Every time I try to figure out what is coming next for sci-fi, I am inundated with lists coining "Sci-Fi and Fantasy Releases" that are ALL FANTASY.

And listen, I love fantasy, I adore fantasy, but give me some damn science fiction ok?

And before you say "but I'm already living in a dystopian society and I need to escape reality" I need you to take a PAUSE babes - and listen to what I'm about to say. (STOP. Collaborate and Listen. Zee is back with some brand new fiction)

Science Fiction is our hope and imagination for the future. Fantasy helps you to escape reality, but Sci-Fi helps you imagine a better world. It fills your cup, renews your soul, gives you the strength to go on because you know things can be better - you've SEEN IT. And yes, it was in a book, but if you can dream of a dark and handsome man who does his own laundry and has good hygeine, my sister/brother/enby sibling in Christ, you can dream of a better world.

So now I'll jump off the soap box and into the deep end of Sci-fi books I'm really excited for. And I'm begging you to leave me some comments for some more, especially indie authors because those are harder to find. And you know what's great about Bindery...all the books are tagged below and ready for preorder!

1. Hell’s Heart by Alexis Hall (Tor Books, March 10, 2026)

   Alexis Hall is a gender nonconforming person from southeast England and is the prolific author of well-known books like A Lady for a Duke and Boyfriend Material.

   Two things sold me on this book:

   #1: It is coined as "Sapphic Moby Dick in Space." If you take any classic and add "sapphic" to the beginning and "in space" to the end of it, I'm definetely going to read it. I am an absolute SIMP for this mashup.

   #2: The blurb is Gideon the Ninth meets Moby-Dick. STFU Alexis Hall + Gideon the Ninth??? Yes, mmhmm, please and thank you give me 27 more.

   "What's it Actually ABOUT Zee?" WELL bestie. sips tea It's a meet cute in space where Earth is dead and bounty hunters hunt space monsters to use their spinal fluid for fuel to power atmospheric domes on planets that will kill us if we blink wrong. Hell to the yeah. I've gotten my grubby paws on an ARC of this, I'll let you know how it goes.

2. And Side by Side They Wander by Molly Tanzer (Tordotcom, May 19, 2026)

   Molly Tanzer is a sci-fi writer/manga translator and prominently advertises herself as anti-AI and anti-ICE. I haven't read her other books but the covers are bangin yall.

   And Side by Side They Wander is an intergalactic art heist by a ragtag group of underqualified misfits. For three hundred years, humanity’s greatest works of art have been on loan at the Museum of the Seed-Born. It was finally time for them to come home…but the alien curators were disinclined to return them. So they're gonna steal them back.

3. Platform Decay by Martha Wells (Tor Books, May 5, 2026)

   In the 8th installment of Murderbot Diaries, SecUnit has volunteered for a rescue mission and will have to spend a significant time...with children.

   I personally cannot WAIT to watch the ensuing hilarity. And if you're a Gideon the Ninth fan and haven't picked this one up yet, it's one of the few that actually captures that sarcastically funny tone Muir is known for. I've picked up Martha Wells' older books looking for that tone and it's not there. But it is here, so if you haven't started this series yet pick it up!

4. The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu (Tor Books, April 7, 2026)

   Yes, if you've noticed by now I'm indeed a Tor fangirl. I promise I'm not doing this on purpose, I researched hundreds of lists, make a new list of the books I found interesting, and lots were Tor. Someone over there has good taste in authors and books ok?!

   John Chu is a is a Taiwanese-American science fiction writer by night, microprocessor architect by day.

   The Subtle Art of Folding space is a multiverse sci-fi novel about a girl who must confront generational trauma in order to preserve the secret technology that is keeping her grandmother alive - without tearing the fabric of the universe. Apparently, her grandmother's dim sum can't solve every problem.

5. Hard Reset by Jonathan Yanez (Indie, April 11, 2026)

   Jonathan Yanez is an Indie Latin-X author, filmmaker and podcaster.

   Hard Reset is an apocalyptic LitRPG where a bounty hunter and a smartass computer program take on an authoritarian government. I haven't read a good LitRPG since Ready Player One (#2 was not great IMO - not because he used 75% of the book to discuss his politics, just that he didn't weave it in well enough to the story) and I'm ready for a new one!

6. The Demon Star by Jesse Aragon (Daw Books, July 2026)

   Jesse Aragon is a Hispanic American who grew up in Belgium.

   In this space opera fantasy mashup, Ysira was supposed to be a human sacrifice. But she survived. Now, partnered with an addict exorcist, she must battle her way through a demon haunted canyon, a starbound satellite, cultists, aliens, and the gods themselves to save her estranged son from becoming the vessel of a god-killing demon. It's weird and epic and complex and I think I'm gonna love it. Or hate it...either way will be a wild ride.

7. Love Galaxy by Sierra Branham (Daw Books, May 5, 2026)

   Sierra Branham is a bisexual Alaskan with goats and cats and a skill for juggling knives on the gram. She says it's cringe. I'm into it.

