May 2026 brings a flood of new sci-fi and fantasy books

Buckle up: May is bringing a proverbial flood of new books to a shelf near you. There are some continuations of some beloved series, a whole bunch of exciting-looking debut novels, and a ton of others that explore the human condition and our place in the universe.

As always, you can find prior book roundup over on the Book List tag. Okay, here are 18 books that caught my eye for the first half of the month:

2084: A Novel of Future War by Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis (May 12th)

Back in 2021, veteran author Elliot Ackerman and retired Admiral James Stavridis released 2034, a future war novel that was set just far enough in the future to make some interesting extrapolations, in which a conflict erupts between the US and China in the South China Sea, and over the Strait of Hormuz when a Marine aviator encounters a cyberattack in his F-35. In 2054, they jumped forward two decades, in which an American president is facing considerable discontent at home, fueled by an AI crisis. When he mysteriously dies, the country descended into a new Civil War, with global ramifications.

And now, they've jumped forward thirty years beyond that story with a new novel, 2084. Because of their internal conflicts and policies, US and China have been superseded on the world stage, and have formed the Consortium, an alliance that's deeply opposed by another consortium of equatorial nations, the Reparationists, who're trying to extract reparations from the two countries for their role in the changes to the climate that have been causing problems for everyone.

Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review, saying "Ackerman and Stavridis stage a harrowing global conflict that pits military might against an appetite for justice. As always, the authors spin geopolitical anxiety into exciting, discomfiting genre fiction."

David Starr, Space Ranger by Isaac Asimov (May 12th)

Blackstone is reprinting one of Isaac Asimov's classic series: the Lucky Starr novels, starting with David Starr, Space Ranger. Originally published under a pseudonym in 1952 and aimed at a younger audience, the series was originally intended to be the foundation of a television series that ultimately never materialized.

Set thousands of years in the future, humanity has colonized the solar system and has begun spreading elsewhere, ruled by the Solar System is the Council of Science, which uses its agents and science to keep everything in order. We're introduced to Hector Conway, a Council member who was dispatched to take care of a fleet of space pirates, only to discover a lifeboat floating between Earth and Venus, with a 4-year-old child aboard: David.

The other installments in the series, Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids, Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus, Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury, Lucky Starr and the Moons of Jupiter, and Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn, are also getting the re-release treatment, and will be coming out in the coming months.

The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean (May 5th)

After a woman named Mercy Chan found herself on the shores of Hong Kong's Kowloon Walled City, without any memory of who she is, she's worked to rebuild some sort of life by hiring herself out as a ghost talker to deal with the densely-populated city's angry spirits.

But while she can't remember her past, her past remembers her, and when a powerful ghost makes its way into the city, it claims to know her and the secrets that she can't remember. As she works to protect her neighbors from this new threat, she finds that there's more to the story, and that she might be responsible for the spirit that she's now fighting.

Publishers Weekly says that "in the midst of the entertaining drama, serious meditation on the nature of revenge and its effect on its seeker makes a heartfelt argument for the power of forgiveness."

A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman (May 12th)

The best description I've heard of Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl series is that it's something that a hyperactive six-year-old hyped up on sugar would come up with. Earth is destroyed by aliens looking to mine the place, and the survivors are shepherded into sadistic dungeons for a galactic reality show called Dungeon Crawler World, where they face ever-more horrifying threats. Carl is a Coast Guard veteran who teams up with his ex-girlfriend's tortoiseshell Persian show cat, Princess Donut (who also gets the ability to shoot lasers out of her eyes.) It sounds silly, but somehow, it works.

I've been hooked on these books, and they've been rocketing upwards in popularity since Ace Books picked up the series (Dungeon Crawler Carl, Carl's Doomsday Scenario, The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook, The Gate of the Feral Gods, The Butcher's Masquerade, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride, and This Inevitable Ruin), and now, we're about to get the next and eighth installment, A Parade of Horribles.

Dungeon Crawler Carl is headed to Peacock for a series

Dammit, Donut!

Transfer OrbitAndrew Liptak

This Inevitable Ruin dealt with the Faction Wars, with Carl and Donut finding themselves on the tenth level of the dungeon, where they find that the theme this time around is all about racing. They have to get a vehicle and continually upgrade it so that they don't come in last.

But they're finding that there are strange (stranger than what's normal) things happening in the game, and they begin to hear about something that the game's AI is calling a Parade of Horribles, and nobody knows what it means. Presumably, nothing good.

