New Summer SFF reads from M.A. Carrick, Eliza Chan, Seth Haddon, and More<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\nThere\u2019s nothing like a summer reading challenge to get you into the proper mindset for the season. Many of us grew up on personal pizzas as the reward for reading a certain number of books; these days, my kids get coupons for ice cream and drive-in movie theaters for their efforts. No matter what the incentive, let\u2019s bring that energy into compiling this month\u2019s SFF books. Your options include a graphic novel about lady knights, retellings of Rapunzel (with amnesia and anthropomorphized hair) and Cinderella (in 1940s Hong Kong), Spanish explorers meeting the fae on the high seas, and a futuristic cli-fi fable inspired by Portuguese folklore. Plus, don\u2019t forget to check out august clarke\u2019s The Felicity Complex<\/i><\/a> and H.G. Parry\u2019s The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood<\/i><\/a> from our 2026 most anticipated list<\/a>.<\/p>\n*<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s26162.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ladies-of-the-knight-200x300.png\")
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Fiona Marchbank, Ladies of the Knight<\/i><\/a>
<\/strong>(Oni Press, July 7)<\/strong><\/p>\nI grew up on Tamora Pierce\u2019s lady knights and especially loved the intergenerational mentorship in her Protector of the Small series\u2014the same energy that exists in the Oni Press collection of Fiona Marchbank\u2019s delightful webcomic. Serafina is one of the realm\u2019s most talented lady knights, but she\u2019s no good at showboating in tournaments like her rival Aethelberg and would rather keep to herself. George is a clumsy wannabe squire too small for anyone to take the risk on\u2026until Serafina\u2019s wife (and patroness) pushes her to train the girl in the ways of the sword. We love a prickly mentor and scrappy prot\u00e9g\u00e9e!<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s26162.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/miserys-wife-197x300.png\")
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Joan Tierney, Misery\u2019s Wife<\/i><\/a>
<\/strong>(Flatiron Books, July 14)<\/strong><\/p>\nIn this post-industrial cli-fi fable inspired by Portuguese folklore, Elixane\u2019s village is ravaged by storms and her elder sisters are married off to magical husbands: the King of the Air, the King of the Sea, and the King of Misery. Despite hardly remembering her sisters, when Elixane receives a dire message from a toad, she ventures out to rescue her favorite sister Dores from the Kingdom of Misery. Aided by trickster siblings the Marqu\u00eas Boaventura and Marquesa Jinx, she will need both luck and misfortune to shatter unbreakable curses and reunite her family.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s26162.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/the-eye-of-leviathan-195x300.jpg\")
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M.A. Carrick, The Eye of Leviathan<\/i><\/a>
<\/strong>(Orbit Books, July 14)<\/strong><\/p>\nAn alternate-history Spanish Golden Age is the human-world mirror to the faerie realm in M.A. Carrick\u2019s latest, which explores the ripple effect of a changeling swap. Long ago, Estevan escaped the fae\u2019s Sea Beyond for the human Otherworld, taking the place of a young girl. But when Spanish explorers cross over into the Sea Beyond, the Hungry Girl\u2014the human whose life Estevan stole\u2014becomes their cautious ally, looking to hitch a ride back with them but horrified by the atrocities they commit. Now the two must find one another again through their faerie pact in order to save their adoptive homes and discover their respective purposes. And did we mention that M.A. Carrick is the pen name for the author duo Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms? Double the reason to read.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s26162.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/null-entity-186x300.png\")
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Seth Haddon, Null Entity<\/i><\/a>
