Speculative fiction readers have a wide-ranging slate of releases and announcements to explore, with new and returning works spanning young adult fiction, dystopian science fiction, fairy-tale fantasy, and emerging voices in the genre.
From A-M Mawhiney’s Fugitive Rifts earning Gold in the 2026 Nautilus Awards, to Tricia Copeland’s action-packed YA dystopian series Lovelock, Alison McBain’s award-winning fantasy novel The Rose Queen, and the UK release of L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 42, these announcements highlight the breadth of storytelling currently shaping speculative fiction.
A-M Mawhiney’s Fugitive Rifts Wins Gold in the 2026 Nautilus Awards
A-M Mawhiney’s third novel, Fugitive Rifts, has been named the Gold Winner in the Young Adult Fiction category at the 2026 Nautilus Awards.
The novel follows four teenagers whose lives are changed after they are unexpectedly brought together by a teacher and asked to form a debate team. Grace, Drew, Ollie, and Dottie initially seem to have little in common. One is a popular basketball player, another a privileged hotshot, another an artistic new student, and another a shy but brilliant loner. Yet as they are pushed into unfamiliar territory, the group begins to discover unexpected similarities and learn to support one another through difficult circumstances.
What begins as a school activity soon becomes something much larger. A public debate has consequences none of the teens could have anticipated, and the disappearance of one of them sends shockwaves through their lives, their communities, their country, and eventually the wider world.
The release describes Fugitive Rifts as a story of coming of age, resilience, friendship, and the hidden emotional burdens young people carry. Critics have praised Mawhiney’s character-driven storytelling, her treatment of youthful dreams and trauma, and the novel’s focus on friendship across differences.
Mawhiney began writing again during the first lockdown in 2020 after careers in social work, academia, and university administration. Her first novel, Spindrifts, was a finalist for the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writers’ Prize and shortlisted for the Whistler Independent Book Awards in 2022. Its sequel, Spelldrifts, followed in 2023, with Fugitive Rifts published in July 2025.
Links
- Amazon.ca: Fugitive Rifts
Tricia Copeland Launches Readers Into Dystopian Survival With Lovelock Ones
Tricia Copeland takes her fiction in a dystopian science fiction direction with Lovelock Ones, the first book in the YA Lovelock series from True Bird Publishing.
The novel introduces fifteen-year-old Jema Walker, a naturally immune girl desperate to protect her sibling during another global flu pandemic. Sent to a remote desert location for safety, Jema is horrified when her sister contracts the deadly virus. Her search for help draws her into an alliance with a specially bred eighteen-year-old boy, and together they begin looking for a cure that could cost them everything.
As Jema and her new ally go rogue, they discover that the adults in power may be less interested in saving lives than in exploiting their uniquely protected DNA. The result is a high-stakes survival story built around pandemic fear, genetic experimentation, government control, and a teenage heroine forced into impossible choices.
The series continues with Torch, in which Jema is branded a traitor after trying to share a DNA-based cure for a lethal contagion. Hunted by forces loyal to her sinister uncle, she and her friends must cross dangerous desert terrain while fighting to keep the cure from becoming the trigger for global conflict.
Copeland is the award-winning author of Kingdom of Embers, To Be a Fae Queen, Lovelock Ones, Azreya, Aztec Priestess, and dozens of other titles. She also hosts the Finding the Magic Book Podcast and writes contemporary romance under the name Maria Jane.
Links
- Official Website: https://triciacopeland.com/
Alison McBain Revisits Her Award-Winning Fantasy Novel The Rose Queen
Fresh from the attention surrounding her Author Versus AI initiative, Alison McBain is revisiting her debut fantasy novel, The Rose Queen, Book One of the Rose Trilogy.
Published by Fairfield Scribes and available worldwide in paperback and e-book formats, The Rose Queen offers a twist on the classic Beauty and the Beast mythology.
The novel begins with Princess Mirabella, who is betrothed to a repulsive older man a year after her mother’s death. When she refuses the marriage, she discovers that her intended husband is a sorcerer. In revenge, he transforms her into a savage beast and gives her an ultimatum: solve the mystery of her curse within three years or die.
Exiled to her mother’s estate to hide the scandal, Mirabella begins uncovering family secrets. Her grandfather was murdered before she was born, her mother’s death may not have been natural, and the figure connecting these tragedies appears to be her father, the king.
As Mirabella investigates, she faces a choice between saving her family and saving herself, with consequences that could reshape the kingdom and magic itself.
The Rose Queen was a fantasy finalist for the 2019 IAN Book of the Year and the 2019 Literary Classics Book Award. It was also named one of the best books of 2018 by Bookshine and Readbows.
McBain’s recent Author Versus AI project saw her write a book a week for 34 weeks without using AI. The project was designed to make a case for human creativity, instinct, emotion, and passion at a time when artificial intelligence tools are increasingly being used to augment or replace creative work.
McBain’s novels have received more than 13 awards, including recognition from the Foreword INDIES. Her novella Dual took third place in the 3-Day Novel Contest. She is also a ghostwriter, editor, and associate editor for ScribesMICRO magazine.
Links
- The Rose Queen: https://bit.ly/4fPgit1
Writers of the Future Volume 42 Releases in the UK With Liverpool Winner Shaun Stevenson
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 42 released in the UK on May 26 and features Liverpool writer Shaun Stevenson, who publishes under the pen name S.J. Stevenson.
Stevenson’s winning story, The Triceratops Effect, follows a frazzled time agent tasked with faking the asteroid strike that destroyed the dinosaurs. The mission becomes more complicated when he risks paradox and punishment in an effort to save the last Triceratops.
The release also highlights the United Kingdom’s ongoing presence in the Writers and Illustrators of the Future contests. Over more than four decades, the UK has produced 29 winners, including science fiction author Stephen Baxter, Code Name Verity author Elizabeth Wein, J.L. George, Dan Watson, Rose and Alice Robilliard, Andrew Jackson, Joel C. Scoberg, and Stevenson.
Selected from thousands of entrants representing 180 countries, Volume 42 features winners from Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Slovakia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The anthology is available as an eBook, paperback, and digital audiobook through Amazon.co.uk, with paperback ordering available in stores throughout the UK.
The new volume has drawn praise from reviewers. Laurence O’Bryan of The International Review of Books described Volume 42 as a showcase of daring, imaginative, and emotionally resonant speculative fiction, while Library Journal praised the anthology as a representative and thought-provoking sampling of new genre voices.
The Writers of the Future Contest has been running for 42 years and has produced 583 winners and published finalists. Past winners of the writing contest have gone on to publish more than 8,000 novels and short stories. The companion Illustrators of the Future Contest has produced 430 past winners over 37 years.
Links
- Official Website: https://writersofthefuture.com/
Four Different Entry Points Into Speculative Fiction
Taken together, these announcements demonstrate the remarkable range of contemporary speculative fiction.
Mawhiney’s Fugitive Rifts uses young adult fiction to explore friendship, resilience, secrets, and the long-term consequences of a single turning point.
Copeland’s Lovelock Ones brings readers into a dystopian world of pandemic survival, genetic immunity, and authoritarian control.
McBain’s The Rose Queen reimagines fairy-tale fantasy through a darker lens, asking what happens when Beauty becomes the Beast.
And Writers of the Future Volume 42 continues to spotlight emerging international genre talent, with the UK’s Shaun Stevenson joining a long line of writers and illustrators recognised by the contest.
For readers looking for new speculative fiction, these four announcements offer very different paths into stories about survival, transformation, power, and the future of the genre.
