Release Week: 11 August 2026
← Release Week: 14 July 2026Release Week: 18 August 2026 →
Release Week: 11 August 2026
Posted on 2026-08-11 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
FICTION PICKS:
A Tender Age: A Novel by Chang-rae Lee, read by Keong Sim for Books On Tape -- "From the Pulitzer Prize finalist, a story of guilt, innocence, and a boy on the cusp of adolescence."
A Plagued Sea by Kim Bo-Young, translated by Sophie Bowman, read by Joy Osmanski for Macmillan -- "Visionary Korean author Kim Bo-Young unleashes a Lovecraftian nightmare of infection, transformation, and abomination."
Them by W.H. Chizmar, read by Johnny Heller and Kevin R. Free for Simon and Schuster -- "A post-apocalyptic/survival horror novel written in the bestselling traditions of Stephen King’s The Mist and Josh Malerman’s Bird Box."
Dreamland: A Novel by Olivie Blake, read by a full cast for Macmillan -- "A tantalizing story of power, seduction, and the omens you’ll ignore when everything you’ve dreamed of feels just within reach."
Murmuration by TJ Klune, read by Kirt Graves for Macmillan -- "A timeless romance set in a perfect little town with a big dark secret."
Freight: A Novel by Ryan Lowell, read by Pete Simonelli for Little, Brown and Co -- "As a lone semi-truck makes its snowy way to the US-Canadian border, a series of vivid characters are inexorably drawn into a desperate, comedic, and murderous scheme to steal its precious cargo."
The Dungeon Book by Gareth Hanrahan, read by Lawrence Neale for Orbit -- "A young girl is left to die in a wizard's dungeon but finds a new home with the monsters around her in this humorous and heartfelt standalone epic fantasy."
A Tangled Magic by Andrea Eames, read by Olivia Dowd for Recorded Books -- "A woman with amnesia—and magical hair—searches for her lost memories while navigating a web of royal intrigue, bone magic, and secret monasteries."
She Haunts Me Still: A Novel by De Elizabeth, read by Ellie Gossage for Penguin -- "After surviving a shadowed childhood marked by ghost stories and loss, Mallory Webb is ready to start fresh as a theater major at her mother’s alma mater, a sanitarium turned liberal arts university in Rhode Island. Landing the lead role in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet feels like a dream—until the blood-soaked spirit she suspects caused her mother’s death resurfaces after years of quiet."
The Inevitable Undoing of Zahara Douglass by Leslye Penelope, read by Leon Nixon and Tyla Collier for Redhook -- "For five years, Zahara Douglass has been haunted by her sister’s impossible disappearance. Now, in December 1999, with the world on the brink of chaos, Zahara sets out to find her sister no matter the cost."
NON-FICTION WATCH:
- Great and Unfortunate Things by Jason Arday, read by the author for Simon and Schuster -- Obviously a great deal more controversial now, Arday's "memoir of overcoming remarkable challenges and responding to adversity with resilience" is being accused of being a warped fantasy by The Guardian.
BACKLIST WATCH:
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818), read by Stefan Rudnicki, Anthony Heald, and Simon Templeman for Blackstone -- "The original horror story, a classic that sparked a thousand nightmares and redefined what it means to be human."
Castle Dor by Daphne du Maurier and Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (1961), read by Toby Longworth for Little Brown and Co -- "A magical, compelling retelling of Tristan and Iseult, the star-crossed lovers transplanted in time to the Cornwall of the last century. A chance encounter between the Breton onion-seller, Amyot Trestane, and the newly-wed Linnet Lewarne launches their tragic story, taking them in the fateful footsteps of the doomed lovers of Cornish legend."
Rule Britannia by Daphne du Maurier (1972), read by Sarah Lambie for Little Brown and Co -- "Emma wakes up one morning to an apocalyptic world. The cozy existence she shares with her grandmother, an eccentric retired actress known to all as Madam, has been shattered: there's no post, no telephone, no radio - and an American warship sits in the harbor."
St. Patrick’s Gargoyle by Katherine Kurtz (2001), read by Bruce Mann for Tantor -- "The gargoyles of Dublin, Ireland, have a sacred duty to perform. Formerly God's avenging angels, for centuries they have been entrusted with guarding the churches and cathedrals of the Irish capital while avoiding all contact with human beings. But once a month these loyal stone sentries must leave their posts to attend a conclave of their kind, and it is during one such absence that a sacrilege occurs."
MORE FICTION:
The Peace Child by D.J. Molles, read by Will Damron for Blackstone -- "A snark-fueled, high-octane alien invasion thriller where humanity’s last hope might just be the most dangerous babysitting job in the galaxy."
These Vile Hearts by Melody Robinette, read by Dan Bittner, Natalie Naudus, and Melody Robinette for Penguin -- "A delightfully wicked, fizzy debut romantasy--an enemies to lovers tale about a desperate mortal woman and a cursed fae prince."
INDIE WATCH:
- The Dark Within Us by Jess Popplewell, read by the author -- "Jenny's felt broken for a long time. Luc has his own issues - you would too if your family ruled Hell. When they meet at a party, sparks fly. She sees a handsome devil. He sees a lost soul. Both sense trouble. But it will take a journey to the very depths of the underworld to bring a girl and a demon together."