What’s New in January 2026 Fantasy and Sci Fi: The Complete Roundup

Goblins have a terrible reputation—smelly, sneaky, sheep-stealing menaces—but honestly, they’d agree with most of it. Still, they’re not the bloodthirsty killers the wartime posters claim. So when an encounter with a sinister wizard accidentally sends nine goblins behind enemy lines, Sergeant Nessilka suddenly finds herself leading the most clueless squad in goblin history on a desperate trek home.

The only problem? Their route runs straight through a forest crawling with elves, trolls, monsters, and, worst of all, a human. Keeping everyone alive might be the toughest mission of her life.

As the Azalea Dynasty collapses—its emperor dying, its people starving, and poetry magic hoarded by the elite—Wei Yin is out of options. After losing yet another sibling and watching her village wither, she makes a desperate choice: offer herself as concubine to the ruthless heir of Azalea House. But the palace is a powder keg of rebellion, and Wei soon finds herself trapped beside a violent prince as civil war ignites.

To survive, she must sharpen her instincts, embrace forbidden knowledge, and wield poetry magic powerful enough to change her fate—through death…and love.

At twenty-seven, Yeon-hwa unexpectedly inherits her grandmother’s small neighborhood bakery—along with two strange conditions: keep it open for one month, and only from 10 PM to midnight. Hoping to finally understand the distant woman who raised her, Yeon-hwa agrees. She soon discovers that Hwawoldang isn’t an ordinary sweet shop at all. Its late-night customers are spirits seeking closure before reincarnation, and each dessert holds meaning from their past lives.

With help from the shop’s enigmatic black cat, Yeon-hwa learns to craft the treats they need—and uncovers the long-buried secrets of her own family.

In the explosive finale to Charles Stross’ Hugo-winning Laundry Files, an occult assassin, a living god, and an aging queen collide. After decades on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II has accumulated vast mana from her subjects—enough to threaten the Elder God now serving as Prime Minister. A rogue faction within the Laundry sees a chance to topple the Black Pharaoh and sends an assassin to eliminate the Queen.

Bob Howard and Mo O’Brien are dragged back into service to protect her, while Mhari Murphy’s half-vampiric team returns from a chaotic U.S. mission. God save the Queen—someone has to.

A year has passed since Harry Dresden and his allies saved Chicago from total destruction—and nothing is the same. The city still reels without power, and Harry is grieving the people he lost along the way. He’s doing everything he can to help Chicago rebuild, but time isn’t on his side. Ghouls are stalking civilians, his brother is dying, and the Winter Queen has struck an alliance with the White Court—betrothing Harry to the lethal Lara Raith to seal it.

Chicago needs its wizard more than ever…but after so much loss, can Harry find enough of himself to fight on?

Nancy never expected to reclaim her doorway to the Halls of the Dead after being exiled to Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children—but when it reopened, she returned without hesitation. Years later, the Halls are in crisis. A terrifying force is slaughtering the land’s living statues, and even the Lord and Lady who rule the realm are powerless to stop it. Desperate, Nancy is sent back to the school to find allies.

But who would willingly enter a world ruled by the dead—and why are the dead suddenly so determined to swell their ranks?

Anequs has survived—and surpassed—her first year at Kuiper’s Academy, earning honors and confounding every low expectation set for her. Now she and her dragon, Kasaqua, return home for a long-awaited summer, joined by Theod, the Academy’s only other Indigenous student. But her homecoming turns grim. Anequs’s growing fame has drawn the Anglish to Masquapaug for the first time, an unwelcome intrusion she refuses to accept.

Determined to defend her people’s autonomy and traditions, Anequs prepares to fight for their freedom…even if her resistance sparks a conflict that threatens to erupt into civil war.

The Church of the Invincible Sun isn’t nearly as invincible as it claims—which is why someone has to handle its messiest assignments. Enter Sister Svangerd and her priestly partner, both deadly efficient and tasked with a simple mission: permanently eliminate a troublesome princess. Their plan leads them to the rare Ecumenical Council, a once-a-century gathering of the world’s greatest spiritual leaders. Instead, they walk into a viper’s nest of corruption, schemes, and supposedly dead people who appear alarmingly alive.

What should have been a tidy assassination spirals into a dangerously complex theological crisis.

In sunny Singapore, the government handles everything—supernatural oddities included. Benjamin Toh, a beleaguered middle manager at the Division for Engagement of Unusual Stakeholders (DEUS), is tasked with keeping the city’s magical residents content, discreet, and far from the attention of senior management. It’s usually fine…until an entire housing estate suddenly blinks out of existence during a routine check-in. With reality glitching and the city at risk, Ben must rely on his underfunded, overqualified, and extremely irregular team.

Together they’ll navigate shadow markets, scale skyscrapers, and maybe even reach the stars—all to keep Singapore intact.

Yuri Gagarin is a down-on-his-luck private investigator aboard the Halcyon, a massive starship ferrying thousands across deep space. His usual work—cheating spouses, petty scams, the occasional run-in with local security—is hardly glamorous, but it pays the bills. Then he’s hired by a mysterious woman named Ruby Red to investigate a death within one of the ship’s wealthiest families…only to be warned off the case by another woman calling herself Ruby Blue.

Caught between competing forces, Yuri is dragged into a deadly, twisting murder mystery where the next body could easily be his own.