<\/strong>(Tordotcom Publishing, July 21)<\/strong><\/p>\nSeth Haddon concludes the Volatile Memory duology with this sequel novella following scavenger Wylla and her beloved Sable, the digital consciousness she discovered in an AI mask. Now that Wylla has donned an off-grid mask and become the eponymous \u201cnull entity,\u201d the two seek to dismantle the dystopian corporation known as VisorForge. But their attempted hack gets interrupted by the Edenic Order, a radical eco-resistance organization led by a plant\/human hybrid. With the Order offering competing promises to each of the two minds in one body, Wylla and Sable may not be able to continue coexisting unless they can find a new way that combines revenge with revolution.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s26162.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/a-tangled-magic-200x300.png\")
<\/p>\n
Andrea Eames, A Tangled Magic<\/i><\/a>
<\/strong>(Erewhon Books, July 28)<\/strong><\/p>\nRapunzel has gotten several clever new retellings recently, including Tia Tashiro\u2019s \u201cFor Whom the Hair Grows<\/a>,\u201d Theodora Goss\u2019 \u201cThe Parsley Girl<\/a>,\u201d and your humble list curator\u2019s \u201cParsley Girl, Parsley Girl, Let Down Your Trichobezoar<\/a>.\u201d Andrea Eames\u2019 novel offers an intriguing new take through Netta, a young woman who understands her own life only in bits and pieces. There is her magical red Hair, impossibly long and imbued with power and opinions; the Tower, her home filled with books whose secrets are closed to her; and her mother, buried in the life\u2019s work of her spellbook. But when her mother disappears, Netta must find a way out of the Tower and decide which strangers\u2014con men, book sellers, magicians\u2014she can trust as she unknots the secrets hiding the truth of her life.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s26162.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/fishbone-cinderella-199x300.png\")
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Elizabeth Lim, Fishbone Cinderella<\/i><\/a>
<\/strong>(Del Rey, July 28)<\/strong><\/p>\nYA author Elizabeth Lim makes her adult debut with a historical fantasy inspired by the Chinese version of Cinderella<\/a>, where magical fish bones take the place of a fairy godmother. The multigenerational tale is related in dual timelines: In 1940s occupied Hong Kong, young Ha Yut Ying saves her own life through the power of invisibility but also suffers as the unwanted stepchild with her father and his second wife, forced to work in a shoe factory and falling in love with the heir to a soy milk empire. Decades later, in 1960s San Francisco, Yut Ying cannot stop flickering in and out of reality. Her adult daughter Marigold races back to Hong Kong to uncover the truth behind the family curse by way of a missing fish bone bracelet.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s26162.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/the-demon-star-195x300.png\")
<\/p>\n
There\u2019s nothing like a summer reading challenge to get you into the proper mindset for the season. Many of us grew up on personal pizzas as the reward for reading a certain number of books; these days, my kids get coupons for ice cream and drive-in movie theaters for their efforts. No matter what the incentive, let\u2019s bring that energy into compiling this month\u2019s SFF books. Your options include a graphic novel about lady knights, retellings of Rapunzel (with amnesia and anthropomorphized hair) and Cinderella (in 1940s Hong Kong), Spanish explorers meeting the fae on the high seas, and a futuristic cli-fi fable inspired by Portuguese folklore. Plus, don\u2019t forget to check out august clarke\u2019s The Felicity Complex<\/i><\/a> and H.G. Parry\u2019s The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood<\/i><\/a> from our 2026 most anticipated list<\/a>.<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n Fiona Marchbank, Ladies of the Knight<\/i><\/a> I grew up on Tamora Pierce\u2019s lady knights and especially loved the intergenerational mentorship in her Protector of the Small series\u2014the same energy that exists in the Oni Press collection of Fiona Marchbank\u2019s delightful webcomic. Serafina is one of the realm\u2019s most talented lady knights, but she\u2019s no good at showboating in tournaments like her rival Aethelberg and would rather keep to herself. George is a clumsy wannabe squire too small for anyone to take the risk on\u2026until Serafina\u2019s wife (and patroness) pushes her to train the girl in the ways of the sword. We love a prickly mentor and scrappy prot\u00e9g\u00e9e!