August has a nice smattering of mystery and horror, both cozy and brutal. There's a Korean Lovecraftian horror novella, a cannibalistic short story anthology, a thriller contemporary fantasy, and cozy mysteries. The mashups are fascinating, and I'm here for it. At the top of my list is The Inevitable Undoing of Zahara Douglass by Leslye Penelope.
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A Plagued Sea by Kim Bo-Young - August 11
Science Fiction Horror Novella
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First the flood
Next the sickness
Last the change
Visionary Korean author Kim Bo-young unleashes a Lovecraftian nightmare of infection, transformation, and abomination.
Book Description
While waiting for a train to Haewon, an isolated Korean seaside village, bodyguard Mu-young gets a disaster alert on her phone. Screens throughout the station report breaking news of a massive earthquake on the coast. Despite the danger, Mu-young boards the train with her niece: she’d rather face the earthquake than leave the girl in her mother’s care. That choice haunts her for the rest of her life.
Three years later, Haewon Village is home to horrors. The earthquake unleashed an ancient plague that transforms its victims into fishy monsters, and the government’s lockdown has cut off any hope for help. Mu-young’s niece is dead, and all that’s left for her is to hunt villagers who break isolation. When an officious bureaucrat from Seoul arrives in the village, he stirs up even deeper trouble. Will Mu-young survive? Does she even deserve to?
Dreamland by Olivie Blake - August 11, 2026
Gothic Horror Fantasy
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From New York Times bestselling author Olivie Blake comes a tantalizing story of power, seduction, and the omens you’ll ignore when everything you’ve dreamed of feels just within reach.
Book Description
The headlines are calling it the "summer of exsanguination" in LA—girls are being murdered, the Santa Ana winds are blowing a strange energy into the city, and all signs point to fire season.
More pressing for Anya Morris, though, is the drudgery of living at home, working part time at the family store, and contending with her mother's disdain for the acting career Anya knows she's destined for but that feels more impossible by the day.
It’s in this suffocating late summer heat that Anya receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, an invitation to work for the de Witt family, one of LA’s most influential film dynasties. Soon, she’s spending her days and nights at their strange villa high in the Hollywood hills, where she meets Jude, a recluse who is both the family’s heir apparent and its most closely guarded secret.
There’s a magnetism to Jude that Anya cannot resist, despite warning signs that scream like sirens in the night. Because the villa holds generations of bloodstained history, and an occult family curse may even live within its walls—or within Jude himself.
In this city, everyone cuts a deal with the devil. When Anya comes face to face with a devil of her own, she’ll learn just how far she’s willing to go to get everything she’s ever wanted.
Eat the Rich: Stories of Carnivorous Anti-Capitalism Edited by Eirik Gumeny and Monica Rodriguez- August 27, 2026
Speculative Fiction Short Story Anthology
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If there's a problem in the world-literally any problem-you can bet there's a billionaire behind it somewhere, exacerbating untold suffering for their own personal gain. War, famine, pestilence, and death aren't so much apocalyptic horsemen as line items and write-offs, holes collected on a punch card where the fifth atrocity is free.
Book Description
We, the non-rich, are wildly outclassed, millions of us cobbling together less money for a righteous cause than what some gold-leafed CEO wipes their ass with. Lasting change can feel like a Sisyphean task, and uncoupling society from corporate greed seems damn near impossible this far into the future.
Honestly, some days it feels like our only recourse is to, quite literally, Eat The Rich.
Within these pages, you'll find a collection of carnivores, cannibals, cryptids, and creophagous compost committed to consumerist chaos and capitalist comeuppance.
We may not be able to actually fix the world with this book, but goddamn if we're not going to feel a little better after.
The Inevitable Undoing of Zahara Douglass by Leslye Penelope - August 11, 2026
Contemporary Thriller Fantasy
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For four years, Zahara Douglass has been haunted by the mystery of her sister’s disappearance—not where she went, but whether she ever existed at all.
Book Description
In April 1995, Zahara watched her twin sister, Annica, get hustled into a stranger’s car and disappear—only to return to a world where no one has heard of Annica. Not her mother. Not the police. No one.
Four years later, as the world braces for the looming Y2K crisis, Zahara finds evidence proving her sister was real and hires a private investigator to dig into her family’s shadowed past. When the investigation leads to two charismatic men who once served with her father in Vietnam, Zahara realizes she and her sister may be pawns in a dangerous power struggle with unthinkable consequences.
To find Annica, Zahara must face the truth about her family, her memories, and the power lurking within her. But the sisters’ reunion comes at a price—one that could bring about the end of the world.
Be Still My Unbeating Heart by Josh Winning - August 4, 2026
Cozy Queer Vampire Romance
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A cozy vampire vacation mystery set in a seaside Italian village, featuring a reformed vampire, his magical talking cat, and a handsome, brooding detective.
Book Description
Bastian may be a vampire, but he doesn’t bite.
. . . Not anymore, at least.
These days, Bastian just wants to live his best undead life: visit charming Italian villages, maybe dance in the square with a cute boy, all with Whitby, his best friend (and magical talking cat) by his side. What he doesn’t want? To stumble across a dead body on the beach, a girl who appears to have been killed by a vampire.
It wasn’t Bastian. He swears—on his own grave.
But the local police chief doesn’t trust Bastian, or any vampire, for that matter, so he assigns detective Nico De Luca to keep an eye on him until his trial. And while Bastian normally wouldn’t complain about having a gorgeous, mysterious man by his side, he has more important things to worry about, because the police chief has called the Vampire Council, and if the real killer is still at large when they arrive, the whole town could be in danger. As more bodies begin to pile up, Bastian, Whitby, and De Luca must get to the bottom of who in Vernazza is framing vampires, before it’s too late.
Charming, twisty, and laugh-out-loud funny, Be Still My Unbeating Heart by Josh Winning is a delightful romp through a swoon-worthy magical murder mystery.
Bookish Baddies (Pride Street Paranormal Cozy Mysteries 1) by T. Thorn Coyle - August 30, 2026
Cozy Queer Mystery
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The game's afoot and corgis Klaus and Marsha are back with another cozy mystery filled with more color than a drag queen's makeup box!
Book Description
There's a new bookshop on Pride Street and the neighborhood couldn't be more excited! But then a rare, special edition goes missing, and so does a friendly Drag King! Mr. Cheeks the hamster finds the first clue, but the corgis are baffled. It's all paws on deck to solve this mystery!
This new installment continues the adventures of corgi sleuths Marsha and Klaus, Mr. Cheeks the hamster, Fred the black retriever, Bruiser the flatulent bulldog and namesake of Bruiser's Best Beans cafe, and Sapphire the former show cat. Oh, there are humans in the series, too, including Garrett and John, Princess Sparkle Toes, and a diverse cast of other colorful—and sometimes helpful—characters.
Grow your TBR to bursting with these new releases featuring marginalized voices. There's something for everyone.
Happy reading!
