Debut Releases - October 2025
All the SFF debut novels from big 5 and selected indie publishers.
Debuts
Herculine
by Grace Byron - Oct 7, 2025
Manhunt meets Lord of the Flies in this blistering horror debut following a young trans woman after she arrives at the all-trans girl commune founded by her toxic ex-girlfriend, only to discover that demons, both literal and figurative, haunt her fellow comrades—and she’s their next prey!
Herculine’s narrator has demons. Sure, her life includes several hallmarks of the typical trans girl sob story—conversion therapy, a string of shitty low-paying jobs, and even shittier exes—but she also regularly debates sleep paralysis demons that turn to mist soon after she wakes and carries vials of holy oil in her purse. Nothing, though, prepares her for the new malevolent force stalking her through the streets of New York City, more powerful than any she’s ever encountered. Desperate to escape this ancient evil, she flees to rural Indiana, where her ex-girlfriend started an all-trans girl commune in the middle of the woods.
The secluded camp, named after 19th-century intersex memoirist Herculine Barbin, is a scrappy operation, but the shared sense of community among the girls is a welcome balm to the narrator’s growing isolation and paranoia. Still, something isn’t quite right at Herculine. Girls stop talking as soon as she enters the room, everyone seems to share a common secret, and the books lining the walls of the library harbor strange cryptograms. Soon what once looked like an escape becomes a trap all its own.
While trying to untangle the commune’s many mysteries, the narrator contends with disemboweled pigs, cultlike psychosexual rituals, and the horrors of communal breakfast. And before long, she discovers that her demons have followed her. And this time, they won’t be letting her go.
Medievally Blonde
by Cait Jacobs - Oct 14, 2025
A princess desperate to win back the prince who broke her heart follows him to his kingdom’s prestigious military academy—and in doing so, falls in love, saves the realm, and continues to look fabulous in this delightful debut fantasy.
Domhnall and Clía are an ideal match—or so everyone says. They are prince and princess of neighboring kingdoms. An alliance the gods will smile on. Until Domhnall ruins everything by refusing to propose.
Heartbroken but determined, Clía makes the perfect Follow Domhnall to Caisleán Cósta, the military academy he’s attending. Show she can protect her kingdom. Secure the betrothal. Sure, the castle has a brutal reputation. But how hard can dueling really be?
Warrior Ronan promised himself he’d never lose his focus. He fought and sacrificed for his place at Caisleán Cósta, and he has no time for blonde princesses who waltz into arenas like they’re attending a ball. Even if she and her otter-like pet are…well, cute.
He doesn’t want to be intrigued by Clía. But her hunger to prove herself is something he understands. He tells himself there’s no harm training her. Even if his heart does race around her. Even if Domhnall is his best friend.
But as they say, love is a battlefield—and unfortunately for them all, a very real war is looming on the horizon. It’s a fight that will threaten all their kingdoms…and test all their hearts.