Tattooed Bibliophiles | The Subtle Art of Folding Space

The Subtle Art of Folding Space

John Chu

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The Subtle Art of Folding Space is the exhilarating debut science fiction novel from Nebula and Hugo Award-winning author John Chu. It channels unhinged physics, generational trauma, and the comfort of really good dim sum. This isn't your usual jaunt through quantum physics.

Ellie’s universe, and this one, is falling apart. Her ailing mother is in a coma; her sister, Chris, accuses her of being insufficiently Chinese between assassination attempts; and a shadowy cabal of engineers is trying to hijack the skunkworks, the machinery that keeps the physics of each universe working the way it’s supposed to.

Daniel, Ellie's cousin, has found an illicit device in the skunkworks—one that keeps Ellie's comatose mother alive while also creating destabilizing bugs in the physics of this universe. It's not a good day.

If she can confront her mother’s legacy and overcome her family’s generational trauma, she just might find a way to preserve the skunkworks and reconcile with her sister…but digging into her family’s past is thornier than it seems, and the secrets she uncovers will force Ellie to choose between her family and the universe itself.

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Tattooed Bibliophiles\ \ Zee\ \ • Apr 7

\ \ Welcome to New Release Tuesday, where I round up the sci-fi (and occasional graphic novel) releases dropping this week that I think you should know about. I'm Zee, I run Tattooed Bibliophiles, and my whole thing is diversity in sci-fi — meaning if it's queer, BIPOC-authored, indie, or just something the Big 5 didn't bother to tell you about, it belongs here. New around here? Poke around. I have Harrow worthy good soup. Returning? You know the drill — let's see what dropped.\ \ \ \ Devil of the Deep by Falencia Jean-Francois (Left Unread Books of BINDERY!!!, Michael LaBorn) — This is a queer swashbuckling Caribbean fantasy by a Haitian immigrant author. This is a piratey Little Mermaid retelling where Ariel is treated as the child she actually is, and the romance is between the adults. And some of the adults are sexy bossy pirates. I read this before it was picked up by Michael's publishing house, and I loved it then. But with an absolutely STUNNING cover and the press it deserves? This is the exact kind of book that would never find you through an algorithm, would not get a Big 5 marketing push, but will probably be the one you tell everyone about in five years. This is why I'm here. This is the whole point. Is it sci-fi? Well, not really, but it's the kind of high fantasy with rich world building that sci-fi readers love, so I'm putting it here, because this is my page and I WANT TO.\ \ \ \ The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu (Macmillan/Tor) — You may have heard me mention this one approximately forty seven times over the last month because I have the ARC and I cannot shut up about it. John Chu has been winning Hugos and Nebulas for short fiction for years and this is his debut novel, which means the short fiction world has been hoarding him and I am choosing to be normal about it. (I am not being normal about it.) This is actually the way of most sci-fi, and there are entire publications dedicated to publishing short sci-fi in an effort to expose the world to more of these amazing authors (check out Clarkesworld if you're interested.) So there's this mechanic who fixes the literal nuts and bolts holding the universe together, and she has a comatose mother, a sister who is literally, actively, and viciously trying to kill her, a secretive group attempting to hijack the fabric of reality, and a himbo sidekick whose cooking is described in ways that made me pause the audiobook to stare into the middle distance and think about food. Generational trauma wrapped in quantum physics with a side of dim sum. This one is worth picking up.\ \ \ \ What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed (Macmillan/Tor) — (Can we take a moment to admire how fucking BIG this image is? Listen, I am having formatting issues today, and those are the LEAST of my issues so I'm gonna roll with it.) A doctor from a world that abolished marriage gets stranded on an alien planet where marriage is not only practiced but aggressively enforced by powerful religious authorities (sound familiar?), accompanied by a distressingly handsome translator (the word "distressingly" is doing a lot of work in that description and I respect it.) Queer MCs, absurd alien biology, completely backwards gender politics, and a plot that is essentially "what if - and hear me out - first contact - but make it a deeply personal reckoning with everything you thought you knew about how people are supposed to love each other." Described as perfect for readers of Ann Leckie and Amal El-Mohtar. I am a reader of Ann Leckie and Amal El-Mohtar. It's me. Hi. (And I'm always a problem.)\ \ \ \ Year of the Mer by L.D. Lewis (Simon & Schuster) — (Mer as in merMAID, not murDER. Judas NOOOO!) Also that is one sexy special editon. I love this place, I can say "sexy" and "murder" and "kill" without the algorithm shadow banning me...\ \ \ \ L.D. Lewis co-founded FIYAH Literary Magazine (another of those short story publications I was talking about.) She helped build the Ignyte Awards, which are one of the most diverse and interesting genre awards in sci-fi. She has been doing the work for years while the industry did whatever the industry does (you know what it does - I mean, you're here, on Bindery, doing the work yourself just by reading this. You go bestie!) This is her debut novel and it is a bloody Little Mermaid reimagining — not the Disney version, not the one where everything is fine, but the OG one where Arielle's granddaughter Yemaya has to crawl to Ursula for help after a coup kills her entire family, accompanied by her bodyguard/fiancée. Sapphic. Dark. Debut. I'm going to go preorder this immediately and I won't be taking questions. (I also want to take a moment to point out that she is using L.D. as a pseudonym because this genre is still WHACKED. Since it's predominantly read by men, it's predominantly written by men. White men. Cishet white men. I swear to Octavia Butler if you don't go pick up some sci-fi written by some girls gays and theys I'm going to come through this screen and throw hands. (And if you are a girl/gay/they you should really be reading more sci-fi.))\ \ \ \ Piper at the Gates of Dusk by Patrick Ness (PRH) — A return to the world of Chaos Walking, which if you read with your kids is either very exciting or a war crime depending on how attached they got to that series. If you haven't heard of it, it seems to have some very The Hatchet-like vibes. I've seen a ton of boys who thought they weren't into reading get very into The Hatchet, so if you have one of those (or three like me, Jod help you) it may be worth looking into. And if your household already has a Chaos Walking person in it (not the neurodivergent kind of Chaos Walking™ but the book series called Chaos Walking) well then, obviously. BTdubs, if you do have one of those Hatchet people in your house, also check out Sovereign by Jeff Hirsch, which is basically The Hatchet in Space™ (yes I'm trademarking in Space, if I had to completely rebrand I would probably "Zee in Space" and that has absolutely zero ring to it. And if you're wondering, yes I'm mutuals with the other girl on Tiktok who grabbed @tattooedbibliophile before I could, which is why I have a zero at the end on that app and none of the others. Literally, all the others. I have this screen name on every social media app there is, except Twitter, which I deleted ages ago and it was too long for them anyway.)\ \ \ \ The Heart of the Nhaga by Lee Youngdo, translated by Anton Hur (Simon & Schuster) — First English translation of a popular Korean fantasy series, translated by Anton Hur who is himself a sci-fi author (and if you've read Babel you KNOW why that's important. And if you haven't read Babel...why bestie?) A vengeful anti-hero with a giant sword, flying manta rays with ruined cities on their backs, and corrupt society of immortal psychic reptiles....oh my. Then again, who knows. Translations can go really, really wrong. That cover though? Oh so right.\ \ What did I miss? What's coming out this week?\ \ See you next week. You know, if we're still surviving late stage capitalism/oligarchy.\ \ — Zee\ \

