Fall is almost here and with it comes lots of great new book releases. I’m an avid reader, but this year thanks to being mostly indoors because of COVID-19, I’ve already read more books in the last six months than I typically do in any given year. Probably three times as many. So, I’m really looking forward to this Fall’s new releases to keep me occupied.

Below are some books I personally am looking forward to this Fall, listed here in order of release date, starting with books releasing in September 2020. After this main list, I’ve included some picks for books that came out earlier this year that maybe you missed, and then some others that are older, but there’s a good reason to get to reading them now.

Continue on to check out my Fall 2020 Book Recommendations….

Rust in Peace
The Inside Story of the Megadeth Masterpiece
By Dave Mustaine; Foreword by Slash
Publisher: Hachette Books
Release date: Sep 8, 2020
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook

A new book by the lead vocalist and guitarist of Megadeth, the original lead guitarist of Metallica, and the author of the NYT bestseller, Mustaine.

Rust in Peace details the making of Megadeth’s iconic record, which was released in 1990, at an incredible time of flux and creativity in the rock world. Relayed by the lead vocalist and guitarist of Megadeth himself, Dave Mustaine, the book covers the process of hiring the band and supporting cast, of trying to handle the ensuing success, and ultimately the pressure of fame and fortune — which caused the band to finally break-up. In short, it’s a true story of groundbreaking anti-pop that was moving toward the mainstream (or the mainstream that was moving toward the band), at a time of great cultural change, power, ego, drugs, and other vices that went hand-in-hand with Rock N’ Roll, circa the late eighties-early nineties.

Little did Mustaine know that the birth pangs of the record were nothing compared to the oncoming pain and torment that would surround it. Alcohol, drugs, sex, money, power, property, prestige, the lies the band was told by the industry — and the lies they told each other — were just beginning, and much like rust in real life, these factors would ultimately eat away at the band’s bond until only the music survived.

Rust in Peace is a story of perseverance, of scraping off the rust off that builds over time on everything: ourselves, our relationships, pop culture, art, and music.

Fearless
Fiction Without Frontiers series
By Allen Stroud
Publisher: Flame Tree Press
Release date: September 8, 2020
Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook

AD 2118. Humanity has colonised the Moon, Mars, Ceres and Europa. Captain Ellisa Shann commands Khidr, a search and rescue ship with a crew of twenty-five, tasked to assist the vast commercial freighters that supply the different solar system colonies.

Shann has no legs and has taken to life in zero-g partly as a result. She is a talented tactician who has a tendency to take too much on her own shoulders. Now, while on a regular six-month patrol through the solar system, Khidr picks up a distress call from the freighter Hercules…

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars
By Christopher Paolini
Publisher: Tor Books
Release date: September 15, 2020
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is a brand new epic novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eragon, Christopher Paolini.

Kira Navárez dreamed of life on new worlds.

Now she’s awakened a nightmare.

During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she’s delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move.

As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn’t at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.

While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity’s greatest and final hope . . .

The Evening and the Morning
Kingsbridge Book 4
By Ken Follett
Publisher: Viking
Release date: September 15, 2020
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author, a thrilling and addictive new novel–a prequel to The Pillars of the Earth–set in England at the dawn of a new era: the Middle Ages

It is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages. England is facing attacks from the Welsh in the west and the Vikings in the east. Those in power bend justice according to their will, regardless of ordinary people and often in conflict with the king. Without a clear rule of law, chaos reigns.

In these turbulent times, three characters find their lives intertwined. A young boatbuilder’s life is turned upside down when the only home he’s ever known is raided by Vikings, forcing him and his family to move and start their lives anew in a small hamlet where he does not fit in. . . . A Norman noblewoman marries for love, following her husband across the sea to a new land, but the customs of her husband’s homeland are shockingly different, and as she begins to realize that everyone around her is engaged in a constant, brutal battle for power, it becomes clear that a single misstep could be catastrophic. . . . A monk dreams of transforming his humble abbey into a center of learning that will be admired throughout Europe. And each in turn comes into dangerous conflict with a clever and ruthless bishop who will do anything to increase his wealth and power.

