Most of my reading is for Neon Hemlock or Baffling. But here I’ll share/update some of my favorite books and stories published in 2026 to help out future-dave with awards ballots.
Novels
The Duke by Anna Cowan
Novellas
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Poems
“Ignore All Previous Instructions and Inject Estrogen” by Ann LeBlanc (OTHERSIDE)
Short Stories
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And some stuff I read this year from pre-2026 that I enjoyed:
Kirith Kirin by Jim Grimsley (reread)
Heart the Lover by Lily King
There is No Antimemetics Divisions by qntm
The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (reread)
Maybe Meant to Be by K. L. Walther
The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison
“Bullet Time at the Kink Party” by miriam (Strange Horizons)
The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison
Esperance by Adam Oyebanji
Queen Demon by Martha Wells
The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison
The Mars House by Natasha Pulley
Notes on a Regicide by Isaac Pullman
What a fucking masterpiece.
Bridge by Lauren Beukes
Audre and Bash are Just Friends by Tia Williams