- *\ \ If you liked this and want more of whatever THIS is (unhinged book analysis, barely contained rage at the state of the world, and occasional Tamsyn Muir references and em dashes that I will never apologize for) consider subscribing for $5/month. Every cent goes to people who actually need it, because I have a day job and a cause, not a brand deal. This is my middle finger to Big 5 publishing, dressed up as a book blog. Come hold it up with me.](https://tattooedbibliophile.binderybooks.com/item/yBJPFnZRXjYTVAbrcOfy/)

4/7/26 - New Sci-fi Titles This Week

6 books

Tattooed Bibliophiles\ \ Zee\ \ • Mar 13

[Poll:\ \ To summarize or not to summarize\ \ The 13th: A Monthly Brain Dump from the Spite Club, with an important question at the end\ \ Let me tell you something about the 13th. I work in construction. I have been inside every floor of more tall buildings than you have had hot dinners. And I need you to know — with the full authority of someone who has stood on it — that the 13th floor exists. It is there. You are on it. We just renamed it the 14th because somewhere along the line humanity collectively decided that lying about math was preferable to confronting our own superstitions. I can count. You can count. The elevator knows. We're just all agreeing not to talk about it.\ \ \ \ Which is, honestly, a perfect metaphor for how most of us, at least those of you who found your way here, are doing right now. \ \ Welcome to the first installment of my monthly update, dropping on the 13th of every month, only to my Spite Club besties. I'm going to tell you what I've been reading, how I'm actually doing, and what's coming up — with my whole chest and zero apologies. (Actually with only part of my chest because I'm still unlearning everything I've ever been taught and I make mistakes, so if I do, call me out. I probably deserve it.)\ \

