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’s picks are all “new to me” authors and their books sound so good, take a look:
From the author of Motherthing—When a teenage girl disappears from a supposedly haunted wood, everyone has a theory. Their stories are strange, but the truth is even stranger.
When Janie Yearling disappears from the small town of Gold River, her parents, Calvin and Annette, immediately make the primetime rounds, pleading for her safe return on every talk show and network news program that will have them. Annette becomes a bona fide star; her exquisite poise in the face of such pain is a marvel. Calvin, on the other hand, can’t stop crying long enough to get a word out; he becomes a punch line at best and, at worst, a potential suspect.
Fifteen years later, they’re no closer to finding out what happened to Janie; only now, no one cares. Janie’s story is circling the daytime TV drain when a young woman who’d once suffered her own star-making tragedy asks if Calvin and Annette want to be the subject of her new podcast. Calvin is skeptical, but Annette is thrilled—this could be their last chance to find out what really happened to their girl.
Was it the creepy drifter who crossed paths with Janie in town that night, like most people believe? Or was it Calvin’s pet theory—one the disturbed podcaster seems to be stoking, even though it drives Annette up the wall—that Druda, the tortured spirit said to haunt the river, pulled her into another world? Chilling, funny, and ultimately moving, Strange Harm is a kaleidoscopic novel about the many layers of narrative at work on us constantly—keeping us scared, keeping us anxious, and keeping the truth concealed.
Strange Harm by Ainslie Hogarth. Releases in March 2027 from Doubleday. I’ve seen lots of good reviews for Mothering, and it’s still on my TBR, so for that reason I’m very interested in this book. Plus that cover is pretty trippy!
A queer Such Sharp Teeth meets Fatal Attraction, in which a woman whose encounter with a magnetic stranger awakens both forbidden desire and the beast she’s always been meant to become.
Elsa has never quite belonged. Growing up, she was always the strange girl, the outcast, the one almost nobody ever noticed. Now in her forties and married to her high school sweetheart, she’s perfected the art of invisibility – the quiet wife; the woman who takes up as little space as possible. But beneath this façade, something darker writhes, waiting.
When she meets Jacey at an airport bar, Elsa’s carefully constructed world fractures. Jacey is everything Elsa has denied herself: dangerous, magnetic, and absolutely lethal. Their paths keep crossing, each encounter pulling Elsa deeper into Jacey’s orbit – and closer to the monstrous truth.
But as secrets from Jacey’s past resurface, and the body count rises, Elsa must choose: return to her cage of normalcy, or embrace the beast she’s always longed to become.
Everything Looks Better in Red by Gwendolyn Kiste. Releases in April 2027 from Union Square & Co. Having just read an amazing werewolf book, I’m very keen to read more in the genre! And despite having a bunch of Kiste’s books on my TBR, I still haven’t managed to read any of her books. And take a close look at the cover, it’s so cool!
Someone in Somerville has made a deal with the devil, and that devil might be closer than you think…
In the sweltering, bug-choked summer of 1986, local misfit Janet Morgan joins her small town’s PTA expecting big hair and idle gossip. Instead, she finds a string of missing matriarchs―and their husbands, who don’t seem too worried about their vanished wives.
Janet, however, can sense a mystery unfolding. And when her best friend is the next to disappear, she becomes more convinced than ever that something dark has arrived in Somerville.
Armed with her encyclopedic true crime knowledge, the snarky wit of two other misfit moms, and a new-to-town coroner’s apprentice, Janet starts digging. What she uncovers is more than a string of disappearances―it’s a dark secret stretching back generations, bound up in a deal far more dangerous than anyone could have imagined.
In order to stop all H-E-double hockey sticks from breaking loose, Janet will have to confront the demons inside her home before the shadows consuming Somerville claim her too.
Nobody Panic! by C.J. Vick. Releases in April 2027 from Sourcebooks Landmark. I have a soft spot for stories that involve the PTA, so of course I want to read this! Plus this might also be a “deal with the devil” story? I can’t wait:-)
I love the cover for Nobody Panic!
The only Kiste book I’ve read is The Haunting of Velkwood, which I loved. The premises of her following books weren’t up my alley, so I skipped them, but based on that one, you should enjoy her writing!
I can’t wait! Velkwood is on my TBR too:-)
Ooooh that last sentence in the description of Everything Looks Better in Red: “return to her cage of normalcy, or embrace the beast she’s always longed to become” LOVE IT
Right? It’s definitely going to be a must read for me:-)
Nobody Panic! seems to have a Stepford Wives vibe – and I’m loving the cover:). As ever an intriguing trio of upcoming releases, Tammy – thank you!
I got the Stepford Wives vibe as well, can’t wait:-)
Ooh interesting mix of titles to add to my TBR. The potential Stepford Wives style setting of the last one definitely has me intrigued and I’m very curious about Strange Harm too, even though weird stories are somewhat hit and miss for me. Hope you enjoy all of these.
I love the cover of Strange Harm, which makes me curious about the story!
Nobody Panic looks like fun! I do love a bit of suburbia -flavored horror!
Me too, I can’t remember the last time I read a suburbia horror story.
I’ll definitely be picking out Nobody Panic! 🙂
It’s such a fun title, I need to know more!
Ooh, I like the cover design of Everything Looks Better in Red!
I agree, it’s such a well designed cover with lots of details.
I want to read Don’t Panic but let’s be honest, I’m adding all three to the wish list. I read Reluctant Immortals from Kiste which I highly recommend as it is Dracula adjacent. Great choices this week. Glad to see horror is alive and well.
I will have to check out Reluctant Immortals for sure!
Definitely putting Nobody Panic! on my list! Oh, and Strange Harm. Both sound so good!
They do sound so good! I hope you get to read them:-)
These all sound so good! I am loving the covers for all of these, too! I’ve realized I haven’t read all that many werewolf books, so maybe I need to start, haha.
I am always up for a werewolf story:-)
I love the juxtaposition of the title and cover for Nobody Panic. It automatically makes me want to know more.
It’s such a great title!
The cover for Nobody Panic! is so good! There are so many subtle touches. (I think my favorite is the handprint on the door, though speculation about who- or whatever is making that devilish shadow comes close.)
I didn’t even see the handprint until you mentioned it!
Strange Harm sounds really good.
It does sound good, and very strange!
All three of them have unique covers, in their own way! They’re not my cup of tea, so my TBR is safe for now but they all sound intriguing and original!!
They definitely sound original!
I would probably prefer Nobody Panic!
It sounds like fun, right?
I love the cover of Nobody Panic, and I am very interested in the story, too. The first two have been on my radar too, but I am kind of on the fence about both. There are just so many amazing looking books coming out, ugh!
Nobody Panic is definitely going on my list. It sounds really good.
Lynn 😀