One last, giant pile of sci-fi and fantasy books to check out in October 2026

October has been fully loaded with new books: it's been a very good month for readers. In case you missed it, here's the first and second lists. Now we've arrived at the final couple of weeks of the month, and one last batch of 22 books titles to check out that caught my eye.

You can also check out past installments of this book list series by hitting up the Book List tag.

Tyrant Lizard Queen: The Love, Life, and Terror of Earth’s Greatest Carnivore by Riley Black (October 27th)

What creature that's ever existed on Earth has captured our collective imagination more than the Tyrannosaurus Rex? I can't think of one, and paleontologist and science writer Riley Black's latest book is devoted to this majestic creature. In it, she follows the life of a T-Rex called Snaggletooth from birth to adulthood, drawing from the latest scientific discoveries to explore how the animal lived, hunted, played, and more.

Publishers Weekly says "Combining evocative storytelling with meticulous science, Black offers a captivating and intimate portrait of Earth’s most famous carnivore."

Star Wars Icons: Darth Vader by Anthony Breznican (October 20th)

Anthony Breznican is one of my favorite entertainment journalists. He's worked for places like Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair, and Esquire, and I make it a point to check out any of his in-depth features about new films and TV shows.

His next project is a new book about the legacy of Darth Vader, in which he's interviewed a number of people involved in the character's creation, and looking at how he evolved over time. It looks like it'll be a really intriguing read.

Grim Folk Tale by James J. Butcher (October 20th)

James Butcher adds on another installment of his Unorthodox Chronicles (Dead Man's Hand, Long Past Dues, and Cold Iron Task) series, which follows a junior Auditor in the magical Department of Unorthodox Affairs, Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby, who's responsible for helping to keep order in the world.

A magical affliction has begun to spread in Boston, and Gimsby has been tasked with finding the source, along with his partner, Huntsman Mayflower. It's straightforward enough, but things become more complicated when they encounter some ancient beings, and they have to travel below the streets of Boston and into another reality known as Elsewhere to find what's causing the illness and put an end to it.

The Bishop of Durham Attempts to Surrender the City by Susanna Clarke (October 20th)

Susanna Collins has returned to the world of her best-known novel, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, with a new novella, The Bishop of Durham Attempts to Surrender the City. 700 years before the events of that story, England was being invaded from the North, fairies had spread across the countryside, and the city of Durham was surrounded by a strange forest. The Bishop of Durham, Ranulf, realized that he needed to find a way for both humans and fairies to coexist, and set off to find the king of the fairies – reportedly a 14-year-old boy – to find a way to make peace.

Kirkus Reviews says "anyone who has ever read a fairy tale retelling that falls flat will understand how difficult it is to achieve the balance Clarke—and Sawdon—achieve here."

When the Night Comes by Knocking by Katherine Daniel (October 20th)

Jane and her brother Thomas haven't spoken since they were involved in an accident that nearly killed them. Reunited for a car ride on the way home from college, they're still not speaking until they stop at a store and encounter a man who stumbles in dragging a body and claiming to have been attacked by a monster.

At first, nobody believes him, but when someone leaves the store and is quickly killed, they begin to realize that the stories about a local creature might be true, and that someone has enticed it from its mountain lair so that it can feed on their guilt.

The siblings and their companions all have their own secrets, and as the monster tears through town, they have to confront their pasts and try and overcome their issues to survive.

The Night Parade by Stephanie Feldman (October 27th)

This is a collection of Feldman's short fiction, which includes stories about a teenager girl who finds that her friends are being enticed by a supernatural force, another who's dealing with two versions of her boyfriend, a mother who thinks that her kid's best friend is a witch, and a widow who's contemplating drastic measures to bring her husband back.

Lost on Paradise by Alan Dean Foster (October 20th)

Alan Dean Foster's latest novel is set in the distant future where Earth has become overcrowded and polluted, and where only the wealthiest can escape to another world known as Paradise. Jonos and Liina have dreamed of saving up to journey to the world, where humanity lives alongside two other alien species, the Eiquan and the Lusanata. After they go on the run after committing a crime, they find their way to Paradise, only to find that it lives up to their expectations – until something goes horribly wrong.

The Financial Times says "Foster’s story starts out as science fiction before segueing into space fantasy, and is the assured work of a master of his craft. 

The Porcelain Sisters by Daryl Gregory (October 27th)

I've enjoyed reading Daryl Gregory's books, and this sounds like an intriguing one: a woman named Ruth Winslow has been saving for her education while caring for her sister Isabel - a haunted doll.

