14 new SF/F books to check out in March 2026

Lots of exciting fantasy, alien worlds, and epic battles to add to your TBR

This week, Vermont has a unique and quirky civic event taking place, Town Meeting Day. It's a unique democratic tradition here, where towns gather for a meeting to discuss the year's business. It depends a bit on the size of the town: bigger cities like Burlington and Montpelier have your traditional voting by ballot, but some of the smaller ones will hold in-person meetings where anyone can raise an issue or proposal, debate budget line items, and generally take a hand in their governance. It's a neat tradition, and one that I think really helps our little state stand apart in this day and age.

Here's my usual pitch: this newsletter is free to read, but it costs time and resources to put together.

There are a couple of ways to support it: you can sign up as a supporting subscriber (you'll get some additional posts and access to the TO Slack channel), you can leave a one-time tip, or you can purchase a book through a Bookshop.org affiliate link below!

Thank you: your support helps keep this newsletter running smoothly.

Support Transfer Orbit

As always, you can check out prior installments of these recommendations over on the Book List tag. You can also check out new review copies as they come in (and talk about them!) over on the TO Subreddit.

Okay, here are 14 new science fiction and fantasy books to check out in the first half of this March:

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle (March 3rd)

The Folio Society releases their Spring Collection, and for it, they're bringing back one of their recent Limited Editions: Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn. It's a classic fantasy novel, and it comes with an introduction by Patrick Rothfuss and 9 full-page color and 28 black and white illustrations by artist Lily Seika Jones

Crawlspace by Adam Christopher (March 17th)

Olivia O'Connor is the mission lead for an experimental spacecraft, which could change the course of humanity: it will potentially open up the depths of space for human exploration. But as her and her crew jump through dimensions, they find strange things: voices, long-lost glimpses of people, and strange symbols carve into the ship, all while ancient entities are appearing outside.

Spoiled Milk by Avery Curran (March 10th)

A young woman named Emily Locke is in her last year attending the Briarley School for Girls when Violet, a fellow student, falls and his killed. Emily and her rival Evelyn agree that it was no accident, and they set about trying to prove that the schoolmistress was behind it.

Emily turns to an unlikely solution: spiritualism, connecting with spirits from beyond to try and figure out what happened, and is shocked when she encounters Violet, who warns them that something far more dangerous is in store for the school.

Kirkus Reviews calls it a "queer, eerie debut" and that it's "true strength is exploring the complex relationships among the girls—both living and dead—and the unknowns of the world."

Transmentation | Transgression by Darkley Lem (March 17th)

Writing collective Darkley Lem follows up last year's Transmentation Transience, a shared-world project about interdimensional travelers who find themselves in the midst of a greater conflict between two societies.

After his last mission, intelligence officer Malculm Bysotič has found himself in disgrace and is assigned to work on a new initiative: evicting travelers from Burel Hird, a grim assignment that's mired in cruelty. As he conducts his work, he begins to question the society that he serves. Meanwhile, newly-acceded councilor Priema Dhalgrim is carrying out her program of control, working to expand Burel Hird's territory across the Many Worlds.

Writing in Locus Magazine, Alexandra Pierce says that "this series is doing bold and clever new things with many-worlds narratives and anyone with an interest in such ideas needs to be reading it."

Green & Deadly Things by Jenn Lyons (March 3rd)

This is a standalone fantasy in which necromancy once nearly destroyed the world long ago, or so people thought. An aspiring knight named Mathaiik has been training for his entire life to join the Idallik Knights, an order devoted to preventing the return of necromancy, of which only small traces still exist in the world.

The knights soon face a new threat and find that they're unable to stop it: the forests are beginning to come to life and consume anyone who steps foot inside. To stop them, Mathaiik does the unthinkable, awaken one of the long-sleeping Grim Lords, Kaiataris, who awakens in a new world, and realizes that what everyone thought was their story was very wrong.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (March 3rd)

Another offering from the Folio Society's Spring 2026 collection is Emily St. John Mandel's outstanding post-apocalyptic novel Station Eleven, which explores life after a devastating pandemic kills off a significant chunk of the population. This edition comes with a new introduction by Mandel and art by Zoë van Dijk, who contributed six illustrations.

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville (March 3rd)

Folio Society is bringing out another Limited Edition offering to the masses, this time in the form of China Miéville's classic Perdido Street Station, which is set in his steampunk city of New Crobuzon in Bas-Lag. Humans live alongside mutants and arcane creatures, and when a stranger arrives in the city, something is unleashed that will change it forever.

This one comes with an afterword by Miéville and art by Doug Bell: 11 color illustrations and 8 black and white illustrated part-title pages.

