Another month another round of the grabby hands. It’s time for the speculative fiction book releases for June 2022 in the UK, going through all the fantasy, horror, science fiction releases that sound neat to me, plus a few others, be they mixing genres, historical fiction, non-fiction or something else. These may be traditionally or independently published, and as ever, I may update throughout the month of May so keep coming back to keep up to date!

Please do send over your future releases for these posts. I have to do a lot of research to find new releases and I am bound to miss some great titles. If you or somebody you represent has a book coming out that you feel might be of interest to me and the upcoming releases lists, please get in touch. Though I may not include everything, I will consider everything. I’d also like to extend my thanks to Rob J. Hayes for his wonderful monthly Self Published Fantasy Release posts that really help me find some hidden gems, on top of my other research. Make sure you check his post as well, there are certainly things I do not include that may be of interest to you and he updates it throughout the month as well! And thanks to Trin for a very helpful list this month!

To go to a book’s Goodreads page for further information, just click on the respective book cover. If a book is further along in a series, I have linked to their series page on Goodreads in the title so you can check those out first if you’d like to. Now, let’s get into it!

 

Fantasy

The Grim (Requiem for the Mortal Elves #1) by K.H. Nelson

1st June (Self-Published)

Yet another strand of thread holding the peace together, cut…and Sólan the Grim is the one holding the blade.

Sólan the Grim is dead. He was murdered by the duke of the tundra—his father. No, he was executed by the forest’s prince for his failure to swear the Oath of Light. Actually, he was beheaded by an infamous drug smuggler of the tropics. Tortured and killed at the hands of the desert’s mortal king for his crimes.

Perhaps he is not dead at all.

The half-mortal bastard son of an elf duke, Sólan de Ciudelago learned to cheat death as a child. His mere existence has tumbled the Eastern Lands into the largest genocide against his own kind: The Crusade of Light. The fragile peace between red-blooded men and silver-blooded elves is fraying. Alliances and rulers’ strongholds are waning. The Eastern Lands are on the verge of a second Great War in a millennium.

Until now, Sólan’s lot in life was to smother his past and fight the desert’s slave market. Memories, however, are fickle things that can return with no warning. Now, he must face his trauma to topple more than just the desert’s economy. He must now work with former enemies and an unlikely lover to quell the coming war that he caused.

Will his blood be the ink that seals the suit for peace? Or, is he naught but a pawn in a much more sinister plot against the balance between day and night?

Jackal of the Mind (Tales of Wyverna #2) by Madolyn Rogers

1st June (Self-Published)

SCARRED BY THE MIND WITCH

Gorgo’s last adventure took him from sheltered noble to menial clerk in the city government, and left him scarred by his mental combat with the witch Wakár. Now the witch haunts his dreams, and he burns to hunt her down and end his torment.

Wakár preys on minds, slipping from body to body, hollowing out and discarding each in turn. She lurks somewhere in the underworld of Wyverna’s docks, enslaving criminals to her will and raising an army of thralls.

An unexpected friendship with the Warlord’s six-year-old son gives Gorgo his chance to find Wakár—but her minions are too strong, and Gorgo only puts his friends’ lives in danger. With everything on the line, Gorgo will have to face his fears and brave another perilous combat of the mind to free the city from her evil.

Seeds of Sacrifice (The Celestial Kings #1) by Vivek Choudry

1st June (Self-Published)

Prey for salvation.

Descendants of Death itself, the Bhar family has used their undying powers to rule over the ancient metropolis of Salvation City for generations. Amid tensions with neighboring nations, the weakening king must quickly pass the crown to either his fierce, power-hungry daughter or his foolish, big-hearted son. But the underclass of native rebels, crushed in a blood-soaked war and pacified with marriage into the royal family, are about to rise up again. And this time they’re not alone—they’ve awakened a vengeful god and it demands the ultimate sacrifice.

Explore a fresh world which blossoms through its strong characters in this explosive debut, featuring an Indian inspired epic series that strains the bonds of family and heritage.

Legacy. Loyalty. Fear. Faith. All will be tested.

The Trials of Ashmount by John Palladino

1st June (Self-Published)

Cedain is destined to collapse.

Across a world rife with blood, betrayal, and brutality, five people wade through unexpected tragedies.

An egotistical student, a fleeing refugee, a nomadic warrior, a fallen noble, and a criminal in hiding navigate the sinister dealings of politicians, two sudden wars, and nefarious lies that surface at Ashmount—a university dedicated to teaching the five branches of magic.

Survival means adapting or dying.

Profane Rites by P.J. Wilson

1st June (Self-Published)

Sister Honorata is a woman of unshakable faith, ready for priesthood. It is what she has always wanted. What she was brought up to be.

Honorata’s Trial leads her on a perilous journey into the wild jungles of Pala, a place infested with foes determined to wage war, no matter the consequences. Caught between the threat of a supernatural monster and the subtle influence of scheming mystics, Honorata’s resolve is tested as she is thrust into a deadly battle for survival and forced to confront an evil that threatens to destroy the very foundations of her religion.

Profane Rites is the story of Sister Honorata’s passage from novice to priestess; will the rigours of her Trial bolster her faith? Or will the ordeal twist it into something else entirely?

Lightblade by Zamil Akhtar

1st June (Self-Published)

In three days, Jyosh will slay the God Emperor, or die trying.

But first he must train his lightblade skills. While asleep.

Each hour of sleep equals a day in a lucid dream, plenty of time to master the essential lightblade techniques and hopefully get skilled enough to defeat the monster who enslaved him and beheaded his parents and sister.

When Jyosh awakens to learn that the God Emperor has surrendered to an even crueler foe, a mysterious lightblade master who can summon divine dragons to burn whole cities, he’ll face a trial by fire against forces far more frightening than he could ever dream.

That is, if he’s not still in one.

Paths of the Broken (Record of the Sentinel Seer #4) by M.H. Woodscourt

6th June (True North Press)

Forgotten promises. Buried history.
No one is ready for the truth.

At last, Lekore and Toranskay have been granted permission to visit Sirinhigha, the birth world of magic. There, they hope to uncover the mystery of their twin blades—but an ancient evil has broken its bonds in search of the Sentinel Seer.

Emperor Majentay is fighting for peace on the heels of all the chaos his two notorious prisoners have wreaked. But everything turns upside-down when a new Kiisuld partnership breaches the world of Erokel and kidnaps two feisty Kel royals.

Choices and secrets collide to reveal a horrific, mind-shattering chapter of history. And no one is prepared to face the truth. Not even the Kiisuld.

Empress Crowned in Red (Witches Steeped in Gold #2) by Ciannon Smart

7th June (Hot Key Books)

The hotly anticipated finale to the epic, fierce and magnetically addictive Caribbean-inspired Witches Steeped in Gold duology.

Bow down witches . . .

Enemy witches Iraya and Jazmyne have each achieved their darkest desires. For the former, the doyenne who killed her family is dead. For the latter, the crown has been won. For both, their treacherous alliance is over – until a hidden evil rises from their last adversary’s ashes, forcing them to join forces once more to defend Aiyca and their respective orders.

Laying claim to the island of Iraya’s birth right and the bloody crown Jazmyne wears, this mysterious assailant is rearing monsters in the name of war. A war neither Iraya or Jazmyne are prepared to fight. New alliances must be forged to protect Aiyca and once again the two witches must work together to defeat an enemy who threatens both their worlds. Who will be the one sitting on top of the throne in the end – Iraya, Jazmyne, or another?

Two witches. One motive. And everything to fight for.

For the Throne (Wilderwood #2) by Hannah F. Whitten

7th June (Orbit)

Hannah Whitten’s debut For the Wolf was an instant New York Times bestseller and word-of-mouth phenomenon. Now, the eagerly awaited sequel, For the Throne, concludes her brilliant dark tale of love, magic and the secrets written in the stars.

