Here are the trans books I found that are out in October. Did I miss any? Share them in the comments.
A Bad Deal in Mormon Land by T.I.M. Wirkus (Mystery, Historical Fiction, 10/1/26)
It's 1908 and Madame Ilsa, spirit medium, has a choice to make. Join an ill-conceived commune founded by some fellow trans ex-vaudevillians, or take on a high-paying but mysterious job offered by a religious extremist in Salt Lake City? She chooses the job and it turns out her new employer, Robert Marsh, wants her to summon the ghost of Joseph Smith, Mormonism's founder, to give his blessing to Marsh's fledgling offshoot of the mainstream church. Unsure how she'll pull off this near-impossible task, Ilsa finds an ally in Francie Bream, an East Coast journalist in town to profile Mormon women. Bream's motives remain obscure to Ilsa, though she begins to suspect the journalist has an agenda far more sinister than she could imagine. Throw in an inept and volatile henchman, a relentlessly orthodox Mormon apostle, a copper magnate with a fetish for polygamists, Marsh's rogue third wife, and a vengeful private investigator from Ilsa's past and accumulating dead bodies, and Madame Ilsa finds herself worrying less about saving her career, and more about making it out of Salt Lake City alive.
Carrying by Samantha Josephs (Horror, 10/6/26)
Martha has an adoring husband and a loving stepdaughter, and a perfect life as a wife and stepmother. She is also trans and so stealth even her husband has no idea. When a mysterious chronic illness and its debilitating symptoms threaten to upend her existence, she starts experimental treatments and gives in to her surprising, unsettling cravings. She’s even more shocked to discover that she’s undeniably, impossibly pregnant. With her body changing rapidly outside of her control, Martha struggles to maintain the life she’s fought so hard to live while preparing for the motherhood she never thought she’d have.
Grotesque by Elliott Dunston (Dark Fantasy, 10/13/26)
Bedhyndann is a small seaside town in Cornwall. A town that travellers feel uncomfortable in. A town where sailors often choose to stay on their ships rather than coming into port. A town where the golem Denvyth has been waiting for his master, the sorcerer Arderne, to return for one hundred and fifty years. To pass the time he amuses himself helping the humans around him fulfill their most dangerous desires. Until he crosses paths with Summers, who wants more from Denvyth than he should and who has the clues to unlock the secret of Arderne's disappearance. But Arderne sought to release an old god and once Denvyth follows his master's last instructions and finishes the sorcerer's spell, what he unleashes could make him the monster he's always feared being and destroy the world.
We Refuse to Disappear: Resistance Amid Anti-Trans Education Policy by sj Miller (Nonfiction, 10/19/26)
In We Refuse to Disappear, sj Miller takes an in-depth look at the proliferating anti-trans education policies, how they impact schools, and how teachers can continue to promote equity within increasingly constrained legal environments. Miller introduces A Pedagogy of Refusal--a teaching practice that consciously resists harmful laws, policies, and norms--as the antidote to a sweeping policy regime intent on erasing trans*+ students and educators. Each chapter centers a statute, breaks it down to be easily understandable, and pairs it with vignettes that show how refusal is enacted and sustained across educational contexts.
The Unpoetic Life of August Grey by Max Fischer (Young Adult verse novel, 10/20/26)
After his best friend Waylon dies, August is accepted at a prestigious summer writing program in New York. He believes it’s his one chance to heal – and to keep the promise made to Waylon to pursue his dream. But New York brings its own challenges: a strained reunion with an estranged father, the weight of trying to write without Waylon there, and the unexpected arrival of Levi, August's old crush who knows nothing of his failed coming out. As he wrestles with grief, secrets, and the tentative spark of new love, he must decide if he can finally surface – embracing his queer identity and the joy of being himself before the past threatens to drown his future.
You're No Better by Andrew Joseph White (Young Adult Horror, 10/27/26)
Morgan Slaughter, a seventeen-year-old trans boy with autism, put his serial killer father in prison years ago. Despite that, everyone thinks Morgan will grow up to be just like his dad: including his volatile mother, the documentary crew following their family, and maybe himself. Hoping that unraveling the mystery of his father's final, unidentified victim will prove that he's better than his father, Morgan investigates. But, a classmate wants to help, and if he doesn't let them, they'll tell everyone the truth about his part in his father's brutality. From the author of last year's You Weren't Meant To Be Human.
Public Access Afterworld by Jane Schoenbrun (Horror, 10/27/26)
"Bethany Peters toils through the night shift at megacorp GlobalVill’s bleak Austin campus. A trans content moderator, she spends her evenings reviewing an endless stream of horrific videos. But then a young streamer begins to crop up in her feed calling out to Public Access Afterworld. But what is Public Access Afterworld? Spanning decades and realities, with an unforgettable ensemble of outcasts and nerds—especially the messy but wholly relatable Bethany, who must overcome paranoia and self-doubt to transform into a hero of our times." From the filmmaker of I Saw the TV Glow and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.
Sun Chasers by Kacen Callender ( Young Adult Romance, 10/27/26)
Two boys find solace in each other while their worlds fall apart. Kole explains away the reason why he had to move to St. Thomas to live with his father and his new family, and makes excuses for any bruises or limps people notice. Gabriel wishes he could disappear. But everywhere he goes on the island he calls home, he can't escape the people who misgender him, who threaten him. And with his single mother barely making ends meet, he knows there's no hope for a better life after high school. As Kole and Gabriel slowly start to share their struggles with each other, their connection becomes a lifeline. From the author of Felix Ever After.
Prometheus: A Queer Futuristic Horror Anthology curated by Ezra Wren & Jake Vanguard (Horror, 10/31/26)
An anthology from Snakeskin Press in which sixteen authors bring you tales of imagined futures, spanning vast worlds and a wide breadth of queer, human, and post-human experiences. From a surgeon’s backstreet office to a city of dreams to motherships, AI-dominated worlds, and cults, enter a universe of horrors that will make your heart race and your skin prickle.
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