All-new Anne Leckie, The First Bright Thing and The Water Outlaws – these are the most exciting new sci-fi books in June 2023
Alien translators, time-bending historians and ninja-assassin outlaws. From mysterious space operas to nail-biting invasions and hilarious first contacts, these are some of the most anticipated new releases among the sci-fi books of June 2023.
Complete with titles, release dates, authors, synopsis and links to pre-order and buy your favourite new science fiction book releases right now…
11 Awesome New Sci-Fi Books June 2023
Translation State
Ann Leckie, 6 June 2023
A brand-new addition to Anne Leckie’s phenomenal Imperial Radch (Ancillary Justice) universe! Translation State finally gives us a Presger translator perspective; trained for alien-human relations. And sets them on a collision course with a fated diplomat, a mechanic who’s more than they seem, and in fact all the known species and worlds as the next great Conclave approaches. In Anne Leckie’s new Translation State.

Genres Science Fiction, LGBTQ, Fantasy, Adult, Space Opera, Mystery
Author Ann Leckie Home born Ohio; lives Portland, Oregon, US
Publisher Orbit Buy it E Book | Hard Cover
On Earth as It Is on Television
Emily Jane, 13 Jun 2023
Emily Jane’s debut novel, On Earth as It Is on Television, kicks us off with alien spaceships arriving at the planet. And then quickly disappearing again, leaving so many questions. Answering these will be 3 characters – a father en route to Disney World, a Malibu upstart and a disco fugitive following a cat to the west. It’s first contact like never before in Emily Jane’s On Earth as It Is on Television.

Genres Science Fiction, Adult, Fantasy, Humor, Aliens, Mystery
Author Emily Jane Home Cincinnati, Ohio, US
Publisher Hyperion Avenue/Disney Buy it E Book | Print | Audio
Shattered Will
JN Chaney & Terry Maggert, 18 June 2023
The aliens are making it personal this time. In the 14th instalment of co-authors JN Chaney & Terry Maggert’s Backyard Starship series, Shattered Will sees secret starship owner Van troubled by the aliens trying to turn humankind into a star-faring species. Not because he wanted to stay the only human who knew just how busy the galaxy truly is, but because he’s unlocking memories of past lives. Violent, furious and war-filled memories. All in Chaney and Maggert’s Shattered Will.

Genres Science Fiction, Military, Space Opera
Authors JN Chaney & Terry Maggert Home Pacific Northwest & Iowa, US
Publisher Variant Publications Buy it E Book
Capture The Sun
Jessie Mihalik, 20 June 2023
For romance fans, the final instalment in Jessie Mihalik’s Starlight’s Shadow trilogy, Capture the Sun sees intergalactic thief Lexi Bowen prepare to fulfil a new contract when her former crew goes missing nearby. Not good, because this could lead to an all-out war. And the only way to stop it is to throw in her lot with the teleporter who infuriatingly cost her a payday once, not to mention stealing her heart… in Jessie Mihalik’s Capture the Sun.

Genres Science Fiction, Romance, Adult, Fantasy, Space Opera, Adventure
Author Jessie Mihalik Home Texas, US
Publisher Harper Voyager | Buy it
The Water Outlaws
SL Huang, 20 June 2023
A retelling of one of the 4 great Chinese martial arts stories, Water Margin (translated). SL Huang’s stand-alone novel The Water Outlaws features disgraced royal weapons instructor Lin Chong who is recruited by a band of outlaws. A collection of thugs, thieves and smugglers who might just have what it takes to bring down a corrupt empire in SL Huang’s The Water Outlaws.

Genres Science Fiction Fantasy, Historical, LGBTQ, Adult, Retellings
Author SL Huang Home born Taiwan; lives San Francisco, US
Publisher Tor Buy it e Book | Print | Audio
The House of Saints
Derek Künsken, 20 June 2023
Book 2 in Derek Künsken’s Venus Ascendant series. The House of Saints sees George-Étienne and his children forming The House of Styx to protect the mysterious artefact they’d found on Venus. Protect it from every power-hungry bank, government and organisation on old Earth, as much as from the murderous planet itself in Derek Künsken’s The House of Saints.