- *\ \ What I Finished This Month\ \ \ \ And Side by Side They Wander by Molly Tanzer — I wanted to love this more than I did, and I think that's admittedly probably a me problem. The premise is genuinely brilliant: a ragtag group of misfits on a mission to steal back Earth's greatest art from aliens who won't return it — a direct parallel to the very real and very ongoing battles between colonized cultures and the countries that stole from them. That emotional core should have gutted me. I wanted it to. Instead I got some art history, a deeply strange ending, shallow characters, and the dawning realization that I was apparently supposed to know the full story of Orpheus going in. I did not. If you're an art buff or a mythology girlie, you will probably get significantly more out of this than I did. I'm not saying it's bad. I'm saying it required homework I didn't do. I used to not read novellas because I didn't think they had enough depth. This is the kind of story that made me think that. But hey, 3 stars, would recommend to someone artier than me.\ \ \ \ Nobody's Baby by Olivia Waite — Cozy, queer, autistic auntie detective in space solves the case of the impossible baby — the first baby in 300 years on a ship where fertility is supposed to be paused until they get to their new planet. Mystery isn't my genre because it's historically full of old racist grumpy white dudes with a drinking problem who are all somehow Billy Bob Thornton, but if it were all written like this, I would pick up a lot more. I started with book 1 in this series and absolutely plan to continue it as more come out.\ \ \ \ Playing for Keeps by Alexandria Bellefleur — A bisexual's dream!!! Think: the two sexy lady agents of TSwift and a bisexual Travis Kelce falling in love, but make it gay. Extra gay. Contemporary isn't my genre, but I am OBSESSED with this one. The kind of obsessed that makes me want to pick up everything else this author has ever written. THere is so much character depth and back story and the spice level is friggin hot. And Hallelujah, Alexandria Bellefleur is an established author with lots more books that I will be picking up.\ \ \ \ Amari and the Despicable Wonders and Amari and the Metalwork Menace by B.B. Alston — The inclusive magical world that replaced a certain wizarding world in our household (we don't speak of its author due to her harm to the trans community. If you think your kids can't handle a boycott, I promise you, you're wrong. Kids LOVE raising the middle finger to the establishment. It's basically coded in their DNA. See below notes on 10 to 25, another book I'm currently reading.) My kids and I have loved every minute of this action-packed series, and book four ends on a cliffhanger I will be saying nothing further about except: BB Alston, how DARE you, and also please hurry up with book five. Let Amari be a kid for five minutes. FIVE MINUTES.\ \ \ \ Stuffed by Liz Braswell — My family loved this book, which I say through gritted teeth because I bought this book to personally attack...myself. If you have a child who loves stuffed animals, fair warning: this will make your entire household hold on to them a little tighter and a little longer. I once donated some stuffed animals after our house flooded because I was purging (so I didn't have to pack as much, sue me!) and my son never forgave me. This was after an entire YEAR of him not noticing they were gone. So naturally we read this book together so he could remind me of that, repeatedly, while I sat with my guilt like the masochist I apparently am. Trigger warnings for younger kids: some stuffed animals are harmed by monsters. They get sewn back together. My son handled it. Did I handle the guilt? Only my therapist knows (haha that's hilarious I don't have a therapist. In this economy? I have a best friend who deserves a sainthood is what I have.)\ \ \ \ Space Battle Lunchtime graphic novels 1-3 by Natalie Riess — Cute, cozy, sapphic, and about a TV cooking competition that the main character gets kidnapped from Earth to star in. For some reason the second one is hard to get your hands on. It's on eBay, you can find it if you try. Leave me a comment if you can't because another of my special interests is finding hard to find books. Anyway these are SO fun and cute and heartwarming. Read these. They are good soup and they will not expose your insides. (I refuse to go one single blog without a Gideon the Ninth reference. REFUSE )\ \ \ \ Three Shattered Souls by Mai Corland, book 3 in the Broken Blades series — I am a sucker for the "found family group of misfits taking on the fascist regime" trope and this delivered for me in a big way. Multi-POV with short chapters means you will absolutely fly through it, especially if you have as many ARCs as I have waiting for you on Netgalley. (It's a lot. Maybe in another post I'll tell you about allllllllll of the books waiting on me to read them in my Netgalley account.) There are 3 books in the completed series and there were 3 sets of special editions - Broken Binding, Goldsboro, and the first editions of general releases. This image by @cat.book.nook mixes some of them and when I saw it I may or may not have lost the battle to my internalized consumerism and purchased them all. Sigh. All my boycotting and thrifting and I still lose the battle more than I'd like. Cue anti-capitalist guilt, yay!\ \
- *\ \ What I'm Currently Reading\ \ I want to preface this by saying that I have a problem. I admit it. I have an audiobook, a hardcover for my nightstand, a paperback for my kid's baseball practice, fiction for my heart, nonfiction for my brain, a book I'm reading aloud to my dyslexic kid, and an ebook (or two or seven) on my phone for any time I'm waiting somewhere without a physical book. I also requested way too many ARCs on Netgalley and now I have to live with that. This is my life. I have made *choices.*\ \ \ \ The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu — in ARC audiobook format, thanks to the lovely folks at Macmillan. A mechanic who fixes the literal nuts and bolts that hold the universe together, major family trauma, and a himbo sidekick who magically cooks things that are described in ways that made me pause the audiobook to think about food. I am enjoying this immensely and I will report back.\ \ \ \ Platform Decay by Martha Wells — Murderbot book 8. I will always read this series because I relate to Murderbot on a cellular level and I will not be elaborating further. (Autistic over protective robot in space who just wants to watch his shows and not deal with humans: it me. So apparently I WILL be elaborating.) I'll be honest that I haven't loved Martha Wells' other work as much. The sarcastic Muir-like comedic tone that makes Murderbot special doesn't show up the same way elsewhere in her books. But THIS series? Every time. Without question.