The end of summer is approaching, but there’s still a full month of what we can technically refer to as “summer reading.” Good thing August has a galaxy’s worth of new sci-fi and fantasy book releases, with parallel universes, ghost hunters, supernatural battles, deep-space intrigue, all manner of witches, and so much more. Read on!
Billy Summers by Stephen King
The best-selling author’s latest page-turner is about a war vet turned assassin, prized for his skills as a sniper. He’s ready to leave that life behind until what should be his final job brings him into contact with an extraordinary evil. (August 3)
The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould
When famous TV ghost hunters arrive in a small Oregon town, they’re pulled into a mystery involving missing teens who are seemingly haunting those they left behind. A local girl and the ghost hunters’ daughter forge an unexpected bond as they race to uncover the truth. (August 3)
The Desert Prince by Peter V. Brett
The author kicks off a new series set in the world of his Demon Cycle novels with this tale of two young people — a princess and the son of a hero — growing up in the wake of a supernatural war that might not actually be over. Read an excerpt here. (August 3)
Holdout by Jeffrey Kluger
After an accident aboard the International Space Station, all the astronauts evacuate except for a single American, who realises she now has the perfect platform for righting an injustice back on Earth. (August 3)
A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee
At a boarding school rumoured to be haunted by the ghosts of witches, two students set out to research the past when its dark mysteries seemingly start invading the present. (August 3)
Monkey Around by Jadie Jang
This San Francisco-set tale follows the adventures of a “barisa, activist, and were-monkey” who gets political in the streets when she’s not being drawn into supernatural matters, including a rash of shapeshifter murders. (August 3)
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky
With Earth destroyed, the few remaining members of the human race are adrift in space — along with “enhanced humans” engineered for an alien war that’s now far in the past. When one such crew discovers a relic seemingly abandoned by their alien foes, they must figure out what it all means before it’s too late. (August 3)
Starlight Enclave by R.A. Salvatore
Celebrate the “Summer of Drizzt” with the first book in the author’s latest adventure trilogy featuring Drizzt Do’Urden and other characters from Dungeons & Dragons’ Forgotten Realms. (August 3)
The Tale of Princess Fatima: Warrior Woman: The Arabic Epic of Dhat al-Himma edited and translated by Melanie Magidow
Touted as “the only Arabic epic named for a woman” and being published in English for the first time, this tale explores the life of Dhat al-Himma, also known as Princess Fatima, a skilled rider and swordswoman who fought against oppression and persecution to become a legendary warrior. (August 3)
The Wild Ones by Nafiza Azad
A group of teenage girls gains magical powers from a mysterious boy who rescues each of them from dark situations — then must band together to rescue him when he’s captured by malevolent forces. (August 3)
The Hand of the Sun King by J.T. Greathouse
A boy torn between his father, whose family has long served the empire, and his mother, the latest in a long line of rebellious sorcerers, must decide which path to follow as he forges his own future. (August 5)
The Maleficent Seven by Cameron Johnston
A band of warriors led by a demonologist general must reunite in a small town 40 years after their first victory to make (what else?) one last stand. (August 10)
The Other Me by Sarah Zachrich Jeng
When a Chicago artist suddenly plunges into an alternate version of her life, she must figure out how to negotiate her new existence — all while dealing with strange memories and blips in reality that make her unable to trust even her own perceptions. (August 10)
Paper & Blood by Kevin Hearne
The Ink & Sigil series continues, as do the adventures of Al MacBharrais, a Scottish “sigil agent” who can craft magic spells using ink and paper. When a colleague vanishes in Australia, he must travel halfway around the world to solve the supernatural mystery. (August 10)
The Rookery by Deborah Hewitt
The Nightjar series returns to London’s magical Rookery as Alice Wyndham, who can see people’s souls, struggles to get a grasp on her powers while striving to overcome her troubled past. (August 10)
She Wouldn’t Change a Thing by Sarah Adlakha
A woman who suddenly wakes up as the 17-year-old version of herself — except with all her adult memories intact — must figure out how to reunite with the husband and children she’s unwittingly become separated from. (August 10)
The Sisters of Reckoning by Charlotte Nicole Davis
The sequel to The Good Luck Girls returns to the fantasy-tinged Wild West, where Aster and company fight to help magical “dustbloods” escape oppression and cross the border, where freedom and safety await — at least, until a new threat begins to rise. (August 10)
Cazadora by Romina Garber
This follow-up to Lobizona takes more cues from Argentine folklore as it follows Manu — whose half-human, half-supernatural status marks her as “illegal” — as she enters a cursed realm trying to find allies and fellow revolutionaries. But the malevolent Cazadores are in hot pursuit, and Manu’s not entirely sure who she can trust. (August 17)
