17 new science fiction and fantasy books to check out this November

We’re barreling into the last couple of months of 2025, and after a super busy couple of months for new books, we get a *slight* reprieve in November and December. There are still a whole bunch of books hitting stores, mind, but now we’re about to hit the prime holiday shopping season.

I’ve always found that books make for good gifts: they’re a prime opportunity to demonstrate the thought that you put into selecting something for them, and there’s certainly no shortage of choices.

Okay, here are 17 new books to check out during the first half of November. As always, you can see prior lists via the Book List tag.

The Time Traveler's Passport, edited by John Joseph Adams (November 1st)

John Joseph Adams has put together a short anthology for Amazon Original Stories, packages of short fiction packaged together along a central theme. This one is all about time travel, and includes six stories by authors Olivie Blake, Kaliane Bradley, P. Djèlí Clark, R.F. Kuang, John Scalzi, and Peng Shepherd.

Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree (November 11th)

Travis Baldree is back with another cozy fantasy, following Legends & Lattes and Bookshops & Bonedust with a third installment: Brigands & Breadknives.

Fern has been working as a bookseller for decades, and needing a change of scenery, decides to relocate to the city of Thune to join her friend Viv and her coffee shop. But relocating proves to be more challenging than expected, and after a night of drinking, she stows away on an adventurer's wagon, owned by an elf warrior who's working to bring an orc to justice. Fern decides to stay with the adventurer while she tries and figures out why she's so discontented with her life.

Publishers Weekly says "while this road trip romp is more action-packed than previous installments, Baldree still conjures up the sense of cozy intimacy the series is known for."

Killing the Dead: Vampire Epidemics from Mesopotamia to the New World by John Blair (November 11th)

A couple of years ago, a new historic marker went up in the town of Manchester, Vermont, about a local woman who was believed to be a vampire. There's a lot of that here in New England, and this new book by looks like a fascinating exploration of the phenomenon where communities have gone out and accused their neighbors of being vampires.

Blair goes all the way back to ancient Mesopotamia and up to the modern day to examine this, exploring how these "vampire epidemics" have popped up across the world, drawing on archeological and anthropological examples, as well as vampire lore to look at the forces that drive these events.

Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review, saying "This meticulous account sheds horrifying light on the constancy with which women have been made to pay, even in death, for society’s larger anxieties."

Pluto by Ben Bova and Les Johnson (November 4th)

Legendary SF author and editor Ben Bova passed away five years ago in 2020, but his explorations of the solar system via his Grand Tour series was left incomplete with his passing (Neptune was published in 2021). The series (and Outer Planets sub trilogy) has finally reached the last (dwarf) planet in our solar system with Pluto, co-authored by Les Johnson.

Major Larry Randall heads off to Pluto to recover a scientist named Dr. Aaron Mikelson, who's now part AI after an accident. The former human is reluctant to leave, having just discovered an alien artifact on the planet's surface, and once they get their hands on it, they can't figure out what it is or where it came from. While looking, they awaken something under the frozen surface of Charon, Pluto's moon, something that will threaten all of humanity.

Star Wars: Master of Evil by Adam Christopher (November 11th)

I was really impressed with Adam Christopher’s Star Wars novel Shadow of the Sith when it came out a couple of years ago, which filled in some vital time between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, and helping to set the stage for the events of the sequel trilogy.

Christopher is now back with a new novel, this time picking up the story of one of the franchise’s biggest villains: Darth Vader. Set during the earliest days of the Empire, Master of Evil follows Vader as he becomes part of the Imperial system, all while grappling with the promises that the Dark Side of the Force and Emperor Palpatine made when he lured away from the Jed Order. As he builds his lightsaber, he's given a glimpse into the potential that the Force might provide, and he begins to pursue that vision, even if it puts him at odds with his Master.

