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Science Fiction for September 2026
by Henry L Lazarus

I’ve been finding Fantasy and Science Fiction, that I enjoyed and want to recommend to other fans, for several decades. I’ve been getting review copies for most of that time, so I can report on many books before they see print.  

Vycol Ferec is a secret agent of the city-state of Wickhills (Tor) one of the six surviving cities in the world and filled with many intelligent creatures treated as people.  He smuggles in a scientist from one of the other cities with a deadly secret that can be used as a city destroying weapon. He is rapidly under attack from various agencies. Luckily Ferec knows all the hidden secrets of Wickhills and has allies to help him ferret out the opposition. Premee Mohamed takes great care to uncover the many secrets of this unusual world. The tale is worthy of an award nomination.

At the end of this century a mountain in Madagascar will lift to the sky, retaining heat light and air, a place where electronics don’t work Garth Nix labels this as a Massif(hard from ‎ Harper Voyager). Massifs represent ancient technology and are able to leap from  one  star system to another. They allow humans to use them to find earth-like planets to settle. So, of course, people start fighting. Ship Leader Parnell Shi-Sawahla loses his ship in one of those battles and one of his crew has been lost on the local planet. Unfortunately both sides lost all their ships. But ships from Earth arrive and the war is over, but Parnell needs to rescue his lost pilot. He’s given permission to stay behind with his crew. To save Kazlin Kim Sawahla, he needs to face the avatar of the Massif to get a new ship. I expect this might see some award nominations. 

Shami Stovall has a tale of revenge on a world where clans come with magical talents and their ninja warriors are frequently at odds. Wraith is a Ninja master adopted by the Bake-Kujira clan, who can syphon life energy.  He thought his clan, Akai with blood magic, was destroyed by the Chollima Clan using their ability to manipulate gravity and has been killing any he finds. One-Fifth Dragon (hard from Baen) is the tale of his revenge on the Bake-Kujira after he discovers they actually killed most of his clan. Wraith is almost an unstoppable force as he tries to kill the three leaders of the clan responsible for the destruction of his clan. I couldn’t put the book down. 

In Alvion magicians are rare and sterile. With powers ascribed to planets, The Court of Venus(hard from TOR) is run by Lord Chancellor Roland, a magician who can inflame sexual desire. He and Bianca Mortlake had been trained by Prospero, the previous Chancellor who had been executed by the King for failing to help the queens provide a new heir. Three years before the previous heir had been murdered and Bianca is determined to find out why. She not only can influence emotion, but is a shape-shifter able to mimic other people and animals. Bel Banta writes of a kingdom in uproar because of a dying king, no heir and a possible claimant willing to cross lines to assure he is the next king. This is an absorbing tale impossible to put down.
R.S. Ford writes of Bastion, a city past its prime, where warlocks love to raise demons. Protecting the city is the Order of Draken and Absolon Creed (paper from Orbit) an aging knight still unstoppable when needed but on drugs to ease the pain of old injuries. He is given a new partner, Guenivar Blackmere just out of training and of noble birth. Together they find an awful conspiracy to raise an ancient demon that involved treacherous members of the orders as well as high ranking nobility. It involves intense evil and thrilling adventure, Lots of fun. 

In 1953, Eileen Binchy, a Council Archivist, was suddenly sent to Dunroven Academy to replace an ill professor. She detests her co-teacher Calum Markaine. Unfortunately Calum has a different agenda that is tied to an ancient myth of the Gold King. Somehow Eileen is caught up in a quest to find three magical objects from the past. Starting in Edinburgh six centuries earlier. Elizabeth Falkenberg’s tale of The Gold Keepers(ebook from Falkenberg Publishing LLC) is not only a look at a magical academy through the eyes of Professors, but it has a solid puzzle to keep up the fun. I enjoyed it. 

