Sunday Summary: 19 Oct 25

Sunday Summary mainly functions as my personal record of book-related topics that have captured my interest over the past week. It also acts as a public memory prompt and bookmarking system.

Keeping Everything Tracked

I sought Bluesky’s advice on tracking books, as I am feeling a mix of lost, confused, or overwhelmed due to all the options.

Do you keep a list of books you want to read/buy? How long is that list? Could you make it ten or less and keep it that long on a constant basis?

— @gavreads (@gavreads.co.uk) 2025-10-18T18:29:26.657Z

The following discussion prompted me to compile a spreadsheet of all my pre-orders, clearly showing that I have enough pre-orders to keep me occupied until June.

Tufty McTavish reminded me of the power of tags in the Story Graph and why it’s good to invest time in adding them.

I’m also going to try more immediate (the next week or two) reading lists to see if that cuts through the ever-growing physical TBR.

Newsy Things

Introducing a new bona new quarterly literary magazine:

FANTABULOSA!

Pushing the boundaries of bold, authentic, QUEER storytelling. Bringing you stories of the uncanny, the dangerous and the fantastical.

& thanks to our brilliant #WrathMonth backers, we’re fully funded for 2026 🤘

Having enjoyed I Want That Twink Obliterated! I can’t wait to see what this cackle of editors produce!

Pre-Orders

The UK’s largest book chain, Waterstones, had a pre-order sale on releases for 2026 this week. Did I fall into the trap and order some books? Yes. Did I also get a bit too invested in what is coming out in 2026? Also, yes.

I placed orders for various new releases and paperback reprints.

Thanks to the spreadsheet mentioned above I now know when to look out for post.

And the offer wasn’t all the books coming out in 2026, but I now expect to stay busy with new releases from January to June.

But the reason for mentioning it was that I had to sift through many books to decide on those I chose.

Which is probably why I felt the urge to look at all the books coming out this week… there are a few.

Out This Week in the UK – ish

Based on information on blackwells.co.uk’s advanced search.

1. Saltwash by Andrew Michael Hurley
2. It’s Not a Cult by Joey Batey
3. Spread Me. by Sarah Gailey
4. Quantum of Menace – Q Mysteries by Vaseem Khan
5. Firstborn of the Sun by Marvellous Michael Anson
6. The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri
7. King Sorrow by Joe Hill
8. The Witching Hour: Ghostly Tales for the Darkest Night ed. Undetermined
9. The Keeper of Magical Things by Julie Leong
10. Secrets of the First School – Edinburgh Nights by T. L. Huchu
11. Red City by Marie Lu
12. Bog Queen by Anna North
13. The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes
14. Lives of Bitter Rain – The Tyrant Philosophers by Adrian Tchaikovsky
15. Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor
16. Fever Dreams: New Horror Short Stories ed. Mark Morris
17. An Infinite Sadness by Antônio Xerxenesky (tr. Daniel Hahn)
18. The Forsaken and the Fated – The Hollow and the Haunted by Camilla Raines
19. Sea Now by Eva Meijer (tr. Anne Thompson Melo)
20. The Witch and the Priest by Hilda Lewis
21. Pomegranate Seed and Other Ghostly Tales by Edith Wharton
22. Moths by Rosalind Ashe
23. All the Fear of the Fair: Uncanny Tales of the Circus and Sideshow ed. Edward Parnell
24. Grave Empire by Richard Swan (paperback release)
25. The Feeding by A. J. Ryan
26. Futility by Nuzo Onoh
27. Dead & Breakfast (A Dead & Breakfast Mystery)by Kat Hillis & Rosiee Thor

And from these, if I had to chose three that I’m most excited for, it would be:

1. The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri
2. King Sorrow by Joe Hill
3. Spread Me. by Sarah Gailey

What would you pick up?

Books That Others have Tempted Me With:

• Remember You Will Die by Eden Robins via Roseanna Pendlebury
• The October Film Haunt by Micheal Wehunt via various including A.C. Wise
• ST: Strange New Worlds: Ring of Fire by David Mack via Tobias S. Buckell
• Inner Space by Jakub Szamalek via Niall Harrison/Dan Hartland
• The Reformatory by Tananarive Due via Arina
• Sea Now by Eva Meijer (tr. Anne Thompson Melo) via Roseanna Pendlebury

Last/Now/Next

• The last book I’ve read is: The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater
• The book I’m currently reading is: The Devil’s by Joe Abercrombie
• The next book I’m is: The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo

This week’s Wombling Along

This week includes a TBR in it’s own right:

• Love for Adrian Tchaikovsky
• The sub-genre of the fantasy of manners
• Weird fiction short story collections
• Being impressed by
  • Inner Space by Jakub Szamalek tr. Kasia Pedforf
  • Terms of Service by Ciel Pierlot (which I hadn’t heard of until now)
• Confirmation, I need to read The Everlasting by Alix E Harrow
• I also need to read my copy of Cassandra Khaw’s The Library at Hellebore.
• The power of Small Press via a Dispatch
• Two reviews of Futility by Nuzo Onoh
• And so much more…

Outro

Once again, that turned out to be a much longer post than I expected.

Perhaps next week, I’ll return to my bookmarks.

Until then — happy reading!