The Nameless Land by Kate Elliott (November 4th)

Kate Elliott follows up The Witch Roads, in which Elen, a child slave-turned courier, has been leading an arrogant prince entourage after they entered the haunted Spires of Orledder Halt. In this adventure, Elen, Prince Gevulin, and others have reached the edge of the Tranquil Empire and have encountered the misty Far Boundary Pall, which steals lives and shrouds the northern lands. When the party is forced to flee into it and reach the other side.

There, they need to rely on the prince's diplomatic skills to try and bring together a coalition of allies to help save their lands, all while Elen comes face to face with a past that she thought she left behind.

Publishers Weekly says "Elliott skillfully expands her series’ fascinating worldbuilding, contrasting the highly structured Tranquil Empire with the squalid and chaotic nameless land and digging into its nonhuman cultures and complex history."

The Ganymedan by R.T. Ester (November 4th)

Verden Dotnet had been a mixologist for the man who created all of the sentient technology in the galaxy, Archer Lenox-Pileser, right up to the point where he killed him. He made sure that he got all of his backups. Now on the run, Verdan missed a ship to Ganymede and ends up convincing a sentient ship, TR-8901 for a ride. The ship begins hearing rumors that its creator has been killed, and is suspicious of its new passenger, but it's going to do its duty.

Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review, saying "with meticulous technical detail, abundant local color on various space stations and Martian locales, and sharply drawn characters, this sprawling novel will appeal to both hard sci-fi fans and readers looking for thought-provoking insights into an all too possible future where humans and AI must find an effective symbiosis if both are to survive."

Coldwire by Chloe Gong (November 4th)

In a bleak future fraught with rising tides due to climate change and endless epidemics, most of society lives in virtual reality spaces (upcountry), while those who can't afford it make due with life downcountry. For all of its appeal, upcountry has its own problems: a war between two nations, Medaluo and Atahua.

An Medan orphan named Eirale was forced to join the Nile Military Academy and recently graduated, joining NileCorp’s downcountry privave military force. When she's framed by an anarchist for an assassination, she's forced to cooperate with him, helping him track down a dangerous program, or be arrested for treason. At the same time, Lia has been studying at Nile and is determined to beat her nemesis and graduate at the top of her class. When they're assigned to infiltrade Medaluo and find a traitor, everything goes sideways.

The two are operating in different worlds, but soon realize that they're part of a shared conspiracy, and have to figure out who's behind it all.

Letters from an Imaginary Country by Theodora Goss (November 11th)

Theodora Goss is a phenomenal fantasy writer: her novels The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter, European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman, and The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl are great reimaginings of some of our classic literary monsters, and she has published a wealth of shorter stories over the course of her career. Some of those stories are now being brought together into a new collection, Letters from an Imaginary Country, she brings together some of those characters again, brings out some others to fight against a dictator, revisits the land of Oz, and quite a bit more.

The Strength of the Few by James Islington (November 11th)

James Islington follows up his novel The Will of the Many with The Strength of the Few. In that first installment, we're introduced to a prince named Vis Solum, who's orphaned when the Hierarchy kills his family. Forced to go into hiding, he infiltrates an academy and refuses to cede his Will – a magical power that the Hierarchy uses to function.

Vis won the Iudicium and has been replicated across three different worlds – Obiteum, Luceum, and Res, and he has to figure out what happened to him and how to stop a coming Cataclysm before it's too late.

Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review, saying "Islington's evocative prose and nuanced ruminations on the nature of power and sacrifice enhance Islington’s complex multiverse worldbuilding."

Daughters of Nicnevin by Shona Kinsella (November 11th)

Set in 1745, Shona Kinsella introduces us to Mairead and Constance, who meet during the Jacobite uprising. The men of their village have been called away for a war, and to help protect themselves, they enlist the help of a fae queen, Nicnevin, to help them by creating men made of earth.

Opposite World by Elizabeth Anne Martins (November 11th)

When she was young, Pip's mother mysteriously died after falling into a deep, unexplainable sleep. In the aftermath, her father abandoned the outside world and they moved to an isolated cabin in the mountains.

