Release Week: 25 August 2026

Release Week: 25 August 2026

Posted on 2026-08-25 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

FICTION PICKS:

• Fruits of Our Labor by Ian Patterson, read by Robin Miles for Shiraki Press -- "In a near-future America where women have just gained access to asexual reproduction, Samara yearns for freedom from her dying relationship, and a child of her own—fully her own."
• Ghost Cities: A Novel by Siang Lu, read by Keith Brockett for Simon and Schuster -- "A dazzlingly inventive novel, spanning ancient and modern China, that interweaves stories of romance and showbiz."
• Everybody's Perfect by Jo Walton, read by Stewart Crank and Gabrielle Baker -- "Piranesi meets Swordspoint in an elegant relay race through fantasy Venice."
• MAYA: Seed Takes Root by Anand Gandhi and Zain Memon, read by Hugo Weaving for Simon and Schuster -- Yes, that Hugo Weaving! "A science fiction epic about a world where the internet grows from trees. Its rulers control billions without armies; they shape desire itself. One boy never logged in."
• The Whitechapel Full Moon Society: A Novel by Elizabeth DeLozier, read by Saskia Maarleveld for Penguin -- "When Caroline Foster arrives at the Whitechapel Full Moon Society in search of her missing brother, she finds a dilapidated façade belying an interior as opulent as any exclusive gentlemen’s club. In exchange for room and board, Caroline is hired as the Full Moon’s maid, where she is given three orders: don’t ask personal questions, stay out of the iron-barred room on the second floor, and remain in her bedroom from sunup to sundown on the full moon."
• Demons and Diplomacy by Megan Frampton, read by Zara Hampton-Brown for Penguin -- "A tantalizing pact between an ordinary woman and the silver-tongued son of the Devil is all that stands between Britain—and all hell breaking loose."
• Isis of Egypt: Goddess of Thrones: A Novel by Malayna Evans, read by Raquel Beattie for HighBridge -- "Ancient Egypt's most formidable goddess will stop at nothing to save her true love from the wrath of a vengeful god in this romantic retelling."
• Love Me Like a Rock Song: A Novel by Shelly Jay Shore, read by Major Curda and Jaime Lamchick for Random House -- "When Delilah Cohen’s much more famous fiancée leaves her at the altar right before Delilah is supposed to start recording her first solo album, she’s left with a notebook of unusable love songs and a honeymoon road trip that’s now a last-chance search for new inspiration. She doesn’t expect to fall for the mysterious passenger she picks up two hours in, but what’s more inspiring than a rebound with a built-in expiration date? But there’s more to Emmett than meets the eye. Emmett is a golem, a human-ish being of Jewish folklore, created from clay to serve a now-deceased master, who gave them one final, fatal task."
• The Devil Knows Her Name by C.N. Vair, read by Katrina Lenk for Penguin -- "A hundred years ago, a witch sold her soul to save her life—but now she must stop the devil from collecting his due in this gripping and nuanced debut horror novel."
• Portrait of a Witch Undone by K. S. Shay, read by Lily Ganser for Recorded Books -- "Thirteen stolen works of art. One haunted marsh. And a Boston witch willing to risk everything for the friend she’s already failed."
• The Demon Overlord's Retirement Plan by M. H. Foster, read by Neil Hellegers for Grand Central -- "The Demon Overlord retires to farm turnips in peace, only to find life in a small village far more chaotic than he ever could have anticipated in this laugh-out-loud debut cozy fantasy with teeth."

NON-FICTION WATCH:

• The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore, read by the author for Recorded Books -- "Building on an essay in The New Yorker in 2024, Lepore's clarion call traces our increasing dependence on and strangulation by data. Political campaigns, awash in an avalanche of fake bots, have been reduced to attention-mining algorithms, while multinational media corporations dictate public discourse, and the era of the liberal nation-state seems to be coming to a rapid end, replaced by billionaire technocrats reliant on autocracy and the tools of AI."