Chasing the Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar
A recent college grad hoping to spark a writing career returns to his Maryland hometown right when a serial killer — whose crimes are so awful it’s rumoured the perpetrator may not be human — starts stalking local teens. Inspired, he starts penning a true-crime tale about the events he’s in the midst of. (August 17)
The Endless Skies by Shannon Price
This standalone epic fantasy is about a city of shapeshifters and the human warriors sworn to protect them, including a teenage girl who discovers a terrible truth just when she’s about to take her oath of service. (August 17)
The Exiled Fleet by J.S. Dewes
The Divide series continues as the survivors of the events of The Last Watch find themselves stranded at the edge of the universe, where they’re forced to make new alliances and dodge their enemies if they want to stay alive. (August 17)
The Family Plot by Megan Collins
A woman raised in isolation by true crime-obsessed parents (alongside true crime-obsessed siblings) develops an obsession of her own that just might involve her unusual family: tracking down whoever killed her twin brother when they were teens. (August 17)
King Bullet by Richard Kadrey
The Sandman Slim series concludes as half-human, half-angel Stark confronts mayhem in Los Angeles, where a dangerous virus has everyone on edge — as does a supernaturally-powered gang leader who’s eagerly exploiting the chaos. (August 17)
Neptune by Ben Bova
The late Hugo winner’s Outer Planets trilogy continues with this posthumous entry, as Ilona Magyr heads to Neptune to search for her missing father — but instead finds an alien ship that’s crashed deep within in the ice giant’s ocean. (August 17)
Never Say You Can’t Survive: How to Get Through Hard Times By Making Up Stories by Charlie Jane Anders
This nonfiction book from the acclaimed novelist (and co-founder of Gizmodo) is described as “a practical guide to storytelling” during dark times, reminding readers that “writing can be an act of resistance that reminds us that other futures and other ways of living are possible.” (August 17)
Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko
The Raybearer duology concludes with this YA fantasy following Tarasai’s struggle to survive as she sits upon her new throne — and strives to change her fate, which requires eventual self-sacrifice into the Underworld. (August 17)
Requiem of Silence by L. Penelope
The Earthsinger Chronicles series concludes as Elsira surges toward unification under the magical Queen Jasminda. But there are forces determined to keep that from happening that only Kyara and the other Nethersingers can stop. (August 17)
A Terrible Fall of Angels by Laurell K. Hamilton
A new series begins with Detective Zaniel Havelock, who can talk to angels in a world plagued by demons — one of whom just might be the perpetrator in his latest murder case. (August 17)
Wildwood Whispers by Willa Reece
A young woman visits an Appalachian mountain town to fulfil her late best friend’s final wish, and discovers she has a deep connection to the area’s special folk magic — as well as a less enticing link to a dark presence in the local forest. (August 17)
Burden Falls by Kat Ellis
A year after the death of her parents in a terrible accident, a young woman who’s been plagued by ghostly nightmares suffers another loss — this time, the murder of someone close to her. Could the ghost, a figure tied to her hometown’s spookiest legend, be responsible? (August 24)
Devil in the Device by Lora Beth Johnson
The Goddess in the Machine duology concludes as Zhade takes the throne and Andra goes into hiding — but they’ll have to work together if they have any hope of stopping the rogue technology that’s threatening to end humanity. (August 24)
Light Chaser by Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell
This sci-fi adventure follows a Light Chaser as she travels around the universe collecting stories. Over time, though, she begins to realise there’s a pattern emerging within the stories — foretelling a dark future she’s uniquely poised to prevent. (August 24)
The Pariah by Anthony Ryan
A onetime outlaw’s quest for vengeance leads him down an unexpected path: fighting in the king’s army. But when a demonic threat rises, he must decide if he’s willing to fully embrace life as a warrior. (August 24)
The Second Rebel by Linden A. Lewis
The follow-up to The First Sister finds Astrid working hard to overthrow the religious order she’s managed to infiltrate, Hiro hunting down a digital woman to help the rebellion’s cause in deep space, Lito orchestrating a prison break, and Luciana pondering whether to join the fight. (August 24)
Twenty-Five to Life by R.W.W. Greene
After a colony mission aimed at preserving the human race departs Earth, everyone left behind must bide their time until the inevitable end of the world. Weary of her oppressive family, one young woman decides to ride it out with a nomadic group of outsiders. (August 24)
Alien 3: The Unproduced First-Draft Screenplay by William Gibson by Pat Cadigan and William Gibson
How’s this for a cool collaboration? “The first-draft [and eventually, never-adapted] Alien 3 screenplay by William Gibson, the founder of cyberpunk, turned into a novel by Pat Cadigan, the Hugo Award-winning ‘Queen of Cyberpunk.’”
Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain
In this supernatural thriller, a 17-year-old goes missing in a small Louisiana town known as “the Psychic Capital of the World” — but for some reason, nobody’s come forward with any clues. The girl’s best friend turns detective and discovers dangerous secrets in her midst. (August 31)
The Devil You Know by Kit Rocha
The post-apocalyptic Mercenary Librarians series continues with the author’s latest entry, which sees Maya’s team fighting to save a group of genetically enhanced children. (August 31)
Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche by Nancy Springer
In this first Enola Holmes adventure since the Netflix adaptation, Sherlock and Mycroft’s 15-year-old sister takes on a new case involving a woman who’s convinced her twin is still alive, though her sibling’s very suspicious husband claims otherwise. (August 31)
Everything in All the Wrong Order: The Best of Chaz Brenchley by Chaz Brenchley
This retrospective collects more than 30 stories from the speculative fiction author’s 30-plus year career. (August 31)
Forestborn by Elayne Audrey Becker
An orphaned shapeshifter is called upon to use her gifts when a magical illness takes ahold of her best friend, who happens to be the prince. She’ll have to make a perilous quest into the wilds of her former forest home to find the cure. (August 31)
Fury of a Demon by Brian Naslund
The Dragons of Terra series ends with this tale. War continues to rage, the Witch Queen continues to struggle with her powers, and “exile turned assassin turned hero” Bershad continues to wonder if there’s all that much value in being human. (August 31)
The House of Untold Stories by Peter Chiykowski
This collection takes place within “an enchanted mansion of pocket universes and miniature tales, where each door leads to a micro-fiction story. With tales about anger thieves, a deadly pizza delivery service, haunted music boxes, and more, each room will take you on an unexpected journey.” (August 31)
In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu
When an outsider arrives in a city that’s protected by a living network — designed to keep its people safe but also sheltered and controlled — a mysterious visitor turns up with some startling truths about what exists beyond its borders. (August 31)
Malefactor by Robert Repino
The War With No Name series — about an epic battle between animals and humans — ends with this entry, which sees some weary survivors hoping that peace can finally be achieved, while others hold fast to the idea that only one side can win. (August 31)
My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
A girl uses her favourite horror movies as a way to escape the real-life horrors that surround her, including an abusive father. But when a killer begins to terrorize her small town, her coping mechanism becomes even more of a survival strategy. (August 31)
Revelator by Daryl Gregory
When a woman returns to the isolated mountain town where she grew up, she realises the “Ghostdaddy” — the god that leads her family’s religion, and with whom she had a personal encounter when she was a child — is as powerful as ever. (August 31)
Triumph of the Wizard King by Chad Corrie
The Wizard King trilogy ends with this volume, which sees the mercenaries who helped the king find success readying for another new conflict. (August 31)
The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith
In this historical fantasy, a seamstress in 1911 New York discovers rather suddenly that she’s a powerful witch and is whisked away to witch school — where she must make some quick decisions about her future and decide where her true loyalties lie. (August 31)
Editor’s Note: Release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.