River of Bones and Other Stories by Rebecca Roanhorse (March 3rd)

Rebecca Roanhorse brings together a whole bunch of her award-winning short stories in this new collection, such as “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™,” “A Brief Lesson in Native American Astronomy,” and a whole bunch of others.

But what I'm really excited for is a new story in her Sixth World series, following her two novels Trail of Lightning and Storm of Locusts. Set in a climate change-ravaged, post-apocalyptic near future where magic has returned to the world, she picks up Kai’s perspective as he and Maggie head back to his home to save his ex from their own family.

Kirkus Reviews gave it a starred review, saying "This collection is best read with plenty of time to sit and reflect after finishing each piece."

Children of Strife by Adrian Tchaikovsky (March 17th)

One of the best science fiction novels to come out in recent years was Adriak Tchaikovsky's Children of Time, an epic read about terraforming, intelligence, evolution, and civilization, following the uplifting of spiders on a distant colony world and the clash between them and a band of colonists from a destroyed Earth. He followed it up with Children of Ruin and Children of Memory, and now, Children of Strife.

In this installment, we're back to seeking out the other worlds that Earth began terraforming before it collapsed. A motley crew of humans, spiders, and mantis shrimp head out into the depths of space where they encounter one such colonial world. When they arrive, a human named Alis discovers that only she, the ship's captain, and its AI are the only ones left on the ship – and it's up to them to figure out what happened to the others who set off to explore the world and the arkship orbiting it. I've loved reading these books, and this type of story: people heading out to explore the crumbling remains of a colony or spaceship, is something that I love to delve into.

Pretenders to the Throne of God by Adrian Tchaikovsky (March 10th)

As if adding to that series wasn't enough, Tchaikovsky adds another installment to his Tyrant Philosophers series, which began with City of Last Chances, and continued with House of Open Wounds, Days of Shattered Faith, and Lives of Bitter Rain. (It'll end with one final installment, The Grave of Perfection.)

In this installment, the Palleseen have been working to correct the imperfect world, setting their sights on the state Eres Ffenegh (the City on the Back of a Crab), only to find that its inhabitants aren't going to give up their freedom without a fight. The Palleseen have laid siege to the city, which has dragged on. The invading army is beginning to look at what they'll be ordered to do next, while in the city, folks are figuring out how to bargain and survive the coming onslaught.

The Book of Fallen Leaves by A. S. Tamaki (March 17th)

In this fantasy novel, a prince named Sen Hoshiakari has been exiled after his father's rebellion failed. He was saved by a peasant named Rui, and is now setting off to restore his family's land and honor. Rui has found herself adrift and aimless, unaware that she has a destiny. As a civil war erupts and demons emerge to wreck havoc, the pair have to figure out how to survive.

Publishers Weekly says "It can be a challenge to keep track of the fast-moving coups and battles, but lovely snippets of poetry, appealing protagonists, and fascinating interpersonal dynamics will keep readers hooked. Tamaki is an exciting new voice in epic fantasy."

Accelerated Growth Environment by Lauren C. Teffeau (March 3rd)

A scientist named Dr. Jorna Benton is part of a sea-based nursery called the Climasphere, which can support most of the Earth's biomes. As she sets off on her mission to restore collapsed ecosystems along the Atlantic Coast, an explosion nearly destroys their work, and it appears to be sabotage. She's labeled the prime suspect, and to clear her name and save the mission, she has to take drastic measures by confronting a secret that she's hidden for years.

The Martian by Andy Weir (March 3rd)

Andy Weir's debut novel The Martian is getting the Folio Society treatment! It's one of my favorite books, which follows a lone astronaut as he's stranded on Mars and has to figure out how to survive.

Particularly exciting about this release is that it has art from Dániel Taylor, who did an excellent job with Iain M. Banks' Culture series in recent years. I've got my original hardcover edition of the novel, but I'm sorely tempted to snag a copy of this one.

The First Step by Tao Wong (March 10th)

Tao Wong originally launched his A Thousand Li series back in 2019 (it's run for 12 installments), and Ace Books has recently picked it up for republication, starting with The First Step, following Long Wu Ying, a farmer's son who jumped at the chance to become a cultivator, a person who can cultivate his magical abilities. When he's conscripted into the army, he saves his fellow soldiers and is brought to the attention of the Verdant Green Waters sect, a school for magical cultivation, introducing him to a world where he's very much out of his depth.

Publishers Weekly says that "the worldbuilding and magic system impress," and that while Wu Ying needs some fleshing out, "there’s enough intrigue to make readers curious about where the series goes from here."

As always, thanks for reading. Let me know in the comments what catches your eye, and what you're looking forward to reading.