Thirty years ago, Ken Follett published his most popular novel, The Pillars of the Earth. Now, Follett’s masterful new prequel The Evening and the Morning takes us on an epic journey into a historical past rich with ambition and rivalry, death and birth, love and hate, that will end where The Pillars of the Earth begins.

The Trouble with Peace
The Age of Madness Book 2
By Joe Abercrombie
Publisher: Orbit
Release date: September 15, 2020

Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook

A fragile peace gives way to conspiracy, betrayal, and rebellion in this sequel to the New York Times bestselling A Little Hatred from epic fantasy master Joe Abercrombie.

Peace is just another kind of battlefield . . .

Savine dan Glokta, once Adua’s most powerful investor, finds her judgement, fortune and reputation in tatters. But she still has all her ambitions, and no scruple will be permitted to stand in her way.

For heroes like Leo dan Brock and Stour Nightfall, only happy with swords drawn, peace is an ordeal to end as soon as possible. But grievances must be nursed, power seized, and allies gathered first, while Rikke must master the power of the Long Eye . . . before it kills her.

Unrest worms into every layer of society. The Breakers still lurk in the shadows, plotting to free the common man from his shackles, while noblemen bicker for their own advantage. Orso struggles to find a safe path through the maze of knives that is politics, only for his enemies, and his debts, to multiply.

The old ways are swept aside, and the old leaders with them, but those who would seize the reins of power will find no alliance, no friendship, and no peace lasts forever.

Piranesi
by Susanna Clarke
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Release date: September 15, 2020
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook (narrated by Chiwetel Ejiofor)

From the New York Times bestselling author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality.

Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.

There is one other person in the house-a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.

For readers of Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane and fans of Madeline Miller’s Circe, Piranesi introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth, full of startling images and surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds.

Cursed Objects
Strange but True Stories of the World’s Most Infamous Items
By J. W. Ocker
Publisher: Quirk Books
Release Date: September 15, 2020
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook

Beware…this book is cursed! These strange but true stories of the world’s most infamous items will appeal to true believers as well as history buffs, horror fans, and anyone who loves a good spine-tingling tale.

They’re lurking in museums, graveyards, and private homes. Their often tragic and always bizarre stories have inspired countless horror movies, reality TV shows, novels, and campfire tales. They’re cursed objects, and all they need to unleash a wave of misfortune is . . . you.

Many of these unfortunate items have intersected with some of the most notable events and people in history, leaving death and destruction in their wake. But never before have the true stories of these eerie oddities been compiled into a fascinating and chilling volume. Inside, readers will learn about:

• Annabelle the Doll, a Raggedy Ann doll that featured in the horror franchise The Conjuring
• The Unlucky Mummy, which is rumored to have sunk the Titanic and kick-started World War I
• The Dybbuk box, which was sold on eBay and spawned the horror film The Possession
• The Conjured Chest, which has been blamed for fifteen deaths within a single family
• The Ring of Silvianus, a Roman artifact believed to have inspired J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit
• And many more!

Sons of War 2: Saints
The Sons of War Series Book 2
By Nicholas Sansbury Smith
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Release date: September 15, 2020
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook

The civil war is over, but the struggle for power is just beginning …

In the aftermath of a devastating civil war, America has fallen into anarchy and chaos. Los Angeles is divided into different territories controlled by criminal organizations. Don Antonio Moretti has won a slice of the pie but is hungry for more. In his quest for power, he sends his nephew and a small crew to Mexico, to negotiate a new deal for their staple product, while the don returns to Italy for some unfinished business.