<\/p>\n Joan Tierney, Misery\u2019s Wife<\/i><\/a> In this post-industrial cli-fi fable inspired by Portuguese folklore, Elixane\u2019s village is ravaged by storms and her elder sisters are married off to magical husbands: the King of the Air, the King of the Sea, and the King of Misery. Despite hardly remembering her sisters, when Elixane receives a dire message from a toad, she ventures out to rescue her favorite sister Dores from the Kingdom of Misery. Aided by trickster siblings the Marqu\u00eas Boaventura and Marquesa Jinx, she will need both luck and misfortune to shatter unbreakable curses and reunite her family.<\/p>\n M.A. Carrick, The Eye of Leviathan<\/i><\/a> An alternate-history Spanish Golden Age is the human-world mirror to the faerie realm in M.A. Carrick\u2019s latest, which explores the ripple effect of a changeling swap. Long ago, Estevan escaped the fae\u2019s Sea Beyond for the human Otherworld, taking the place of a young girl. But when Spanish explorers cross over into the Sea Beyond, the Hungry Girl\u2014the human whose life Estevan stole\u2014becomes their cautious ally, looking to hitch a ride back with them but horrified by the atrocities they commit. Now the two must find one another again through their faerie pact in order to save their adoptive homes and discover their respective purposes. And did we mention that M.A. Carrick is the pen name for the author duo Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms? Double the reason to read.<\/p>\n Seth Haddon, Null Entity<\/i><\/a> Seth Haddon concludes the Volatile Memory duology with this sequel novella following scavenger Wylla and her beloved Sable, the digital consciousness she discovered in an AI mask. Now that Wylla has donned an off-grid mask and become the eponymous \u201cnull entity,\u201d the two seek to dismantle the dystopian corporation known as VisorForge. But their attempted hack gets interrupted by the Edenic Order, a radical eco-resistance organization led by a plant\/human hybrid. With the Order offering competing promises to each of the two minds in one body, Wylla and Sable may not be able to continue coexisting unless they can find a new way that combines revenge with revolution.<\/p>\n Andrea Eames, A Tangled Magic<\/i><\/a> Rapunzel has gotten several clever new retellings recently, including Tia Tashiro\u2019s \u201cFor Whom the Hair Grows<\/a>,\u201d Theodora Goss\u2019 \u201cThe Parsley Girl<\/a>,\u201d and your humble list curator\u2019s \u201cParsley Girl, Parsley Girl, Let Down Your Trichobezoar<\/a>.\u201d Andrea Eames\u2019 novel offers an intriguing new take through Netta, a young woman who understands her own life only in bits and pieces. There is her magical red Hair, impossibly long and imbued with power and opinions; the Tower, her home filled with books whose secrets are closed to her; and her mother, buried in the life\u2019s work of her spellbook. But when her mother disappears, Netta must find a way out of the Tower and decide which strangers\u2014con men, book sellers, magicians\u2014she can trust as she unknots the secrets hiding the truth of her life.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Lim, Fishbone Cinderella<\/i><\/a> YA author Elizabeth Lim makes her adult debut with a historical fantasy inspired by the Chinese version of Cinderella<\/a>, where magical fish bones take the place of a fairy godmother. The multigenerational tale is related in dual timelines: In 1940s occupied Hong Kong, young Ha Yut Ying saves her own life through the power of invisibility but also suffers as the unwanted stepchild with her father and his second wife, forced to work in a shoe factory and falling in love with the heir to a soy milk empire. Decades later, in 1960s San Francisco, Yut Ying cannot stop flickering in and out of reality. Her adult daughter Marigold races back to Hong Kong to uncover the truth behind the family curse by way of a missing fish bone bracelet.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/strong>(Oni Press, July 7)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/strong>(Flatiron Books, July 14)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/strong>(Orbit Books, July 14)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/strong>(Tordotcom Publishing, July 21)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/strong>(Erewhon Books, July 28)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/strong>(Del Rey, July 28)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s26162.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/harbour-of-hungry-ghosts-195x300.png\")
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