THE FIRST DAUGHTER IS FOR THE THRONE
THE SECOND DAUGHTER IS FOR THE WOLF

Red and the Wolf have finally contained the threat of the Five Kings, but at a steep cost. Red’s beloved sister – Neve, the First Daughter – is lost in the Shadowlands. But Neve has an ally, even if it’s one she’d rather never speak to again – the rogue king Solmir. Together they must journey across a dangerous landscape to find the mysterious Heart Tree – and finally claim the gods’ dark, twisted powers for themselves.

Ordinary Monsters (The Talents Trilogy #1) by J.M. Miro

7th June (Bloomsbury)

The first in a captivating new historical fantasy series, ORDINARY MONSTERS introduces the Talents with a catastrophic vision of the Victorian world, and the gifted, broken children who must save it.

There in the shadows was a figure in a cloak, at the bottom of the cobblestone stair, and it turned and stared up at them as still and unmoving as a pillar of darkness, but it had no face, only smoke . . .

1882. North of Edinburgh, on the edge of an isolated loch, lies an institution of crumbling stone, where a strange doctor collects orphans with unusual abilities. In London, two children with such powers are hunted by a figure of darkness – a man made of smoke.

Charlie Ovid discovers a gift for healing himself through a brutal upbringing in Mississippi, while Marlowe, a foundling from a railway freight, glows with a strange bluish light. When two grizzled detectives are recruited to escort them north to safety, they are confronted by a sinister, dangerous force that threatens to upend the world as they know it.

What follows is a journey from the gaslit streets of London to the lochs of Scotland, where other gifted children – the Talents – have been gathered at Cairndale Institute, and the realms of the dead and the living collide. As secrets within the Institute unfurl, Marlowe, Charlie and the rest of the Talents will discover the truth about their abilities and the nature of the force that is stalking them: that the worst monsters sometimes come bearing the sweetest gifts.

The Knave of Secrets by Alex Livingston

7th June (Solaris)

A twisty tale of card sharps and con artists, in a world of magic where secrets are traded and gambled like coin. The Lies of Locke Lamora meets Casino Royale

Never stake more than you can afford to lose.

When failed magician turned cardsharp Valen Quinol is given the chance to play in the Forbearance Game—the invitation-only tournament where players gamble with secrets—he can’t resist. Or refuse, for that matter, according to the petty gangster sponsoring his seat at the table. Valen beats the man he was sent to play, and wins the most valuable secret ever staked in the history of the tournament.

Now Valen and his motley crew are being hunted by thieves, gangsters, spies and wizards, all with their own reasons for wanting what’s in that envelope. It’s a game of nations where Valen doesn’t know all the rules or who all the players are, and can’t see all the moves. But he does know if the secret falls into the wrong hands, it could plunge the whole world into war…

Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane

7th June (William Morris)

Drawing on ancient texts and modern archeology to reveal the trans woman’s story hidden underneath the well-known myths of The Iliad, Maya Deane’s Wrath Goddess Sing weaves a compelling, pitilessly beautiful vision of Achilles’ vanished world, perfect for fans of Song of Achilles and the Inheritance trilogy.

The gods wanted blood. She fought for love.

Achilles has fled her home and her vicious Myrmidon clan to live as a woman with the kallai, the transgender priestesses of Great Mother Aphrodite. When Odysseus comes to recruit the “prince” Achilles for a war against the Hittites, she prepares to die rather than fight as a man. However, her divine mother, Athena, intervenes, transforming her body into the woman’s body she always longed for, and promises her everything: glory, power, fame, victory in war, and, most importantly, a child born of her own body. Reunited with her beloved cousin, Patroklos, and his brilliant wife, the sorceress Meryapi, Achilles sets out to war with a vengeance.

But the gods—a dysfunctional family of abusive immortals that have glutted on human sacrifices for centuries—have woven ancient schemes more blood-soaked and nightmarish than Achilles can imagine. At the center of it all is the cruel, immortal Helen, who sees Achilles as a worthy enemy after millennia of ennui and emptiness. In love with her newfound nemesis, Helen sets out to destroy everything and everyone Achilles cherishes, seeking a battle to the death.

An innovative spin on a familiar tale, this is the Trojan War unlike anything ever told, and an Achilles whose vulnerability is revealed by the people she chooses to fight…and chooses to trust.

Never the Wind by Francesco Dimitri

7th June (Titan Books)

A bittersweet gothic fantasy of family, friendship, memory, and the uncanny told from the perspective of a blind teenager in Puglia, Southern Italy, set in the same world as The Book of Hidden Things, perfect for readers of Neil Gaiman, Donna Tartt and Haruki Murakami.

Praise God, never the wind

1996 – Luca Saracino is thirteen and has been completely blind for eight months when his parents move to a Southern Italian farmhouse they dream of turning into a hotel. With his brother dropping out of university and the family reeling from Luca’s diagnosis, they are chasing dreams of rebirth and reinvention.

As Luca tells his story without sight – experiencing the world solely through hearing, smell, taste and touch – he meets the dauntless Ada Guadalupi, who takes him out to explore the rocky fields and empty beaches. But Luca and Ada find they can’t escape the grudges that have lasted between their families for generations, or the gossiping of the town. And Luca is preyed upon by the feral Wanderer, who walks the vineyards of his home.

As Luca’s family starts to crack at the seams, Luca and Ada have to navigate new lands and old rivalries to uncover the truths spoken as whispers on the wind.

Forging Silver into Stars (Forging Silver into Stars #1) by Brigid Kemmerer

7th June (Bloomsbury YA)

When ancient magic tests a newfound love, a dark fate beckons . . .

Magic has been banished in the land of Syhl Shallow for as long as best friends Jax and Callyn can remember. They once loved the stories of the powerful magesmiths and mythical scravers who could conjure fire or control ice, but now they’ve learned that magic only leads to danger: magic is what killed Callyn’s parents, leaving her alone to raise her younger sister. Magic never helped Jax, whose leg was crushed in an accident that his father has been punishing him for ever since. Magic won’t save either of them when the tax collector comes calling, threatening to take their homes if they can’t pay what they owe.

Meanwhile, Jax and Callyn are astonished to learn magic has returned to Syhl Shallow — in the form of a magesmith who’s now married to their queen. Now, the people of Syhl Shallow are expected to allow dangerous magic in their midst, and no one is happy about it.

When a stranger rides into town offering Jax and Callyn silver in exchange for holding secret messages for an anti-magic faction, the choice is obvious — even if it means they may be aiding in a plot to destroy their new king. It’s a risk they’re both willing to take. That is, until another visitor arrives: handsome Lord Tycho, the King’s Courier, the man who’s been tasked with discovering who’s conspiring against the throne.

Suddenly, Jax and Callyn find themselves embroiled in a world of shifting alliances, dangerous flirtations, and ancient magic . . . where even the deepest loyalties will be tested.

A Conspiracy of Ravens (The Codex of Wretches & Kings #1) by Stephen Hubbard

8th June (Self-Published)

Once and an age —

The precipice of war is never more than the width of a blade away. Now, when the legendary assassin known as the Black Rose has slaughtered Baron Dartris Gorsha and all who made up his house, then fled with the nobleman’s young daughter, three nations that knew tenuous peace prepare for the brutality of prolonged conflict.

Yet a new and mysterious danger has emerged. The Shrike arrives to offer mercy and vengeance in equal measure to all those with a role to play, bringing cryptic messages from his unnamed master. Underlying his threats is one simple command: Retrieve the daughter of Gorsha.

Three Ravens of Danot — Celnor, Derrigan, and Martyn — are called upon to protect the child, and they seek answers to troubling questions and motivations. Manipulated by their queen, feeling as no more than pawns in the history unfolding around them, they conspire to bring about what they believe is a necessary change to the balance of power.

The secrets of their own shadowed pasts serve to pull at their union, threatening to unmake their pact, and leading them to ask one simple question: Are there roads too entrenched in darkness to allow for redemption?

In a time of growing doom and dread, when long lost magic begins to find a new foothold, Wretches and Kings alike maneuver and scheme as the Codex is inscribed with the fell deeds and heroic sacrifice compelled by a conspiracy of Ravens.