While the crime families battle for power in LA, Dominic Salvatore and his elite team at the LAPD fight tirelessly to stem the rot. But their fight often seems futile in a force rife with corruption. Dom’s father, Ronaldo, is a deputy fighting to secure the border, but when intel arises about his missing daughter, he leaves Los Angeles for the desert wastes, to find her and bring her home.

To the Morettis and the Salvatores, family is everything, and they will protect their own no matter the cost.

The Cthulhu Stories of Robert E. Howard
by Robert E Howard, H P Lovecraft, et al.
Publisher: Wordfire Press
Release date: September 23, 2020
Hardcover | Paperback

The Great Old Ones Return…

In the early twentieth-century, in the pages of Weird Tales and other pulp magazines, H.P. Lovecraft created the Cthulhu Mythos and offered it to his friends, creating a shared mythology for much of their weird fiction. Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian, was one of those good friends.

Fresh from dusty libraries dark with forbidden knowledge, these twelve Howard tales, bring Kull of Atlantis, Bran Mak Morn, and a steady band of warriors, adventurers, and scholars into the dark to face the Nameless and that which they left behind: Elder gods, nameless cosmic horrors greater and older than the gods themselves, ancient forms of life and worship from before the dawn of humanity.

These are the Cthulhu Stories of Robert. E. Howard

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
by Stephen King
Publisher: Scribner
Release date: September 29, 2020
Paperback | Kindle

#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King’s beloved novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption—the basis for the Best Picture Academy Award–nominee The Shawshank Redemption—about an unjustly imprisoned convict who seeks a strangely satisfying revenge, is now available for the first time as a standalone book.

A mesmerizing tale of unjust imprisonment and offbeat escape, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is one of Stephen King’s most beloved and iconic stories, and it helped make Castle Rock a place readers would return to over and over again. Suspenseful, mysterious, and heart-wrenching, this iconic King novella, populated by a cast of unforgettable characters, is about a fiercely compelling convict named Andy Dufresne who is seeking his ultimate revenge. Originally published in 1982 in the collection Different Seasons (alongside “The Body,” “Art Pupil,” and “The Breathing Method”), it was made into the film The Shawshank Redemption in 1994. Starring Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, this modern classic was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and is among the most beloved films of all time.

Confess: The Autobiography
By Rob Halford
Publisher: Hachette Books
Release date: September 29, 2020
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook

The legendary frontman of Judas Priest, one of the most successful heavy metal bands of all time, celebrates five decades of heavy metal in this tell-all memoir.

Most priests hear confessions. This one is making his.

Rob Halford, front man of global iconic metal band Judas Priest, is a true “Metal God.” Raised in Britain’s hard-working, heavy industrial heartland, he and his music were forged in the Black Country. Confess, his full autobiography, is an unforgettable rock ‘n’ roll story-a journey from a Walsall council estate to musical fame via alcoholism, addiction, police cells, ill-fated sexual trysts, and bleak personal tragedy, through to rehab, coming out, redemption . . . and finding love.

Now, he is telling his gospel truth.

Told with Halford’s trademark self-deprecating, deadpan Black Country humor, Confess is the story of an extraordinary five decades in the music industry. It is also the tale of unlikely encounters with everybody from Superman to Andy Warhol, Madonna, Jack Nicholson, and the Queen. More than anything else, it’s a celebration of the fire and power of heavy metal.

Rob Halford has decided to Confess. Because it’s good for the soul.

Mutation
A Unit 51 Novel, Book 3
By Michael McBride
Publisher: Pinnacle Books
Release date: September 8, 2020
Paperback | Kindle

IT LIVES.
In a research hangar in Virginia, a Unit 51 team studies an ancient but long-dormant virus that can transform human physiology—and turn it into something else. . .

IT MUTATES.
In the Amazon rainforest, a newly evolving life form known as Subject Z acquires the ability to think conceptually, build elaborate traps, create new carriers—and spawn a new race . . .

