17 more sci-fi, fantasy, and horror books to close out September with

We just ticked over into fall, and with it comes the vibrant foliage here in Vermont. I always like this time of year, watching the leaves turn into shades of red, yellow, and orange, even if it means my days of heading out into the backyard with a couple of books are coming to a close.

September is just about over, but the flood of books sure isn't. This month has been packed, and these last couple of weeks bring an even bigger stack. (In case you missed it, here’s the first and second lists for the month.)

Okay, here are 17 more books to check out to close out the month:

The Captive by Kit Burgoyne (September 30th)

Luke and the revolutionary group he's part of have been planning for ages to kidnap a woman named Adeline Woolsaw, in the hopes of exposing the misdeeds of her parent's company, the Woolsaw Group. The company is extremely large but anonymous, running military bases and hospitals, prisons, and quite a bit more.

As they're kidnapping her, she goes into labor and as it turns out, she's trying to get her and her new baby away from her parents. What's more, said baby seems to have some particular powers: he's able to whip up inclement weather and pests, and it seems that he's been engineered in a pact with a dark, ancient evil with some grim ulterior motives.

Fate’s Bane by C.L. Clark (September 30th)

In this novella from C.L. Clark, a group of fen clans have been at peace, thanks to Agnir, a hostage that keeps everyone in check. She's been living with her captors for years, and she's grown up alongside their children. When she falls for the chieftain's daughter, they accidentally awaken a magic that could bring the clans together, or tear them apart.

Publishers Weekly says "Clark’s skill for Viking saga-craft and her clear affection for her sapphic warrior heroines combine into an unforgettable doomed love story."

The Sovereign by C.L. Clark (September 30th)

Fate’s Bane isn’t the only book by C.L. Clark hitting stores on September 30th: there’s also the latest book in their Magic of the Lost series, The Sovereign. (It’s preceded by The Unbroken and The Faithless.)

Luca is now the queen of Balladaire after dealing with a traitorous uncle in the royal court, all while a plague has been sweeping across the nation, threatening her newfound rule. Meanthile, Touraine has become Luca's general and has begun to work on keeping their fragile rule intact, maintaining a delicate balance with Qazal while their neighbors seek out any weakness they can exploit.

This Inevitable Ruin by Matt Dinniman (September 23rd)

Matt Dinniman continues his Dungeon Crawler Carl series Dungeon Crawler Carl, Carl's Doomsday Scenario, The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook, The Gate of the Feral Gods, The Butcher's Masquerade, and The Eye of the Bedlam Bride), in which Earth has been destroyed by aliens in a twisted game, with Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat (and a whole bunch of friends made along the way) have been working their way through various levels.

They've hit the ninth floor: Faction Wars, where nine armies from across the galaxy assemble and fight against one another, holding a castle in the center of the battlefield. The crawlers have their own army of newly-awakened NPCs, and they're now put to the test – one that could split them apart for good.

Spread Me by Sarah Gailey (September 23rd)

Kinsey is the team lead for a scientific organization at a remote research facility in the middle of a desert. When she and her team discovers a strange organism in the sand, she breaks their quarantine and brings it in. However, it begins to have a weird effect on her team, disrupting their carefully-scheduled lives and tempting them in unexpected ways. What they soon begin to realize is that the creature is looking for a new host, and that one of their numbers might make a good one.

Publishers Weekly says that "the creeping terror of things not being what they seem and people not being who they say they are keeps the suspense simmering. It’s a fun, modern take on first encounter horror."

Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei (September 30th)

It's set in the near future when sea levels have risen and consumed the world's coastal cities. A sailor named Skipper earns a living by recovering plastic from the ocean, while caring for her ill grandmother. Years ago, her her older sister Nora left home to try and find a solution to save the world's failing crops, and when Skipper receives a strange call for help, she and her other sister Carmen have to put aside their differences to find her.

As they set out, they learn more about the work that Nora was undertaking, and more about the motives of the companies underwriting that work.

Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review, saying "Kitasei pays as much attention to her protagonist’s nuanced inner life as to the page-turning apocalyptic plotline, creating a tale that feels both intimate and expansive."

The Hunger We Pass Down by Jen Sookfong Lee (September 30th)

A woman named Alice Chow is struggling with the demands of life: her online cloth diaper store is booming, but her children, Luna and Luca are making it difficult to get everything done before the end of the day. One day, she wakes up to find that everything has been finished: the house is clean, her orders are packed and ready to go, and she doesn't know how it happened. Someone did it for her.

It should be a source of concern, but she takes the time to reconnect with her kids and her mother, and it isn't long before the things unseen will become impossible to ignore.

The Wax Child by Olga Ravn and translated by Martin Aitken (September 23rd)

Set in 17th century Denmark, Christenze Kruckow is an unmarried noblewoman who's accused of witchcraft by the head of her household, Anne Bille. She and others are believed to have been possessed by the devil who's given them strange powers. Christenze flees, taking a wax doll (who serves as the book's narrator), with her to a neighboring town to start over, where she meets other women with similar issues, only to be accused again and is thrown in prison.

Kirkus Reviews awarded it a starred review, calling it "A magnificent book. A true masterpiece of both substance and style."