Ryan Graudin assets her tale of Bright and Broken Things (paper from Redhook) during the roaring twenties in England where magic is common in the upper classes. Ezra Bright is studying Egyptology at Oxford, after getting a medal in the great war, when he is introduced to the flapper party group that has magical inner parties. Ezra had been born in Egypt and raised in England as the bastard of an English Lord. Magic uses relics and a hidden message from his dead mother suggests she had hidden a powerful relic. So he and friends chase after the relic on a trip that leads to Luxor, trying to beat other young men chasing the same relic. But Ezra’s mother is not dead, but very magically powerful, and nothing else is what he thinks he knows. Very intense.  

Zara Storm writes of a world where Demons and Angels battle nightly. Leah, despite coming from a wealthy family, has been scavenging the battlefield to earn extra money to escape the step mother who treats her like a servant. Then her sister is suddenly picked for an arranged marriage. To save her, Leah takes her place. Unfortunately she doesn’t know she is intended as a sacrifice to bring forth the Lord of Malice . She survives only by becoming Demon Bound(paper). The demon world is nicely defined and has a problem that she can help solve. The sequel seems to take her to the Angel’s world and should be interesting. 

S.B. West tells of Morfran, Dark Lord Reformed(hard from Ace) who decided to give up ruling his country that he had conquered and become a goat farmer. It has to do with marital problems, but it doesn’t go well, as his former soldiers, not knowing who he is, kick him off his new land and he ends up in the hands of the rebels, who also don’t recognize him. Somehow he becomes their chief strategist leading the revolt against himself. This is a properly silly tale that left a solid smile on my face. Lots of fun. 

Lena was not accepted into the Volitant Dragon Race teams because of being female. She was a keeper to the dragon she had raised from an egg, Gottyk. Then Thorne, a washed up one-time dragon rider, is taken into rehab and she decides to secretly take his place in the next few races. Facing a Tailwind(paper from Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House) of accusations if the secret comes out, and of course it does. Olivia Hayward nicely defines the sport of dragon racing with a story of a woman who breaks the barrier. I enjoyed it. 

Ben Shepherd writes about vampires with none of the regular complications. They handle sunshine and crosses. However they are subject to a compact that limits their numbers and they can get Blood Drunk(hard fromGrand Central Publishing). Aspiring gangster Freddie Burns discovers them when one of them eats his boss. He also discovers that he is one of the rare people able to use death magic. Freddie decides to go on his own after mandatory training,  Then his brother disappears and that throws him into a danger he hadn’t expected and that reveals how the supernatural world works. I had a lot of fun with this dark and violent tale and  expect sequels shortly. 

Thirteen Moons: The Werewolf Almanac (ebook from Wildcard Publishing LLC) is about incidents of the life of Lyka, a werewolf living in a  small Alaskan town with a mixed population of humans and spaceshifters. C. A. Boozarjomehri tells of her meeting her future husband, going to LA for college and dealing with her daughter’s kidnapping. This is an earth where shapeshifters are out in the open and frequently despised. The tales left a tear in my eye. Recommended. 

R.J. Valldeperas writes of a kingdom where the dead return as demon Muki. Solana, Daughter of the Dark(hard from Bramble) has been illegally killing the Muki until she is caught. Killian, the King decides that instead of execution she will work with his Marshalls capturing ther Muki. The Marshals believe the king wants to cure the Muki, but he has a secret and Solana is at the heart of it. The tale is dark and bloody and fun. Sequels are coming. 

Brie Benson is a new receptionist at a normal who would never text I Hope This Email Finds You in Hell(paper from Berkley). One day she comes in after work and discovers her boss exorcizing a coworker. Several coworkers have been  kidnapped by a demon and Luke, her boss, has to go literally to hell to save him. Stupidly she goes along with him, into a dark version of present Earth. Eventually Brie and Luke have to confront Satan. Mackenzie Reed tells a fun tale with plenty of twists that are impossible to predict. I read it with a grin,

`When you think of henchmen, Igor immediately comes to mind.Marshall J. Moore not only puts him, and the Doctor trying to raise the dead in Ravenwald Manor, but two vampires, the Count and his wife-assistant Cornelia, and a witch trying to destroy the world by evoking a ruling demon, and her familiar, a talking cat named Grimalkin. The Henchperson's Guide to Unionizing(paper from Bantam) is about how the three assistants have to work together to save themselves from the townspeople and their evil masters. Lots of fun. 