IT SPREADS.
In Mexico and Turkey, the men and women of Unit 51 race to uncover a global link between the mutations: a connection as ancient as the oldest tombs on earth—and as alien and unknowable as the universe itself. But time is running out. The infected are growing in number. And the nightmare is going viral.

The Haunting of H. G. Wells
By Robert Masello
Publisher: 47North
Release Date: October 1, 2020
Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook

A plot against England that even the genius of H. G. Wells could not have imagined.

It’s 1914. The Great War grips the world—and from the Western Front a strange story emerges…a story of St. George and a brigade of angels descending from heaven to fight beside the beleaguered British troops. But can there be any truth to it?

H. G. Wells, the most celebrated writer of his day—author of The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man—is dispatched to find out. There, he finds an eerie wasteland inhabited by the living, the dead, and those forever stranded somewhere in between…a no-man’s-land whose unhappy souls trail him home to London, where a deadly plot, one that could turn the tide of war, is rapidly unfolding.

In league with his young love, the reporter and suffragette Rebecca West, Wells must do battle with diabolical forces—secret agents and depraved occultists—to save his sanity, his country, and ultimately the world.

Is This Anything?
By Jerry Seinfeld
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release date: October 6, 2020
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook

The first book in twenty-five years from Jerry Seinfeld features his best work across five decades in comedy.

Since his first performance at the legendary New York nightclub “Catch a Rising Star” as a twenty-one-year-old college student in fall of 1975, Jerry Seinfeld has written his own material and saved everything. “Whenever I came up with a funny bit, whether it happened on a stage, in a conversation, or working it out on my preferred canvas, the big yellow legal pad, I kept it in one of those old school accordion folders,” Seinfeld writes. “So I have everything I thought was worth saving from forty-five years of hacking away at this for all I was worth.”

For this book, Jerry Seinfeld has selected his favorite material, organized decade by decade. In page after hilarious page, one brilliantly crafted observation after another, readers will witness the evolution of one of the great comedians of our time and gain new insights into the thrilling but unforgiving art of writing stand-up comedy.

Let Love Rule
By Lenny Kravitz
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Release date: October 6, 2020
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook

“I see my story as a suite of songs that have a magical connection. I never understood that connection until I sat down to write. It was then that the magic started to flow.”

Let Love Rule is a work of deep reflection. Lenny Kravitz looks back at his life with candor, self-scrutiny, and humor.

“My life is all about opposites,” he writes. “Black and White. Jewish and Christian. The Jackson 5 and Led Zeppelin. I accepted my Gemini soul. I owned it. I adored it. Yins and yangs mingled in various parts of my heart and mind, giving me balance and fueling my curiosity and comfort.”

Let Love Rule covers a vast canvas stretching from Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant, Los Angeles’ Baldwin Hills, Beverly Hills, and finally to France, England, and Germany.

It’s the story of a wildly creative kid who, despite tough struggles at school and extreme tension at home, finds salvation in music.

We see him grow as a musician and ultimately a master songwriter, producer, and performer. We also see Lenny’s spiritual growth – and the powerful way in which spirit informs his music.

The cast of characters surrounding Lenny is extraordinary: his father, Sy, a high-powered news executive; his mother, Roxie Roker, a television star; and Lisa Bonet, the young actress who becomes his muse.

The central character, of course, is Lenny, who, despite his great aspirational energy, turns down record deal after record deal until he finds his true voice.

The creation of that voice, the same voice that is able to declare “Let Love Rule” to an international audience, is the very heart of this story.

“Whether recording, performing, or writing a book,” says Lenny, “my art is about listening to the inspiration inside and then sharing it with people. Art must bring the world closer together.”

