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It seems like we’ll be well-equipped to welcome spooky season this month since there are a whopping 113 queersff books being released. You can find the full list in our storygraph tag or our online spreadsheet. 

Not a horror fan ? Not to worry, a large portion of the list still consists of fantasy titles. It’s also a great month for queer scifi, with highly anticipated releases from popular scifi authors like Becky Chambers, Annalee Newitz and Yoon Ha Lee

Here are our top 12 new release highlights: 

1. As You Wake, Break the Shell by Becky Chambers - Five years since the end of the Wayfarers series, Becky Chambers is bringing us back to space with a sapphic story about a botanist, a pilot, and the pilot’s alien transport that she’s telepathically connected to. 
2. Find Me Where It Ends by Cassandra Khaw - Cassandra Khaw (The Salt Grows Heavy, Nothing but Blackened Teeth) returns with another horror novella just in time for Halloween. In this one, a young woman wakes up to find the black hound of Death at her front door, but welcomes it instead of being afraid. 
3. A Wall Is Also a Road by Annalee Newitz - What happens when an alien slime mold pays an academic visit to Earth and ends up in Pompeii ? Find out in this new book from the author of Automatic Noodle and The Terraformers.
4. Public Access Afterworld by Jane Schoenbrun - If you’ve watched and enjoyed I Saw the TV Glow or Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, the director Jane Schoenbrun is making their literary debut with an epic horror-scifi that spans decades and realities, and involves a mysterious realm behind the TV static that people seem to be disappearing into. 
5. Carrying by Samantha Josephs - In this horror debut, the main character Martha is a perfect wife, with a doting husband and stepdaughter. Her only secret ? She’s a trans woman and they have no idea. Complications arise when she impossibly falls pregnant and her body starts to change. 
6. Spoke by Kat Leyh - A post-apocalyptic graphic novel following the journey of a non-verbal bicycle courier in a world where all power sources were mysteriously neutralized. 
7. Quaint Folk by Bitter Karella - This is a new folk horror novel in which a stay-at-home mom is determined to make a fresh start at the remote island her family has moved to, but she soon discovers that this small town life is not as charming as she thought, and dark secrets await. Bitter Karella is also the author of Moonflow, which is this month’s book club pick !
8. What a Nightmare by Rebekah Faubion - Haven has learned to carefully set aside her true feelings, but all hell breaks loose when her literal nightmares become a reality. Should she try to curb this new power too, or embrace it ? 
9. The Slantwise Histories by Alix E. Harrow - A collection of historical fantasy short stories from the author of The Everlasting. All of them share a theme of defiance, with characters struggling against their unfair circumstances. 
10. As We Fall Through Time by Claire North - A genderfluid time traveller tries to make alterations to avert the fate of his lover. Another time traveller is sent down a similar path when she encounters her corpse in a museum. Time is a fragile thing though, and everything they’ve built threatens to come crashing down.
11. She Isn’t Herself Tonight by Hailey Piper - This is Hailey Piper’s second 2026 release, with the first releasing just last month and also featured on our highlights. Rabbit, the protagonist, has been abducted by aliens twice before, once when she was ten and again when she was twenty. Soon to turn thirty, strange happenings and transformations begin to plague her as she awaits her third abduction. 
12. Milkteeth by Caitlin Starling - October highlights wouldn’t be complete without a lesbian vampire entry, and as a bonus, it’s from the author of The Luminous Dead and The Starving Saints. Beatrice is a vampire responsible for raising other newly-turned vampires, but she must suddenly team up with a human OB-GYN to figure out why her body seems to be transforming into something even worse. (American readers will have to wait a bit longer for it to drop on November 10th)

Here are our sources: 

• Netgalley
• Barnes and Noble
• Locusmag
• Smokedshelves’ Goodreads List
• Kila Writes Queer SF Masterlist
• Every Book a Doorway
• Storygraph
• Amazon (Books Coming Soon)
• Kobo

 

Let us know if we’ve missed something and we’ll add it in. 

Which books are you most looking forward to ? Have you already read the ARCs of some of these ? Let us know in the comments 👇

Cozy fantasy enjoyers rejoice, pumpkin spice season is upon us ! It’s a big month for queer retellings, with upcoming reimagined versions of Frankenstein (Adam, Mine. by K. Ancrum), The Invisible Man (A Most Abhorrent Vessel by Marat Earendel), Bluebeard (A Thousand Monstrous Forms by Saratoga Schaefer), and two Shakespeare plays: Hamlet (Thoughts Be Bloody by Auden Patrick) and Twelfth Night (Hearts on the Table by Susan Metallo). 

We wrongly assumed that there wouldn’t be much lined up for September since everyone is saving their queer horror releases for October, but there are 88 new releases this month ! 