Homebound by Portia Elan (May 5th)

In 1983, a teenager named Becks is struggling: she's trying to escape from Cincinnati, her uncle – the only person who really understood her – has died, and she has to finish work on a video game about an astronaut that they were working on together.

That game will have a profound impact in the future, influencing a scientist, a robot, and a sea captain in unexpected ways, all of whom are linked in a desire to find a connection, and by a traveler flying through space.

Kirkus Reviews gave it a starred review, saying it's "an ingenious narrative that explores the meaning of love and interconnectedness across time."

The Franchise by Thomas Elrod (May 12th)

Regular readers of Transfer Orbit know that a big topic here is the nature of storytelling, and that I'm particularly fascinated with some of the bigger story franchises and how they're utilized by studios and entertainment companies to dole out to fans, for better or worse.

Thomas Elrod's debut novel looks like it was tailor made for me and this newsletter. Jumping around through time, it's about how a classic epic fantasy novel called The Malicarn was first published in the 1960s, and how it became this big, mega film hit. In this nearish future, the studio has set up a Malicarn world, where its actors have become part of the world, and begin to realize that there's more to their existence than they might remember. When a popular actor has been cast in the series, he finds that freeing his fellow inhabitants might not be as easy as he thought.

I've started reading this one and I'm really enjoying it so far. Stay tuned for more in the nearish future.

The Republic of Memory by Mahmud El Sayed (May 5th)

Here's another book that's been on my highly-anticipated list for the year: Mahmud El Sayed's The Republic of Memory. It's inspired in part by the Arab Spring, and it follows the crew of a generation ship called The Safina, which is halfway through its 400 year journey to a distant colony world.

Generations of the crew work to maintain the ship and its cargo of humans frozen in stasis, only to encounter a blackout that will threaten the mission as the crew revolts and a long-simmering conspiracy comes to a head.

This is another one that I've recently started reading and have been enjoying it. Stay tuned.

Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey (May 12th)

In Sarah Gailey's latest novel, Celia is tired of being alone: she wants more than anything to belong to a family, and when she heads out to Kindred Cove for the annual Salt Festival, she's hoping to find some sort of connection that the reclusive community that lives there promises. Out on a remote island, they make some enormous promises: there's no suffering or grief, and you can transform yourself. But such promises come with a cost.

Publishers Weekly says "Gailey does impressive work making life on the island seem pleasant enough—and Celia disconsolate enough—that it’s understandable how warning signs get overlooked or deliberately ignored."

Ash Land by Matt Harry (May 4th)

A couple of years ago, a lab in France experienced a leak, and a sample of flesh-eating microbots escaped into the wild. The results were devastating: 20 percent of humanity was killed in the first month, and those who survived had to seal themselves inside, accessing the outer world only through drones or hazmat suits.

One survivor, a former cop named Kai Braddock, has been working to track down bounties via drone and spending time with his two sons in their tiny LA apartment. When his partner is murdered on a job, he's forced to go back outside for the first time in years.

Absence by Andrew Dana Hudson (May 5th)

Humanity faces a new phenomenon: Spontaneous Human Absence (also known as "popping") in which people vanish into thin air. It's had a profound effect on the state of the world, and a government worked named Harvey Ellis, working for the Bureau of Depopulation Affairs, is part of the effort to understand and contain the problem. He's tasked with investigating disappearances, and once they're verified as an "Absence", the government will pay out a stipend.

He's dealing with his own losses, but he's coping until a strange situation presents itself: a woman reappears in her hometown, with a story of going to the other side. Harvey begins his investigation with a partner to try and figure out if she's telling the truth, or if she's just an elaborate scam artist.

Kirkus Reviews says that it's "a haunted story about unfinished lives, the persistence of hope, and the consequences of grief without end."

Radiant Star by Ann Leckie (May 12th)

Ann Leckie is one of the genre's best writers, having written such books as Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, Ancillary Mercy, Provenance, and Translation State.

This new book is set in the Temporal Location of the Radiant Star, something that's been both inspiring and conflicting for the Ooioiaa people. The Radch has deemed it an irrelevant religious site that they'll soon absorb, but they've been forced to reckon with the reality of the situation and allow one final man to become a "living saint." That decision will have a huge impact on the rest of the civilization, exacerbating other issues that have been turning up the temperature.

I loved Leckie's last installment in the world, Translation State, and I've got high hopes for this one. Kirkus Reviews gave it a starred review, saying "A skillfully rendered, thoughtful offshoot of the original story."