Sherlock Holmes and the Beast of the Stapletons
By James Lovegrove
Publisher: Titan Books
Release date: October 13, 2020
Hardcover | Kindle

New York Times bestselling author James Lovegrove’s continues the story of Sherlock Holmes and The Hound of the Baskervilles, as five years later, another monstrous creature stalks across Dartmoor…

1894. The monstrous Hound of the Baskervilles has been dead for five years, along with its no less monstrous owner, the naturalist Jack Stapleton. Sir Henry Baskerville is living contentedly at Baskerville Hall with his new wife Audrey and their three-year-old son Harry.

Until, that is, Audrey’s lifeless body is found on the moors, drained of blood. It would appear some fiendish creature is once more at large on Dartmoor and has, like its predecessor, targeted the unfortunate Baskerville family.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are summoned to Sir Henry’s aid, and our heroes must face a marauding beast that is the very stuff of nightmares. It seems that Stapleton may not have perished in the Great Grimpen Mire after all, as Holmes believed, and is hell-bent on revenge…

The Shirley Jackson Collection
By Shirley Jackson, Ruth Franklin, et al.
Publisher: Library of America
Release date: October 20, 2020
Hardcover

For the first time in a deluxe collector’s edition boxed set, here is the ultimate Shirley Jackson edition, including all six novels, the famous story collection The Lottery, and twenty-one other stories.

Collects:

Shirley Jackson: Novels & Stories (LOA #204)
The Lottery; or, The Adventures of James Harris
The Haunting of Hill House
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Uncollected Stories (15)
Unpublished Stories (6)
Appendix: “Biography of a Story”

Shirley Jackson: Four Novels of the 1940s & 50s (LOA #336)
The Road Through the Wall
Hangsaman
The Bird’s Nest
The Sundial

Absolute Swamp Thing Vol. 2
by Alan Moore
Publisher: Vertigo
Release date: October 27, 2020
Hardcover

Before the groundbreaking graphic novel Watchmen, Alan Moore made his debut in the U.S. comic book industry with the revitalization of the horror comic book Swamp Thing. His deconstruction of the classic monster stretched the creative boundaries of the medium and became one of the most spectacular series in comic book history.

With modern-day issues explored against a backdrop of horror, Swamp Thing’s stories became commentaries on environmental, political and social issues, unflinching in their relevance. Includes the story The Anatomy Lesson, a haunting origin story that reshapes Swamp Thing mythology with terrifying revelations that begin a journey of discovery and adventure that will take him across the stars and beyond. Author Alan Moore and illustrators Stephen Bissette, John Totleben, Rick Veitch, Shawn McManus, Ron Randall and Dan Day join together to rise from the swamps in slipcased hardcover edition, Absolute Swamp Thing by Alan Moore Vol. 2. This collects Saga of the Swamp Thing #35-49 with brand-new coloring.

The Women of Weird Tales
Monster, She Wrote Book 2
By Everil Worrell, Greye La Spina, et al.
Publisher: Valancourt Books
Release date: November 3, 2020
Hardcover | Kindle

Launched in 1923, the pulp magazine Weird Tales quickly became one of the most important outlets for horror and fantasy fiction and is often associated with writers like H.?P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert Bloch, all of whose work appeared in its pages. But often overlooked is the fact that much of Weird Tales’ content was by women writers, some of whom numbered among the magazine’s most popular contributors.

This volume includes thirteen fantastic tales originally published between 1925 and 1949, written by four of Weird Tales’ most prolific female contributors: Greye La Spina, Everil Worrell, Mary Elizabeth Counselman and Eli Colter. Ranging from science fiction to fantasy to horror, these classic tales of mad scientists, deadly curses, ghosts, vampires, and the risen dead remain as thrilling and sensational as when first published.

The Last Ritual: An Arkham Horror Novel
By S. A. Sidor
Publisher: Aconyte
Release date: November 3, 2020
Paperback | Kindle

A mad surrealist’s art threatens to rip open the fabric of reality, in this twisted tale of eldritch horror and conspiracy, from the wildy popular world of Arkham Horror.

