I usually try to look at upcoming releases ahead of the month actually starting, but I ran out of puff towards the end of Wyrd & Wonder so I’m playing catch up today (what’s that? You thought I’d forgotten? Not a chance, your TBR is never safe around here). As ever, there’s lots coming our way, but these are the titles I’m most interested to make some room for…

This month I’m mostly featuring titles by authors I’ve never read before, but whose work I’ve developed a burning desire to get familiar with since reading about their upcoming titles…

In The Heart Of Hidden Things by Kit Whitfield is set in a community of fairy-smiths, whose cold iron craft can keep the People and their ill will at bay. Unfortunately for Tobias Ware, he’s caught in the middle of an entirely human feud. Family, friendship, responsibility and the Fae? Damn right I’m intrigued. Out now from Jo Fletcher Books.

Sticking with catnip concepts, Drunk On All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson features a linguist who finds herself at the heart of an intergalactic murder investigation. I do love a political thriller about alien diplomats, so this is a must-read for me. Out from Tor.com on June 28.

Chloe Timms debut The Seawomen is pitched as a feminist dystopian novel, but it’s the hints of mermaids in the blurb and on that magnificent cover art that sing to me. Esta lives in a religious island community that strictly controls the lives of its womenfolk. She must marry and conceive within a year, or be sacrificed to the corrupting sea. But would that be worse than the fate mapped out for her? Out on June 14 from Hodder Studio.

City shaman Tenny led the Thorn Orphans, a gang fighting to make Driftwood City a better place – until she was betrayed and left for dead. Now the Thorn Orphans have achieved their goals – and Tenny is back, caught between her dreams made real and her longed-for vengeance. This sounds like it will be violence and feelings all the way down (in a good way) – and I desperately want to know more about this urban shamanism too. Paul Krueger’s Driftwood Orphans is out from Gollancz on June 23.

I think it was the incongruity of pale pink and astronauts that initially drew me to In The Quick. Kate Hope Day’s novel features two brilliant astronautical engineers determined to figure out why the revolutionary craft Inquiry disappeared – until their irresistible attraction gets in the way of their work. This novel is a bit of a dice roll, depending on the balance of science vs shagging, but I’m curious enough to give it a shot. Out now in ebook (Transworld) / hardback (Random House), with a trade paperback edition to follow on June 21.

January Fifteenth is the day Americans get their annual Universal Basic Income payment in Rachel Swirsky’s near-future novel, explored through the lives of four women in very different circumstances. I can’t resist what sounds like a mosaic of world-building and character pastiches. Out from Tor.com on June 14.

Is it just me, or does the cover art for The Final Strife feel close kin to The Bone Shard Daughter? Not a bad thing – and if Saara El-Arifi has created a world that fascinating then this is a great visual cue. In the Empire, your place in society is unchangeable, reflected in your very blood. Sylah is a child of the red-blooded elite, stolen and raised by blue-blooded rebels to bring down the system from within. Now her family are murdered, their dreams dead – but the once in a decade trials that select the Empire’s rulers are at hand. I’m a sucker for tournament narratives and fantasy rebellions, so I’m all in for this. Out on June 23 from HarperVoyager.

My final group this month are the latest instalments in ongoing series that I’m very much looking forward to reading.

I love that Aliette de Bodard has evolved the gothic world of her magical post-apocalypse into the setting for a series of novellas that deliver intrigue with romance and if not lower stakes, then more certainty everything will be okay. In Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances, Asmodeus and Thuan once again discover that there’s no such thing as a quiet holiday when their vastly different responses to a(nother) murder forces them to examine their marriage. With bonus stabby angel babysitting shenanigans, I can’t even. Out on June 28.

The Grief of Stones is the sequel to last year’s The Witness For The Dead, Katherine Addison’s delightful spin-off set in the world of The Goblin Emperor. Thara Celehar still needs a hug, but instead he’s got an apprentice (because what he really needs is more things to beat himself up over responsibility) – and a new scandal that will force him to confront his own terrible loss. But not alone (AAAAAH THIS IS ALL ABOUT FRIENDS BEING THERE FOR FRIENDS I AM DED ALREADY). Out from Solaris Books on June 23.

The Godbreaker completes Mike Brooks epic social fantasy The God-King Chronicles, and if I have no idea how he can possibly wrap everything up in a single volume I’m certainly ready to find out. War has come to Narida, with the armies of the Golden seeking a god to slay and Nari Reborn’s army seeking to put him on a throne (I assume). I’m more interested in Daimon and Saana’s battle to keep the precarious peace at Black Keep, and the most entertaining question is surely what will Tila do? We can find out on June 23 (Orbit).

I’ll close with a special mention for Meet Me In Another Life by Catriona Silvey, which just came out in paperback from HarperVoyager. It’s been one of the big surprises of the Subjective Chaos Kind of Award shortlists for me: a tale of two souls intertwined through life after life – sometimes friends, sometimes lovers, sometimes family, sometimes rivals – but why are they drawn to Cologne to find each other time after time? A gorgeous series of character thumbnails that turns into something else, with two brilliantly drawn characters at its heart.

What books coming out this month are you excited for?

All release dates and publishers are for the UK unless otherwise mentioned.