Here are twelve that particularly caught our eye: 

1. She’s a Doll by Barbara Truelove - If you enjoyed Monsters and Mainframes (our recent book club pick), the author Barbara Truelove is returning with an equally exciting horror novel about a ghost possessing one of those unsettling antique dolls in order to exact revenge on the man who killed her.
2. Espíritu by Aiden Thomas - Six years after its release, Cemetery Boys is finally getting a sequel ! Julian is having dark visions that Yadriel cannot explain. Teaming up with Ángel, a new non-binary brujx, they must seek the root of these disturbances. 
3. Bodies of Magic by Freya Marske - A new fantasy murder mystery from the author of the Last Binding series. Group projects are bad enough, but in this magical medschool, five students must work together to pass the big exam that will dictate the rest of their lives. Things get complicated when their classmate is found dead on the same day. 
4. Baldur’s Gate 3: Astarion by T. Kingfisher - Gaymers will love this Baldur’s gate 3 prequel focusing on Astarion’s backstory, as he plots to escape his vampire master’s control. Even better, it’s written by T. Kingfisher, who queersff readers will recognize as the author of the Sworn Soldier novella series, among other great fantasy titles. 
5. The Need by Megan Mostyn-Brown - Through multiple POVs, this follows two families that are afflicted with a rare genetic condition that forces them to cannibalize to survive. Their lifestyles are drastically different: one is constantly on the run, while the other lives in luxury. But dark secrets are boiling beneath the surface; perhaps they have more in common than they think?
6. A Thousand Monstrous Forms by Saratoga Schaefer - This is a sapphic retelling of the French folktale Bluebeard. After an impulsive wedding, a ceramic artist moves into the mysterious mansion of her rich art dealer wife. Naturally, it is haunted and contains an alluring forbidden basement. Curiosity may kill the cat.
7. This is How the World Ends by Disco Barrington - Set in a dystopian UK, torn by war, isolation and floods, this epistolary novella pieces together how things fall apart as the world ends. It features trans and sapphic rep, and is brimming with queer rage. 
8. Feed the Tree by Wendy Dalrymple - In the late 19th century, a bisexual woman seeking respite from her miserable life strikes a deal with a swamp witch, and will have to do unspeakable things to get what she wants. 
9. This Movie Doesn’t End the Way We Want by Hailey Piper - Somewhere in the 90s, three kids watched an obscure film at the cinema and all but one disappeared. Thirty years later, when the film comes back to haunt the sole survivor in the form of another murder, she teams up with her former cinephile classmate to get to the bottom of it. 
10. We, the Drowning by Lindz McLeod - A cli-fi dystopia where a disaster-ravaged earth is divided between two factions: The Parched (a desert commune clinging to survival) and the Flooded (a drowning cult). When war threatens to break out, Cole, a young trans man from the Parched, must go looking for solutions, with the help of a rescued Flooded girl, and a pink fairy armadillo. 
11. We turn Gruesome at Night by Eric LaRocca - The second instalment of the Burnt Sparrow Trilogy by Eric LaRocca, who is most well-known for his divisive horror novella Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke. The story picks up ten years after the first book’s massacre, and Rupert must now delve into a secret organization that’s taking over the town.
12. The Shapeshifter’s Guide to Gym Class by Kai Cheng Thom - A charming middle-grade debut about a young shapeshifter girl navigating school life, while simultaneously dealing with her surprising new giant moth wings (?!) and the growing societal prejudice against shapeshifting folks.

 

For the full list of new releases, please refer to our online spreadsheet or our Storygraph tag. Let us know if we missed anything and we’ll add them in !

Here are our sources: 

• Netgalley
• Smokedshelves’ Goodreads List
• Kila Writes Queer SF Masterlist
• Locusmag
• Barnes and Noble
• Every Book a Doorway
• Storygraph
• Indie Next List
• Sapphically Reads (Instagram)
• Shayna’s Library (Instagram)

Which books are you most looking forward to ? Have you already read the ARCs of some of these ? Let us know in the comments 👇

July has finally dragged to an end ! Between the heatwaves, floods and fires around the world, it has really felt like we’re trapped in a cli-fi. Here’s hoping that August brings some milder weather along with the 62 (!) new queersff books lined up for release this month. 

With so many options there’s sure to be something for everyone, but here are the top 12 we’re most excited about: 