Aspiring painter Alden Oakes is invited to join a mysterious art commune in Arkham: the New Colony. When celebrated Spanish surrealist Juan Hugo Balthazarr visits the colony, Alden and the other artists quickly fall under his charismatic spell. Balthazarr throws a string of decadent parties for Arkham’s social elite, conjuring arcane illusions which blur the boundaries between nightmare and reality. Only slowly does Alden come to suspect that Balthazarr’s mock rituals are intended to break through those walls and free what lies beyond. Alden must act, but it might already be too late to save himself, let alone Arkham.

Star Trek: A Contest of Principles
Star Trek: The Original Series
By Greg Cox
Publisher: Pocket Books/Star Trek Books
Release date: November 10, 2020
Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook

An epic new Star Trek saga by New York Times bestselling author Greg Cox set during the original five-year mission!

The planet Vok is holding its first free elections after years of oppressive military rule. Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise have been dispatched by Starfleet to serve as impartial observers, but remaining neutral proves a challenge, as Kirk confronts a tangled web of scandal, conspiracy, and assassination plots—with the stability of an entire sector at stake.

To make matters worse, Dr. Leonard McCoy has vanished while on a mission of mercy to Braco, a nearby planet only a system away. With Kirk unable to abandon his vital mission on Vok to hunt for his friend, it’s up to First Officer Spock and Christine Chapel to lead a team in search of the missing doctor, even if it means risking whatever fate befell McCoy.

Unknown to his friends and crewmates, however, McCoy has been spirited away to another world, Ozalor, where he’s expected to find a cure for a mysterious ailment plaguing a member of the planet’s ruling family. Torn between his Hippocratic oath and his desire to escape, McCoy finds himself at the center of deadly palace intrigues—and a struggle for power that may ultimately consume all three worlds!

From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars series
Anthology
Publisher: Del Rey
Release date: November 10, 2020
Hardover | Kindle | Audiobook

Celebrate the legacy of The Empire Strikes Back with this exciting reimagining of the timeless film featuring new perspectives from forty acclaimed authors.

On May 21, 1980, Star Wars became a true saga with the release of The Empire Strikes Back. In honor of the fortieth anniversary, forty storytellers re-create an iconic scene from The Empire Strikes Back through the eyes of a supporting character, from heroes and villains, to droids and creatures. From a Certain Point of View features contributions by bestselling authors and trendsetting artists:

• Austin Walker explores the unlikely partnership of bounty hunters Dengar and IG-88 as they pursue Han Solo.
• Hank Green chronicles the life of a naturalist caring for tauntauns on the frozen world of Hoth.
• Tracy Deonn delves into the dark heart of the Dagobah cave where Luke confronts a terrifying vision.
• Martha Wells reveals the world of the Ugnaught clans who dwell in the depths of Cloud City.
• Mark Oshiro recounts the wampa’s tragic tale of loss and survival.
• Seth Dickinson interrogates the cost of serving a ruthless empire aboard the bridge of a doomed Imperial starship.

Plus more hilarious, heartbreaking, and astonishing tales from:
Tom Angleberger, Sarwat Chadda, S.A. Chakraborty, Mike Chen, Adam Christopher, Katie Cook, Zoraida Córdova, Delilah S. Dawson, Alexander Freed, Jason Fry, Christie Golden, Rob Hart, Lydia Kang, Michael Kogge, R. F. Kuang, C. B. Lee, Mackenzi Lee, John Jackson Miller, Michael Moreci, Daniel José Older, Amy Ratcliffe, Beth Revis, Lilliam Rivera, Cavan Scott, Emily Skrutskie, Karen Strong, Anne Toole, Catherynne M. Valente, Django Wexler, Kiersten White, Gary Whitta, Brittany N. Williams, Charles Yu, Jim Zub

All participating authors have generously forgone any compensation for their stories. Instead, their proceeds will be donated to First Book—a leading nonprofit that provides new books, learning materials, and other essentials to educators and organizations serving children in need. To further celebrate the launch of this book and both companies’ longstanding relationships with First Book, Penguin Random House will donate $100,000 to First Book and Disney/Lucasfilm will donate 100,000 children’s books—valued at $1,000,000—to support First Book and their mission of providing equal access to quality education.