The Queen’s Assassin by James Barclay

9th June (Gollancz)

Naida is living a lie.

A peerless battlefield surgeon. A talisman for the army. A symbol of hope in an impossible, grinding war.

A fraud.

Society, led by the queen, has long held that the Esselrode people and their abilities are inherently, irredeemably evil, a truth which Naida has been brought up to believe. But as one of them, feeling compelled to use her powers again and again to heal those on the brink of death, it’s hard to accept. It’s even harder to live a lie, conflicted about her hidden identity, when the truth could save lives.

Taken from the battlefield where she thrives to a court where her life hangs ever more precariously in the balance, Naida is about to learn that there are even greater secrets, and conspiracies, afoot . . . and that her dangerous truth could change the course of a nation . . .

James Barclay is back with a brand-new standalone adventure which will tug on your heartstrings and keep you glued to your seat. James is truly a fantasy great, and this new novel will satisfy all fans of the genre.

Master of Furies (The Firemane Saga #3) by Raymond E. Feist

9th June (HarperVoyager)

From King of Ashes to Queen of Storms, it’s all built up to this–the thrilling conclusion to legendary New York Times bestselling author Raymond E. Feist’s epic Firemane saga.

War has swept across Marquensas. Ruthless raiders have massacred the inhabitants of Beran’s Hill, including Gwen, the beloved wife of Declan Smith. Hollow of heart, his hopes burned to ashes, Declan swears to track down and destroy the raiders, an ambition shared by Baron Daylon Dumarch, whose family was massacred as they fled the capital.

Meanwhile Hava, whose gift for piracy has seen her acquire the treasure ship Borzon’s Black Wake and the swift Azhante sailing vessel, Queen of Storms, and won her the name of “the Sea Demon,” is closing in on the whereabouts of those who unleashed the murderous hordes.

Her husband, Hatushaly, the last remaining member of the ruling family of Ithrace, the legendary Firemanes, seeks to control the magical powers he has inherited. He is able now to visualize and even travel among the filaments of energies that power all existence: the furies. But will he be able to channel his magic in time to combat the deepest, darkest threat the world of Garn has ever faced?

The Great Book of King Arthur: And His Knights of the Round Table by John Matthews & John Howe (Illustrations)

9th June (HarperCollins) 

The most famous and influential work of English fantasy ever published, reimagined for a new generation of readers by John Matthews, one of the world’s leading Arthurian experts, and illustrated by internationally acclaimed Tolkien artist, John Howe.

The tales of how the boy Arthur drew the Sword from the Stone, or the love of Lancelot and Guinevere, or how the knights of the Round Table rode out in search of the Holy Grail are known and loved the world over.

It all began when an obscure Celtic hero named Arthur stepped on to the stage of history, sometime in the sixth century, and oral tales led to a vast body of stories from which, 900 years later, Thomas Malory wrote the famous Morte D’Arthur.

THE GREAT BOOK OF KING ARTHUR presents these well-loved stories for a modern reader, for the first time collecting many tales of Arthur and his knights either unknown to Malory or written in other languages. Here, you will read of Avenable, the girl brought up as a boy who becomes a famous knight. You will learn of Gawain’s strange birth, his upbringing amongst poor folk and his final rise to the highest possible rank – Emperor of Rome. There is also the story of Morien whose adventures are as fantastic and exciting as any to be found in the pages of Malory.

In addition, there are some of the earliest tales of Arthur, deriving from the tradition of Celtic storytelling. Here is the original Arthur, represented in such powerful stories as ‘The Adventures of Eagle-Boy’, and ‘The Coming of Merlin’, based on the early medieval text Vita Merlini, which gives a completely new version of the great Enchanter’s story.

These age-old stories, still as popular today as they were from the Middle Ages onwards, are dramatically brought to life by the luminous paintings and drawings of John Howe, whose work on the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film trilogies has brought him a world-wide following.

The Obsidian Eyes of Klief (War of the Twelve #4) by Alex Robins

10th June (Self-Published)

Every Truth Has Its Cost.

War ravages the troubled lands of the nine Baronies. The once-great cities of Arelium, Kessrin, and Talth are forever scarred by the passage of the greyling tide, their graveyards filled with the corpses of those who fought and died on their blood-stained walls.

Surrounded and exhausted, the fragile alliance of men must wager all on a final, daring plan: to find and destroy the creatures’ leader, an enigmatic entity known as the weaver. One of the Twelve, Makara, may hold the key to the weaver’s location, but he too is missing, lost somewhere in the remote Barony of Klief.

The tattered remains of the human armies have no choice but to follow Makara’s trail north, pursued by a relentless horde of greylings. At their head rides Zygos, his god-like intellect transferred into the body of the traitor Praxis.

The town of Klief beckons, as friend and foe alike are drawn to its dim light. It is here, before its golden gates, that the War of the Twelve will be decided.

It is here that an ancient evil will rise…

And heroes will fall.

A Gathering Midnight (Midnight’s Twins Trilogy #2) by Holly Race

10th June (Hot Key Books)

Following the events of MIDNIGHT’S TWINS, the epic fantasy trilogy continues with A GATHERING MIDNIGHT.

In a city that sleeps, the darkness is gathering…

For Londoner Fern King, Annwn is her second home – the dream mirror of London, the city she loves. An astonishing world, a world where Dreamers walk in their slumber, their dreams playing out all around them. And Fern, along with her twin brother Ollie, is now a Knight, a trusted guardian and protector of those Dreamers – and every night is spent in Annwn, fulfilling that previously only-imagined destiny to guard those who sleep.

But Annwn, this dark and golden city, is a fragile place. There are those who seek to control and to ruin it – mistrust and secrets are rife, and as the delicate symbiotic balance between Annwn and our own world begins to topple, rips begin to appear between the fabric of the worlds. And Fern and Ollie will have to do all in their power to protect this place that has become so precious to them…

A Mirror Mended (Fractured Fables #2) by Alix E. Harrow

14th June (Tordotcom)

A Mirror Mended is the next installment in USA Today bestselling author Alix E. Harrow’s Fractured Fables series.

Zinnia Gray, professional fairy-tale fixer and lapsed Sleeping Beauty is over rescuing snoring princesses. Once you’ve rescued a dozen damsels and burned fifty spindles, once you’ve gotten drunk with twenty good fairies and made out with one too many members of the royal family, you start to wish some of these girls would just get a grip and try solving their own narrative issues.

Just when Zinnia’s beginning to think she can’t handle one more princess, she glances into a mirror and sees another face looking back at her: the shockingly gorgeous face of evil, asking for her help. Because there’s more than one person trapped in a story they didn’t choose. Snow White’s Evil Queen has found out how her story ends and she’s desperate for a better ending. She wants Zinnia to help her before it’s too late for everyone.

Will Zinnia accept the Queen’s poisonous request, and save them both from the hot iron shoes that wait for them, or will she try another path?

Into the West (The Founding of Valdemar #2) by Mercedes Lackey

21st June (Titan Books)

The long-awaited founding of Valdemar comes to life in this second book in the new series from a New York Times-bestselling author and beloved fantasist.

Baron Valdemar and his people have found a temporary haven, but it cannot hold all of them, or for long. Trouble could follow on their heels at any moment, and there are too many people for Crescent Lake to support. Those who are willing to make a further trek by barge on into the West will follow him into a wilderness depopulated by war and scarred by the terrible magics of a thousand years ago and the Mage Wars. But the wilderness is not as empty as it seems. There are potential friends and rapacious foes….

….and someone is watching them.

Speaking Bones (The Dandelion Dynasty #4) by Ken Liu

21st June (Head of Zeus)

The conclusion to Ken Liu’s chronicle of the Dandelion Dynasty – one of the Greatest Fantasy Series of all Time (Time Magazine).

