Release Week: 29 September 2026
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Release Week: 29 September 2026
Posted on 2026-09-29 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
PICKS:
Mazywood by Tananarive Due, read by Joniece Abbott-Pratt for Simon and Schuster -- "All the Sinners Bleed meets Erasure in this literary thriller from the award-winning author of The Reformatory following the grandson of a famous Black actress who returns to his grandmother’s cabin retreat in the California mountains only to encounter the legacy of her rage born in Old Hollywood."
Ply: A Novel by Hernan Diaz, read by Imani Jade Powers -- "Centuries from now, at the dawn of a historical epoch filled with both uncertainty and promise, an orphan is adrift in a city on the brink of a great transformation. The state has been dismantled, and humans are reinventing social bonds and learning new ways to coexist with nature. Following a childhood defined by loss, survival, and found family, the orphan grows up to become a “pincher,” someone who steals electricity from the grid to sell it on the black market. It’s a high-risk life, one that brings her into a rich art and music scene where she powers underground concerts. It also leads her to a colossal scientific invention that could change the very fabric of reality."
Trad Wife: A Novel by Sarah Langan, read by Stephanie Németh-Parker for Simon and Schuster -- "A journalist descends into horror as she uncovers the sinister truth behind a trad wife influencer."
Nightjars: A Novel by Michael Wehunt, read by Matt Godfrey and Zura Johnson for Macmillan -- "Memento meets Dracula in this heart-thudding, unpredictable, and beautifully crafted novel of a man exposed for crimes he doesn’t remember committing, and the monsters that dwell at the heart of us all."
Building 903 by Lois Lowry, read by Elise Arsenault -- "In the tradition of her bestselling, award-winning phenomenon, The Giver, Lois Lowry delivers a story about censorship, comfort, complicity, and the radical power of books to open portals and unlock our humanity through our most powerful tool: the imagination."
The Floating World by Ben Eastham, read by Greg Jones for Random House -- "A cautionary tale of a young, newly widowed art critic who goes to work for a mysterious billionaire determined to build a geodesic-domed paradise to shelter the rich."
May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry, read by Sarah Barron and Ian Dunnett Jr. for Echo Point -- Longlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize, Winner of the 2026 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize: "A curator is absorbed in the medieval world of a reluctant monarch in this searing debut about what becomes lost over time and what devotion can reanimate."
Mestra: A Short Story by Madeline Miller, read by Georgina Campbell for Ecco -- "Mestra, daughter of the King of Thessaly, is granted a unique gift by Poseidon: The ability to transform herself into any being she can imagine. Her father, on the other hand, is cursed. As punishment for disrespecting the goddess Demeter, he is in possession of an unnatural, insatiable hunger. Devoted Mestra suggests using her new gift to help her father. But if his hunger is bottomless, how much will he take from her? Soon she must decide: Will she keep helping her father survive or finally break free?"
The Ship of Death: A Novel by Kyle Winkler, read by Wil Wheaton, Lauren Fortgang, Dan Bittner, and Nan McNamara for Avon -- "A supernatural chokehold of a book told entirely through found documents: the cursed story of an unwitting couple ensnared by a mysterious tabletop role-playing game, who are commanded, as the game’s intentions become clearer, to do the unthinkable."
Wither: A Modern Gothic by Dan Warner, read by Mike Chamberlain for Bloomsbury -- "A propulsive, darkly funny literary sci-fi debut about technology, privacy, and humanity in transition."
The Only Way Out Is Up by Django Wexler, by Heath Miller for Orbit -- "A small-time scrapper and his pet robot will fight their way out of the junk-heap in a tournament that will either make them richer than gods or rip them apart."
BACKLIST WATCH:
Crash: A Novel by J.G. Ballard (1973), read by Raphael Corkhill for Audible -- "When J. G. Ballard, our narrator, smashes his car into another and watches a man die in front of him, he finds himself drawn with increasing intensity to the mangled impacts of car crashes. Robert Vaughan, a former TV scientist turned nightmare angel of the expressway, has gathered around him a collection of alienated crash victims and experiments with a series of autoerotic atrocities, each more sinister than the last. But Vaughan craves the ultimate crash—a head-on collision of blood, semen, engine coolant, and iconic celebrity."
