We’re firmly heading towards spooky season, so with the nights drawing darker and the temperature dropping, it’s the perfect time to turn on the heating, settle down in your favourite armchair and crack open a new book.
With that in mind, we caught up with the team here at SciFiTowers and pulled together a list of some of the best sci-fi books for October. So if it’s folky horror tales or parallel universes that pique your interest, we’ve got you covered..
The Great When
Alan Moore
1 October – Bloomsbury
Fans of Alan Moore rejoice as the wizard of words conjures up a brand new standalone fantasy adventure set in post-WWII London. The Great When follows a hapless bookstore worker who unwittingly opens a book and opens the door to another world, where he finds himself confronted by gangsters, sorcerers and anthropomorphised apparitions of intangible constructs. Dangerously out of his depth and entangled in a spiral of events that he doesn’t fully understand, he must do all he can to try and return a book he never even wanted.
Bolstered by the lyrical loveliness of Moore’s uninhibited prose, The Great When unravels as a darkly humorous, intricate mystery in a fantasy world that may very well come to life when you open it up…
The Narrows
Ronald Malfi
8 October – Titan
In The Narrows, the town of Stillwater, Maryland is suffering from flooding and economic decline but something far more sinister has arrived in the most recent flood, nesting and feeding off the very souls of the townsfolk. Could it be a vampire, or something much worse? A pulp-tastic paperback horror that invokes the vibes of Salem’s Lot with its own nasty twist.
The Bog Wife
Kay Chronister
1 October – Titan
An Appalachian family has long been bound by a supernatural pact with their ancestral bog, for whom good service grants them continuation of their legacy. But things start to fall apart when one year, the bog reneges on the deal, turning a fractious family against itself. With characters torn between tradition, duty and their own agency, The Bog Wife explores the unseen forces that bind a family unit together, for better or for worse. An oddly compelling gothic folk horror that will get under your skin…
Until We Shatter
Kate Dylan
17 October – Hodderscape
Yes it’s spooky season, but it can’t be all horror, so here’s a little queer magical fantasy for you with Until We Shatter. This is a simple heist story with romantic intrigue, built on a world with its own magical lore that adds new colour to a world. Veering strongly into YA, Until We Shatter delivers fast-paced plotting and complex character dynamics that spark with delight.
Red Rabbit
Alex Grecian
26 September – Solaris
Another folk horror, this time set in a demon-infested Wild West where a misfit posse of witch hunters traverse the plains of Kansas facing down monsters more perilous than the Witch they are actually hunting. A supernatural Western road story, emotional, violent and unsettlingly addictive. You won’t be able to put this one down!
Finished that lot and still wondering what to read? Why not check out some of our other monthly round- ups of the best sci fi books to have been released this year? Find them here.