The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee (May 5th)

In Fonda Lee's latest novel, we're introduced to Isako, a legendary swordswomen who's preparing for the end. Her long-standing client has died, and she's planning on walking out into her planet's frozen wastelands to die in a customary ritual, only to be offered one last contract involving her last dismal apprentice, Martim. Taking the gig, she finds herself immersed in a world of corporate espionage and a looming conspiracy that could change humanity's entire existence in the universe.

I do like these sorts of "Samurai's last job" type stories, and it looks like a fun adventure of a story set in a fascinating and immersive world. Library Journal included it in its pick of the month selection and awarded it a starred review, saying "Lee’s latest stand-alone is an homage to those lost in the fallout of nefarious capitalist schemes."

The Coffin of Honey by Geoffrey D. Morrison (May 12th)

In the distant future, a politician is making a speech when an object arrives and briefly whisks him away to another planet, where he experiences a sense of eustacy. Upon his return, he has trouble processing what happened to him, and as others are given the same opportunity, various countries around the world are trying to figure out what these abductees are experiencing, even as the individuals try and figure out what happened to them and how they relate to one another.

Publishers Weekly says "Morrison peppers his nuanced narrative with song lyrics, typewritten manifestos, and excerpts from mysteriously mobile notebooks, and it can be challenging to keep track of the connections between the large cast and their individual dreams. Still, readers who stick with it will be rewarded with much food for thought. 

Moon Over Brendle by Jeff Noon (May 12th)

In the summer of 1968, Joe Sutter is about to head off to secondary school. He's from an alternate world , which is much like ours, but with a phenomenon known as Greot, a vast rainbow of dust. Joe's one of the few who can see it, but nobody really knows what it is.

Joe would rather spend his time drawing up comics and listening to music, and when he meets a pulp science fiction author, the encounter changes the direction of his life. He becomes a well-known novelist and as he writes, he teases out the story of the Greot and how he came to understand it.

Accumulation by Aimee Pokwatka (May 5th)

Tennessee Cherish is a former documentary filmmaker who's become a stay-at-home mother. When she family move into the dream house her husband bought, everything seems to be looking up. But he's becoming increasingly absent, and her two children are beginning to act out. She feels isolated.

As she gets acclimated, she doesn't notice at first that strange things are happening in her new home, from creepy dolls that begin showing up to a strange human tooth they find in the floor. As these strange things begin to pile up, they find themselves caught in loops and habits that come with dangerous effects, and Tenn needs to figure out what's behind the haunting before it kills them all.

Terrible Worlds: Destinations by Adrian Tchaikovsky (May 5th)

Adrian Tchaikovsky brings together three of his novellas into a single volume, which take readers to the edge of the solar system (Walking to Aldebaran), to the edges of time at the end of a catastrophic war (One Day All This Will Be Yours), and to a fantastical world that a failing TV presenter's famous grandmother dreamed up – or did she? (And Put Away Childish Things.)

Platform Decay by Martha Wells (May 5th)

Martha Wells adds a new novel to her growing Murderbot Diaries series (All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy, Network Effect, Fugitive Telemetry, and System Collapse), Platform Decay.

If you haven't dipped into the series, it's about an anxious android that hacked its governor module and freed itself, and it's decided that it would rather watch television than hang out with people. Unfortunately, it keeps doing the right thing, and ends up helping out the people it's encountered.

Martha Wells Interview: Writing Murderbot

Martha Wells on her blockbuster series Murderbot: finding common ground with anxiety-driven killer robots, television, and second chances.

Transfer OrbitAndrew Liptak

In this new novel, Murderbot has volunteered to help with a rescue mission, only to discover that it'll have to spend a good amount of time dealing with a whole new group of people – including human children, something it's not thrilled about.

Library Journal gave the book a starred review, saying "readers who love a good, snarky internal monologue will be glad to know that Murderbot is back in fine fettle after their self-doubt in the previous book, System Collapse."

Seek Immediate Shelter by Vincent Yu (May 5th)

One morning, the residents of Beckitt, Massachusetts receive a frightening message: "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL." The message throws the town into a panic, and their various actions reveal their true selves: there are selfless actions, regrettable last words and text messages, and family members who abandon one another. When a second message comes through revealing that it was a false alarm, everyone needs to figure out how to deal with the aftermath of their decisions and the consequences.

Kirkus Reviews called it "a quietly profound debut that asks what we would really do if we believed we would die within the next few seconds."

Alrighty, that's it for the first half of the month: I've got another batch for you coming up in the second half of the month – stay tuned.

Andrew