Genres Science Fiction, Space Opera
Author Derek Künsken Home Québec, Canada
Publisher Solaris Buy it Buy it
The First Bright Thing
JR Dawson, 22 Jun 2023
A standalone sci-fi fantasy novel by JR Dawson. The First Bright Thing takes us to an alternate post-World War 1 American Midwest, where a circus troupe of magical misfits offer respite and entertainment at their Big Top. But Ringmaster Rin, who can travel in time, knows that another war is coming. But it takes shape as a rival circus that will stop at anything to take everything Rin and her troupe have, in JR Dawson’s The First Bright Thing.

Genres Science Fiction Fantasy, Historical, LGBTQ, Adult, Magic
Author JR Dawson Home Omaha, Nebraska, US
Publisher Tor Books Buy it e Book | Print | Audio
The Good, The Bad and The History
Jodi Taylor, 22 June 2023
Book 14 in Jodi Taylor’s acclaimed and hilarious The Chronicles of St. Mary’s series. The Good, The Bad and The History sees Max on the run and under investigation for murder. But that’s the least of her worries. Hiding in twentieth-century China might not have been the best idea, as a full-scale uprising flares all around. Not to mention the deadly future organisation she’s infiltrated who is now after her, too. In Jodi Taylor’s The Good, The Bad and The History.

Genres Science Fiction, Time Travel, Fantasy, Humor, Historical
Author Jodi Taylor Home Gloucestershire, UK
Publisher Headline Buy it e Book | Print | Audio
Ghosts of Trappist
KB Wagers, 27 June 2023
The third and final instalment in KB Wagers’s NeoG series. Ghosts of Trappist sees the Near-Earth Orbital Guard prepare for manoeuvres as news of disappearing ships are reported around an exo-planet. Assuming it’s pirates, NeoGs investigate only to find there’s something much darker lurking in the deepest reaches of space. Something that’ll shake the very foundations of the universe itself in KB Wagers’s Ghosts of Trappist.

Genres Science Fiction, Military, LGTBQ
Author KB Wagers Home Colorado, US
Publisher Harper Voyager Buy it E Book | Print | Audio
The Archive Undying
Emma Mieko Candon, 27 June 2023
The first book in Emma Mieko Candon’s new The Downworld Sequence. The Archive Undying introduces us to Sunai, the once-favourite child of the AI who destroyed the city of Khuon Mo. Immortal and aimless without hope and a home, Sunai finds solace in drink and the beds of strangers. But a chance encounter with the one person he should have avoided thrusts Sunai right back into the world of Ai gods and machines, in Emma Mieko Candon’s The Archive Undying.

Genres Science Fiction, LGBTQ, Adult, Fantasy
Author Emma Mieko Candon Home Hawaii, US
Publisher Tor Buy it E Book | Print | Audio
TBC Sci-Fi Books in June 2023
The Empty Heavens
John Birmingham, 8 June 2023 (TBC)
There’s scant info about Book 3 in John Birmingham’s The Cruel Stars series. Though The Empty Heavens is supposedly slated for an 8 June 2023 release, we can’t find any confirmation it’ll actually be available. We do know that Birmingham takes us back to a galaxy threatened by the Sturm, where five mismatched heroes who’d managed to beat humanity’s old enemy back now need to consider the possibility that there might be worse things out in the darkest reaches of space, in John Birmingham’s The Empty Heavens.

Genres Science Fiction, Space Opera
Author John Birmingham Home born Liverpool, UK; lives Brisbane, Australia
Publisher Del Rey | No purchase links yet
Note: I try my best to get every bit of info I can, and will keep updating this page all the time. If you know of a book, author, show, channel or event that should be on this list, let me know at elvorne@scifixfantasy.com and I’ll make it happen.
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