Ukyu-Gondé.
Stalked by foes and dogged by betrayal, Princess Théra is pursued across a continent vaster than she could ever have imagined, to the hidden valleys of the World’s Edge Mountains, into the barrows and subterranean halls of the City of Ghosts, across the ice floes of the far north. She breached the Wall of Storms intent on taking war to the Lyucu homelands, but how do you conquer the unconquerable?

Dara.
Empress Jia, Prince Phyro and Pékyu Tanvanaki find themselves bound to paths they never would have chosen. Amid atrocity and subterfuge, they will discover that the Courage of Brutes is no substitute for the Grace of Kings, and that little separates the Grace of Kings from the Madness of Tyrants.

On both sides of the Wall of Storms, defeat’s bitter tears mix with the fruits of knowledge new and ancient as two empires bound by blood and bone, by writ and iron, by time and custom, face a whirlwind that threatens to utterly consume them.

The teeth, as they say, are on the board.

This Wicked Fate (This Poison Heart #2) by Kalynn Bayron

21st June (Bloomsbury YA)

How much would you risk to save the ones you love? Would you tempt even the most dangerous fate?

Briseis’s mother is dead, but there is one chance to bring her back: find the last piece of the deadly Absyrtus Heart. If Bri is to locate the missing piece, she must turn to the blood relatives she’s never known, learn of their secret powers and take her place in their ancient lineage. But Bri is not the only one who wants the Heart, and her enemies will stop at nothing to fulfil their own ruthless plans. Strengthened by the sisterhood of ancient magic, can she harness her power to save the people she loves most?

Kalynn Bayron, bestselling author of Cinderella is Dead and This Poison Heart, returns with the second and final book in this stunning, empowering and inclusive fantasy duology.

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

21st June (Del Rey)

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Wolf and the Woodsman comes a gothic retelling of The Juniper Tree, where a young witch seeks to discover her identity and escape the domination of her abusive wizard father. Perfect for fans of Angela Carter, Catherynne M. Valente and Shirley Jackson

A gruesome curse. A city in upheaval. A monster with unquenchable appetites.

As the last true witches living in a city shifting from magic to industry, Marlinchen and her two sisters are little more than tourist traps as they treat their clients with archaic remedies and beguile them with nostalgic charm. Marlinchen spends her days divining secrets in exchange for rubles and trying to placate their tyrannical, xenophobic wizard father, who keeps his daughters sequestered from the outside world. While at night, she and her sisters sneak out to enjoy the city’s amenities and revel in its thrills, particularly the recently established ballet theatre, where Marlinchen meets a dancer who quickly captures her heart.

But as Marlinchen’s late-night trysts grow more fervent and frequent, so does the threat of her father’s rage and magic. And while the city flourishes with culture and bustles with enterprise, a monster lurks in its midst, borne of intolerance and resentment and suffused with old-world power. Caught between history and progress and blood and desire, Marlinchen must draw upon her own magic to keep her city safe and find her place within it.

The Shelterlings by Sarah Beth Durst

21st June (Clarion Books)

A group of magical misfit animals learns to appreciate their seemingly useless powers—and themselves—when they work together to thwart a villain’s attempt to steal their magic.

Holly, a grey squirrel, and her animal friends have accepted that they will never be wizards’ familiars. Though they are each magical, their powers are so offbeat—Holly herself can conjure pastries (and only pastries)—that no professional magic-worker would choose any of them as a companion for noble quests. So instead of going on adventures, they languish at the Shelter for Rejected Familiars, where they are known as “shelterlings.”

When an old friend appears with a plan for curing the shelterlings’ defective magic, everyone is on board to help him locate and retrieve the ingredients for a powerful spell. But when they learn that his offer is not what it seems, Holly and the shelterlings must fight to defend their magic, discovering in the process that their unorthodox skills may just be what is needed to save the day.

The Grief of Stones (The Cemeteries of Amalo #2) by Katherine Addison

23rd June (Solaris)

In The Grief of Stones, Katherine Addison returns to the world of The Goblin Emperor with a direct sequel to The Witness For The Dead…

Celehar’s life as the Witness for the Dead of Amalo grows less isolated as his circle of friends grows larger. He has been given an apprentice to teach, and he has stumbled over a scandal of the city—the foundling girls. Orphans with no family to claim them and no funds to buy an apprenticeship. Foundling boys go to the Prelacies; foundling girls are sold into service, or worse.

At once touching and shattering, Celehar’s witnessing for one of these girls will lead him into the depths of his own losses. The love of his friends will lead him out again.

Driftwood Orphans by Paul Krueger

23rd June (Gollancz) 

Before she was betrayed and left for dead, Tenny was many things: prodigal daughter of the Driftwood City underworld. Leader of the Thorn Orphans, the gang fighting for a better tomorrow. City shaman, able to bend her home’s boroughs to her will. Partner-in-crime to Cole, the runaway rich boy with powers just like hers.

But that was all before.

Four years later, Tenny is an exile, sleepwalking through life and waiting to die. But a chance encounter puts her on a bloody path back to the life she left behind. Friendless and powerless, she returns to Driftwood City, only to find a world where the Thorn Orphans have finally won. A better tomorrow, today.

And all that progress tethered to the heartbeat of the friend who ordered her death.

Her city. Her vengeance. It’s an impossible choice.

But if Tenny wants to survive, she’ll have to choose one.

In the Heart of Hidden Things by Kit Whitfield

23rd June (Jo Fletcher)

Everyone knows that if you fall afoul of the People, you must travel the miles to Gyrford, where uncounted generations of fairy-smiths have protected the county with cold iron, good counsel and unvarnished opinions about your common sense.

But shielding the weak from the strong can make enemies. Ephraim Brady has money and power, and the bitter will to hurt those who cross him. And if he can’t touch elder farrier Jedediah Smith, he can harm those the Smiths care about.

The Smiths care about Tobias Ware, born on a night when the blazing fey dog Black Hal roared past the Wares’ gate. Tobias doesn’t understand the language or laws of men, and he can’t keep away from the Bellame woods, where trespass is a hanging offence. If Toby is to survive, he needs protection.

It should be a manageable job. Jedediah Smith has a head on his shoulders, and so too (mostly) does his son Matthew. Only Matthew’s son John has turned out a little . . . uncommon. But he means well.

It wasn’t his fault the bramble bush put on a berry-head and started taking offence. Or that Tobias upset it. But John’s not yet learned that if you follow the things other folk don’t see, they might drag those you love into the path of ruin.

The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings

23rd June (Orbit)

Put on your dancing shoes and step into New Orleans as you’ve never seen it before in this vibrant and imaginative debut.

Nola is a city of wonders. An alternate New Orleans made of music and magic, where spirits dance the night away and Wise Women help keep the order. To those from Away, Nola might seem strange. To failed magician Perilous Graves, it’s simply home.

Then the rhythm of the city stutters.

Nine songs of power have escaped from the magical piano that maintains the city’s beat, and without them, Nola will fail. Unwilling to watch his home be destroyed, Perry will sacrifice everything to save it. But a storm is brewing and even if they capture the songs, Nola’s time might be coming to an end.

The Godbreaker (The God-King Chronicles #3) by Mike Brooks

23rd June (Orbit)

Two armies will clash – led by two fearsome generals. Rumour claims one is a demon, and the other is a god reborn…

In the West, Marin and Alazar are in the army of the Godsworn following Tyrun, who claims to be Nari Reborn. In the East, the demon known as The Golden lands with Tjakorsha at its back, looking to slay a god. In the City of Islands, Jeya and Bulang try to survive as factions seek to use Bulang’s ancestry for their own gain. In the South, Daimon and Saana fight to keep the peace they brokered alive amid the onset of war. And in amongst it all is Tila Narida, the Divine Princess, who has always turned chaos to her own advantage…

The legacy of Narida’s God-Kings spans a continent, and will end in blood.

Experience the battle-filled finale to the God-King Chronicles, an epic fantasy series by Mike Brooks.