When Isabel is damaged, she has to track down a witch known as the the Dollmaker, La Fabricante. The pair head off to France and tangle with an assassin, a group of angry, haunted dolls, demons, and humans, learning along the way that their entire lives have been a life - their mother was an enforcer for the Le Clan des Sorcières.

Kirkus Reviews says "the plot is completely bananas, of course, but Gregory is such an engaging writer, the reader has little choice to buy in—and that’s a good thing. This novel is creepy, hilarious, and just a lot of fun."

The Slantwise Histories by Alix E. Harrow (October 20th)

Alix E. Harrow recently earned the Hugo Award for Best Novel earlier this summer, and now there's another book from her to check out: The Slantwise Histories, a collection of some of her short fiction, including "A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies" as well as updated ("author's preferred text") versions of a number of her other shorter works, in addition to another five previously-unpublished ones.

Writing in Locus Magazine, Gary K. Wolfe says that "it reflects Harrow’s Emily Dickinson-like approach to telling the truth, but telling it slant. Again, there are sidewise looks at fairy tales, history, witches, and ghosts, along with a couple of cool librarians and even a wry nod to O. Henry."

The Bookshop Book by Mark Lawrence (October 20th)

Back in 2022, Mark Lawrence published The Book That Wouldn't Burn, the first installment of his Library trilogy, about a kid named Evar, who is trapped in an ancient library while trying to unravel its mysteries when he's joined by a girl named Livira, He followed it up with The Book That Broke the World and last year's The Book That Held Her Heart.

Turns out, he isn't quite done with this world: The Bookshop Book is a standalone adventure set in the same world, following Frederick Archer, a young man who ends up in a bookshop and finds himself encountering Rose Penrose, a woman who's been transported into the world of a novel and ends up in the same bookshop.

Library Journal says "fans of that series will enjoy how it fits, while new readers will find this ode to books, bookshops, and libraries a delightful novel that can be read on its own."

Code and Codex by Yoon Ha Lee (October 27th)

Yoon Ha Lee has a new space opera novel, set in the distant future in which an galaxy is ruled by the Censorate republic, which has banned all languages other than its own, the lingua rubra, through which its ruler, Aurelia (her title is Peacock), who has worked to control the information that flows through the galaxy and who can control her subjects with their language.

The empire also works to stamp out any unauthorized texts, and when rumors of on turns up, she dispatches her agent and lover, Val / Valentina (known as the Swan), to investigate and retrieve it. Val had been enslaved by the royal family as a child and ends up finding more, setting into motion a series of events that will threaten the stability of Aurelia's rule.

This sounds like a trippy novel, and Chris Kluwe over at Lightspeed Magazine says "Yoon Ha Lee has crafted something thornily transcendent, an embrace of letters and literacy that cannot be fully comprehended in a single reading. This is a book that rewards the patient excavation of meaning, a statue chiseled piece by agonizing piece from building blocks we all have access to, and it is absolutely worth the time spent uncovering its manifold depths."

Dead Batteries by Kate Maupin (October 27th)

May and her autistic son Davis have been on their own since their husband/father walked out, and they had to come to terms with a difficult road ahead of them. Then a pandemic swept across the planet, killing 99.9% of the human population. May and Davis only survived because they'd gotten very good at staying away from people.

When May is out searching for batteries to keep Davis's Game Boy going, she encounters a stranger who calls himself Bird, and he offers up some information about some survivors that might be nearby. In exchange for pretending to be his wife and child, they might be able to get into the community. She agrees – they probably have batteries – and while they've now upended their stable lives for a new chance at survival, she's going to find out how far she'll go to protect Davis.

Publishers Weekly says "Maupin doesn’t sugarcoat the gory fallout of the virus or the everyday demands of holding the world together as a single parent of a high-needs child, making for an emotionally challenging but grounded and satisfying trek, enhanced by May’s anxious narration."

Savage Lake by Nick Medina (October 27th)

When her estranged father dies, Nell Marin is prompted to return to her family's cabin on Torchlight Lake with her son, Oscar. There, she's forced to confront some lingering, horrific memories as they both work to fix up the place to get it ready to sell, and then they can put it behind them.

But their trip is soon prolonged: the roads are barricaded by members of a local tribe, and the pair begin to experience strange things. They hear screams and see a mysterious figure watching them at night, and Oscar watches as Nell seems to be coming less of the mother he knows. As he learns more about his family's horrific past, she has to figure out how to confront those secrets, before his mother is gone forever.