The Revelation Space Collection Volume 1 and Volume 2 by Alastair Reynolds (September 23rd)

Alastair Reynolds's breakout hit was his 2000's debut space opera, Revelation Space. He followed it up with some additional novels: Chasm City, Redemption Ark, Absolution Gap, Aurora Rising, Elysium Fire, and Machine Vendetta.

He's also written a bunch of shorter stories set in the same universe, which he's now collected into two volumes, including such acclaimed titles as "Great Wall of Mars," "Diamond Dogs," "Turquoise Days," and more.

The Heist of Hollow London by Eddie Robson (September 30th)

Two clones, Arlo and Drienne, face a grim future. Their entire existence is to serve as spare parts for high-level corporate executives, and they're often put to work to pay off the debt that they incur for their very existence. That's before they're chopped up for their organs in case the people they're cloned from need them.

When the company that owns them goes under, they're given a unique opportunity: they'll be given their lives, their debt erased, and enough cash to last for the rest of their lives. But first, they're going to need to pull off a heist: infiltrate a secure facility in dead London, where they'll need to steal a data drive.

Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review, saying "explorations of identity, commodification, and exploitation run throughout the narrative, which toggles between the crew’s multiple perspectives as they scheme their way toward victory."

Slashed Beauties by A. Rushby (September 23rd)

In present-day Seoul, an antique dealer named Alys has been working to collect a trio of wax figures, part of an anatomical Venus that were made in the 18th century to teach medical students about anatomy. Stories arose that the figures at one point were cursed and came to life and murdered the men who operated on them, and the Alys has to figure out how to figure out the nature of the curse to sever it.

In the 1763 London, two women, Eleanor and Emily have been taken in by Elizabeth, one of the city's courtesans. But the more she learns about her, Eleanor realizes that Elizabeth might not be as generous a savior as they thought.

Kirkus Reviews calls it a "ferociously feminist body horror with a sentimental heart."

Crossroads of Ravens by Andrzej Sapkowski (September 30th)

Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher series (The Last Wish, Sword of Destiny, Blood of Elves, The Time of Contempt, Baptism of Fire, The Tower of Swallows, Lady of the Lake, and Season of Storms) has become incredibly popular in recent years, thanks to word of mouth, a massively-popular video game, and a recent streaming series on Netflix.

We've now got a new adventure for its hero, monster hunter Geralt of Rivia, in which Sapkowski goes back to the beginning when Geralt was a graduate of Kaer Morhen and first stepping into the world. He makes a mistake: an act of heroism that goes sideways and which he's almost hanged. He's saved by a witcher named Preston Holt, who takes Geralt under his wing and how to protect the world and survive, even if it incurs a terrible cost.

Mark Yon of SFF World says that it's a great place to start if you haven't read the series, and that “What I was most surprised by was that in these days of stories where fights can take place over pages, Sapkowski is surprisingly unembellished. Killings may take place with one or two well-crafted sentences. I found it rather refreshing to read such an unambiguous novel."

Alchemised by SenLinYu (September 23rd)

This is probably one of the most hyped books of the year: it's gotten some major coverage already, which have dissected its origins as a Harry Potter fan fiction that SenLinYu rewrote as its own, standalone story.

Helena Marino was once an alchemist who was a member of a resistance movement, and who was captured after her companions were killed. She's been imprisoned by Paladia's ruling class of necromancers, who used their abilities to take control of the country. Helena has lost her memory and her captors think that she was just a low-level healer, but they're beginning to think that she might have some knowledge of the resistance movement's activities locked away in her memories. She's sent off to the High Reeve, one of Paladia's most powerful necromancers, and he goes to work on her.

Kirkus Reviews says "although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read."

Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature by Becky Siegel Spratford (September 23rd)

Becky Siegel Spratford brings together a whole bunch of notable horror authors to explore the appeal of the terrifying, including Tananarive Due, Grady Hendrix, Stephen Graham Jones, Victor LaValle, Paul Tremblay and others. This looks like it'll be an excellent peek into how the genre works and why we keep going back to it.

The October Film Haunt by Michael Wehunt (September 30th)

A decade ago, Jorie Stroud was one of three horror fans who made up the October Film Haunt: they'd go out to the filming locations of their favorite films and blog about it. But one fateful night, when they visited the graveyard from a film called Proof of Demons, everything fell apart.

A decade later and Jorie has moved to Vermont with her son, trying to put the night, their viral post, and her love of horror behind them. When a VHS tape arrives in the mail, she thinks that it might be from a fan obsessed with Proof of Demon's director, but it seems as though the director himself has taken an interest in their story, one that puts Jorie in the crosshairs.

A Philosophy of Thieves by Fran Wilde (September 30th)

I like Fran's writing a lot. This kicks off a new series from her, and it follows a group of thieves known as the Canarviers, who use acrobatics, misdirection, stunts to wow their patrons. The children within the group have since grown up, and they've butted heads and aren't sure where they fit into life. When King Canarvier vanishes, the children have to come back together before their father is disappeared forever, pushing aside their differences to take on a grand heist with high stakes that could ruin them if they fail.

Kirkus Reviews says "ultimately about family and what we can risk for one other, this story pushes its characters to reckon with legacy, built and given, and how to choose between the comfort of what they know or striving to be better. The novel’s simple prose gives way to such complex and richly imagined worldbuilding that you’ll forget you’re reading about fabricated nutrition and clothing that listens."