Welcome to Future Fiction, my reimagining of the Waiting on Wednesday meme! There are so many amazing new books coming out, that I can no longer pick just one. My goal with Future Fiction is to share at least three new books each week, a combination of recent cover reveals and books that I’ve recently added to my TBR pile. I’m still going to be linking up with Wishful Endings/Can’t Wait Wednesday, and I also want to give a shout out to Jill at Breaking the Spine for starting the original Waiting on Wednesday meme. I hope you’ll find some new books to add to your TBR piles, and as always, I look forward to hearing what YOU’RE looking forward to:-D
Today I have a genre for everyone (well, almost everyone): horror, sci-fi and fantasy, take a look:
In this lyrical, wildly inventive horror novel interwoven with Japanese mythology, two people living centuries apart discover a door between their worlds.
October, 2026: Lee Turner doesn’t remember how or why he killed his college roommate. The details are blurred and bloody. All he knows is he has to flee New York and go to the one place that might offer refuge—his father’s new home in Japan, a house hidden by sword ferns and wild ginger. But something is terribly wrong with the house: no animals will come near it, the bedroom window isn’t always a window, and a woman with a sword appears in the yard when night falls.
October, 1877: Sen is a young samurai in exile, hiding from the imperial soldiers in a house behind the sword ferns. A monster came home from war wearing her father’s face, but Sen would do anything to please him, even turn her sword on her own mother. She knows the soldiers will soon slaughter her whole family when she sees a terrible omen: a young foreign man who appears outside her window.
One of these people is a ghost, and one of these stories is a lie.
Something is hiding beneath the house of sword ferns, and Lee and Sen will soon wish they never unburied it.
Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker. Releases in April 2026 from Hanover Square Press. Baker is an author I’ve been wanting to read for a while (she has a new release out this year called Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng), and although this isn’t a publisher I usually follow, I spotted this on Instagram and immediately added it to my TBR.
Burned out and looking to put her past behind her, a former addict and recovering influencer interviews her fellow travelers en route to witness the first rain on Mars.
Sakunja Salazar had it all. Money, toys, women, and all the drugs money could buy. A breakout Holo influencer, seemingly overnight she lifted her family out of their tiny Mexico City apartment and into the world of the rich and famous. That all changed when she hopped on a rocket and blasted into the cosmos, never to hawk lavender moisturizer again.
What goes up must come down, and when Sakunja finally crashed back down on Mars an alcoholic, addict, and has-been she thought her life was pretty much over. That is, until a magazine editor discovered her photography and offered her a job. Now, she’s the resident documentarian on a barebones expedition seeking to be the first humans to witness rain on Mars. For the first time in her life, Sakunja is turning the spotlight on someone else–interviewing her fellow travelers about what brought them to join this incredibly foolhardy crew of souls adrift in a world unseen.
The Rainseekers by Matthew Kressel. Releases in February 2026 from Tordotcom. I think this has potential, despite the sort of confusing story description. And I love the cover!
You can’t buy a ticket for the Elsewhere Express. Appearing only to those whose lives are adrift, it’s a magical train carrying very rare and special a sense of purpose, peace, and belonging.
Raya is one of those lost souls. She dreamed of being a songwriter, but when her brother died, she gave up on her dream and started living his instead.
One day, as her thoughts wander while on the subway, she’s swept off to the Elsewhere Express. There she meets Q, a charming, handsome artist who, like her, has lost his place in the world.
Together they find a train full of wonders, from a boarding car that’s also a meadow to a dining car where passengers can picnic on lilypads to a bar where jellyfish and whales swim through pink clouds.
But they also discover that the train harbors secrets—and A mysterious stranger has stowed away on the train and brought with him a dark, malignant magic that threatens to destroy it.
But in investigating the stowaway’s identity, Raya also finds herself drawing closer to the ultimate What is her life’s true purpose—and might Q be connected to it?
The Elsewhere Express by Samantha Sotto Yambao. Releases in January 2026 from Del Rey. Yambao wrote the recent Water Moon (which I haven’t read but lots of my blogging friends have), and I wanted to share this beautiful cover. It might be a little too inspirational for me? Not sure, but I’m going to keep an eye on reviews.
The Elsewhere Express has an amazing cover and it sounds interesting! And The Rainseekers sounds original (and interesting!!). Thanks for sharing!!
I love the cover of The Elsewhere Express too:-)
I’m definitely intrigued by the Kylie Lee Baker one. Gothic and Japanese mythology? How could I possibly resist. The last of these is kind of sounds like it could be something between The Cautious Traveller’s Guide To The Wastelands and the Japenese fiction that’s so popular lately (which I haven’t tried admittedly). Plus the covers gorgeous. The middle ones kind of a maybe for me. It could work for me but I think I’ll wait to see some reviews first.
I agree, the combo of gothic and Japanese mythology is very hard to resist:-)
I’m curious about Japanese Gothic now!
It sounds really good, right?
They all sound quite unique, enjoy!
Thanks Emma!
Well, my TBR list just grew by 3 books. ;D
LOL sorry not sorry;-)
Definitely interested in The Elsewhere Express and Japanese Gothic. I own Bat Eater but haven’t picked it up yet. Great picks this week!
I hear good things about Bat Eater, I hope you get to read it!
Oooooh Japanese Gothic! It sounds so so so good, especially with the dual timelines. Adding to TBR!
Yes! It’s the one out of this group I’m most interested in.
Oh wow, Sotto has another book coming out so soon?! I still need to read Water Moon!
I was surprised too! I wasn’t that interested in Water Moon, but this new one sounds really interesting.
Hope you get them and they are good! 🙂
Thanks Stormi!
I like books set on trains so The Elsewhere Express might be one to look out for.
Japanese Gothic also sounds really good 😀
I’m intrigued by the train setting too, I may have to read that one:-)
I am VERY interested in Japanese Gothic, and loooove the cover! The Elsewhere Express is also gorgeous, though I have not read Water Moon yet. I had not yet heard of The Rainseekers, but now I need it in my life, so thanks! Also love its cover- three for three with the covers this week for SURE!
It is a nice bunch of covers for sure:-)
Oh my gosh, Japanese Gothic sounds AMAZING. I need it NOW. Why is the release date so far away?! T_T The Elsewhere Express sounds super cute, too, and when I went to add it on Goodreads, the whole presentation looks so cute! I’m tempted to even go ahead and preorder it, because it’s so pretty. 😀 Thank you for sharing!
The Elsewhere Express is a gorgeous looking book!
All three look like they have potential. For now I added Japanese Gothic and The Elsewhere Express to my TBR. I love the setting and the timeline overlap in Japanese Gothic. And I enjoyed Water Moon more than most others so I’m curious about The Elsewhere Express, though it honestly sounds like almost exactly the same sort of story.
I haven’t read Water Moon but I am curious about this new one:-)
Frankly, you had me at ‘Japanese Gothic’. That is all.
Lynn 😀
Added The Rainseekers because I desperately need more Sci fi on my list. And I didn’t care for Water Moon but maybe I’ll give the author’s next one a try.