Against All Gods (The Age of Bronze #1) by Miles Cameron

23rd June (Gollancz)

The gods play their games, looking down on the mortal realm and moving men as pawns. Sacrificing lives, towns, even civilisations as they make moves against each other, oblivious to and uncaring of the suffering it causes.

They are above it all: worshipped, emulated and admired.

Yet there is one among them who exists to sow chaos, to challenge the way of things, and to stir up trouble. One who sees the gods growing indolent and contented and selfish . . . and who is ready to meddle in the world of men. Not as part of the immortal game, but because they believe it’s possible for men to challenge . . . and even topple . . . the gods themselves.

An epic which draws on the Greek mythology of gods and heroes, this new trilogy is a must read for fans of Dan Simmons and Madeline Miller alike.

Dark Earth by Rebecca Stott

23rd June (Fourth Estate)

The new novel from the Costa-Award winning author of In The Days of Rain.

AD 500. An island in the Thames.

Isla has a secret: she has learned her father’s sophisticated sword-making skills at a time when even entering a forge is forbidden to women. Her sister, Blue, has a secret, too: at low tide on the night of each new moon, she visits the bones of the mud woman, drowned by the elders of her tribe who wanted to make a lesson of someone who wouldn’t hold her tongue. When the local Seax overlord discovers Isla’s secret there is nowhere for the sisters to hide, except across the water to the walled ghost city, Londinium. Here Blue and Isla find sanctuary in an underworld community of squatters, emigrants, travellers and looters, led by the mysterious Crowther, living in an abandoned brothel and bathhouse. But trouble pursues them even into the haunted city.

Dark Earth takes us back to the very founding of Britain to explore the experience of women trying to find kin in a world ruled by blood ties, feuds and men in quest of a nation.

The Final Strife (The Final Strife Trilogy #1) by Saara El-Arifi

23rd June (HarperVoyager)

The Empire rules by blood

Red is the blood of the elite, of magic, of control.

Blue is the blood of the poor, of workers, of the resistance.

Clear is the blood of the servants, of the crushed, of the invisible.

The Aktibar – a set of trials held every ten years to find the next Ember rulers of the Empire – is about to begin.

All can join but not just anyone can win; it requires great skill and ingenuity to become the future wardens of Strength, Knowledge, Truth and Duty.

Sylah was destined to win the trials and be crowned Warden of Strength. Stolen by blue-blooded rebels she was raised with a Duster’s heart; forged as a weapon to bring down from within the red-blooded Embers’ regime of cruelty. But when her adopted family were brutally murdered those dreams of a better future turned to dust.

However, the flame of hope may yet be rekindled because Sylah wasn’t made to sparkle, she was born to burn.

And it’s up to her whether she rules the empire or destroys it.

The Madness of Herakles (Tapestry of Fate #4) by Matt Larkin

28th June (Self-Published)

Redemption lies past bloody steps …

While Pandora seeks a means to escape the crushing grasp of Fate, Herakles faces equally insurmountable odds: To assuage his guilt for the murder of his family, he must undertake impossible labors.

Across the breadth of the world he hunts for beasts that would strike dread into the bravest Titan. Again and again, he casts himself into the breach, all for the desperate hope of redemption.

But will any amount of spilled monster blood wash clean the blood of his own children?

Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances (Dragons and Blades #2) by Aliette de Bodard

28th June (JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.)

From the author of the critically acclaimed Dominion of the Fallen trilogy comes a sparkling new romantic adventure full of kissing, sarcasm and stabbing.

It was supposed to be a holiday, with nothing more challenging than babysitting, navigating familial politics and arguing about the proper way to brew tea.

But when dragon prince Thuan and his ruthless husband Asmodeus find a corpse in a ruined shrine and a hungry ghost who is the only witness to the crime, their holiday goes from restful to high-pressure. Someone is trying to silence the ghost and everyone involved. Asmodeus wants revenge for the murder; Thuan would like everyone, including Asmodeus, to stay alive.

Chased by bloodthirsty paper charms and struggling to protect their family, Thuan and Asmodeus are going to need all the allies they can—and, as the cracks in their relationship widen, they’ll have to face the scariest challenge of all: how to bring together their two vastly different ideas of their future…

A heartwarming standalone book set in a world of dark intrigue.

Locklands (The Founders Trilogy #3) by Robert Jackson Bennett

28th June (Jo Fletcher Books)

A god wages war—using all of humanity as its pawns—in the unforgettable conclusion to the Founders trilogy.

Sancia, Clef, and Berenice have gone up against plenty of long odds in the past. But the war they’re fighting now is one even they can’t win.

This time, they’re not facing robber-baron elites, or even an immortal hierophant, but an entity whose intelligence is spread over half the globe—a ghost in the machine that uses the magic of scriving to possess and control not just objects, but human minds.

To fight it, they’ve used scriving technology to transform themselves and their allies into an army—a society—that’s like nothing humanity has seen before. With its strength at their backs, they’ve freed a handful of their enemy’s hosts from servitude, even brought down some of its fearsome, reality-altering dreadnaughts. Yet despite their efforts, their enemy marches on—implacable. Unstoppable.

Now, as their opponent closes in on its true prize—an ancient doorway, long buried, that leads to the chambers at the center of creation itself—Sancia and her friends glimpse a chance at reaching it first, and with it, a last desperate opportunity to stop this unbeatable foe. But to do so, they’ll have to unlock the centuries-old mystery of scriving’s origins, embark on a desperate mission into the heart of their enemy’s power, and pull off the most daring heist they’ve ever attempted.

And as if that weren’t enough, their adversary might just have a spy in their ranks—and a last trick up its sleeve.

The Warrior (Quest for Heroes #2) by Stephen Aryan

28th June (Angry Robot)

The story of Kell Kresia continues in Book II of the gripping fantasy duology. Kell, two time saviour of the Five Kingdoms, is now the King of Algany. He has fame, power, respect, and has never been more miserable… 

Bound, by duty and responsibility, Kell is King only in name. Trapped in a loveless marriage, he leaves affairs of state to his wife, Sigrid. When his old friend, Willow, turns up asking him to go on a journey to her homeland he can’t wait to leave.

The Malice, a malevolent poison that alters everything it infects, runs rampant across Willow’s homeland. Desperate to find a cure her cousin, Ravvi, is willing to try a dark ritual which could damn her people forever. Journeying to a distant land, Kell and his companions must stop Ravvi before it’s too late.

While Kell is away Reverend Mother Britak’s plans come to a head. Queen Sigrid must find a way to protect her family and her nation, but against such a ruthless opponent, something has to give…

The Martyr (Covenant of Steel #2) by Anthony Ryan

28th June (Orbit)

Times have changed for Alwyn Scribe. Once an outlaw, he’s now a spymaster and sworn protector of Lady Evadine Courlain, whose visions of a demonic apocalypse have earned her the fanatical devotion of the faithful.

Yet Evadine’s growing fame has put her at odds with both Crown and Covenant. As trouble brews in the kingdom, both seek to exploit her position for their own ends.

Sent to the Duchy of Alundia to put down a rebellion, Alwyn must rely on old instincts to fight for his new cause. Deadly feuds and ancient secrets are laid bare as war erupts, a war that will decide the fate of the Kingdom of Albermaine and, perhaps, prevent the coming of the prophesied Second Scourge.

The Martyr is the sequel to The Pariah and continues the ruthless and gripping fantasy epic from New York Times bestseller Anthony Ryan, whose books have sold more than a million copies worldwide.

The Origin of Storms (Lotus Kingdoms #3) by Elizabeth Bear

28th June (Tor Books)

Hugo Award-winning author Elizabeth Bear returns with the stunning conclusion to her acclaimed epic fantasy trilogy, the Lotus Kingdoms.

The Lotus Kingdoms are at war, with four claimants to the sorcerous throne of the Alchemical Emperor, fielding three armies between them. Alliances are made, and broken, many times over—but in the end, only one can sit on the throne. And that one must have not only the power, but the rightful claim.

