This fall we are getting some serious, heavy-hitters in science fiction, fantasy and speculative fiction. Alice Hoffman is delivering a fresh witchy tale on the heels of Practical Magic 2, after 20 years, we’re getting a sequel to The Time Traveler’s Wife. From magic to physics, space exploration to piracy in fantastical lands, there are no shortage of escapes in the upcoming Fall 2026 releases.

Under Story by Chloe Benjamin (9/1)

Working as a dishwasher on a research base in Antarctica, Laurel Salter is hiding from everyone she knows. She’s even hidden that before coming to the Arctic, she was a successful scientist that had a great future and a family. Unfortunately her hiding place is not remote enough because a strange flickering light on the ice draws a group of physicists to the station including Laurel’s former husband, Eli. Together they try to figure out what the glowing light called the Arc really is. Laurel thinks it’s an entrance to another world but Eli doesn’t really want to test that theory. They may have a chance to relive their relationship for the second time. Will they risk everything and repair their relationship in the process? 

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Engines of Reason by Adrian Tchaikovsky (9/1)

Stories control identity and magic and science are just a point of view on this planet. Here a fallen princess, a hesitant wizard, and a gifted child work on unraveling the past in order to change the future. 

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The Witches of Cambridge by Alice Hoffman (9/8)

Hundreds of years later, 1950s Cambridge, Massachusetts feels far away from the witch trials that it once held. Two girls, Ava and Lauren, with very opposite personalities are both attending Radcliffe College. They start to have things in common when a secret organization of witches dating back to colonial times called the Lilith Society recruits both of them. Ava and Lauren grow to be friends as they are navigating their new powers together. Radcliffe may seem safe for witches but Lauren and Ava discover it isn’t as girls from the Lilith Society begin to go missing. Maybe the witch trials are not as far away as they may think.

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Tempest by Victoria Aveyard (9/8)

Cat Rose has been two different people in her lifetime–Lady Catrine Rose, who was trapped with a revolting lord and a shrinking fortune, and the Widow Rose, queen of a pirate tavern in the Lyrian sea. Lyria is in trouble though. The Meridian Empire wants to claim the wealthy colonies and eliminate all of the pirates. Ship after ship and pirate after pirate are captured by Meridian’s navy but not the infamous pirate Valerian Kane. He happens to be the pirate that can rally those remaining, pose a real threat to the empire, and might be the only man that Cat has ever loved. The Meridian Empire offers Cat a horrifying deal. She can either bring Valerian Kane to them or die but she’s not going to let them control her that easily.  

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Dead Beat by Leigh Bardugo (9/15)

Demons are crawling the streets of Yale and New Haven after Alex Stern left the door to hell open behind her. Alex and her friends can try to hunt them down but she’s just waiting to face a war they cannot win when the gates to the underworld are opened. In order to find a solution, they must investigate Yale and its secret societies. Battling a corrupt Lethe Society Board and a vampire that is connected to the secret societies, Alex has her hands full. Luckily, she’s not alone. With the help of her friends, Alex is ready to battle hell itself.

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Witch Daughter by Tanaz Bhathena (9/22)

Princess Tamineh is struggling to secure marriage for herself because there are rumors she is involved in witchcraft. Her father, the king, is on the decline so her situation is becoming desperate. From a prophecy, she learns she will fall for a well known warrior Rostam and give him a son. This prophecy, however, warns her that this is a dangerous match. Ignoring the warnings, she finds Rostam and the two follow the prophecy. They fall in love, are married and she bears him a son. After her son is born, Tamineh learns the daunting second half of the prophecy–the father and son shall battle and only one will remain standing. Tamineh is determined to protect her son and reverse fate. 

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Victorious by V.E. Schwab (10/6)

Two men, Victor Vale and Eli Ever, were first best friends but they were destined to be each others’ shadow. This turned them into mortal enemies. Now they must play one more game where only one of them will be left standing. 

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The Sixth Faction by Veronica Roth (10/6)

In this Divergent rewrite, Beatrice Prior wants to alter her life forever. She has a plan to leave her family and her faction, Abnegation, behind and join Dauntless. However, tragedy strikes at her Choosing Ceremony and every plan she could have ever made changes. Her decision sends her straight into an active rebellion where she must fight for her life with a boy who has dangerous secrets. 

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Life Out of Order by Audrey Niffenegger (10/6)

Alba DeTamble has an extraordinarily out of order life. She has a condition, the same as her father, that causes her to time travel involuntarily. Though far from ordinary, she tries to live as normal of a life as she can. She is a gifted violinist finding comfort in a community of musicians and artists. As she blips through time, she carries secrets she must keep, including from her safe place, Zach. Her situation takes her through time to riot-torn Chicago, to the eerie “Yellow House” where she meets fellow time traveler and quite attractive Oliver, and to the Museum of Lost Souls, a virtual collection of forgotten and lost memories. There, none other than her mysterious step sister, Isadora, is the curator. Alba finds Isadora to be an unsettling addition to their family but their futures are intertwined in more dangerous ways than they know.