   Love Galaxy is a sci-fi sapphic romantic thriller coined as "Andor meets the sapphic Bachelorette." Temmi is a young trash collector from a dead-end planet who gets cast on a reality TV show to compete against 24 other women for the hand of the prince, a quiet, bookish guy who loves science—or the princess, with whom her chemistry is undeniable. But not everyone is there for the right reasons…

8. Fist of Memory by Wole Talabi (Daw Books, Fall 2026)

   Wole Talabi is a Nigerian sci-fi writer, engineer, and editor.

   The only info I could find on this book is that it's a First Contact Thriller about a strange and non-communicative alien spacecraft and an assassin with a talent for lethality. That was enough to raise the excitement hairs on the back of my neck! When I read about this book I followed him on Tiktok and he followed me BACK! (This never will cease to shock and awe me - that these talented genius writers give a shit what I have to say. I AM NOT WORTHY!!!)

9. The Redemption Center is Closed on Sundays by Andrea Hairston (Tor, May 26, 2026)

   Andrea Hairston is an African-American science fiction and fantasy playwright, novelist, and scholar from Pittsburg. I read her recent book Archangels of Funk and I wasn't smart enough to fully get it, but I could tell it would be a five star read for some people!

   If the title The Redemption Center is Closed on Sundays isn't interesting enough to get you already, this book is an extra-dimensional murder mystery with conundrums, alien tricksters, and a dog detective who just doesn’t know the meaning of “stay”. I'm all for good dog stories but a naughty Berniedoode, a haunted house, and a ragtag bunch of crime solving misfits? I'm in like Flynn.

10. Ignore All Previous Instructions by Ada Hoffman (Tachyon Publications, May 12, 2026)

    Ada Hoffman is a genderfluid autistic immigrant poet and author of The Outside, a sci-fi thriller which I read last year and adored.

    Ignore All Previous Instructions is a queer sci-fi story about a script supervisor for an AI media company that controls which stories can be told. Kelli is also a space pirate who smuggles inappropriate stories. When her ex gets tangled up in the gender reassignment black market, she must risk her safe life for the world she once wished for.

11. A City Dreaming by Maurice Broaddus (Tor, June 30, 2026)

    Maurice Broaddus is an Afrofuturist author and community organizer.

    A City Dreaming is the third and final installment of the Astra Black series, which is a story of a space faring empire, the Muungano, who split away from the wars and oppression of Old Earth to form a utopia. But the old powers don't want them to thrive, and now they must fight back against plots to destroy everything they've built.

    This is a multi-POV Game of Thrones style series from an author who has written Black Panther comics. Sweep of Stars, the first book, is available in audio, so if you want to catch up before the last book comes out, now is the time!

12. The Disco at the End of the World by Nathan Tavares (Titan Books, June 2, 2026)

    Nathan Tavares was born and grew up in the Portuguese-American community surrounding Fall River Massachusetts, where his family immigrated from their native Portugal. He is the author of the queer-focused scifis novels A FRACTURED INFINITY and WELCOME TO FOREVER.

    The Disco at the End of the World is The Day the Earth Stood Still meets the director’s cut of Studio 54. A queer liberation meets alien first-contact story, set within the discos of an alternate 1970s Los Angeles. Have I told you I'm a simp for first contact stories? Well if not, duh my friend.

13. Ghost of the Neon God by T.R. Napper (Titan Books June 23, 2026)

    T.R. Napper is an Australian educator, cyberpunk author, stay at home dad, art therapist for disabled people, and blackbelt in Korean sword fighting. On social media he is an anti-AI activist.

    In Ghost of the Neon God, a petty crook steals the shoes of a Chinese dissident, an Earth-shattering technology falls into his hands, and he finds himself, for once, the hero of the story, taking a stand against the ruling class to keep the spark of human rebellion alive.

14. Jitterbug by Gareth T. Powell (Titan Books, March 3, 2026)

    Gareth T. Powell is an anti-AI anti-billionaire author from Bristol whom Anne Leckie calls "must-read."

    Jitterbug is a space opera with a crew of bounty hunters who find themselves ensnared in a political conspiracy on the very fringes of the devastated solar system after they rescue the sole survivor of a pirate attack. Meanwhile, something vast and ancient creeps towards them from the depths of space… did you get chills? I got chills.

15. Terms of Service by Ciel Pierlot (I'm cheating, this came out October 14th from Angry Robot and I came across it while researching next year's books and it looks SO GOOD!)

    Ciel Pierlot is a disaster bisexual, digital artist and a hardcore gaymer (ha ha) from the San Francisco Bay Area. She’s also a giant nerd and no, you cannot stop her from bragging about her lightsaber collection. (This is copied directly from her bio so you KNOW her writing is going to be chef's kiss)

    Terms of Service is an epic Fantasy Sci-Fi mashup about a woman who accidentally sells herself into servitude of the local alien ship to get her cousin out of trouble. She did not read the fine print, apparently.

    If you liked this list—or just enjoy supporting reader-powered publishing—consider subscribing. I may be in a bit of a slump right now, but let’s be honest: at some point my autistic brain is going to latch onto something with the intensity of a TikTok algorithm sniffing out your deepest emotional wound, and then I’ll produce an obscene amount of content in a 48-hour frenzy (in which I forget to eat sleep or pee) of hyperfixated brilliance. It’s not a matter of if. It’s WHEN.

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