12 Books I’m Prioritizing in 2026

I am a sidequest reader who frequently gets distracted by the shiny new recommendation that magically jumps to the top of my TBR. I don’t dislike this about myself; most of my favorite reads from 2025 were not at all on my radar before the year started. However, I find that picking a few titles I know I want to try helps keep me from putting interesting books on the treadmill of procrastination for too long, and to ensure promising new titles actually get read.

Here are 12 books I’m committing to reading at some point in the year 2026. While there would be some beauty to me reading exactly one every month, I know myself too well to try and commit to that plan. Some of these I’m confident that I’ll love, others are risks I’m excited to take, but all have taken root in the back of my brain and won’t let up until I finally buy myself a copy.

2026 Debuts

The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan
A debut historical fantasy novel telling the story of the first werewolf. It’s a retelling of a series of mysterious attacks from French history by wild animals, mixed with what I hope is a really engaging gay lead. Just seems like a really cool blend of ideas, and I’ve had a lot of luck with queer horror over the past few years. 

An Accident of Dragons by Cheri Radke
I didn’t read a ton of cozy fantasy in 2025. Part of that is that I got a bit burned out on the Legends and Lattes slice of the cozy pie, and part of that was me wanting to read big ambitious things for this blog. An Accident of Dragons follows a middle aged man who got picked by a Summer Dragon to become the leader of his island. It looks fun, rambunctious, and I always love seeing queer parents.

New Releases by Familiar Authors

The Disco at the End of the World by Nathan Tavares
Tavares is basically a must-buy author for me at this point. Welcome to Forever lives comfortably in my all-time favorites, and Fractured Infinity did some really creative things in the romantasy space. He takes risks, plays with genre conventions, and has a frank voice highlighting what it means to be a gay man. Disco at the End of the World is an alternate history that supposedly is filled with aliens, queer disco culture, and the apocalypse. June 2026 can’t come soon enough.

The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean
The Book Eaters made me see that I might actually enjoy vampire stories (and horror more generally,) and was blown away by the depth of theme and characterization she achieved in it. Her new book is set in Hong Kong in WWII, is described as a gothic ghost story, and I’m trying not to learn too much more about it before it drops in May.

Cabaret in Flames by Hache Pueyo
But Not Too Bold hit my top 10 of the year list; it was a novella showing that Pueyo can craft something powerful and bite-sized. Pueyo’s next book features vampires in Brazil with a Cabaret setting that sounds really delightful and spooky. If the mood and vibes live up to Pueyo’s debut novella, I’ll be very happy.

Backlist Titles

Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes
I really wanted to get to Works of Vermin lastyear, but it just didn’t work out for a couple reasons. Eldritch bugs going to the opera is one hell of a pitch for a book, and it’s gotten a series of glowing reviews from people who I very much trust. I think I’m going to try to save it for the new r/fantasy bingo card, but waiting until April will be a challenge. 

Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu
This has been on my list for a long, long time. I keep imagining myself reading one short story a night, but that never seems to be how I actually read anthologies. Maybe this one will be different? Anyways, I’ve waited long enough, and this keeps getting name dropped with collections like Exhalation. I’ve also been putting off Dandelion Dynasty (I’m a bit intimidated by the first book’s reputation), and I’m hoping this is a more approachable entry point into Liu’s writing.

The Wealthy Whites of Williamsburg by Mike Karpa
Mike Karpa was my surprise of the year when I read Red Dot, and I want to read more by this author. I know almost nothing about this other than that its a story about a fabulously rich suburban family with a lot of secrets. I think it’s realistic fiction, but Red Dot was good enough for me to venture out of the comfortable warm blanket of fantasy and science fiction. 

Witchmark by CL Polk
I’ve enjoyed nearly everything Polk has put out and don’t really have a good reason why this m/m fantasy hasn’t made it off my shelf yet. My understanding is that it deals somewhat with the dangers of coming out, which isn’t something I’ve seen a ton of in my reading recently. Plus it’ll fit nicely in the new r/QueerSFF’s reading challenge, which I’d like to commit to actually finishing this year!

Time to Read the Sequel

To Ride a Rising Storm by Monoquill Blackgoose
To Shape a Dragon’s Breath might be my favorite YA of this decade, and it was gifted to me by a student of mine! I’m a sucker for school settings, and I though Blackgoose’s handling of anticolonialist themes were a lot more nuanced than YA books typically trust readers to handle. I’m hoping for more dragon content in this book, more fantasy chemistry, and hopefully an expansion in scope from book 1.

The Fall of Kings by Ellen Kushner
This is Book 3 in the Riverside series, an iconic queer series dating back to the 80s. I liked Swordspoint and loved Privledge of the Sword, both of which can be read as standalones. I’ve heard this book has some spy elements, and it also engages with the more magical parts of the world’s history. I’m trying to convince a friend to buddy-read this with me, but we’ll see. 

A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson
Another sequel that functions as a standalone. Wilson’s previous novella didn’t quite hit for me, but I blame that mostly on trying to listen to something dense and Literary. More and more, I’m realizing my audiobooks have to be on the lighter end of my reading tastes. I’ve heard nothing but good things about this novella, and it’s time to finally pull it off my bookshelf.