\ \ \ \ Stuffed Book 2: Into Darkness — yes we are reading the sequel. Apparently one round of emotional self-flagellation was not sufficient. My son has opinions about what we read together and those opinions are "more of this please." I am nothing if not a devoted mother (aka SUCKA) and a glutton for punishment.\ \ \ \ 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People by David Yeager — This is not self help. I want to be very clear about that because I have a well documented hostility toward self help books. This is science. Long term scientific studies done by the author found that young people make risky decisions not because they lack the intelligence to understand long term consequences or the wherewithal for self denial of instant gratification, but because their need to be respected as full members of their community (aka like an adult) far outweighs everything else. On a biological level. As a parent of teenagers and a person with the 'tism m'lord who requires receipts before changing her behavior, this book is a NEED, not a want. Highly recommend for any parent, educator, manager, or person who has ever been or dealt with anyone between the ages of 10 and 25 and wondered what the hizell was happening in their brain. (Can I take this moment to ask the publishing world why nonfic covers are so damn boring? This book is absolutely FASCINATING and that cover is the most boring thing I've ever laid eyes on. Do better Simon & Schuster!)\ \ \ \ The End of Violence by Dr. Gary Slutkin — yes I giggled at the author name, I am not above it, I am a Slutkin for ending violence as well sir! This is a book by a CDC disease doctor who has found, through long term scientific study, that if you treat violence like a transmittable disease you can address it the same way you'd address tuberculosis: educate the community, treat the afflicted, and identify and support those most at risk before they become vectors. I listened to the audiobook and found it so compelling that I preordered a hard copy to annotate, summarize, and highlight for my dyslexic social worker bestie. Free labour in this economy? That should tell you everything. (Again though, another wildly boring cover. What is up with that???)\ \ \ \ One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad — same story. Listened to it, purchased a hard copy, currently annotating it with the fervor of someone who needs everyone she knows to read this immediately. Which brings me to something I want to talk to you about. (Now THAT is a cover! Props to the folks over at Knopf because this cover makes the same statement the book makes in far fewer pages.)\ \
- *\ \ Something I Want To Try (And I Want Your Opinion)\ \ I'm planning a series where I review books with full spoilers. Not every book, but the ones that have something so important to say that I want you to have access to it even if you never pick up the book yourself. El Akkad's book is the first one I have in mind. I've annotated the absolute shit out of this book and I want to share my notes. \ \ I used to do a Discord book club called the Genre Sluts. You may have even been a member. It's still there, but I haven't scheduled a book in a while because I found it consumed a large chunk of my life without providing me the close community I needed from a book club. I don't know if it's my personality or just the autism, but I need to see peoples faces to feel the genuine connection I need from community. The Discord chat just wasn't doing it for me.\ \ I have complicated feelings about this new strategy. I want you to go read the whole book. I want you to support these authors. But I also know that some of you will never read certain books no matter how hard I recommend them (nonfiction especially) and I think hearing me talk through the whole thing might actually send some of you to the book anyway. And for the ones who genuinely won't get there, I'd rather you have the ideas than not. We have one short life. I've done the math. We cannot read everything. I genuinely want to know what you think about this in the comments.\ \ Footnote: I've actually done the math. I'm 41 and if I read 100 books a year - though my average tends to be closer to 90 so I'm being optimistic here - until I'm retired at 60, that's approximately 1850 books after subtracting about half a year as I'm counting from my birthday. After I retire I hope to read twice that. And if I live till 81.4 like the average woman in America, that's 4280, plus the original 1850 is 6,130 books left. And at the average rate I add to my TBR - 10 books per month of which I get to only about 3, I'm looking at a deficit of 3,360 books I want to read and won't ever get to. If there is an afterlife, it damn well better have books.\ \ \ \
- *\ \ How Am I Actually Doing\ \ Fucking terrible, if I'm honest, but I don't know how anyone who isn't actively choosing delusion can be doing much better right now. The world is burning, democracy is dead, and my TikTok views are in the gutter. And maybe that's because I'm a bad creator — only you, dearest gentle reader, can tell me. Don't tell me, it will hurt my feelings. (Jk, I suppress those so hard if I have them you'll never know anyway.) And every time I hear Aaron Parnas say "breaking news" I have a visceral stress response that makes me want to throw my phone into the sun, which is a problem when TikTok is currently my main way of bringing people here, to what I have lovingly decided to call the Good Place. (And let's be real here - if my unhinged sarcastic badly written excessive parentheses sci-fi Bindery page is a Good Place, what does that say about the state of the world?)\ \ \ \ But here's the thing. Sci-fi has always been our proof that we have a future worth imagining. That things can be better. That humans, at our absolute worst, still contain people who dream of something more. So I will keep showing up on the 13th — on the floor that definitely exists, that we all just agreed to lie about — and I will keep reading books and talking about them, because in our darkest hours the most radical thing I know how to do is keep hoping.\ \ See you next month. Probably still terrible. Definitely still reading.\ \ — Zee\ \
- *\ \ If you liked this and want more of whatever THIS is — unhinged book analysis, barely contained rage at the state of the world, and occasional Tamsyn Muir references and em dashes that I will never apologize for — consider subscribing for $5/month. Every cent goes to people who actually need it, because I have a day job and a cause, not a brand deal. This is my middle finger to Big 5 publishing, dressed up as a book blog. Come hold it up with me.](https://tattooedbibliophile.binderybooks.com/item/LYWPYgPAgfHBa8rX2u61/)