The Rajni Mrithuri stands as the chief claimant to the Alchemical throne now, but she and her empire remain a prize to be taken unless she gets an heir. She has her allies–her cousin Sayeh, a dragon, a foreign wizard, a fearsome automaton, and the Dead Man–but the throne has the final say. And if it rejects her, the price is death.

Blade Breaker (Realm Breaker #2)by Victoria Aveyard

28th June (HarperTeen)

In the sequel to Realm Breaker, a divided world must rally, an unstoppable enemy must be defeated, and the fate of the world rests on a blade’s edge.

Andry, a former squire, continues to fight for hope amid blood and chaos.

Dom, a grieving immortal, strives to fulfill a broken oath.

Sorasa, an outcast assassin, faces her past when it returns with sharpened teeth.

Valtik, an old sorceress, summons a mighty power.

And Corayne, a pirate’s daughter with an ancient magic in her blood, steps closer to becoming the hero she’s destined to be.

Together they must assemble an army to face Queen Erida and Taristan’s wicked forces. But something deadly waits in the shadows, something that might consume the world before there’s any hope for victory.

The Path of Thorns by A.G. Slatter

28th June (Titan Books)

A lush and twisted dark fairy tale suffused with witchcraft, dark secrets and bitter revenge from the award-winning author of All the Murmuring Bones. Exquisite, haunting and at times brutal, readers of Naomi Novik and Erin Morgenstern will be entranced.

Asher Todd comes to live with the mysterious Morwood family as a governess to their children. Asher knows little about being a governess but she is skilled in botany and herbcraft, and perhaps more than that. And she has secrets of her own, dark and terrible – and Morwood is a house that eats secrets. With a monstrous revenge in mind, Asher plans to make it choke. However, she becomes fond of her charges, of the people of the Tarn, and she begins to wonder if she will be able to execute her plan – and who will suffer most if she does. But as the ghosts of her past become harder to control, Asher realises she has no choice.

From the author of All the Murmuring Bones, dark magic, retribution and twisted family secrets combine to weave a bewitching and beautifully written gothic fairy tale.

Daughter of Redwinter (The Redwinter Chronicles #1) by Ed McDonald

30th June (Gollancz)

If you can see the dead, you will soon be one of them…

Raine can see—and more importantly, speak—to the dead. It’s a wretched gift with a death sentence that has her doing many dubious things to save her skin. Seeking refuge with a deluded cult is her latest bad, survival-related decision. But her rare act of kindness—rescuing an injured woman in the snow—is even worse.

Because the woman has escaped from Redwinter, the fortress-monastery of the Draoihn, warrior magicians who answer to no king and who will stop at nothing to retrieve what she’s stolen. A battle, a betrayal, and a horrific revelation forces Raine to enter Redwinter. It becomes clear that her ability might save an entire nation.

Pity she might have to die for that to happen…

The first of a brilliant fantasy series about how one choice can change a universe by the author of the critically acclaimed Blackwing trilogy

 

Horror

The Wasp Child by Rhiannon Rasmussen

6th June (Vernacular Books)

Kesh is afraid-of his classmates, his abilities, and his prospects for the future.

Born into Meridian Colony, where corporate values dictate human worth, Kesh longs to escape. Then, his classmates kidnap and dump him in the middle of the alien rainforest. Alone.

Faced with certain death, Kesh locates the sansik, giant bugs native to the planet. Though the sansik seem to care for him at first, they set off a horrific metamorphosis in Kesh, and when they trade him back to Meridian, he becomes a living scientific curiosity. A bleak future of analysis without autonomy awaits him.

Trapped between the grasp of Meridian’s laboratories and a harsh alien world, Kesh must escape to have any chance of finding his purpose-and place-in the world.

From Below by Darcy Coates

7th June (Poisoned Pen Press)

No light. No air. No escape.
Hundreds of feet beneath the ocean’s surface, a graveyard waits…

Years ago, the SS Arcadia vanished without a trace during a routine voyage. Though a strange, garbled emergency message was broadcast, neither the ship nor any of its crew could be found. Sixty years later, its wreck has finally been discovered more than three hundred miles from its intended course…a silent graveyard deep beneath the ocean’s surface, eagerly waiting for the first sign of life.

Cove and her dive team have been granted permission to explore the Arcadia’s rusting hull. Their purpose is straightforward: examine the wreck, film everything, and, if possible, uncover how and why the supposedly unsinkable ship vanished.

But the Arcadia has not yet had its fill of death, and something dark and hungry watches from below. With limited oxygen and the ship slowly closing in around them, Cove and her team will have to fight their way free of the unspeakable horror now desperate to claim them.

Because once they’re trapped beneath the ocean’s waves, there’s no going back.

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

7th June (Peachtree Publishers)

Prepare to die. His kingdom is near.

Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with.

But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: the cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all.

Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick’s terms…until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own.

A furious, queer debut novel about embracing the monster within and unleashing its power against your oppressors. Perfect for fans of Gideon the Ninth and Annihilation.

Little Bird by Tiffany Meuret

7th June (Black Spot Books)

The skeletons in the closet have nothing on the one in your backyard.

Freshly divorced and grieving the death of her father, Josie Lauer has caged herself inside her home. To cope with her losses, Josie follows a strict daily routine of work, playing with her dog, Po, and trying to remember to eat a decent meal—and ending each night by drinking copious amounts of vodka. In other words, she is not coping at all.

Everything changes when Josie wakes to find a small shrub has sprouted in her otherwise dirt backyard the morning after yet another bender. Within hours, the vine-like plant is running amok—and it’s brought company. The appearance of the unwieldly growth has also heralded the arrival of a busybody new neighbor who insists on thrusting herself into Josie’s life. The neighbor Josie can deal with. The talking skeleton called Skelly that has perched itself in Josie’s backyard on a throne made of vines, however, is an entirely different matter.

As the strangely sentient plant continues to grow and twist its tendrils inside Josie’s suddenly complicated life, Josie begins to realize her new neighbor knows a lot more about the vines and her bizarre new visitor than she initially lets on. There’s a reason Skelly has chosen to appear in Josie’s suddenly-blooming backyard and insists on pulling her out of her carefully kept self-isolation. All Josie has to do is figure out what that reason is—and she has only a few days to do it, or else she might find herself on the wrong side of catastrophe.

LITTLE BIRD is a story about found family, no matter how bizarre.

Screams from the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous edited by Ellen Datlow

7th June (Tor Nightfire)

A bone-chilling new anthology from legendary horror editor, Ellen Datlow, Screams from the Dark contains twenty-nine all-original tales about monsters.

From werewolves and vampires, to demons and aliens, the monster is one of the most recognizable figures in horror. But what makes something, or someone, monstrous?

Award-winning and up-and-coming authors like Richard Kadrey, Cassandra Khaw, Indrapramit Das, Priya Sharma, and more attempt to answer this question. These all-new stories range from traditional to modern, from mainstream to literary, from familiar monsters to the unknown … and unimaginable.

This chilling collection has something to please—and terrify—everyone, so lock your doors, hide under your covers, and try not to scream.

Contributors include: Ian Rogers, Fran Wilde, Gemma Files, Daryl Gregory, Priya Sharma, Brian Hodge, Joyce Carol Oates, Indrapramit Das, Siobhan Carroll, Richard Kadrey, Norman Partridge, Garry Kilworth, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Chikodili Emelumadu, Glen Hirshberg, A. C. Wise, Stephen Graham Jones, Kaaron Warren, Livia Llewellyn, Carole Johnstone, Margo Lanagan, Joe R. Lansdale, Brian Evenson, Nathan Ballingrud, Cassandra Khaw, Laird Barron, Kristi DeMeester, Jeffrey Ford, and John Langan.

Blood Mountain by Brenda S. Tolian

8th June (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

In this mosaic of Southwestern Gothic Horror, a primordial goddess awakens deep within the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The mountain hungers for revenge as invaders leave her emaciated with their greed and brutality. She cries out for blood, infusing the minds of those who do not belong—twisting them outwardly into the dark forms of their true intentions.