BACKLIST WATCH:

• The Temple and the Stone by Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris (1998), read by Lianne Walker for Tantor -- "A powerful order of warrior monks forged in the fires of the Crusades during the twelfth century, the legendary Knights Templar did not vanish entirely following their failed campaigns in the Holy Land. Having attained great power and arcane skill, they withdrew from the public eye but remained hidden in the shadows, prepared to do battle against the enemies of Christianity and the adherents of the old malevolent gods. Now, these noble defenders of the faith recognize Scotland as the next battleground, foretold in dreams and visions, as legendary Scottish heroes William "Braveheart" Wallace and Robert the Bruce take up arms against the forces of the English King Edward I in the terrible Anglo-Scottish War."

NEW EDITION WATCH:

• Time's Arrow: A Novel by Martin Amis (1991), read by Justin Avoth for Macmillan -- "Dr Tod. T. Friendly is living his life in reverse. He wakes on his hospital deathbed and staggers back to a quiet home in suburban America. Growing younger as the years pass, he dumps his lovers before seducing them and mangles his patients before sending them home. The arrow of time has turned backward, and Friendly’s reincarnated consciousness, remembering nothing of its past life, struggles to understand a world where violence heals and pain causes love."
• Dragonflight: Volume 1 in the Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey, read by Sophie Aldred for Random House -- "On a beautiful world called Pern, Lessa is an outcast survivor—her parents murdered, her birthright stolen—a fierce young woman who has never stopped dreaming of revenge. That is, until an ambitious young dragonrider, F’lar, offers her something even greater: the chance to lead Pern at his side by Impressing a golden dragon with whom she will share a telepathic bond more intimate than any human connection. Although there is also her intense relationship with F’lar himself. But Lessa’s fierceness and courage will be put to the test when an ancient scourge returns to the land: a deadly silver spore that falls from the sky, destroying all it touches."
• Metropolis by Thea von Harbou, read by Caleb Summers for Spotify -- "A poor labor class lives underground. The wealthy elite live in a gleaming city above them. This is Metropolis, the sci-fi classic that emerged after its writer collaborated on the screenplay for the 1927 film by the same name."

SERIES WATCH:

• Brona: The First Druids of Shannara, Book 2 by Terry Brooks and Delilah S. Dawson, read by Will Damron for Random House -- "Return to the world of Shannara with the sequel to Galaphile, and discover how the seeds of the greatest evil that the Four Lands has ever known inadvertently grew out of Galaphileʼs dream for peace."
• Daggerbound: Swordheart, Book 2 by T. Kingfisher, read by Jesse Vilinsky for Macmillan -- I'm about halfway through a re-read of the 2018 first book and looking forward to this long-awaited follow up, set in the same literary universe as Kingfisher's Clocktaur and Palain books.
• Blood Rising: Blood Saga, Book 2 by Markus Redmond, read by Akin Omotoso and Waceke Wambaa for Recorded Books -- "A vengeful vampire tribe formed of formerly enslaved Africans wages war across the Southern colonies in the ultimate battle of blood and betrayal."
• Dreamers of the Full Moon Coffee Shop: A Novel by Mai Mochizuki, translated by Jordan Taylor, read by Susan Momoko Hingley for Random House -- "From the bestselling author of the Japanese sensation The Full Moon Coffee Shop, this charming and heartfelt standalone novel brings more lost souls to the enchanted café—where they might find some help from the cats who run it."
• Upon the Forge of Battle: Age of Wrath, Book 3 by Anthony Ryan, read by Steven Brand for Orbit -- "The epic conclusion to a gripping fantasy trilogy of bloody retribution, deadly intrigue, and soaring heroism."
• Fate Forged: The Dream of the Druid, Book 3 by Robert Ryan, read by Antony Ferguson for Simon Maverick -- "A dark epic fantasy adventure of druids, ancient gods, and forbidden magic, following a band of companions who must summon a dead Great Druid and uncover the knowledge needed to stop an all-consuming evil from destroying their land."

