reconcile his teachers’ lessons with his family’s spiritual practice of Obeah and his own burgeoning ability to see and speak to spirits. After a brief stint in Canada for college, Fidel returns to Dominica and settles into life as a farmer. Following the collapse of the banana industry in the 1990s, an opportunity arises for Fidel to live in Canada with his childhood love, but he struggles with the thought of leaving home forever. De la Chevotière’s fluid and atmospheric writing easily draws readers into both the lush setting of Dominica and Fidel’s inner world. Themes of identity, colonialism, and racism bolster the sprawling plot, and though the magical elements are light, they fascinate. This is sure to impress. Agent: Lane Clarke, Ultra Literary. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 08/08/2025 | Details & Permalink

World Fantasy Award winner Suri (The Jasmine Throne) weaves a haunting tale of sapphic love and cyclical fate in an alternate Britain sustained by stories that play out again and again via reincarnation. In this folklore-rich realm, incarnates are born to fulfill specific tales, none more tragic than the Knight and the Witch, doomed lovers who fall for and die for each other across countless lifetimes. When the latest incarnations, Vina, a knight of the Queen’s court, and Simran, a forest witch, begin their fated romance, they’re determined to break the cycle and find a happy ending—especially as a mysterious assassin begins killing other incarnates, threatening the Isle’s very existence. Suri crafts a rich, atmospheric world steeped in faerie bargains and medieval folklore and uses her magic system to explore themes of colonial erasure and who gets to control their own narrative. Though the romance feels less developed than the intricate worldbuilding and the book’s ambitious scope might have benefited from being split into a duology, Suri’s gorgeous prose and inventive premise create an immersive experience. Readers craving sapphic fantasy with folkloric elements will find this hits the spot. Agent: Laura Crockett, Triada US. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 08/08/2025 | Details & Permalink

Bestseller Hill (The Fireman) masterfully sustains tension throughout this immersive doorstopper of a horror novel. On one of college student Arthur Oakes’s visits to his mother, Erin, in the Vermont prison where she is incarcerated, he recognizes Tana Nighswander, a pizza delivery person and campus drug dealer, in the waiting room. Tana and her older sister, Jayne, are also there visiting family, but Tana is denied admittance for wearing inappropriate clothing. Arthur offers her his hoodie—but that good deed is punished severely when Jayne threatens to have her prison associates blind Erin unless Arthur steals valuable books from his college library that she’ll then sell to pay off a debt. While Arthur initially accedes to that extortion, once he comes across an arcane ritual in a rare book, he decides to use it to summon a dragon, King Sorrow, from the realm known as the Long Dark, and sic it on Jayne. Arthur gets more than he bargains for, however, finding his life, and the lives of those dear to him, endangered by the beast. Hill makes accepting the supernatural easy through his pitch-perfect characterizations and doses of black humor. This reinforces Hill’s reputation as a titan of the genre. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 08/08/2025 | Details & Permalink

Marske (Swordcrossed) rekindles the fire of “Cinderella” in this gothic, magic-stuffed retelling. Ella is supposed to inherit her father’s house. Instead, when her stepmother’s murder plot goes to plan, the house inherits her: she becomes its resident ghost. Trapped and forced to clean and repair anything amiss, Ella tries to gain freedom from her stepfamily through researching arcane magic, trying her hand at trickery, and even questioning a dangerous fairy. When Crown Prince Jule announces a three-night ball to find his future queen, cruel and beautiful Greta, the younger of Ella’s stepsisters, determines she will win him at any cost. Ella, who just wants three nights to enjoy the life that was taken from her, makes a fairy bargain to allow her to attend the ball in corporeal form—putting her right between Greta and what Greta wants most just as Ella realizes she longs for the same thing. The last time Ella got in the way of this family, she died for it—and her being dead already won’t stop them from trying to kill her again. Marske uses handfuls of familiar tropes to construct a story that stands alone, as strong, beautiful, and clever as its heroine. Fans of T. Kingfisher will love it. Agent: Diana Fox, Fox Literary. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 08/08/2025 | Details & Permalink