An Under Sheriff struggles to grasp brittle threads of hope within the valley and mountains, his soul tormented by the unanswered questions of crimes he can’t explain and the dead and missing he could not help. The demented Red Women fracture the meaning of being maiden, mother, and crone within the shadows of twisted belief systems. Men and women devolve into the grotesque, drowning in their greed and violence transmuting into creatures too hideous to name. Others find seduction on her rocky hips and release within the baptism of her blood. The valley steeped in cults and crime hides something dark, where mirage plays with the senses, disappearances go unexplained, UFOs and creatures await watching in hunger.

This composite novel of interwoven stories and brief vignettes invites the reader to hear the hypnotic call of the Blood Mountain. Will she ask you into her vortex or swallow you whole?

The Hangman Feeds the Jackal by Coy Hall

14th June (Nosetouch Press)

Elijah Valero is a gunfighter afflicted with terrifying hallucinations, including a pervasive one of The Hangman out to kill him.

Dogged by the relentless specter of the Hangman, Valero mistakenly kills innocent victims and is forced to hide in an abandoned monastery for his own safety and for those of others. Once there, he encounters far greater dangers than the imaginary Hangman, and gains a bid for redemption as he faces down some silver-hungry drifters out to terrorize a town for its riches. Fans of the Weird West and Gothic Horror will find satisfaction in THE HANGMAN FEEDS THE JACKAL.

Boys, Beasts & Men by Sam J. Miller

14th June (Tachyon Publications)

In Nebula Award-winning author Sam J. Miller’s devastating debut short-fiction collection, featuring an introduction by Amal El-Mohtar, queer infatuation, inevitable heartbreak, and brutal revenge seamlessly intertwine. Whether innocent, guilty, or not even human, the boys, beasts, and men roaming through Miller’s gorgeously crafted worlds can destroy readers, yet leave them wanting more.

Despite his ability to control the ambient digital cloud, a foster teen falls for a clever con-man. Luring bullies to a quarry, a boy takes clearly enumerated revenge through unnatural powers of suggestion. In the aftermath of a shapeshifting alien invasion, a survivor fears that he brought something out of the Arctic to infect the rest of the world. A rebellious group of queer artists create a new identity that transcends even the anonymity of death.

Sam J. Miller (Blackfish City, The Art of Starving) shows his savage wit, unrelenting candor, and lush imagery in this essential career retrospective collection, taking his place alongside legends of the short-fiction form such as Carmen Maria Machado, Carson McCullers, and Jeff VanderMeer.

We Can Never Leave This Place by Eric LaRocca

24th June (Trepidatio Publishing)

“When you’re given a gift, something else gets taken away.”

A precocious young girl with an unusual imagination is sent on an odyssey into the depths of depravity. After her father dies violently, young Mara is surprised to find her mother welcoming a new guest into their home, claiming that he will protect them from the world of devastation and destruction outside their door.

A grotesque and thrilling dark fantasy, We Can Never Leave This Place is a harrowing portrait of inherited grief and familial trauma.

The Clackity by Lora Senf

28th June (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)

Reminiscent of Doll Bones, this deliciously eerie middle grade novel tells the story of a girl who must enter a world of ghosts, witches, and monsters to play a game with deadly consequences and rescue her aunt.

Evie Von Rathe lives in Blight Harbor—the seventh-most haunted town in America—with her Aunt Desdemona, the local paranormal expert. Des doesn’t have many rules except one: Stay out of the abandoned slaughterhouse at the edge of town. But when her aunt disappears into the building, Evie goes searching for her.

There she meets The Clackity, a creature who lives in the shadows and seams of the slaughterhouse. The Clackity makes a deal with Evie to help get Des back in exchange for the ghost of John Jeffrey Pope, a serial killer who stalked Blight Harbor a hundred years earlier. Evie must embark on a journey into a strange otherworld filled with hungry witches, penny-eyed ghosts, and a memory-thief, all while being pursued by a dead man whose only goal is to add Evie to his collection of lost souls.

Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert

30th June (Penguin)

SECRETS. LIES. SUPER-BAD CHOICES. WITCHCRAFT. This is Our Crooked Hearts – a gripping mystery crossed with a pitch-dark fantasy from Melissa Albert, global bestselling author of The Hazel Wood.

In our family, we keep our magic close, but our secrets closer . . .

Ivy’s summer kicks off with a series of disturbing events. As unnatural offerings appear on her doorstep, she’s haunted by fragmented memories from her childhood, suggesting there’s more to her mother, Dana, than meets the eye.

Dana’s tale starts the year she turns sixteen, when she embarks on a major fling with the supernatural. Too late she realizes that the powers she’s playing with are also playing with her.

Years after it began, Ivy and Dana’s shared story will come down to a reckoning between a mother, a daughter and the dark forces they never should have messed with.

 

Science Fiction

The Peacekeeper (The Good Lands #1) by B.L. Blanchard

1st June (47North)

Against the backdrop of a never-colonized North America, a broken Ojibwe detective embarks on an emotional and twisting journey toward solving two murders, rediscovering family, and finding himself.

North America was never colonized. The United States and Canada don’t exist. The Great Lakes are surrounded by an independent Ojibwe nation. And in the village of Baawitigong, a Peacekeeper confronts his devastating past.

Twenty years ago to the day, Chibenashi’s mother was murdered and his father confessed. Ever since, caring for his still-traumatized younger sister has been Chibenashi’s privilege and penance. Now, on the same night of the Manoomin harvest, another woman is slain. His mother’s best friend. This leads to a seemingly impossible connection that takes Chibenashi far from the only world he’s ever known.

The major city of Shikaakwa is home to the victim’s cruelly estranged family—and to two people Chibenashi never wanted to see again: his imprisoned father and the lover who broke his heart. As the questions mount, the answers will change his and his sister’s lives forever. Because Chibenashi is about to discover that everything about their lives has been a lie.

The City Inside by Samit Basu

7th June (Tordotcom)

This near-future epic by the internationally celebrated Samit Basu pulls no punches as it comes for your anxieties about society, government, the environment, and our world at large—yet never loses sight of the hopeful potential of the future.

“They’d known the end times were coming but hadn’t known they’d be multiple choice.”

Joey is a Reality Controller in near future Delhi. Her job is to supervise the multimedia multi-reality livestreams of Indi, one of South Asia’s fastest rising online celebrities—who also happens to be her college ex. Joey’s job gives her considerable culture-power, but she’s too caught up in day-to-day crisis-handling to see this, or to figure out what she wants from her life.

Rudra is a recluse estranged from his wealthy and powerful family, fled to an impoverished immigrant neighborhood where he loses himself in video games and his neighbors’ lives. When his father’s death pulls him back into his family’s orbit, an impulsive job offer from Joey becomes his only escape from the life he never wanted.

But no good deed goes unpunished. As Joey and Rudra become enmeshed in multiple conspiracies, their lives start to spin out of control, complicated by dysfunctional relationships, corporate loyalty, and the never-ending pressures of surveillance capitalism. When a bigger picture begins to unfold around them, they must each decide how to do the right thing in a shadowy world where simply maintaining the status quo feels like an accomplishment. Ultimately, resistance will not—cannot—take the same shape for these two very different people.

Vows of Empire (The Bloodright Trilogy #3) by Emily Skrutskie

14th June (Del Rey)

Two young princes on opposite sides of a war must decide between loyalty and love in this galaxy-shaking finale of the Bloodright Trilogy.

Gal and Ettian have never been farther apart. Once, they were roommates and best friends, each suffocating under a secret of galactic consequence. When Gal’s came to light—that he was heir to the Umber Empire and all of its brutal conquest—the two were forced to flee their military academy, fall in with a brewing rebellion to reclaim the Archon Empire from Umber’s grasp, and face their long-held feelings for each other.

