Queer – Marked for Plot

Green Fuse Burning – Introspective Horror

I’ve always enjoyed objects as a frame through which stories are told. The Empress of Salt and Fortune comes to mind, which leverages museum-style artifacts and descriptions through which a story is told. Green Fuse Burning takes a different route: paintings! This is an unabashedly queer indigenous horror that feels multidimensional and more thoughtful than genre fiction normally goes for. It’s the type of book that has a very specific audience in mind, but for whom this book is likely perfection.

The Premise:
When Rita’s girlfriend goes behind her back to get Rita an artist residency in the town her father grew up in, Rita isn’t sure it’s a good idea. The isolation and unfriendly locals light the coal of creativity, however, along with the lingering trauma that haunts her life. This story is told through the lens of the six mixed-media landscapes she paints during her residency, which trace a dark path through her mind.

Read if You Like: books about mental health and suicidal ideation, mushroom horror, internal monologue getting the spotlight

Avoid if You Dislike: racist small town residents, stories where ‘nothing happens’, bad audiobook narrators

Super Supportive – The SLOWEST of burns …

… and not in a romantic way, either. It’s just slowwwwww and an absolute fucking delight. This is one of the more popular Royal Road stories out there, and it has kept me grounded during the past two months of craziness! This is what I’m staying up at night reading. I dove back in as a distraction, rereading from the beginning, only to decide I was going to keep going … and going … and going. Now that I am caught up with this serial, here’s my sales pitch.

The Premise:
Alien wizards have made a contract with Earth: we give you superpowers in exchange for being able to summon (and generously pay) said superhumans for various services, including hunting demons, cooking a formal meal, or dressing up as a mythological figure and serving cocktails. Anyways, Alden thorn is a kid whose parents were killed by a supervillain. So when he’s chosen, he wants to be a support hero focused on preventing collateral damage.

Read if You Like: slow burns, intense platonic friendships, lovable characters, explorations of mental health, light Video Game elements

Avoid if You Dislike: a single day to span several dozen chapters, tonal shifts between intense existential dread and lighthearted action slice-of-life

The Halls of the Dead – The Dirty Side of Necromancy

It’s no secret to those who’ve been in my orbit for a while that How to Survive this Fairytale is one of my absolute favorite books. So, when Hallow dropped her next book, I knew I was going to have to pick it up. Halls of the Dead is a very different reading experience, and I didn’t jive with it quite as much. However, the through-lines between these two books (relentlessly queer, unconventional takes on common tropes, and unusual structural choices) is something I’m very interested in, so Hallow remains on my list of authors whose release schedule I will be avidly following.

The Premise:
Irene is the first necromancer to perform a resurrection since Jesus himself. She brought back her love, Agnes, with the help of her husband John. John is himself ancient, sworn to keep the necromantic arts alive despite not practicing them himself. This story weaves these three characters’ past and present, tangling them together in a desperate knot as they try to secure a future for the necromantic arts. It’s a horror/fantasy hybrid about gore, necromancy, and revenge.

Read if You Like: magic that doesn’t shy away from grime, literal beetles inside your stomach, character-focused stories, getting lost in the language

Avoid if You Dislike: another book in Victorian London, bugs, stories that de-prioritize plot, frequent flashbacks

Fabulous Bodies – A Riot and a Gorefest

My only previous experiences with Chuck Tingle have been his Comedic Erotica, most notably My Macaroni and Cheese is a Lesbian Also She is My Lawyer. I left having had fun, but not seriously considering Tingle as a novelist despite knowing he’s unrelentingly queer, was an icon during the Hugo debacle that was Rabid Puppies, and generally seems like an all-around good guy. Turns out, his Horror was delightful and I want to read more by him. Fabulous Bodies isn’t going to hit my favorite books of 2026, but it’s certainly in the top half of the 200-odd stories I’ve tackled this year. A very fun way for me to start America’s obligatory spooky season.

The Premise:
By day, Poppy is a dedicated mom and queer fashion influencer. By night she steals dead bodies for the black market. When her biggest job (a famous musician’s corpse) reanimates and is on his own macabre mission, Poppy suspects something is very wrong. She has no idea how much she’s underestimating the situation, and it’s about to get very bloody.

Read if You Like: assertive and competent protagonists, realistic portraits of a girlboss, high-energy horror

Avoid if You Dislike: characters who aren’t parenting paragons, horror without deep social commentary, body horror (see below)

Body Horror Content

graphic and plentiful once you hit the midpoint. Most notably, violent self-harm (mind-controlled), stabbing of eyeballs, stripping skin, cannibalism

Automatic Noodle

There are only 2 novellas that I hadn’t yet read from the 2026 Hugo Nomination slate. I know I’m not interested in Vernon’s offering (though part of that might simply be exhaustion at her getting nominated every year), but had wanted to read Automatic Noodle before the awards were announced. In the end, this was a fairly disappointing slate of Novellas. My pick was Cinder House, which I authentically enjoyed. I was happy to see it on the shortlist, but am still not sure if I consider it Award-Winner material. Automatic Noodle, like the rest of the lot, has some areas I see as significant flaws. However, it’s not the style of book that I would have ever put forward as a nominee, so perhaps I’m judging it on criteria that don’t really fit. It’s great chill pick for someone looking for something quirky, knowing that it isn’t going to be an emotional rollercoaster.

The Premise:
Four robots wake up to find their company has absconded to the United States (California is its own country now), threatening their already dubious freedom. They decide to open a a hand-pulled noodle restaurant, despite robot corporate ownership being very illegal.