Django Wexler starts a series about fighting robots built with runes instead of electricity. The world is a huge cylinder and Taj lives at the very bottom. He scavenges from the trash filled with monsters, but has taught himself to Sigil and has a robot that can think named Star.  One day, while robbing what he thinks is an empty apartment, he finds Ky from an aristocratic family whose father had just been murdered. She thinks that Star can win a major contest because it is the only robot that operates on its own.  The Only Way Out Is Up(paper from Orbit)  sends the three of them fighting in numerous robot fights to raise the money to compete in the Ascent that will help her regain her family’s fortune. This is definitely not Earth and the sequel will explore what’s at the top of the cylinder. I’m hooked. 

Robert E. Hampson sends his bionic man, Colonel Glenn Shepard to command the growing settlement on The Sands of Mars(hard from Baen) a few decades from now. Problems are mostly solvable in expanding the base and building an orbiting satellite, until a massive solar flare causes problems with ships heading to the planet and Shep has to rescue a crashed expedition filled with potential enemies. This is a solid look at the problems involved with setting up a Mars colony. I enjoyed the tale. 

Helene Wecker concludes her award winning trilogy about the Golem and the Jinni in New York city thirty years after the last book. Yehudah Schaalman has been trapped in an oil flask and buried in the desert. The Jinni expected him to be there for a thousand years, In 1930. Chava the golem is  keeping herself busy with gardening, Ahmed the Jinni has just lost a job as an architect because of the economy and comes back to New York. Other characters from the previous two books have found new lives that are disrupted by the return of the evil wizard and have to face The Gates of Midnight(hard from Harper) This is a solid ending to a marvelous series. 

Seanan McGuire’s 20th tale of October Daye and fae life in San Francisco finds October not only nursing her new baby, but also facing A Divided Duty( hard from TOR) as a young woman is kidnapped and her parents are not together on finding her. It would be hard to start this excellent  series here because of so many references to previous books, but I really like the series and am very happy to drop in on October any time. 

Jericho James is a supernatural investigator who made a living proving the supernatural didn’t exist until she ran into a pack of werewolves that she now works for. Jasmine Kuliasha sends her to the Mount Rainier area where something is sucking blood out of cattle and not leaving footprints. Bigfoot Confidential(paper from Orbit) is about fighting a monster, but the monster is not a bigfoot, several of which show up. It’s not about a lost werewolf pack that had moved into the area. It isn’t even about a giant vampire bat. No, Jericho has to face something far more evil and practically unkillable. This is a fun series and I look forward to more adventures. 

Charlie N. Holmberg returns to her magical Victorian period series when Owein goes to England to marry Cora. his Lady of Uncanny Charms(paper from 47North). Owein had haunted a house after his first death and, with the help of Queen Victoria  had been transferred into the body of a brain-dead body. Unfortunately Queen Victoria has decided to block the marriage, and unfortunately repeat the same type of transfer with other ghosts and other brain-dead hosts. As expected things go very wrong and only Owein and Cora working together can save the day. Everytime this series supposedly ends, Charlie N. Holmberg finds a new adventure. It wouldn’t shock me if unplanned sequels appear. 

Anthropologist second class Nyr Illim Tevich has become Court Wizard after the events in Elder Race(paper) brought him out of suspended animation.  The world has lost technology and his ability to use ancient technology seems like magic. But in Engines of Reason(hard from Tordotcom) another user of technology has been awakened and Nyr has to face them in his tower. Fun.

Humans traveled in cryosleep for over a thousand years to reach the Kepler system. There’s only one barely habitable system Then Koharu discovers Ellipses(ebook from Infinivox) in the snow that lead her to intelligent aliens. But the human ship Pram is facing danger that the aliens can help with if communication can be established.

D.A. Xiaolin Spires tells an interesting tale.

There are more reviews at http://www.henrylazarus.com/sf.htm

Henry Lazarus is a retired Dentist and author of several books.