Then the rebellion discovered Gal’s identity and to save his life, Ettian had no choice but to unveil his own secret: that he was the long-lost heir to the Archon throne. With Gal as a political prisoner, Ettian began the fight to restore his own empire—and to open Gal’s eyes to the possibility of a galaxy reclaimed from Umber’s greed. But just when Gal was starting to come around, a team of Umber operatives rescued him from Archon’s clutches and dragged him home to take up his crown.

Now, separated for the first time and in full command of the might of their respective forces, the star-crossed rulers find themselves truly at odds. And with the war reaching a tipping point, the time has finally come for Gal and Ettian to confront what they owe their empires, their friends, and each other if they’re ever to forge a universe where the two of them can be together.

The Seed of Cain (Record Keeper #2) by Agnes Gomillion

21st June (Titan Books)

Return to the startlingly original dystopian world of The Record Keeper in this stunning sequel. For readers of Octavia Butler, Kim Stanley Robinson, Nnedi Okorafor and Tade Thompson comes this Afrofuturist tour de force.

General Arika Cobane, beloved leader of the worker rebellion, makes a bold—but illegal—move to ensure the people’s freedom. When her scheme fails and her co-conspirator hangs for treason, Arika—overworked and overwrought—blacks out.

When she awakens, everything has changed. She’s been stripped of her rank and power and the new leader of the Kongo, Kira Swan, is a charismatic traitor bent on consigning the Kongo under the guise of peace.

Desperate, Arika reunites with Hosea Kahn and seeks treatment for her blackouts at the Compound, deep in the deadly Obi Forest. Arika is determined to regain her influence, stop Kira Swan, and continue leading the Kongo to freedom, but time is running out and she’s still unwell. Control is slipping from her fingers. When a new source of strength presents itself, an ancient authority reserved for the One destined to save the Kongo, Arika gives up everything, including Hosea Khan, to grasp the power, but—all alone, and sick and tired—can she muster the will to hold it?

Shadow of the Sith (Star Wars Disney Canon Novel) by Adam Christopher

28th June (Penguin)

Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian return in this essential novel set between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.

The Empire is dead. Nearly two decades on from the Battle of Endor, the tattered remnants of Palpatine’s forces have fled to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. But for the heroes of the New Republic, danger and loss are ever-present companions, even in this newly forged era of peace.

Jedi Master Luke Skywalker is haunted by visions of the dark side, foretelling an ominous secret growing somewhere in the depths of space, on a dead world called Exegol. The disturbance in the Force is undeniable…and Luke’s worst fears are confirmed when his old friend, Lando Calrissian, comes to him with reports of a new Sith menace.

After his daughter was stolen from his arms, Lando searched the stars for any trace of his lost child. But every new rumor only led to dead ends and fading hopes-until he crossed paths with Ochi of Bestoon, a Sith assassin tasked with kidnapping a young girl.

Ochi’s true motives remain shrouded to Luke and Lando. For on a junkyard moon, a mysterious envoy of the Sith Eternal has bequeathed a sacred blade to the assassin, promising that it will give him answers to the questions that have haunted him since the Empire fell. In exchange, he must complete a final mission: return to Exegol with the key to the Sith’s glorious rebirth-the granddaughter of Darth Sidious himself, Rey.

As Ochi hunts Rey and her parents to the edge of the galaxy, Luke and Lando race into the mystery of the Sith’s lingering shadow and aid a young family running for their lives.

Resolute (The Lost Fleet: Outlands #2) by Jack Campbell

28th June (Titan Books)

The New York Times-bestselling series continues as Admiral ‘Black Jack’ Geary commands the fleet deep into alien space and leads humanity to the galactic stage.

Admiral John ‘Black Jack’ Geary faces new frontiers as he leads his fleet on a mission that could change humanity’s understanding the of universe itself.

Having survived political warfare Geary must lead a diplomatic mission to establish a new embassy with the cryptic but welcoming Dancers. His battle group, and the scientists and ambassadors they’re escorting, must cross territory controlled by the mysterious, and deadly, Enigmas. And saboteurs and assassins still hide in his crew.

Carrying the burden of his own legend, Geary must embody the best of military leadership, whether as a brilliant tactical commander or a man who knows the price of pulling the trigger. Knowing every decision he makes will be assessed on the galactic stage.

Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson

28th June (Tordotcom)

Eddie Robson’s Drunk on All Your Strange New Words is a locked room mystery in a near future world of politics and alien diplomacy.

Lydia works as translator for the Logi cultural attaché to Earth. They work well together, even if the act of translating his thoughts into English makes her somewhat wobbly on her feet. She’s not the agency’s best translator, but what else is she going to do? She has no qualifications, and no discernible talent in any other field.

So when tragedy strikes, and Lydia finds herself at the center of an intergalactic incident, her future employment prospects look dire—that is, if she can keep herself out of jail!

But Lydia soon discovers that help can appear from the most unexpected source…

Sands of Dune: Novellas from the Worlds of Dune by Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson

30th June (Gollancz)

Collected for the first time, these Dune novellas by bestselling authors Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson shine a light upon the darker corners of the Dune universe. Spanning space and time, Sands of Dune is essential reading for any fan of the series.

The world of Dune has shaped an entire generation of science fiction. From the sand blasted world of Arrakis, to the splendor of the imperial homeworld of Kaitain, readers have lived in a universe of treachery and wonder.

Now, these stories expand on the Dune universe, telling of the lost years of Gurney Halleck as he works with smugglers on Arrakis in a deadly gambit for revenge; inside the ranks of the Sardaukar as the child of a betrayed nobleman becomes one of the Emperor’s most ruthless fighters; a young firebrand Fremen woman, a guerrilla fighter against the ruthless Harkonnens, who will one day become Shadout Mapes.

 

Mixed

The Flight of Anja (The Vinland Viking Saga #2) by Tamara Goranson

3rd June (One More Chapter) 

Anja Freydisdottir has always heard whispers of her mother’s adventures in Vinland. All she longs for is to spread her wings and follow them but she’s trapped by the expectations of 11th-century society.

Liberation comes from an unexpected source when her kin show their true colours and she is helped to flee across the Atlantic on a Viking longboat bound for Vinland shores.

Haunted by the ominous shadows of a family history she does not know, Anja must seek a perilous path into an unfamiliar wilderness to find her answers…

The Flight of Anja is an unmissable historical novel of epic adventure and forbidden love – perfect for fans of Vikings and Outlander.

Junji Ito Collection: A Horror Coloring Book

7th June (Titan Books)

Explore the macabre mind of Japan’s master of horror, Junji Ito, in this chilling adult coloring book.

The Junji Ito Collection Coloring Book is the perfect gift for fans of manga’s master of the macabre. This officially licensed compendium features dozens of terrifying scenes from Junji Ito Collection to color, showcasing Ito’s uniquely twisted brand of horror. Ghosts, demons, monsters and more await your pencils inside!

I’ll Die After Bingo: Care Homes, the Elderly and Me by Pope Lonergan

16th June (Ebury Press)

Resident: I feel I want to keep talking.
Me: Of course! What do you want to talk about?
Resident: My heart.
Me: What about your heart?
Resident: I feel I want to touch it.
Me: Your heart? You want to touch your heart?
Resident: Yes, but I’m too frightened.
Me: What are you frightened about?
Resident: Everything. People. Things.
Me: What’s frightening you at this very moment?
Resident: (Closes eyes). That I’ll never be touched again. That I won’t be able to get to my heart.
Me: Metaphorically?
Resident: More carrots please.

Whether he’s initiating a coup d’état against new regulations with the residents, or forging a bond with the 98-year old who once called him a fat slut, Pope Lonergan’s work is infinitely varied. This no-holds-barred account shows what life inside a care home is really like, for both residents and carers. Featuring night-time drama, incontinence pads and the uniquely dark humour of one double-amputee Alzheimer’s patient, here you can learn everything you ever wanted to know (and a few things you probably really didn’t) about Britain’s care system.

This important memoir challenges us all to think differently about the value of our elderly, and also the carers who look after them.

 

What’s catching your eye this month, readers? Anything I’ve missed? Let’s chat in the comments!