It’s time to see what bookish delights are heading our way in June. If you’re hoping to extend your Wyrd and Wonder adventures, I’m pleased to say June has you well and truly covered! There’s Always Room For One More as we say around here – these are books I want to make some room for…

Our familiar friend COVID-19 continues to play havoc with publishing schedules, but June is still set to be a month of pure delight by virtue of the fact that thankfully no mere coronavirus can prevent two of the 2020 releases I am most excited for – and several more that I am deeply interested in.

Brace yourself, I’m setting squee to FULL.  

If you’ve not noticed my passionate adoration of Melissa Caruso’s Swords and Fire trilogy (note to self: may not have enthused enough. Perhaps fix this with ALL CAPS and VOWELS and ANIMATED GIFs and FIRE), you may not appreciate how very much I’m looking forward to her new trilogy, which kicks off on June 2nd with The Obsidian Tower. A new heroine – a Witchlord’s granddaughter whose magic is broken – and a door that must not ever open. I think we can all see where this is going…

After my recent impassioned pitch for the Daevabad books, I’m sure you’re not surprised to find the final book in the trilogy making an appearance today. Empire of Gold has a LOT to resolve and I cannot WAIT to see how Chakraborty tackles it all. Can Nahri and Ali escape the new queen of Daevabad? What will Dara do (hashtag disaster grandpa)? This volume takes us back to Cairo and I AM SO EXCITE to visit Hatset’s people… Empire of Gold hits the shelves on June 11

If that weren’t quite enough to be going on with (EEEEEE), wait until you see the second half of June. Max Brooks is back on June 16 with Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre and the only reason I’m not squeeing quite as loudly about this is because I’ve already read it. Yes, I got my sticky mitts on an ARC and the UK release got pushed back, so take it from me: this is a good’un, and you want it on your shelves. Social satire and monster horror collide in a series of diary entries and interviews.

June 23 is set to be a big day in the UK, so either a bunch of stuff is going to slip at the last minute and leave us reeling in disappointment, or my credit card is going to take a hammering.

Guaranteed to be putting in an appearance is A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians, the second book by HG Parry. Why? Because it’s the Goldsboro SFF Fellowship book for June (although I don’t doubt we’ll be seeing the regular release too). This one had me at ‘Robespierre is a necromancer and Toussaint L’Overture is a weather mage’ hello yes I shall be eating this slice of alt history with a side helping of enthusiasm. Oh, you’re stirring in the legalisation of magic and a dark force inciting conflict? I’ll take two.

Also prowling the alt history trail is Katherine Addison with The Angel of the Crows (ebook only; print edition will follow in the autumn). I’m a leetle apprehensive of any alt history that is tackling the unpleasant history of Jack the Ripper. But this isn’t just an alt history, it’s an alt reality. This London is a utopia peopled with the supernatural – and the divine. Katherine Addison writing fallen angels in faux-Victorian London is not something I’m going to be able to resist.

On a lighter note there’s The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water (ebook; hardback to follow in July and that cover art demands a physical copy). I’m a sucker for Zen Cho’s work and with a name like that you can be sure I wanted to know more… and then Zen Cho described it as fan fiction to a 50-episode wuxia tv show that doesn’t exist and now I just want it please and thank you. Add in a female protagonist and a thieving found family and this is so much my jam it’s probably going to be served on toast.

Closing out the month is another favourite author. Silvia Moreno-Garcia has had a busy couple of years; Mexican Gothic sees her hop genres once again (is there no end to her versatility? No, no there isn’t) with a Gothic thriller. Expect a brave debutante, a remote mansion full of secrets, a menacing Englishman with a desperate wife – but you can be sure Moreno-Garcia will breathe fresh life into her classic ingredients. I can’t wait.

What are you looking forward to in June?

All release dates quoted are for the UK.