Love and villainy continue to intertwine in bestseller Maehrer’s bewitching third Assistant and the Villain romantasy (after Apprentice to the Villain). Evie Sage continues to up her game in winning the love of her boss, Trystan, the eponymous villain, by proving her capacity for evil—albeit in her own sunshiny way. Meanwhile, Trystan desperately tries to stop loving Evie after hearing a prediction of doom about their future together. Still, he can’t help feeling proud as Evie comes into her own as a confident leader—exactly what they need as they race the good King Bennedict to fulfill a prophecy about returning the waning magic to their lands. Evie has more to lose than ever in this installment, with her family and friends by her side as the waning magic becomes increasingly erratic. Maehrer delivers exactly what her legion of fans will be looking for: plenty of shocking twists and, of course, her signature humor. This keeps the series going strong. Agent: Brent Taylor, Triada US. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 08/01/2025 | Details & Permalink

Like many a classic Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe tale, this addictive hardboiled fantasy from Arthur C. Clarke Award winner Morgan (Altered Carbon) takes its attitude from the disillusionment triggered by WWI. Here the horrors of the trenches haunt the sleepy streets of an alternate post-war Britain that is being rapidly overgrown by a wickedly enchanted forest. Veteran Duncan Silver is a successful “woodsman,” a hunter who retrieves children stolen into this forest by the Huldu, elven beings who leave magical changelings in place of kidnapped infants. Hired to retrieve Mimi Rush, Silver soon runs afoul of the Forest Commission, the government department working to fight the encroaching tide of sprite-infested trees. Still, he manages to quickly dispose of the changeling left in Mimi’s place, track down the time and place of substitution, and then raid the forest to find her. But Mimi is a captive of Mebhuranon, a queen of the Huldu, and Silver has many other Huldu enemies seeking revenge on him, making his mission especially dangerous. Morgan pits the forces of ancient magic and modern warfare against each other and studs the plot with clever clues leading up to the successful if bitter end of Silver’s quest. Readers will be hooked. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 08/01/2025 | Details & Permalink

Kvita debuts and launches the Green Witch Cycle series with an impressively assured urban fantasy. Twenty-something architect Joan Greenwood is the black sheep of her family, the ruling clans of the East Coast witching world. With limited magical abilities and no desire to engage in her family’s political maneuvering, she fled New York City to escape them seven years ago. Now she’s back for a visit and, after completely forgetting about her arrival, her relatives immediately suck her back into paranormal politics. A mystery has the witching world buzzing: a human, Mik, has somehow channeled magic, and the Greenwoods want that power for themselves before the Wardwells, the ruling witch family of California, can claim it. Enter Astoria Wardwell, whom Joan knew and clashed with as a child at summer camp. The pair agree to work together to save Mik from their families’ machinations, but divided loyalties threaten to tear apart their budding friendship. It’s a relatively straightforward plot, and Kvita hits all the expected beats cleanly. What makes this shine, however, is their nuanced and believable character work. With an extensive and diverse supporting cast, the narrative reads like a love letter to friendship and community while raising age-old questions about the balance of right and wrong. This packs a paranormal punch. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 08/01/2025 | Details & Permalink

Harris’s spellbinding final Gunnie Rose alternate history (after All the Dead Shall Weep) brings gunslinging heroine Lizbeth and her husband, Eli, to 1930s San Diego to watch over Lizbeth’s sister, Felicia, as she attends the Wizards’ Ball. An elite event held every three years, the ball brings together eligible grigoris, or magic users, looking to marry, and Felicia’s power makes her one of the most sought-after—but she’s also a target for someone that doesn’t want her to make it through the week. As Lizbeth, Eli, and their allies work to unveil who’s after Felicia, they all face major personal changes, and a growing global threat as Hitler comes to power in Germany. Far from the comfort of her home in Texoma, one of many new countries formed after the fracturing of the United States, and in a place where her weapon of choice is forbidden, Lizbeth encounters challenges that lead her character in a surprising new direction. Harris centers this satisfying conclusion on the power of women, as Lizbeth and Felicia fully embrace their strength. Series fans will not be disappointed. Agent: Joshua Bilmes, JABberwocky. (July)

Reviewed on 08/01/2025 | Details & Permalink