Here’s the full list of science fiction titles heading your way in May!
Keep track of all the new SFF releases here. All title summaries are taken and/or summarized from copy provided by the publisher. Release dates are subject to change.
May 4
Ash Land — Matt Harry (IFWG Publishing)
No one knows how to destroy the Ash. Two years ago, the flesh-eating microbots escaped from a lab in France and quickly spread across the globe. Twenty percent of humanity was killed in under a month. The people who managed to seal themselves inside survived, but now they’re only able to access the outside world through remote-controlled drones or hazmat suits. Kai Braddock is one of those survivors. He used to be a cop, but the machine plague and a bitter divorce led to him quitting the department. Now he tracks down bounties via drone, eats cricket burgers with his two sons online, and spends every waking hour in a 70 square-foot studio in downtown Los Angeles. But when his partner is murdered while helping him locate a missing scientist, Braddock realizes he’ll have to do what almost no one has done in over twenty-six months: He’ll have to go outside.
May 5
Galaxy Raiders: Battlestorm (Galaxy Raiders #2) — Ian Douglas (Harper Voyager)
As war rages on against the formidable Galactic Authority, Admiral Alexandra Morrigan leads a daring expeditionary fleet into the galactic frontier, searching for unlikely allies in the stars. For if humankind has any hope of survival, it will need them. After three years of deep-space combat, Earth has been devastated by the toll of war. A crushing attack by the Galactics has triggered a new ice age, killing billions and driving survivors to the brink, and now the world’s nations are breaking into factions. Some want peace, some want resistance, and a select few have joined forces with the Galactics outright. As allies become enemies, Admiral Morrigan faces threats from within and without. While Earth’s leaders consider surrender, she must choose between obedience and rebellion, retreat and resistance, to seize whatever sliver of hope humanity has left.
The Last Contract of Isako — Fonda Lee (Orbit)
Isako is a legendary swordswoman, but every legend must come to an end. When her long-time client unexpectedly retires, she plans to follow—to walk out into the frozen wasteland of their planet with her head held high and her family enriched by her death. But when she’s offered a final mission, she can’t refuse, especially when she realizes who lies at the center of it all: Martim, her last—and worst—apprentice, who’s somehow made his way to the top. As she’s thrust into a world of corporate espionage and shadowy secrets, what she uncovers could forever change humanity’s existence among the stars.
The Republic of Memory (Song of the Safina #1) — Mahmud El Sayed (Saga Press)
The Safina is a city ship halfway through its four-hundred-year voyage from the ruins of Earth to a new colony world. Its crew maintain the ship, generation after generation, while protecting their ancestors in cryostasis so that one day they will be able to enjoy a fresh start under clear blue skies. But when blackouts start, unrest follows. The ship can only continue running smoothly with the cooperation of the crew. And the crew has had enough. As coordinated acts of resistance coincide with a much more complex conspiracy, a chain of events is set into motion that will change life on the Safina forever.
Cousins From a Distant Sun — Tamar Myers (Severn House)
Archaeologist Ruth Baker is in Peru for a new dig, but discovers more than she bargained for—a secret community of giant supernatural beings hiding in the mountains. The Wanami were originally kidnapped from Earth by aliens thousands of years ago to work on planet Qoom. Eventually they were shipped back and lived happily alongside the Inca civilization—until they were forced to take refuge in the treasure-filled caves beneath the Incan monuments they helped to build. Now, a new threat has emerged—and Ruth is the only thing that stands between them and real extinction! Can she persuade the outside world to help ensure their survival, or will the human lust for gold cause her efforts to backfire spectacularly?
Earthly Playing Field — Radhika Singh (Common Notions)
Roma has a steady job, a mortgage, and a surrogate family in Queens. But as she moves through her daily routines, the powerful Empire that rules her world bares its teeth elsewhere—crushing freedom movements across the planet, including the Punjabi farmers’ uprising where her younger brother struggles on the frontlines. Roma’s life is upended when her older brother entrusts her with a strange gift: an ordinary-looking plant that manifests a sophisticated bioengineered technology. The ‘cell’ opens a portal for an extraterrestrial spirit-body bearing news of a liberated future—and the potential to hack AI warfare—propelling Roma and her family into the core of a rising resistance. As dreams and dialectics converge, Roma meditates on the role of faith—ruminating on mystic poetics and anticolonial legacies while yearning for a bewitching woman whose heart will only ever belong to the revolution.
Platform Decay (Murderbot #8) — Martha Wells (Tor Books)
Having someone else support your bad decision feels kind of good. After volunteering to run a rescue mission, Murderbot realizes that it will have to spend significant time with a bunch of humans it doesn’t know. Including human children. Ugh. This may well call for… eye contact!(Emotion check: Oh, for f—)
May 12
David Starr, Space Ranger (Lucky Starr #1) — Isaac Asimov (Blackstone Publishing—Re-issue)
David reached for the sick man, lifting him as though he were a rag doll. Artificial respiration was useless. The Space Ranger had no illusion as to the possibility of recovery. He knew the symptoms—there had been many such cases lately—the sudden flushing, the loss of voice and breath, the hopeless minute’s fight for life, and then, the end. He turned to the trembling restaurant manager and identified himself. “My name is David Starr. I am a member of the Council of Science. What was the dead man eating before he collapsed?” “Stewed marplums,” the manager replied, wringing his hands in anguish. “Nothing like this has ever happened here before… ” “Just the same you had better eliminate marplums from the menu,” David said. Extraterrestrial delicacies had laid claim to yet another victim!