The 13th: A Monthly Brain Dump from the Spite Club

13 books

Tattooed Bibliophiles\ \ Zee\ \ • Nov 11 2025

\ \ 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!\ \ 01. 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.\ \ 02. 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.\ \ 03. 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!\ \ 04. 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.\ \ 05. 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!\ \ 06. 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.\ \ 07. Love Galax y 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…\ \ 08. 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!!!)\ \ 09. 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.\ \ Get in now so you can say you were here before the content deluge hit.](https://tattooedbibliophile.binderybooks.com/item/2OYxBCKG0A33fbdCD8hM/)

15 Science Fiction Books I'm Excited For in 2026

15 books

Posts about this book from across Bindery

Tattooed Bibliophiles\ \ Zee\ \ • Apr 7

4/7/26 - New Sci-fi Titles This Week

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Children of Diaspora\ \ Rae the Reviewer\ \ • Apr 7

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April Releases by BIPOC!

What are you looking forward to reading in April?

There are so many great books coming out this month including some from independent publishers like Devil of the Deep and Burn the Sea from @bindery_books and The Mystery of the Bitten Peach from @neonhemlock that you can support by ordering for yourself, a friend, or requesting through your local library 📚

I’m also super excited for The Genie Game by @jordanifueko (which I have an ARC of but I’ve been waiting for the audiobook that she narrates herself) and A Fishboy Named… Sashimi by @dsantat which I went to a virtual @macmillanusa event for and it sounds absolutely hilarious 😁

The Subtle Art of Folding Space by @j0hnchu is also high on my anticipated reads. I’ve gone to a couple of his author readings at ICFA and he’s so good at blending in the speculative with the mundane of day to day life in ways that are super entertaining

And shoutout to @thereadingblackgirls whose recent list made me realize I’d missed the release date of To Steal a Throne by @queryqueen339 👑

#booklist #newreleasetuesday #newbooks #diversebooks