Video Night by Adam Cesare (2013), read by Matt Godfrey for Union Square, with an introduction by Stephen Graham Jones -- "It's 1988 and two best friends—one departing for college, one destined for bad boy townie life—decide to have a final video night before their friendship changes forever. Billy and Tom’s plan is perfect. They've got pizza and beer, and Tom even managed to convince his girlfriend, Darcy, to bring a friend, Billy's neighbor and crush, Rachel. But what they don't know is that there's an invasion underway. Across the street, Rachel's sister, Rhonda, was one of the first to turn. A slithering, chitinous evil has overtaken her body and mind, and she'll do anything to spread the alien infection. Blood, sex, rock and roll, invaders from outer space, and tender perspectives on teen male friendship: Video Night is one cult classic that has it all!"
TIE-IN WATCH:
- Baldur's Gate 3: Astarion by T. Kingfisher, read by Neil Newbon for Random House -- "Narrated by Neil Newbon—the multi-award-winning actor who brought Astarion to life in Baldur’s Gate 3—this captivating audiobook offers listeners a rare chance to experience the story through the very same voice that defined the game."
SERIES WATCH:
Empire: Heir Duology, Book 2 by Sabaa Tahir, read by Rachel Petladwala -- "A falling empire. An ancient evil. A lost homeland. A lie that could destroy the world."
Threshing Day: A Wing and Claw Collection by Rebecca Yarros, read by a full cast
Galinda: A Charmed Childhood by Gregory Maguire, read by Edoardo Ballerini for William Morrow -- "The eagerly awaited origin story of Galinda, the pink-clad, effervescent, and popular favorite character in this sister volume to Elphie."
Lady of Uncanny Charms: Whimbrel House, Book 5 by Charlie N. Holmberg, read by Graham Halstead and Billie Fulford-Brown for Brilliance -- "Cora and Owein must uncover magical and secret conspiracies in the palace as the future they dreamed of is at stake."
The Truth: The Bound and The Broken, Book 4.5 by Ryan Cahill, read by Derek Perkins for Podium
A Divided Duty: October Daye, Book 20 by Seanan McGuire, read by Mary Robinette Kowal
MORE FICTION:
The French Illusion by John Grisham, read by Michael Beck -- "After Paul and Chelsea Tanner’s fairytale wedding, their future is full of promise. But their honeymoon to Paris takes a dark, shocking turn when they are kidnapped while on a day trip to the French countryside. Who would target them, and why? It turns out this is not the first crime of its kind. The search for clues soon stretches across borders, with the FBI, CIA, and French Intelligence trying to work together to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Struggling to find answers, a young lawyer is recruited to be the bait in an elaborate CIA operation."
The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by Deesha Philyaw, read by Janina Edwards -- "The wife of a popular and powerful megachurch pastor upends her charmed "rags-to-Rolex" life when her secret past comes roaring into the spotlight—in this "funny and juicy and sexy and delicious peek behind the pulpit" (Samantha Irby) from the acclaimed and beloved author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies." nest."
NON-FICTION WATCH:
* The American Way of Killing: The Invention of an Epidemic by Malcolm Gladwell, read by the author -- "Malcolm Gladwell's most urgent book yet: a provocative investigation of America's epidemic of gun violence."
* The Steps: A Memoir by Sylvester Stallone, read by the author for Harper -- "A gritty, inspiring, heart-wrenching memoir by the Academy Award-winning legend and icon Sylvester Stallone, about his unlikely path to stardom and the creation of the greatest underdog story ever told."
* The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East by Simon Sebag Montefiore, read by Leighton Pugh -- " An essential guide to the making of the modern Middle East from 1900 to the present: a spellbinding history by the New York Times bestselling author of Jerusalem and The Romanovs."
* Man in the Mirror: Hope, Struggle, and Belonging in an American City by Anand Giridharadas, read by the author -- " From acclaimed journalist Anand Giridharadas, a groundbreaking feat of reporting on a tragic encounter in a New York subway car that held up a mirror to a troubled and divided nation."
* Fictional Selves: A Memoir by Kyle MacLachlan, read by the author -- " In this highly anticipated memoir, the beloved actor and star of Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Sex and the City, Fallout, and more shares his utterly original account of his offbeat journey in Hollywood, his battles with fear and fame, and the projects that shaped him—and created a cult icon."
