Earlier today, Del Rey unveiled the cover and synopsis for Chuck Wendig‘s next novel, The Calamities. That stunning cover was the first thing to catch my attention — it’s giving off Devil’s Advocate vibes, maybe? The synopsis, which promises a mix of occult magic and family drama, only increased my interest. Check out the synopsis:
The heir to one of the world’s most influential families reckons with the demonic secret to their power…
Mourning Mayne knows he’ll one day bear the duty of managing his family’s vast empire of wealth and power. But the feckless Mourning has always struggled to accept this legacy, which is one of cruelty, domination, and exploitation… and something even darker.
Because the Maynes are no ordinary family: Hidden in our world are the fiends—half-human, half-demon, and possessed of dark magic born from buying human souls—and the Maynes are one of the oldest and most influential fiendish families.
But when Mourning’s estranged father, the formidable and terrifying Hadrian Mayne, demands that he return to the fold, Mourning has to make a decision whether to accept his legacy and embrace his role in the family, or to forge his own destiny, and with it, change the course of the world.
Because along the way home, he will meet Key, a black-market seller of human souls, and Quinn, an artist who may hold the dark truth behind the fate of the fiends. Alone, they have all struggled with the darkness of their fiendish nature… but together, they might find a path out of the shadows.
It’s been a little while since I read one of Wendig’s novels (not for lack of interest, there are just so many books on my TBR mountain, I sometimes forget what I have on the pile…); but this one has shot onto my Most Anticipated of 2026 list. Can’t wait to read it.
Chuck Wendig’s The Calamities is due to be published by Del Rey in North America and in the UK, on August 18th. (No cover for the UK edition, at the time of writing.)
As a long-time fan of Mike Lawson‘s novels, I’m always on the look-out for his next book. I’ve already been lucky enough to read and 
Great news: Icarus 17, the fourth novel in Charles Cumming‘s Box 88 series, is due out this summer! Also, unlike many of the author’s other novels, it’ll be getting a simultaneous release in the UK and North America.
A threat to the lives of his wife and daughter in London forces elite intelligence agent Lachlan Kite to move his family to safety. Meanwhile Kite’s former girlfriend, Martha Raine, comes to him with a plea for help. Her twenty-year-old son, Max, has vanished without trace in Greece. Can Kite help to find him?
Interesting premise, but ultimately a strangely familiar story
The covers for Exit Party, the highly-anticipated next novel by Emily St. John Mandel, were unveiled today by 
As Ari Waker unravels the mystery of this inexplicable night, Emily St. John Mandel unfurls a story that takes us from a future America splintered by civil war to the seaside cliffs of Greece where weapons dealers hide in an elegant resort, and from the domed city of Paris to a colony on the moon. An unforgettable literary feat, Exit Party is a novel about the price of safety, the perils of the surveillance state, a requiem for a world not unlike our own, and a breathtaking story of resilience in the face of cataclysmic change.
Lucas Davenport hunts a Russian hit squad
I have unfortunately fallen quite far behind on Mark Lawrence‘s novels — so many books, so little time! Nevertheless, this should not be taken as disinterest; every one of the author’s books that I’ve read has been very enjoyable, and I’m always eager to read more of his work. The first novel in Lawrence’s new Kindness Academy series, Daughter of Crows, will arrive on shelves in March 2026. In addition to sharing the synopsis (which piqued my interest), I also wanted to take this opportunity to share that fantastic cover by 
Next year, 
New Murderbot incoming! Platform Decay by Martha Wells, the eighth novel in the superb Murderbot Diaries series, is due to be published by 
Civilian Reader 