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The Thrice-Bound Fool by Christopher Buehlman (10/13)

Kinch Na Shannack enjoys a good book when he’s not stealing and tricking people. Unfortunately now, his life and the future of all of Manreach is now dependent on a a stolen book, specifically a stolen book that is trying to kill him. Galva, a veteran and maiden of death is willing to protect Kinch while he tries to figure out the magical secrets that the book holds. She says she is only doing it because the book will stop the tyrants trying to kill her queen, but Kinch is growing on her even if she won’t admit it. Kinch and Galva must flee is they want to safely decipher the book. Unfortunately Kinch attracts trouble no matter where he is and unfortunately as the pair ventures into lands unknown, there may be darker and hungrier threats lurking in the shadows. 

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As You Wake, Break the Shell by Becky Chambers (10/13)

On the resource-poor planet Fortune, life can be difficult for its inhabitants, but at the end of the day for them it’s home. Signy and Cora, however, don’t think that Fortune will be their home for much longer. Signy is a botanist that has figured out how to bio-print medicine at her plant shop trying to help those who are left behind. Rorqual pilot Cora is one of the few that is able to pilot the massive, living ships that connect their solar system. Cora has a deep connection to her rorqual, Colibri, that puts her into danger. As a result of a mindbleed, Cora appears in Signy’s shop seeking medical help. This arrival, however, puts Signy into a danger that has the potential to change everything they know.

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As We Fall Through Time by Claire North (10/13)

Cal is a time traveler and he uses it to his advantage. When he falls in love with a soldier in the French Revolution, Cal is able to tweak history and preserve his lover’s life. Fadimantu is also a time traveler so when she finds her mummified body in a museum in 2018, she must investigate a betrayal that has already killed her. Suddenly, a rupture in the fabric of time and history interferes with the lives that Cal and Fadimantu have built for themselves, breaking both past and present. They must grapple with life and death as they know it and a secret that can shatter time itself. 

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Knight of the God King by Lauren Blackwood (10/20)

Calliope has exceptional skill and a desire to be a knight and healer wielding magic. Unfortunately, she’s stuck supporting her cousin whose family took Cali in as a child. When an opportunity arises to become a royal knight of the Immortal God King, Cali jumps at it. Her cousin blackmails her, sending the pair into court so that Cali’s dark past isn’t revealed. Immediately, Cali offends the attractive squire, Beric, tending to her, hindering their chances at being friends. In her duties as a knight, Cali discovers the God King’s secret–that he is not really a God. The royal knights’ magic is what keeps him alive and Cali must keep this secret. When people around the kingdom begin dying, Beric and Cali take the fate of the God King and his kingdom into their own hands. 

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Stellar Smoke by Tanaïs (10/20)

Struggling to pay rent and heartbroken, hustling musician Qamar returns to the island retreat of her childhood. She has decided that it’s time to settle all that is between her and her estranged mother, Veda, who is a scientist, actress, and a leader of a dissolved cult called the Endless Temple. However, when Qamar arrives, the land has been neglected and there is no sign of her mother or sister, Palo. Qamar finds one of her mother’s creations behind a retina scan-locked door. It is a machine consciousness called the Virtual Experiences, Dreams and Afterlife or VEDA for short, made to reveal Veda’s life story. Taking a trip in the VEDA reality forces Qamar to deal with the misfortunes and tragedies of their past. 

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The Bishop of Durham Attempts to Surrender the City by Susanna Clarke (10/20)

The city of Durham has found itself surrounded during the conquest of England, but it’s not fairies or even humans that encircle it. It is the trees trapping the city in an eerie woods. The bishop of Durham, Ranulf, knows that the future of his people depend on his ability to unite the humans and the fairies, and making himself look good while doing it would be extremely beneficial. In search of the new fairy king who is rumored to be a fourteen-year-old human boy who speaks no English, he begins his travels to New Castle. Hopefully, he can become a hero. 

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The Fist of Memory by Wole Talabi (10/29)

Tope, a Nigerian assassin employed by a witch doctor called “Baba” goes about his business as usual when an alien spacecraft appears in the sky sending the world into a frenzy. That is until a job goes wrong and Tope is sucked into a game of power and politics. With the help of a South African astronomer dealing with mysterious dreams named Itumeleng, Tope must find a way to survive and understand how humanity is connected to the space craft before it lands and changes the world. They won’t have it easy though because they will face threatening forces and an assassin obsessed with one single memory.

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Fallen Beauty by Astrid Scholte (11/3)

Imprisoned her entire life, eighteen-year-old Thorelea Winyard is forced to paint dead animals thrown into her cell. When one of the animals she has painted comes back to life, she is brought to the royal court where she can ask for anything she wants other than her freedom. In the court, she learns that the court painters give the king and queen immortality by updating their magical portraits. Here she meets Prince Kelter, the only other mortal in the court. Wanting to become immortal, he makes her a deal–she paints him the portrait his parents have denied and he will help her escape. As they meet each night in secret, they grow closer but they must face the reality of Thorelea’s life changing powers.

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Bones Like Jade, Flesh Like Ice by Grace Marsden (11/10)

A jing, a shapeshifting demon, has prophesied that Yu’er’s parents will gain extreme wealth beyond what they can imagine if they sell her off. Despite being too young, they sell Yu’er off into marriage. Xiaozhu, her new husband, is just as young and he is kind so over the years as they heal, they become friends and then lovers. At the hands of a demon, they are left penniless and estranged. Taking her fate into her own hands, Yu’er makes a deal with a jing that if she leaves Xiaozhu forever, she will have all the freedom and wealth she desires. Her choice leads Yu’er to the center of the royal court, bringing riches and power that she couldn’t have dreamed of but she might have lost her humanity along the way. 

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