1. A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett - The highly anticipated third instalment of the Shadow of the Leviathan series. The brilliant unconventional detective Ana Dolabra and her long-suffering bi assistant Din find themselves in the empire’s meat production district with another murder mystery on their hands.
2. Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher - A very gay sequel to Swordheart. A traveling scholar discovers that the relic he is transporting contains a trapped immortal warrior. They might fall for each other 👀
3. The Divine Gardener’s Handbook: Or What To Do If Your Girlfriend Accidentally Turns Off the Sun by Eli Snow - If that title alone didn’t convince you, we would like to add that this a heated rivalry 😏 but for sapphic gardeners employed by a God. 
4. The Ink Eater by Alice G. Brooks - Gothic horror story featuring a homoromantic asexual MC who lives in a sentient house and spends his days eating stories, until he is interrupted by a shapeshifter of his own creation.
5. Earthbound by Saara El-Arifi - The final book of the obeah-inspired Faebound trilogy. Heartbreaks and hard truths clash in the fae realm as siblings Yeeran and Lettle continue on their journeys.
6. In What World by Bridget Morrissey - Another sapphic rivals-to-lovers entry ? on our highlights list ? It’s more likely than you think. We follow a couple of theatre kids who get swept up into alternate realities while searching for their missing teacher.
7. Season of the Serpent by Suyi Davies Okungbowa - The final instalment of the Nameless Republic, a West-African inspired fantasy trilogy. The stakes have never been higher as the world teeters on the brink of war.
8. Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay by Lex Croucher - The sequel to Gwen & Art Are Not in Love. This time, we get the POVs of Bridget (a sapphic knight) and Gabe (a reluctant royal), who are both severely burnt out by their duties. There’s sapphic AND achillean representation, so everyone’s happy.
9. The Halls of the Dead by S.M. Hallow - An attempted resurrection goes very, very wrong in this new gothic horror from the author of How To Survive This Fairytale. There’s necromancy, witch hunts, polyamory, and even an undead husband.
10. Bite Me by Jennifer Dugan and Kit Seaton - Lesbian. Vampire. Graphic Novel. Need we say more ? Fine, the love interest is also a Vampire Slayer. Perfect for fans of the cancelled Netflix series First Kill.
11. The Blue Moon Café & 24-Hour Occult Emporium by Lexie Sharabianlou - A sapphic cozy fantasy where the worst coffee shop in town is actually a front for a magical witness protection program ☕
12. A (Dead) Thing Like Me by E.G. Young - A campy YA horror debut where Hot Dog, the teen ghost protagonist, haunts a food cart in NYC. But the haunter becomes the haunted when she is accidentally summoned to the eerie home of a grieving girl in Florida.

 

For the full list of new releases, please refer to our online spreadsheet or our storygraph tag. Let us know if we missed anything and we’ll add them in !

Here are our sources: 

• Netgalley
• Smokedshelves’ Goodreads List
• Locusmag
• Barnes and Noble
• Every Book a Doorway
• Publisher’s Weekly
• Storygraph
• Indie Next List
• saphicallyreads (Instagram)
• eloise_bradbooks (Instagram)

Which books are you most looking forward to ? Have you already read the ARCs of some of these ? Let us know in the comments 👇

It's July! As pride month draws to an end, what better way to carry that energy forward than to curl up and explore some new queersff worlds? The number doesn't quite compare to the big wave of pride publications, but we're happy to report that there's still a lot of cool books coming out this month. Here are our top 12 picks!

1. Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle: Love is real! Chuck Tingle returns with another horror novel, this time about a grave robber and a dead rockstar come back to life. 
2. The Dragon Has Some Complaints by John Wiswell: From the author of "Someone You Can Build a Nest In", comes a new book about a disabled four three-headed dragon with a different personality per head. He infiltrates the local dragon riding academy for snacks but finds himself an excitable dragon rider instead. 
3. Moss'd in Space by Rebecca Thorne: A new first in series from the author of the Tomes & Tea series! Follow MC Torian aboard an alien spaceship with sentient moss. You can find an early spoiler-free review by u/Ryukotaicho here 
4. We Were Never Here by Sophia Hannan: An exciting debut involving art thieves, ghost hunting, haunted mansions and murder. 
5. Felicity Complex by August Clarke: A dystopian cold war era satire set in a luxury nuclear bunker for billionaires, staffed by lab-grown women who may not be as compliant as intended…
6. Null Entity by Seth Haddon: The sequel to Volatile Memory, we're back for bloody revenge on the techbros running the galaxy
7. Misery's Wife by Joan Tierney: This is a queer cli-fi reimagining of a Portuguese folktale, featuring a trans woman MC. There's a jester involved, as a bonus. 
8. Ladies of the Knight by Fiona Marchbank: We saw this is a graphic novel about sapphic knights and it immediately made the list 
9. I Do Not Apologize for My Position on Men by Rae Wilde: A collection of standalone sapphic horror short stories, a quadrilogy of connected stories, and an interactive pick-a-path novelette. 
10. The Language of Knives by Haralambi Markov: An intriguing collection of queer short stories based on Slavic mythology
11. The Flayed Man by Chloe Lauter: Set in the Mojave Desert, MC is a doctor who struggles to manage her familial curse of bloodthirstiness, while also finding herself in a budding romance with a paramedic. 
12. Perverts by Mac Crane: A short story collection exploring queer bodies and desire. (Disclaimer: Not all the stories are speculative)

For the full list of July 2026 queer releases, please refer to our storygraph tag or our google sheet

Our sources were Smokedshelves’ Goodreads List, Netgalley, Locusmag and Queer Lit

Which new releases are you most excited for? Have we missed anything on our lists? Let us know in the comments 👇

Hi everyone, I'm a knitting beginner who has just finished ChemKnit's DNA Cable Headband using an acrylic yarn. I've wet blocked it twice, before and after stitching together the ends.

I'm quite happy with it but it has a 2 stitch garter edge on either side and they flop inwards in resting position (as seen in the image).

This is only my second project so I'm wondering whether this is normal and I'm just being too perfectionist, or whether this is an issue that can be fixed with better blocking technique ? Reluctant to use any kind of heat on the project without knowing with certainty that it'll help.