The Best New Queer Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2026

Genre: YA fantasy

Representation: Sapphic

In this YA novel inspired by Korean mythology, a girl raised to be a weapon by her immortal ruling father re-awakens, hiding her name and her past in the hopes of living a different life in the shadows. But when she’s captured by her father’s ruthless new prodigy and drawn back into life at court, she knows that the same powers she possesses over darkness could as easily be used to destroy the world as save it.

Genre: Cozy fantasy romance

Representation: Nonbinary main character; queer romance

A halfling and a goblin enter into a contest of wills when they discover they each hold a claim on an abandoned cottage. Ren has been tending to the empty cottage since they first found it. Finders keepers, after all, and they’re the only one who’s been living in it lately. But when Pansy shows up to claim the cottage her late grandmother left her, she wants the goblin and the dirt they’ve tracked in gone. Neither is willing to leave, and both are determined to see the other off. At a stalemate, they agree to a deal: whoever leaves first forfeits all rights to the cottage. But no matter how hard they try, they can’t pester, scare, or bother the other away. Could it be that living together isn’t so bad after all? Jump aboard the cozy fantasy romance express, next stop: the cutest little mushroom-filled cottage you’ve ever seen.

Genre: Fantasy

Representation: Queer and nonbinary characters

This rip-rolling mind-bender of a novel, recommended by John Green and Book Riot’s Liberty Hardy alike, follows two unlikely heroes, one chosen by God, the other determined to prove she’s enacting God’s plan. When their respective quests bring them together, they’ll discover everything they thought they knew about life, death, and destiny was only the beginning.

Genre: Cyberpunk sci-fi

Representation: Queer characters and Sapphic romance

After pulling off the heist of a lifetime, Malia has everything she’s ever wanted: a cushy apartment on Kepler Station, all the expensive clothes she could ever want, and a developer credit on her favorite video game. But the boredom of civilian life leads her to rig a few prizefights, putting her on the radar of the leader of a notoriously brutal local gang. Now, she has to take down a local politician getting in the gang’s way, or else. The takedown leads her to revelations about her own hacker past, and, as the cybernetic mods that helped her become a legend begin to degrade, Malia begins to realize that the infamous Obake might finally be in over her head.

Genre: YA sci-fi

Representation: Queer characters

As the lone survivor of a decimated spaceship, Ishara Ming has vowed revenge against the autonomous MOBIS spacecraft that killed the other twenty-three members of her crew and left her badly injured. Now, she’s assembled a new crew that includes the girl who’s always made her heart stutter and a ship mech with a specialized tracking system and his own reasons for wanting revenge. But as Ishara’s orders become increasingly perilous, she’ll have to decide whether she owes more to the family she lost and longs to avenge or the new crew she endangers with every move toward the MOBIS.

Genre: Science fiction

Representation: Trans character

In a future where an AI company owns—and controls—all media, a woman working to craft “appropriate” stories discovers that the ex she based one of her most popular characters on needs her help—and his very identity is viewed as inappropriate. Now she’ll have to make a choice. Will she risk her safety and the security of her job to help someone she once loved, even if he’s not the same person she remembered?

Genre: Cozy fantasy romance

Representation: Nonbinary protagonist; queer romance

A con artist. A heist. Exes with a messy past. Saeldian never expected to see their ex, Kell, again; after all, they broke his heart. It wasn’t personal. Saeldian made a magical pact to never fall in love. But when the two are brought back together for a job in the Feywild, they realize they may be in over their heads—personally and professionally.

Genre: Cozy sci-fi

Representation: Queer characters and relationships

The bestselling author of Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea, a cozy sapphic fantasy romance novel, is back with a new cozy story set in space. I love cozy sci-fi, so you better believe I’m raring to go for this book. The moss-covered spaceship Torian just purchased is her ticket to a new life and definitely not a terrible idea, no matter what Amelia, her ex-captain, has to say about it. But when she tries to fix it up, she realizes that the moss is actually a sentient organic computer with a major grudge against the creator who abandoned it. As much as Torian hates to admit it, Amelia might’ve been right about this one.

Genre: Dark academia fantasy

Representation: Queer and nonbinary characters

I’ll forever be swooning over Freya Marske’s historical fantasy trilogy, The Last Binding, and I’ve loved her other novels and novellas, so I’m thrilled to see a new book from her coming out this year. Bodies of Magic is a dark academia novel set at a magical med school where you either pass or fail as a cohort. So when an exam group entering the first day of their Grand Exam discovers one of their classmates dead, they’ll have to solve a murder in order to pass the most important test of their lives.

Genre: Sci-fi

Representation: Nonbinary protagonist and queer characters

An alien grad student named Gardenpath visits a small, backwater planet as part of their research. Instead of a dead planet, they discover a thriving ecosystem of multi-cellular organisms, including one called Murtis living in a city called Pompeii. Gardenpath has already taken a similar shape to blend in to this society, but soon they begin to wonder if there’s more to learn from these creatures than the bounds of academic research allow.

Genre: Sci-fi

Representation: Sapphic romance

What’s that? A new sci-fi novel from my all-time favorite, Becky Chambers? She of the Wayfarers series and Monk & Robot duology? In this new duology, two women living on a resource-poor planet come together when the mindbleed from the living ship Cora pilots becomes severe enough that she decides to seek out help from a botanist who helps those the medical system leaves behind. The story is told in dual timelines, as the two women first meet in the present and in the near future once they’ve found domestic bliss.

Genre: YA fantasy

Representation: Queer characters

A dangerous naval competition promises life-changing power and riches for those daring enough to enter—if they can survive it, that is. For Eliza and Jules, the prize would be life-changing, especially as Jules’ health continues to deteriorate and Eliza is thrown out by her abusive parents. Impersonating nobility, they sneak onto the fleet’s crown vessel. But it’s not just the competition that threatens to unravel everything they’ve hoped for. The people they meet—and fall for—on the ship may prove just as dangerous.