From the Library of Jurgen Leitner (The Magnus Archives) by Premee Mohamed and Jonathan Sims (October 27th)

A librarian named Jurgen Leitner maintains an unusual collection of books: they're all magical and deadly, which he Lsays that he's keeping the world safe from them. Two of his employees think that he's a bit odd – research assistant Hugh Franklin believes that he's found where he truly belongs, while Sebastian Everett, an acquisitions specialist, sees it as a place where he can practice a bit of magic.

Both worked at the library at different points in time, but their stories are connected in unexpected ways. It's spun off from Sims' horror anthology podcast The Magnus Archives.

There and Back Again: The Unofficial Oral History of The Lord of the Rings Films by Sam Moore (October 20th)

Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy has a very special place in my heart. He not only did the impossible – adapting J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy trilogy – but also pulled off the unheard-of production of three films at the same time. There are some outstanding books about the trilogy's production (I highly recommend Ian Nathan's Anything You Can Imagine: Peter Jackson and the Making of Middle-earth) but Sam Moore's latest looks like another worthy read.

It's an oral history of the trilogy's production, which features a ton of interviews with the cast and crew, just in time for the 25th anniversary of the release of Fellowship of the Ring.

This Is Why You Love LEGO by Jess Rahbek (October 13th)

LEGO is more popular than ever, and this new book by Jess Rahbek explores why the toy system has become so beloved. After spending three years researching the company, exploring how they conceptualize and design their kits, and how they embed storytelling and the experience of play in each one. It looks like an excellent behind-the-scenes look for anyone who's still building the sets.

The Asterist by A.T. Sayre (October 20th)

Bill Jeffries is an asteroid station commander – an Asterist – who's enduring a boring deployment at the far end of the galaxy. Everything changes when he's alerted that a spaceship has crashed not far from the station. He sets off to investigate the wreckage and finds an alien inside, a four foot-long spider-like creature, and now Bill and his distant overseers have to figure out if it's friendly or a threat. As he studies the alien, he becomes fond of it, and soon finds himself in a face against the clock to figure out the alien's origins and intentions before his superiors do.

Kirkus Reviews says that "the novel’s big hook isn’t the wonder-inspiring SF backdrop or the strange structure of the aliens (although both are impressive); it’s the intimate relationship that evolves between human and alien."

Gothic Tales by Mary Shelley, edited by Daniel Cook (October 13th)

Penguin Classics brings together ten of Mary Shelley's shorter fiction that should introduce readers to her literary canon beyond Frankenstein. It comes with an introduction by Daniel Cook.

Tropes by Sharon Shinn (October 27th)

This is a new collection of short fiction from Sharon Shinn, with stories following a man who can shift shapes, a reincarnated woman, unicorns, a magical city, and quite a few more.

Angel Country by Alex T. Singer (October 20th)

Set in an alternate 1900s, a scientist named Ada Franklin works to track down her ex-research partner after he buried her alive and stole her research: a prototype device that would allow people to communicate with angels.

Angels have prevented the American colonists from expanding beyond their original 13 colonies, but the pressure to move westward has reached a breaking point, and Ada's invention might allow humans to not only communicate with the angels, but maybe command them. To recover the machine, Ada resurrects her former lover, who's been horrifically transformed by the angels, and they have to confront human impulses and what they might unleash with their work.

The Fist of Memory by Wole Talabi (October 27th)

In this first contact novel, an alien spaceship arrives, upending the established order of the world. It's an opportunity for a Nigerian assassin named Tope, who's employed by a witchdoctor called "Baba" and whose latest job has just gone sideways. In the aftermath, he's caught up in the scramble for power that the world finds itself in, and along with a South African astronomer named Itumeleng, they have to figure out how they're connected to his mysterious dreams and the alien ship that's coming for them.

Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review, saying "Talabi pours a heady cocktail of gripping action, fraught moral and philosophical dilemmas, mysticism, and hard science. It’s a knockout."

Thrawn (Deluxe Edition) by Timothy Zahn (October 27th)

When Disney acquired Lucasfilm back in 2012, they wiped the existing Star Wars canon that had built up over the decades through books, comics, and games. One of the greatest losses in that move was Grand Admiral Thrawn, a master strategist that rivaled the links of Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine when it came to challenging the New Republic

In 2016, the announcement came down that Dave Filoni would be bringing the character back in the animated series Rebels. What's more, Lucasfilm brought Zahn back to write a new novel about the character, Thrawn. I said in my review at the time that it was a fantastic read, because if you squinted a little, it could serve as an origin for those now non-canon stories.

Now, Random House Worlds is reissuing the book as a deluxe edition hardcover: it's got a snazzy slipcase cover, sprayed edges, new endpapers, and a ribbon bookmark.

That's all for this month: let me know what caught your eye, and what you've got on your TBR!