2020 has been a rollercoaster for publishing schedules with titles slipping or getting digital releases only, and strictly online promotional activity. August is a mix of catch up release dates and debuts. If There’s Always Room For One More around here, these are books I want to make some room for…

First up, a multiverse where you can hop dimensions so long as your alter ego is already dead. Cara has died in most of them – and she’s about to discover one of her doppelgangers knew a secret that could threaten them all. Micaiah Johnson debuts on August 4th with The Space Between Worlds

I’ve been looking forward to this one all year and at last they’re here, they’re queer, and they’re rebelling against the evil Empire from August 6th. Seven Devils by Elizabeth May and Laura Lam is all set to be the feminist space opera thrill ride that improves your summer.

Adrian Tchaikovsky is back at last with an SFnal thriller of parallel worlds (it’s a theme this month) and monsters on Bodmin Moor. Advance word is chilling, so let’s just hope there’s no terrifying insects this time (I probably shouldn’t put money on that though). The Doors of Eden swing open on August 20th.

Let’s face it – I was never going to resist a new apocalyptic fantasy universe from the pen of Marie Brennan. The legends of Driftwood will float our way on August 14th, as the folk of dying worlds gather to compare stories of the Last.

I keep swearing I’m going to read Derek Künsken, whose new book The House of Styx is out (ebook only) on August 20th. Set 250 years before The Quantum Magician, with an intriguing-sounding thriller set aboard trawlers that salvage life from the clouds of Venus… yes, I’m definitely about to read Derek Künsken.

When a salvage crew find a genocidal alien weapon above a dead colony, they hope it will buy their freedom and secure their future. No such luck – Karen Osborne’s ambitious debut is a space opera conspiracy. Architects of Memory is out on August 25th.

Last of all, August sees the release of two books I’m so excited about I pre-ordered them (which is a rare thing for me; I tend to just pick books up when I’m ready to read them). However, I adored Silver in the Wood and Drowned Country counts as another of my most-anticipated reads of 2020. What adventures and heartache does Emily Tesh have in store for Tobias and Henry on August 18th?

I’d actually forgotten that perennial favourite Sarah Moss has a new book out this year until I saw the gorgeous artwork. Summerwater explores the fractures in modern life through the eyes of a temporary community in the Highlands over the course of a single, devastating summer day. The feelings forecast for August 20th is bruised.

There are other notable releases this month that I have my eye on, but am not quite making shelf space for… yet. I need to catch up on previous instalments to confirm just how excited I am about The Tyrant Baru Cormorant and Harrow the Ninth, although it’s likely that Baru at least will wriggle on to my shelf; I doubt I’ll be able to resist seeking closure on that traumatic narrative.

There are also some physical releases this month of titles previously released as ebooks only: watch out for the hardbacks of Or What You Will by Jo Walton and The Sin in the Steel by Ryan van Loan, and the UK paperback edition of All The Stars And Teeth by Adalyn Grace.

What are you looking forward to in August?

All release dates quoted are for the UK.