Broken Dove (Silver Elite #2) — Dani Francis (Del Rey)
LINES WILL BE CROSSED. After blowing her cover as a double agent within Silver Elite and fleeing the Prime-controlled capital, Wren Darlington is finally safe behind allied lines. As her lover and former commander Cross Redden works to disrupt the Primes from inside their ranks, Wren turns her focus toward assisting the Uprising in overthrowing their rule once and for all. LOYALTIES WILL BE TESTED. Though she’s back among her own people, trust is hard-won and hidden agendas abound on the Mod base. And beyond those walls, Wren can’t help but worry that Cross is keeping secrets of his own… secrets that could jeopardize everything. Complicating matters even further is her shocking reunion with hotshot fighter pilot and undercover operative Grayson Blake. Once her closest friend in Silver Elite, Gray seems to understand Wren on a level she never thought possible. AND THE FIGHT FOR THE CONTINENT IS ONLY JUST BEGINNING. With the war between Mods and Primes growing more brutal by the day, and with her own role in the conflict becoming more essential than ever, Wren must confront some gut-wrenching questions. Who is she fighting for… and who is she willing to lose?
Ignore All Previous Instructions — Ada Hoffmann (Tachyon Publications)
Kelli Reynolds loves creating stories more than anything in the world. But on Callisto, a generative AI company called Inspiration owns everything, including all the media, and only Inspiration determines which stories can be told. Kelli has a rare and coveted job where her autism is to her advantage: She precisely edits AI output into “appropriate” stories for Inspiration’s massive TV audience. Her proudest creation is the pirate Orlando—a dashing do-gooder based on stories she used to tell friends. Reenter Kelli’s ex-boyfriend Rowan, the person Kelli based Orlando on. Back when they were teenagers, their relationship was a secret. Kelli had thought that Rowan, a trans man, was her schoolmate Am, a girl. Rowan is tangled up in the black market after he needed to get money for gender affirming surgery. He needs Kelli’s help with something… illegal. So, now Kelli has to decide: Will she risk the safe, tidy story of her life now for the world she once wished for? What would Orlando do?
Radiant Star (Imperial Radch) — Ann Leckie (Orbit)
The Temporal Location of the Radiant Star has always been a source of both conflict and hope for the people of Ooioiaa. However, the imperial Radch see it only as an inconvenience, an antiquated religious site soon to be absorbed into their own, superior culture. But local politics is complicated, and the Radch have made a final concession: One last man will be allowed to join the mummified bodies in the temporal location to become a “living saint.” But this decision will ripple out to affect every part of the city. Amidst a slowly worsening food shortage, riots, and a communication blackout from the rest of the Radch Empire, a religious savant will entertain visions of his own sainthood, a socialite will discover hir comfortable life upended, and a young man sold into servitude will find unlikely escape.
Heaven’s River (Bobiverse #4) — Dennis E. Taylor (Saga Press—Indie conversion)
More than a century ago, Bender embarked on a daring mission to the stars and vanished without a trace. Despite relentless efforts to track him down, his disappearance remains an unsolved mystery. Now, Bob is rallying his allies to uncover the truth of what happened to Bender, no matter the risks. But this isn’t just a search for one lost Bob; it’s a mission that could redefine the future of the Bobiverse altogether. Generations of replication have fractured the once-unified Bobs into a dizzying array of personalities, with some so far removed they might as well be strangers. While a few support Bob’s quest, others see an opportunity to push their own agendas. And as tensions rise, internal conflicts threaten to spill over, putting Bob’s mission and the stability of the Bobiverse in jeopardy. Undeterred, Bob follows the elusive trail left behind by Bender, only to uncover an enigma beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. What they find out there could either be their salvation or the greatest danger they’ve ever faced.
May 19
And Side by Side They Wander — Molly Tanzer (Tordotcom)
For three hundred years, humanity’s greatest works of art have been on loan at the Greenwood Museum. It was finally time for them to come home… but the alien curators were disinclined to return them. Force was out of the question. Earth’s government was clear: They were not going to press the issue. So, all we had was guile and hubris to fuel our little intergalactic art heist. My old friend Tarquin was our leader, but not the captain. That was Tchik-tchik, though whether Tchik-tchik was our insectoid pilot’s name or species is still unclear to me. Misora, with her extremely illegal biotech mods, was our muscle. Jack was there to hack the security systems of the biggest museum in the galaxy. He was a sensynth, a sentient synthetic being, and the most powerful machine intelligence on Earth uncorrupted by alien technology. My name is Fennel Tycho. I’d like to tell you I was there because of my expertise in Art History. Truth is, I was there because without me, Jack would not have agreed to go. He was notorious for being difficult to work with—but it was a mistake to think I could make things any easier.