* This Cursed Beautiful Land: A Russian-American Story by Evan Gershkovich, read by the author -- "The revelatory, much-anticipated memoir from the Wall Street Journal reporter who was wrongly imprisoned in Putin’s Russia for more than a year—a glimpse inside the perils and contradictions of a country in the midst of autocracy."
MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:
* The Lost Spectacular by Zoé Duhaime, read by Sophie Amoss for Recorded Books -- "A dazzling ode to the life-changing power of books, as childhood loves-turned-rivals chase each other through the stories that shaped them, leaping through classic literature and famous paintings and private letters and family dinners, until all that’s left is to confront the grief they’ve been running from...and decide whether they might face it together, instead."
* The Sisters of Crimson House: A Novel by Melissa Anderson Sweazy, read by Ann Marie Gideon for Sourcebooks -- "A biting, layered, and haunting debut following one woman from a long line of psychics who will do anything to save her family legacy and the haunted house she grew up in from an entity threatening to destroy everything she's built."
* The Court of Venus by Bel Banta, read by Samantha Hydeson for Macmillan -- "An ensnaring romantic fantasy in which a moon-blessed magician is summoned back to the deadly, Tudor-inspired magical court she thought she had escaped; where power is determined by the stars—and the closer you are to the king, the more likely you are to die."
* Florescentia: The Luminary, Book 1 by I.V. Ophelia, read by Sebastian Brown and Stephanie Willis for Brilliance -- "In the bioluminescent, star-worshipping city of Astraea, inventor and occultist Lucia Fairfax harvests a particular currency from the shadows—luck itself—drawn from a dimension she calls the Otherside. But when her latest ritual fails and her husband dies tragically, her carefully cultivated fortune bleeds dry. Lucia’s desperate to restore her power, but her next ritual goes catastrophically wrong, summoning something far more dangerous: Altair, a cosmic entity born of an ancient constellation. He is both human and not—impossibly seductive, unnervingly sentient, and the key to restoring what she’s lost: a way to the Otherside."
* The Man of Wind and Moss by Alex Gonzalez, read by Robb Moreira for Recorded Books -- "A gruesome, mythology-inspired storm of witchcraft, demon curses, and millennial-age angst all wrapped in a folk horror tale about six college friends who go on a weekend getaway in the woods—and the supernatural deals they make to survive."
* Blood Drunk by Ben Shepherd, read by David John for Grand Central -- "Join a new kind of vampire hunter—former gangster Freddie Burns—as he fights for his place, for his family, and for the hell of it in London’s gritty magical underworld. Mostly for the hell of it, to be ho
INDIE WATCH:
- Lifeweaver: A LitRPG Adventure by Oskar Soderberg, read by Gary Tiedemann for Aethon -- "Monsters. Magic. Classes. Levels. HEALS. In a world where magic becomes real the change begins with a TV announcement. Luke Quinn is twenty-six, broke, and a disappointment to everyone, himself most of all. Once a promising med student, he’s now slinging burgers and nursing guilt over the sister he couldn’t cure. But everything changes when an impossible broadcast interrupts every screen on Earth, announcing the start of a “System Integration” and inviting humanity to touch mysterious orbs appearing in every city."
MOST MISSING:
- Hollow Folk by Andrew K. Clark (Quill and Crow) -- "The night shift at the Holloway was supposed to be quiet. When grad student Ethan Ray clocks in as night auditor at the aging Holloway mountain resort, he expects paperwork, silence, and a paycheck. Instead, reddish-brown lights bleed across the Appalachian sky. Hard winds whip through the trees without making a sound, and mysterious owl gargoyles come to life. At 3 a.m., every clock stops. Trapped inside with his co-workers, Kal and Teresa, Ethan realizes the hotel isn’t just old. It’s a boundary. Something ancient has been waiting and is now awake. To escape, they must uncover the Holloway’s secrets, even as unexpected love blossoms between Ethan and Teresa. The problem is, the visions haunting each of them carry the same warning: someone in the hotel cannot be trusted."
- Ofelia and Norma by Donna Miscolta (Regal House) -- "Ofelia and Norma are identical big-bodied sisters, who, disaffected by their twinness, go their separate ways in college to navigate alone the perils of an anti-large-body world in which one sister toys with disordered eating and the other is the victim of a frat prank, a violation that together the sisters eventually take upon themselves to avenge."