Short story collections for 2026

It’s always a little tricky to keep track of new books. There are constant announcements and people doing what they can to promote this and that, and suddenly books are here and gone.

So, I’m going to try to update this. A list of new short story collections to be published in English during 2026. Ordering links are included.

  1. Five, César Aira (May)
  2. Tales from the Territory, Travis Baldree (September)
  3. If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light, Kim Choyeop (April)
  4. The Astronaut Among the Flowers and Other Stories, P.A. Cornell (August)
  5. Home in the Dark, Jayanta Dey (May)
  6. From the Imp’s Archives, Rafael Dieste (January)
  7. Not Yet Gods, Djuna (April)
  8. Seasons of Glass and Iron: Stories, Amal El-Mohar (March)
  9. Pandemonium Waltz, Jeffrey Ford (February)
  10. She is Here, Nicola Griffith (January)
  11. The Slantwise Histories and Other Stories, Alix E. Harrow (October)
  12. The Book of Bots, James Patrick Kelly (July)
  13. Visions & Apparitions: Selected Tales of the Uncanny, Ladislav Klíma (June)
  14. The Passing of the Dragon and Other Stories, Ken Liu (September)
  15. Rabbit Test and Other Stories, Samantha Mills (April)
  16. River of Bones and Other Sto­ries, Rebecca Roanhorse (March)
  17. The Raven of Ruwi and Other Stories from Oman, Hamoud Saud (March)
  18. The Autopsy and Others, Michael Shea (May) (possible reprint of 2009 title)
  19. The Sourdough Compendium: Dark and Dangerous Fairy Tales, A.G. Slatter (June)
  20. With the Heart of a Ghost, Lim Sunwoo (February)
  21. The Universe Box, Michael Swanwick (February)
  22. Mojorhythm, Sheree Renee Thomas (February)
  23. The Three Coffin Problem, Lavie Tidhar (June)
  24. The Best of Adrian Tchaikovsky, Adrian Tchaikovsky (February)
  25. All the Hidden Places, Cadwell Turnbull (September)
  26. This’ll Make Things a Little Easier, Attila Veres (March)
  27. Masters of Science Fiction: Howard Waldrop, Howard Waldrop (January)
  28. Blued Moon and Other Screwball Comedies, Connie Willis (April)

Episode 717: Activism, reviewing, books to look forward to, and a little about the weather

As always, the Coode Street Motel Six bestrides continents, so after briefly comparing notes on the weather in Perth and Chicago, Gary and Jonathan get down to it and chat about the subjects of the moment.

How do you talk about books and what was the weather like?
The importance of settings in fiction, especially regarding climate and weather, and the broader question of whether readers can ever fully appreciate a setting dissimilar to their own and how book reviewers might take this into account. This includes a brief discussion of translated fiction—a welcome new category in this year’s Locus Awards.

Anthologies and activism
The significance of advocacy anthologies that may reflect anything from feminist SF (as in Vonda McIntyre and Susan Janice Anderson’s Aurora: Beyond Equality (1976) to antiwar works to promoting the New Wave.

Books we’re looking forward to
In a new segment,  we list a few books that we are looking forward to that will be published in the coming weeks.

Jonathan talks about A.G. Slatter’s A Forest, Darkly, Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Pretenders to the Throne of God, Paul McAuley’s Loss Protocol, and A.D Sui’s debut The Iron Garden Sutra.

Gary’s list includes  Rebecca Roanhorse’s River of Bones and Other Stories and The Best of Adrian Tchaikovsky, a novella by Ian McDonald, Boy, with Accidental Dinosaur, and nonfiction study of SFF by Ada Palmer and Jo Walton, Trace Elements: Conversations on the Project of Science Fiction and Fantasy. 

Episode 716: Dystopias, cozy fiction and other dilemmas

There are snowstorms blowing where Gary is and Jonathan can see rain falling outside in Perth’s midsummer, but the Motel Six has been safely relocated and the Gershwin Room is open once again.

Conversation starts off, perhaps incoherently, with dystopias and dystopian fiction, segues to Travis Baldree and the somewhat misdescribed notion of cozy fiction, and then wanders here and there before Jonathan has to head off for a family event. Nothing was resolved, but almost no conversational gambits were harmed during recording.

As always, we hope you enjoy the ramble, and will be back with more before you know it!

Episode 715: The one we recorded in between recording the other ones

Jonathan and Gary kick off 2026 with no guests, but with the sort of wide-ranging ramble that some listeners seem to enjoy, and that others probably gave up on years ago. We talk about some books due in the new year, especially story collections by Samantha Mills, Amal El-Mohtar and others, how story collections can contribute to an author’s career, and whether it’s necessary to read the stories in the order in which the author presented them. But we also get discuss re-reading old favorites, whether Australian or UK authors get a fair shake in the US these days, and what our listeners would like to hear about in the new year. Feel free to offer ideas, comments, and suggestions at Coodestreet (@) gmail.com.

Books to look for in 2026

A quick glance at some books coming in 2026. Every year ends up surprising and there are always books you expect to read but never get to, and books you planned to read that disappoint.

This list is simply a few books I’ve seen scheduled that I think could be interesting:

  1. A Trace of Blood, Robert Jackson Bennett
  2. To Ride a Rising Storm, Moniquill Blackgoose
  3. The Subtle Art of Folding Space, John Chu
  4. The Faith of Beasts, James S.A. Corey
  5. Seasons of Glass and Iron, Amal El-Mohtar
  6. She is Here, Nicola Griffith
  7. Traitors’ Nest, Frances Hardinge
  8. The Language of Liars, S.L. Huang
  9. The Book of Bots, James Patrick Kelly
  10. Sublimation, Isabel J Kim
  11. Intergalactic Feast, Lavanya Lakshminarayan
  12. Radiant Star, Ann Leckie
  13. The Last Contract of Isako, Fonda Lee
  14. Code and Codex, Yoon Ha Lee
  15. The Passing of the Dragon and Other Stories, Ken Liu
  16. Prescribed Burn, Arkady Martine
  17. Loss Protocol, Paul McAuley
  18. Boy, with Accidental Dinosaur, Ian McDonald
  19. The Rouse, China Mieville
  20. Wickhills, Premee Mohamed
  21. Palaces of the Crow, Ray Nayler
  22. Massif, Garth Nix
  23. Season of the Serpent, Suyi Davies Okungbowa
  24. Sister Svangerd and the Not Quite Dead, K.J. Parker
  25. River of Bones and Other Sto­ries, Rebecca Roahorse
  26. Frankenstein Rex, Adam Roberts
  27. The Iron Garden Sutra, A.D. Sui
  28. A Forest, Darkly, A.G. Slatter
  29. Nonesuch, Francis Spufford
  30. The Universe Box, Michael Swanwick
  31. The Fist of Memory, Wole Talabi
  32. Pretenders to the Throne of God, Adrian Tchaikovsky
  33. The Best of Adrian Tchaikovsky, Adrian Tchaikovsky
  34. A Long and Speaking Silence, Nghi Vo
  35. Everybody’s Perfect, Jo Walton
  36. Trade Elements, Jo Walton & Ada Palmer
  37. Platform Decay, Martha Wells
  38. The Misheard World, Aliya Whiteley
  39. The Dragon Has Some Complaints, John Wiswell

…unavoidable stuff from jonathan strahan…