This month we have two Shakespeare retellings, a book on homeownership and some YA fantasy and horror books.
Splendor: Trans Poets (Poetry Anthology, 9/1/26)
"Introducing readers to five trans and nonbinary poets, Splendor is an ode to queer bodies, with previously unpublished translations from Argentina, Denmark, Korea, Norway, and Quebec. From the irreverent and irresponsible to the quiet and meditative these poems decentralize our ideas of trans experience and poetics. Splendor presents a sliver of the wide possibilities of what trans literature can offer. This is trans literature that transcends borders and binaries in order to engaging with a messy world."
Espíritu (Cemetery Boys) by Aiden Thomas (YA Fantasy, 9/8/2026)
This sequel to Cemetery Boys follows Julian who "used to be a ghost and now he can’t stop seeing them. Ever since Julian was sacrificed as part of a forbidden ritual, he has been able to see and talk with spirits. And that’s really cool, since it allows him to be part of his new boyfriend's community. But Julian’s seeing other things, too: flickers at the edge of his vision, eyes burning in the night, and “dark spots” on people—gaping wounds that thrum and bleed shadow."
Thoughts Be Bloody by Auden Patrick (fantasy, 9/15/26)
A struggling student, a resident golden boy, and the curse that will bring them together. In this queer, trans retelling of Hamlet, Horatio Bithersea walks into the university library to find Carson Hamlett, resident golden boy and master magician, cradling his father's dead body. A year later, Horatio is keeping his head down, attempting to graduate without his out-of-control magic harming his classmates. That changes when the ghost of Hamlett's father appears and places a curse on Horatio and Hamlett: avenge his death by destroying Elsinore...
Lost and Found: a compassionate guide to homeownership by Mercury Stardust (nonfiction, 9/15/26)
After Safe and Sound: a renter-friendly guide to home repair (2023), Mercury Stardust, the "trans handy ma'am," has returned with a a guide to buying and owning a home.
This Movie Doesn't End the Way We Want by Hailey Piper (horror, 9/15/2026)
"In November 1994, three girls visit their local movie theater to see an obscure film. Only one of them is ever seen again. Thirty years later, Val McQueen has never forgotten the day she lost her little sister and best friend, but she’s closed the curtain on it, certain she’s moved on despite her parents’ resentment and hounding by true crime enthusiasts. That is until a stranger’s murder brings it all screaming back—a terror she’s tried to tell herself is only a movie. Enlisting the help of cinephile and former classmate Roxie de la Fontaine to find the film, Val soon realizes that hers is not the only pursuit. Someone, or something involved with the movie is on the hunt, too… … For the girl who got away all those years ago."
The Restorative Artist by Cecil Fenn (horror, 9/17/2026)
"An embalmer haunted by the death of his lover pulls apart his relationship and his funeral home to escape the pain of grief... Graham has built his life around the dead. He's a talented embalmer, the devoted director of his own funeral home, and the guiding hand behind a small but respected team. After a corpse-carried illness forces him to reckon with his own mortality, Graham struggles to confront the lingering pain of a recent loss. Grief, he finds, is not so easily diagnosed, dissected, and named. It is not so easily cured. Betrayed by his body and unable to accept the pain death has caused him, Graham loses faith in his profession and the person he's become in its service. The past – which he imagines as a story of love and self-acceptance – becomes Graham's refuge. But in the present, influenced by increasingly gruesome visions of the deceased, Graham withdraws from his funeral home with devastating consequences for himself, his new girlfriend, and his colleagues. As his life, and even his sanity, starts to fragment, Graham struggles to rediscover the importance of his work and the history that haunts him before he loses everything and everyone close to him."
View in TLDB | Buy (from publisher in UK)
To Our Untamed Core by Sonido Reyes (YA fantasy, 9/22/2026)
"Centuries after the conquistadors claimed the Afueras for their own, Temo spends his life obeying the Holy Order’s decree, undergoing their sacraments to tame his supposedly violent nature. The only rule he breaks: hiding that he’s trans. If that fact is discovered, Temo will face El Torneo, a brutal, fight-to-the-death game pitting the untamed against one another. No Afuereño who enters El Torneo ever escapes with their life. But when Temo’s boyfriend is unexpectedly arrested and thrown into the deadly tournament, he’ll do anything to rescue Ollin from his gruesome fate, even if it means entering El Torneo himself. Only there's far more to this tournament than meets the eye—survival is just the beginning. When the cost of saving the one he loves the most might be higher than he ever imagined, is Temo willing to pay it?"
Hearts on the Table by Susan Metallo (YA fiction, 9/22/2026)
"In a twisty transformation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, populated with queer, trans, and neurodivergent characters, a seventeen-year-old feminist with a penchant for thrashing men at cards finds herself tangled in the last mess she’d ever expect: love. Violet is used to winning—with her mathematical mind, no one stands a chance of beating her at cards, or much of anything else. So, when her wrathful father threatens to marry her and her trans twin brother Seb to the highest bidders, she’s certain they can escape England, even with a war on. But before they reach safety in Italy, a U-boat sinks their ship, and Violet washes up on a small island, on the wrong side of enemy lines, desperate to find her missing twin. To earn passage to the mainland, where she hopes Seb has landed, Violet disguises herself as a man and accepts a job delivering love poetry for melancholy pacifist Teo, the island’s irritating golden boy. The object of his affection, fair Olivia, is less than enchanted, but she is intrigued by the handsome delivery boy—Violet in disguise. While Violet struggles to sidestep Olivia’s attentions, she’s vexed by her own inconvenient but undeniable attraction to Teo. "
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