Years later, Pip returns to the real world and finds a technology called The Reverie Cloud, a program that helps merge one's subconscious mind with a virtual world, allowing patients to overcome their trauma, explore their desires, and more. Pip finds herself locked inside the program and has to figure out how to escape, and to confront her own past before it's too late.

There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm (November 11th)

I've really enjoyed qntm's (the pen name for Sam Hughes) short fiction and I've been fascinated by his take on technology and the future. He originally serialized it online starting in 2015, self-published it as a novel in 2021, and Ballantine Books recently picked it up for the republishing treatment.

It follows a mysterious organization known as The Antimemetics Division, which protects humanity from antimemes – ideas that attack reality and which we're unable to think about. There's an invisible invasion underway, and the members of the division have to wage a war that they not only can't see, but can't remember, either.

Constituent Service by John Scalzi (November)

John Scalzi's third book of the year (After When the Moon Hits Your Eye and The Shattering Peace) is Constituent Service, which was originally published as an audiobook through Audible. He's now turned to Subterranean Press for the print edition, which comes as a limited edition hardcover.

The story follows Ashley Perrin, who gets a job in the Third District, an alien-majority neighborhood. Her job is to connect with her diverse community and figure out how to best solve their problems, which range from mundane noise complaints to a missing chicken to some more dire problems. I read it last year, and it's a fun one.

Stars Like Us by Stephen K. Stanford (November 4th)

Stephen K. Stanford follows up last year's Jubilee, picking up the story of Col Perolo, the security chief for the artificial mini-world of JUBILEE. His quiet life is turned upside down after an attack and in order to save his new family, he flees with a crew that includes his ex-wife, Sana. When he arrives at a League base, he finds that it's been infiltrated, and as he flees again, he's forced to confront some of his own personal demons.

The War Beyond by Andrea Stewart (November 4th)

Andrea Stewart returns to the world she created in her novel The Gods Below, set in a world where a war left humanity in ruins. The survivors struck a deal with a god named Kluehnn: he's restore the world, but humanity would be indebted to him, and a woman named Hakara gave up everything to find the sister Rasha, who she abandoned when they fled to a neighboring kingdom.

She found her sister but lost her again, and now, along with her allies, she's on the hunt for a shapeshifter named Lithuas. Killing her would cause Kluehnn plenty of problems. Meanwhile, Rasha is proudly on Kluehnn's side as a Godkiller, even though she has some doubts about his teachings. When she's dispatched to kill her sister and friends, she has to figure out whose side she's really on.

Kirkus Reviews says "the sheer amount of jaw-dropping plot twists and bombshell revelations make this a must-read for fans of grand-scale fantasy."

The American Revolution: An Intimate History by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns (November 11th)

One of the reasons that I’m a historian is Ken Burns’ epic documentary series The Civil War, which delved deep into the conflict to explore its origins, battles, and lingering impact to present a complicated and detailed overview of how the American Civil War played out. Ever since, I’ve looked forward to his longer projects, such as Jazz, National Parks, The Vietnam War, The War, and others. This year, ahead of the 250th US semiquincentennial, he’s releasing another lengthy project: The American Revolution.

I’m eager to watch the series when it premieres on November 16th on PBS, but I’ve been equally excited to check out the companion book that accompanies it. Burns and his frequent collaborator Geoffrey C. Ward produce a hefty coffee table-sized tome that accompanies each of his bigger series, and this one is another enticing overview of the conflict, with tons of paintings, maps, illustrations, and detail about how the American Revolution played out.

Publishers Weekly says that "the bulk of the volume is comprised of Ward’s lucid prose and exquisitely rendered details." and that "Ward doesn’t shy away from the subject’s darker currents, including the great paradox at its center: How could men pursuing liberty be comfortable with slavery?"

Thanks as always for reading. Let me know in the comments what you‘re reading now and what catches your eye on this list. I’ll have another list for the second half of the month in a couple of weeks.