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There are so many excellent queer SFF books coming out every week, but the sheer number of fantasy books can make it hard to find the new queer science fiction releases. That’s why I have put together a round-up of the most exciting new queer science fiction books of 2024. This is in no way a complete list! I had trouble narrowing it down to just these ten, but these are some of the biggest and most exciting new queer sci-fi books out this year.
We’ve got all kinds of subgenres represented, from sci-fi romance and sci-fantasy to cozy sci-fi and horror sci-fi. There are nonbinary main characters, sapphic romances, trans heroines, and a toxic queer polycule. I’ve split this list into full-length new queer science fiction novels and bite-sized new queer science fiction novellas — there are so many excellent sci-fi novellas out this year, and they’re perfect for squeezing onto your TBR before 2024 ends.
I’ve collected recommendations from a bunch of Book Rioters. If you’re looking for even more, check out 15 of the Best LGBTQ Science Fiction Books, 10 Sapphic Sci-Fi Books You’ll Fall in Love With, and 15 of the Best Queer SFF Romance Books. Now, let’s get into the books!
New Queer Science Fiction Novels
The Mars House by Natasha Pulley
Hard sci-fi space marriage of convenience? YES, PLEASE. On a terraformed colony on Mars, a ballet dancer-turned-refugee named January crosses paths with a horrible Mars politician, Aubrey Gale. Gale is from Mars and is campaigning with a xenophobic platform. But when Gale’s political aspirations blow up in their face, they propose a deal with January. To appease the public and fix Gale’s image, they will wed. But as their relationship grows, January discovers Gale is different than their public persona. And he begins to worry someone is trying to kill Gale and destroy the colony. —Liberty Hardy
The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton
This sapphic romance in space takes place during an accidental spaceship heist. When a group of twentysomethings went to investigate what happened to a long-vanished crew, they found themselves stuck on a journey manned by the hologram of the missing captain, Billie. Cleo is eager to travel space, but when the laws of physics go wrong and her relationship with Billie shifts, her previous confidence melts away. They will all have to finish the journey they didn’t mean to start if they want any answers. —R. Nassor
The Principle of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson
In 6066, humans are indentured workers paying off debt from settling on a planet owned by an existing emperor. Asha studies aeronautics as a small secret rebellion until a message changes her life. In 1812, Obi has put away his time-traveling past. After all, he catches a temporal sickness that worsens every time he travels, he has a one-sided love with a prince, and his father has disappeared. Then he meets Asha, a girl who shouldn’t exist from another time. Now they must work together if they want to save the world. Their growing attraction is the least of their worries in this regency-esque romance set in an adventure-packed space fantasy. —R. Nassor
Key Lime Sky by Al Hess
Ryka Aoki’s Light from Uncommon Stars gave us aliens and donuts; this cozy, queer new novel is serving up aliens and pie! When pie aficionado Denver Bryant sees a UFO explode in the skies of his small town, Muddy Gap, he can’t believe it. But what’s even weirder is that no one else in town knows what he’s talking about. It becomes increasingly obvious to Denver that the whole town might be having close encounters of the third kind. As he starts documenting the town’s weirdness, he’ll have to figure out how to save his own life when the town won’t let him leave. Fortunately, he has the company of a handsome bartender. —Liberty Hardy
Interstellar MegaChef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan (November 5th)
In this upcoming sapphic sci-fi story, Saras Kaveri is the first person from Earth to ever compete in the galaxy’s most prestigious cooking competition: Interstellar Megachef. Serenity Ko is an inventor in need of a comeback. She’s cooked up an idea for a new sim for food, but there’s a problem: Serenity doesn’t know the first thing about cooking. A chance meet-up brings Saras and Serenity together to create a project that could change the future of food forever — but not before it changes both of them. —Rachel Brittain
New Queer Science Fiction Novellas
Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard
From the author of The Tea Master and the Detective, Fireheart Tiger, and many more comes a new sapphic SFF story. In this space opera, navigator clans guide their ships through the area of space known as the Hollows, where deadly Tanglers live. When a Tangler escapes the Hollows for the first time, each clan sends a representative to hunt it down. Việt Nhi of the Rooster clan and Hạc Cúc of the Snake clan are forced to work together on this mission, and their prickly personalities clash — until they don’t. —Danika Ellis
Time’s Agent by Brenda Peynado
In this eco-fiction, anti-capitalist novella, pocket worlds were supposed to be the answer to humanity’s problems — but now, they’re tightly controlled by corporations. Raquel and her wife Marlena’s hopes for this discovery have been destroyed, and so has their relationship. Marlena now lives in a pocket world that Raquel wears around her neck. They don’t speak anymore. But Raquel is not done fighting for a different future. —Danika Ellis
Unexploded Remnants by Elaine Gallagher
After a devastating war, trans woman Alice is the last human alive. That war threatens to reignite when Alice finds an AI personality in an ancient data core that controls a dormant weapons system, and convincing it that the war is over isn’t going well. Alice travels across the known universe in search of answers and aid, knowing that if the AI falls into the wrong hands, this could destroy the tenuous peace that was so hard-earned. This is a trans, sci-fi reinvention of Alice in Wonderland! —Danika Ellis
Countess by Suzan Palumbo
In this queer, Caribbean, anti-colonial retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo, Virika has worked hard to make her place in the colonized space that labors under the Ærobot Empire, rising through the ranks of the merchant marine to become a lieutenant. All of her hard work is summarily destroyed when her captain dies under suspicious circumstances and she’s accused of treason against the empire. Her imprisonment gives her time to think and plan, and when she finally steps outside her prison walls, she sets in motion her vengeance against the empire that betrayed her. —Alex Acks
The World is Not Yours by Kemi Ashing-Giwa
I’m a simple reader: I hear “toxic queer polycule horror novella in space,” and that book immediately goes on my TBR. Amera escaped her abusive (and murderous) family, and now she’s joining the New Belaforme colonization project alongside her fiancée Vinh and childhood friend Jesse. But this new world comes with complications: it produces a “self-cleaning” mechanism called the Gray. The scientists assure them it only attacks invasive organisms, but when a rival colony arrives, the three find themselves battling them, the Gray — and each other, as jealousy overtakes them. —Danika Ellis
Can’t get enough new queer books? Here are 30 new LGBTQ books out this week as a bonus for paid subscribers, including lesbian literary fiction, M/M romantasy, bisexual romance, F/F YA fantasy, a trans man memoir, queer nonfiction, and more.
30 New Queer Books Out This Week
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