MORE FICTION:

• Life of M: A Novel by Rachel Cusk, read by the author for Macmillan -- "From the critically acclaimed author of the Outline trilogy, an irresistible novel of fame, power, beauty, and truth—and a blazing renovation of the form."
• They Say a Girl Died Here: A Novel by Sarah Pinborough, read by Saskia Maarleveld for Macmillan -- "A thrilling, genre-bending mystery about two murdered girls, a town with dark secrets, and a race to break a deadly cycle."

MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:

• Ayasi: The Wandering Death by Tanvi Singh, read by Shivangi Varshney for Harper India -- "A young girl, chosen to be sacrificed to the demon queen Ayasi, has escaped. And the immortal's wrath threatens to consume the mountain kingdom struggling to appease her. A few years later, as sickness spreads across the land, Michewah, who trades in rare medicinal herbs, finds herself in the wrong place at the worst time. A bloody incident in the weekly market forces her to follow the instigator: an old man who transforms into a woman with an unnerving bearing and hollow, white eyes."
• The Mayor of Noobtown: A Novel by Ryan Rimmel, read by Johnathan McClain for Harper Voyager -- "LitRPG fans: there’s a new player in town. In the first book in Ryan Rimmel’s fantastical Noobtown series, a young man dies only to find himself the hero in a strange new world."
• The Dark in Her Veins by M.K. Lobb, read by Hayden Bishop for Sourcebooks -- "A noir romantic fantasy set in a world in which sin is a fatal disease, and the rich hire the poor to carry out their basest instincts—until the forbidden romance between a sinner and a mysterious figure threatens to destroy everything."
• Veil of Kings by Michelle Kirby, read by Candace Fitzgerald and Conner Blackwater for Simon Maverick -- "Gisela Valor should be relieved, but mercy has never come without a cost. The Life Stones that sustain the villages of Mystralos have been seized, and the plants she depends on to heal her people are withering. With her own Mystic mark concealed, Gisela learns that silence is no longer safety—it’s surrender. When she joins forces with Thorne Alderose, her childhood adversary and unexpected ally, they set out to uncover the truth behind the King’s decree and awaken a power that is no ordinary magic."
• The Unheld: A Novel by Luke Larkin, read by Lauren Fortgang, Samuel Roukin, and Shane Ghostkeeper for Audible -- "Startling monsters and occult oddities abound in this chilling horror Western as a girl journeys across the haunted Montana Territory to rescue her father from an otherworldly creature."
• Runebreaker: Dragon Heirs, Book 1 by Mila Finch, read by a full cast for Audible -- "Aelie can break runes with her bare hands—magic the fae built their entire world on. They hate her for it. Fear her for it. And when she's caught, they sentence her to die."

INDIE WATCH:

• The Wake of Ages by B.T. Narro, read by Simon Vance for Tantor -- "Adam has waited years to join The Order of the Sixheart, the secretive keepers of an ancient artifact that brings rapid harvests and enduring health. But there's something more about the Sixheart that has fascinated Adam ever since he was twelve years old, when he snuck into the forbidden enclosure to glimpse the ancient relic for himself. The Sixheart is tied not only to sorcery, but to the world itself. Through those hidden connections, Adam believes he can achieve a universal aura, something no eighteen-year-old has ever attained."
• Starborn: The Lost Colony of Earth by Jasper T. Scott, read by Jonathan Davis for Podium -- "When Aldric Vale, a lone freelancer for the Interstellar Concord, follows a mysterious signal to an obscure star system, he expects to find a dead outpost—not a thriving world of eight billion people. The inhabitants call it Earth. By rights, the planet should have rejoined the Concord centuries ago. Instead, its existence was buried by a cabal of immortal elites who use Earth as their private paradise, while its people remain oblivious. After a deadly encounter cripples his ship, Aldric is stranded. Trapped on a world that isn't supposed to exist, he must infiltrate the cabal to escape—and expose the truth."
• The Carousel of Forgotten Places by S. Hati, read by Natalie Naudus for Podium -- " First rule: Don't mess with the timeline. Second rule: Don't mess around with the time-god."

Posted in Release Week