Read if You Like: allegories for otherness, weird futuristic worlds, stories with personal stakes

Avoid if You Dislike: robots that feel like humans, heavy-handed themes

Yours Celestially – An Offbeat Romance

What an interesting little book this was. What I picked up for a Romance Book Club ended up feeling at once very much like a romance and nothing at all like the romantasy that’s being put out now. I do wish I’d read it at a time when I had more brain power to throw at the book, because I appreciate how this book didn’t neatly fall into any categories of stories in my mind. Come for the optimistic vibes, stay for conversations that refreshingly don’t feel like they’re from a reality dating show.

The Premise:
In a vaguely utopian future, a company has gotten a handle on reviving you from accidental death (for a small monthly charge). Metatron is the AI who runs Limbo and consoles the souls of those waiting for new bodies. He’s desperately in love with one of his current charges, however. Meanwhile Sasha has a new body, but can’t get a fresh start at a new life because he keeps feeling Metatron’s love pangs as physical sensations in his new body. He decides to take a job at the company to ask Metatron to tone it down, and ideally get his life back on track.

Read if You Like: Romances with parallel couples, characters making up for past mistakes, consistent empathy, casual diversity

Avoid if You Dislike: ambiguous worldbuilding, characters who make mistakes, unconventional romance structures, upbeat portrayals of capitalism

Wife Shaped Bodies – So Much Fungus!

It’s unfair of me to claim that Fungi are having a moment right now, considering some of the oddly high amount of mushroom content came from books half a decade old, or my tabletop group’s year long campaign dedicated to them elevating their fungal deity to ascendency. However, I do feel like I’m seeing mushrooms around more the past year or two. Maybe it’s because The Last of Us show was such a hit?

Anyways, I thought this one was serviceable. Great mushroom content, but that’s about the only thing I can recommend the story on. I think there’s a New Weird reinterpretation of The Handmaid’s Tale out there for me to love, but this one didn’t hit the notes I needed it to.

The Premise:
Nicole’s mother just died, and it is her wedding day. She hasn’t left her house … ever. And now she must obey the whims of a man she has never met. While living in his home, she becomes connected with the mysterious Teagan, whom she as long admired from afar.

Read if You Like: ambiguity on bodies, weird science, disturbing sex scenes

Avoid if You Dislike: mushrooms; extensive depictions of marital abuse, sexual assault, and pregnancy (amongst other things)

Striker V: In the Meantime

This is a sequel to Striker V: Elements of Change, which I enjoyed as a a great innovation on an enjoyable but played-out superhero formula. This book stays that course, and I think most people will have a similar reaction to both. Technically, this collection could probably be read as a standalone, but Vidmar doesn’t give a ton of backstory/context that would help ground readers. I also thought Elements of Change was the stronger book overall, despite this entry having more consistent high points throughout the book.

The Premise: This collection of stories and novellas follows various characters from the first Striker V book. They range from mundane conversations full of found family to stories with a more traditional superhero action focus.

Read if You Like: the humanity of superhumans, slice-of-life elements, bittersweet resolutions

Avoid if You Dislike: superhero stories, combat to be the primary driver of plot, mediocre combat scenes

Private Eye – Memes in a Post-Internet Noir

I picked up Private Eye as a text for the Queer Comics elective that I get to teach when student interest is high enough. While there are plenty of breakout hits in that space, I also force students to expose themselves to a broad variety of stories for our independent exploration units. This was one of the few queer noir comics I’d heard about. It was fun and irreverent, great for helping me manage stress at the start of the school year – probably a running theme in my reviews in the next month or so. Unfortunately, and unfairly, I kept comparing this to Watchmen, and it just isn’t on the same level as the greats in the comic space.

The Premise: a private investigator in a world where masks and pseudonyms are part of everyday life sees his most recent client brutally murdered. Now, the target is on his back as both a suspect of her death and as a mysterious criminal seeks to tie up loose ends.

Read if You Like: weird imaginings of humanity’s future, dynamic characterization (in writing and art), stories that push a little bit on the edges of absurdity

Avoid if You Dislike: classic noir structures, books without a ton of thematic heft, ambiguous endings

George Falls Through Time – Being Polarizing is a Good Thing

When I was browsing new releases in January, I passed over George Falls Through Time; admittedly this was mostly because the publisher dropped Ministry of Time as a comp title. I despised … pretty much everything about that book, and it’s gotten worse with time. Thankfully, this got put back on my radar via being pitched to me as an ‘interior existential fuckshit novel’ which is right up my alley. It’s the type of controversial book that is executed well enough to cater to very specific tastes, meaning that most people who picked this up hated it. Honestly, this is likely going this year’s biggest gap (other than DNFs) between my rating of a book and the general consensus.

And honestly, I blame the marketing. It’s pitched as “A confessional queer romance, a swords-and-sorcery soap opera” … which is missing everything this book is trying to do. It is a glorious train wreck in slow motion. This is not a fun book full of whimsy and romance with a historical serf trying to find his freedom (well, there is that, but not like you’re thinking). Instead, this book is the hollowness that comes when when you fixate on the pointlessness of life, the artificiality of all human connection, and the lack of agency over your own destiny. It is cyclical and frustrating and uncomfortably real.

No matter how conflicted (in a good way) I feel about this book, the sign that this review is looking to be one of my longest is a sign that this novel had lots of interesting things to say.

The Premise:
George has lost his job, his boyfriend left him, he has no sense of meaning in life, and now walks dogs. When two run away and things spiral out of control, he ends up falling into 1300s England. Honestly, this was probably the best thing that could have possibly happened. There’s some business with a dragon, but the book is really about George’s internal journey to find meaning in life.

Read if You Like: intense depictions of depression, speculative fiction character studies, the power of a quiet life, simple vocabulary arranged intentionally

Avoid if You Dislike: time travel light on historical detail, books that de-emphasize traditional plot structures, characters (and romances) that are hard to cheer for