Recs if you like The Salt King: A Novel...

We should all be reading queer, all year, but this list is full of upcoming queer books of all makes and models coming out in 2026. If you have a rec to add, just please keep in mind we’re looking for 2026 releases!

Just a list of books coming out in 2026 that I’m really excited for :) it will be updated as the months go by! It will be a mix of: high fantasy, romance fantasy, sci-fi, gothic, horror, lit fic, historical fiction, retellings, poetry, romance, & more!!

Every year we get more and more queer books in more and more diverse genres and I for one would like to roll around in all of them from sheer joy 🙂‍↕️ since I can’t do that here is a list to metaphorically roll around in instead.

Disclaimer: all books had 2026 releases at the time of adding. The publishing industry does change things around though.

Books that feature fictional religions of some kind!! I find these all to be fascinating but that doesn’t mean they all place the same amount of emphasis on the religious structures of their worldbuilding as others. If you have any recs lmk!!

Finally some good character work!! Books across all genres with thoughtfully written characters that I genuinely think exist in real life. 🤗🤗