Secret Santa
By Andrew Shaffer
Publisher: Quirk Books
Release date: November 10, 2020
Paperback | Kindle

The Office meets Stephen King, dressed up in holiday tinsel, in this fun, festive, and frightening horror-comedy set during the horror publishing boom of the ’80s, by New York Times best-selling satirist Andrew Shaffer.

Out of work for months, Lussi Meyer is desperate to work anywhere in publishing. Prestigious Blackwood-Patterson isn’t the perfect fit, but a bizarre set of circumstances leads to her hire and a firm mandate: Lussi must find the next horror superstar to compete with Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Peter Straub. It’s the ’80s, after all, and horror is the hottest genre.

But as soon as she arrives, Lussi finds herself the target of her co-workers’ mean-spirited pranks. The hazing reaches its peak during the company’s annual Secret Santa gift exchange, when Lussi receives a demonic-looking object that she recognizes but doesn’t understand. Suddenly, her coworkers begin falling victim to a series of horrific accidents akin to a George Romero movie, and Lussi suspects that her gift is involved. With the help of her former author, the flamboyant Fabien Nightingale, Lussi must track down her anonymous Secret Santa and figure out the true meaning of the cursed object in her possession before it destroys the company—and her soul.

PAPERBACKS FROM HELL SERIES

Familiar Spirit
Paperbacks from Hell series
By Lisa Tuttle and Will Errickson
Release date Date: November 10, 2020
Publisher: Valancourt Books
Paperback | Kindle

THE BIG OLD HOUSE WAS PERFECT FOR SARAH

Now that her life with Brian was over, she would have a home of her own. She could begin again.

But something was waiting for Sarah in her new house, waiting to welcome her, to make her feel at home. Something was waiting for Sarah in the night with golden eyes that glowed and burned, commanding her obedience, demanding her soul, promising her …

Sarah tried to escape the power, but night after night it drew her back, filling her with screaming horror one moment, and relentless, burning pleasure the next.

Sarah tried to escape the house, to fight the evil. But she came back. She will always come back. Because now Sarah is never alone …

This reissue of Lisa Tuttle’s first novel Familiar Spirit (1983) features the classic cover art by Lee MacLeod and a new introduction by Will Errickson.

The Auctioneer
Paperbacks from Hell series
By Joan Samson and Grady Hendrix
Release date Date: November 10, 2020
Publisher: Valancourt Books
Paperback

One of the finest and best-selling horror novels of the 1970s returns at last to chill a new generation of readers

In the isolated farming community of Harlowe, New Hampshire, where life has changed little over the past several decades, John Moore and his wife Mim work the land that has been in his family for generations. But from the moment the charismatic Perly Dunsmore arrives in town and starts soliciting donations for his auctions, things begin slowly and insidiously to change in Harlowe. As the auctioneer carries out his terrible, inscrutable plan, the Moores and their neighbors will find themselves gradually but inexorably stripped of their possessions, their freedom, and perhaps even their lives …

A chilling masterpiece of terror whose sense of creeping menace and dread increases page by page, Joan Samson’s The Auctioneer (1975) is a rediscovered classic of 20th-century fiction. With echoes of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Stephen King’s Needful Things, Samson’s novel returns to print at last in this long-awaited new edition, which features an introduction by Grady Hendrix (Horrorstör, Paperbacks from Hell).

Ready Player Two
By Ernest Cline
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release date: November 24, 2020
Ernest Cline’s 2011 sci-fi adventure Ready Player One
Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook

The highly anticipated sequel to the beloved worldwide bestseller Ready Player One, the “ridiculously fun and large-hearted” (NPR) near-future adventure that inspired the blockbuster Steven Spielberg film.