May 21
The Wildcraft Drones — T.K. Rex (Stelliform Press)
An AI breakthrough connects a team of scientists with a wild dolphin, but progress is neck-and-neck with climate breakdown. Class differences are only the first challenge when romance blooms between college girls at a soil remediation site. A forlorn drone seeks reassignment after his human companion dies—but a reckless band of rebels has other plans. T.K. Rex’s debut collection explores a turbulent timeline where the role of intelligent machines changes alongside nature and humanity, in fourteen tales from the climtae crisis and beyond. This is the world of The Wildcraft Drones.
May 26
The Redemption Center is Closed on Sundays — Andrea Hairston (Tor Books)
Every Sunday, Oona the St. Berdoodle and her current owner, Zsuzsu, make their way through the winding paths of the State Park to the enigmatic Redemption Center—a place often mistaken for a haunted mansion. When a local celebrity is found murdered, the unexpected brings Oona together with a rag-tag group of local misfits. Together they venture into the depths of the Center’s mystery to untangle the threads of murder and deception. But Oona holds two secrets: she’s a citizen of the multiverse, able to travel between dimensions at will, and more importantly, she knows the killer’s identity. Unfortunately, the killer knows she knows, and he’s determined to find her and silence her for good.
Before I Knew I Loved You (Before the Coffee Gets Cold #6) — Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Hanover Square Press)
Toshikazu Kawaguchi takes us back to the warm heart of the mysterious Funiculi Funicula Cafe, with another four guests whose luminous stories of love, lost and won again, will reaffirm your belief in its eternal potential. In this book, we meet: The girl who couldn’t call her mother, and yearns to reconnect with her; the man who waited for a reply from his girlfriend, and never heard from her; the woman anxious to travel ahead to know what her future holds; the student who travels back to meet his father again, who passed away many years before. Yet the same rules always apply—you must return before the coffee gets cold. And while it does, memories are revisited, people are changed for ever, and the enduring power of love transcends the boundaries of time.
Ode to the Half-Broken — Suzanne Palmer (DAW)
Thirty years ago the world nearly ended. Be was there, but the old robot has since settled into a life of isolation in the abandoned New York Botanical Gardens, determined to forget their role in that cataclysmic conflict. But then they wake up in a bathtub. And their leg is missing. And the only one to ask for help is a very chatty cyborg dog. Be may want to forget the world, but it seems the world hasn’t forgotten them. Forced out of solitude, Be embarks on a quest to reclaim their leg, accompanied by that talkative (read: smart-ass) dog and a human mechanic with nightmares of her own. Their motley crew soon discovers that recovery from the war is uneven and faltering, and Be begins to suspect a malicious hand trying to rekindle old conflicts. In order to stop them, Be needs to come to terms with both their own past and who they have become. Being left alone is no longer an option, and peace may be impossible.
The Memory Foundation — Amanda West (Crooked Lane Books)
Struggling new single mom Natasha Walker is desperate to get back to her job as an investigative journalist. When she receives an anonymous tip about the Memory Foundation, a secretive research clinic that promises the cure for memory loss, she is instantly intrigued. Given her mother’s dementia diagnosis, the story hits close to home. Despite the perilous snowbound location, she’s determined to uncover the truth about the mysterious founders and their patients. Meanwhile, Lydia Hunter has faithfully worked alongside her husband, Wade, the founder of the Memory Foundation, to revolutionize the way the world understands memory. But the research is expensive, and they’re hemorrhaging money. In order to gain more financial support, they open up the facility to an exclusive group of wealthy guests, promising that each one will experience a “memory flight” that will allow them to relive precious memories. But when the wealthy clients arrive at the Memory Foundation, set high in the Alps in an area prone to avalanches, all is not what it seems. And when the weather takes a turn for the worse and power outages and a growing sense of paranoia begin affecting everybody, it becomes clear that no one at the Memory Foundation will ever be the same—and not everyone will survive the week.
May 30
Orange Island — Vanessa Frances (Red Rook Press)
In 2060 Orlando, FL, the state’s corruption festers amid unpredictable storms and climate upheaval, plunging society into a desperate eat the rich struggle for survival. As the world crumbles around her, 23-year-old Savannah fights to secure the bare essentials—drinkable water, dwindling food rations, and coveted orange juice. With only her father to rely on, Savannah navigates a world where tech reigns over humanity; and healthcare, climate-controlled housing, and life-saving news alerts are a privilege for the wealthy elite. Everything changes the day she stumbles upon her late sister’s journal. Grief morphs into determination as she learns about her sister’s involvement in a pharmaceutical project that could revolutionize medicine for all. Armed with this knowledge, Savannah holds the key to completing her sister’s work. Will she have the courage to do so? Or will fear and despair shackle her to a fate worse than death?