Now Before the Dark
Terribly Serious Darkness Book 3
by Sam Hooker
Publisher: Black Spot Books
Release date: December 8, 2020
Hardcover | Kindle

Time is running out for the Old Country.

How does one save a nation when the erstwhile gods are against the idea? In the finale of Terribly Serious Darkness, it’s up to Sloot Peril–the world’s greatest accountant and poorest everything else–to figure it out.

Unfortunately, he’ll have help. A philosopher who’d sooner die (again) than do any real work, a bard who can’t play his non-instrument, and a spooky wizard who’s often mistaken for a vampire may not be ideal allies, but with any luck—which Sloot’s never had—they’ll occasionally get out of his way.

Does Sloot stand a chance against serpent cults, demons, dragons, and the most sinister financial report every written? Doubtful. If he’s even going to survive the dance contest, he’ll have to think of something now, before the Dark swallows everything up.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT… SOME BOOKS RELEASED EARLIER IN 2020.

Bookish and the Beast
Once Upon A Con Book 3 (Geekarella)
By Ashley Poston
Publisher: Quirk Books
Release date: August 4, 2020
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook

A tale as old as time is made new in Ashley Poston’s fresh, geeky retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

Rosie Thorne is feeling stuck—on her college application essays, in her small town, and on that mysterious General Sond cosplayer she met at ExcelsiCon. Most of all, she’s stuck in her grief over her mother’s death. Her only solace was her late mother’s library of rare Starfield novels, but even that disappeared when they sold it to pay off hospital bills.

On the other hand, Vance Reigns has been Hollywood royalty for as long as he can remember—with all the privilege and scrutiny that entails. When a tabloid scandal catches up to him, he’s forced to hide out somewhere the paparazzi would never expect to find him: Small Town USA. At least there’s a library in the house. Too bad he doesn’t read.

When Rosie and Vance’s paths collide and a rare book is accidentally destroyed, Rosie finds herself working to repay the debt. And while most Starfield superfans would jump at the chance to work in close proximity to the Vance Reigns, Rosie has discovered something about Vance: he’s a jerk, and she can’t stand him. The feeling is mutual.

But as Vance and Rosie begrudgingly get to know each other, their careful masks come off—and they may just find that there’s more risk in shutting each other out than in opening their hearts.

Song of the Risen God: A Tale of the Coven
The Coven Book 3
by R. A. Salvatore
Publisher: Tor Books
Release date: January 28, 2020
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook

The Angel Of The Crows
By Katherine Addison
Publisher: Tor Books
Release date: June 23, 2020
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook

OLDER RELEASES YOU SHOULD READ NOW.

The Enola Holmes Mysteries
Enola Holmes, an original film coming to Netflix on September 23, 2020, is based on The Enola Holmes Mysteries book series by Nancy Springer. The film stars, which Millie Bobby Brown, Sam Claflin, Henry Cavill, and Helena Bonham Carter, tells the story of Enola Jones, the teenaged younger sister of the world’s greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes.

– Book 1 The Case of the Missing Marquess
– Book 2: The Case of the Left-Handed Lady
– Book 3: The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets
– Book 4: The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan
– Book 5: The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline
– Book 6: The Case of the Gypsy Goodbye

Dune
Dune Chronicles Book 1
By Frank Herbert
Publisher: Ace Books
Movie release date: December 18, 2020 (tentative due to Covid-19)
Trade Paperback | Mass Market Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook | Deluxe Hardcover

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE directed by Denis Villeneuve, starring Timothée Chalamet, Josh Brolin, Jason Momoa, Oscar Isaac, Javier Bardem, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgård, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, and Charlotte Rampling.

Frank Herbert’s classic masterpiece—a triumph of the imagination and one of the bestselling science fiction novels of all time.

Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the “spice” melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize worth killing for….

When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul’s family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.

A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.

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