Hello, my little lucid dreamers! In today’s round-up of recent sci-fi and fantasy links, I have updates to share about the cast of Apple TV’s upcoming season of Murderbot, Mike Chen’s debut young adult novel, a cozy fantasy from Cassandra Khaw, and more.

My science fiction and fantasy reads for this week are The Whitechapel Full Moon Society by Elizabeth DeLozier and Traitors’ Nest by Frances Hardinge. Also, check out the cover reveals for Judgment of Needles by Nghi Vo, the eighth book in the Singing Hills Cycle, and Godrise, Van Jensen’s sequel to Godfall.

Murderbot Season 2 Cast Additions

Apple TV recently released the list of important cast additions to the upcoming second season of Murderbot, and holy cats, it’s amazing! There are so many new actors that it seems almost easier to announce who won’t be on the show’s new season.

The actors joining the first season regulars (Alexander Skarsgård, Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu, Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones, and Tamara Podemski) include Steve Buscemi, Wanda Sykes, Patton Oswalt, Martha Plimpton, Bridget Everett, Michael Sheen, Tramell Tillman, Blair Underwood, and Brendan Hunt. There’s also the fun cast of Sanctuary Moon, the fictional show-within-a-show on Murderbot, which includes Clark Gregg, John Cho, DeWanda Wise, and Jack McBrayer.

There has been no official word on the release date of the second season of Murderbot or on the direction the new season will take. But if you’ve read the series, here’s hoping it will follow the second novella, Artificial Condition so that viewers can meet ART, the sassy Research Transport vessel. If you haven’t read the series, you should fix that right now. Go on, I’ll wait here.

To find out the full line-up scheduled for season two as well as see the new cast video, check out the Deadline announcement.

The Upcoming Debut YA Novel from Mike Chen

Get ready for the YA debut of Mike Chen, whose long list of excellent adult SFF books includes The Photonic Effect and Here and Now and Then, as well as books in the Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, and Critical Role universes. The new book, Of Sorcery and Science, hits shelves at the beginning of September.

It’s a fantasy about a teen named Andy whose life is changed when he accidentally enters a magical portal. While there, he becomes a powerful mage and saves the day. But after returning to his normal life, things don’t seem all that interesting anymore. That is, until a stranger appears where the portal used to be and tells Andy that he actually messed everything up in the other world and now needs to set it right.

Of Sorcery and Science by Mike Chen is out September 8, 2026, from Running Press, and PEOPLE has an excerpt from the novel now. Here’s a peek:

“Julia had so little mana left, what was the worst that could happen? I steeled myself against possibly needing to push my parents out of the way of a fireball.

“You go ahead,” my dad said. “We respect you.”

“You don’t need to join me in prayer,” she said, though my dad bowed his head anyway, shortly followed by my mom. We sat and looked at each other, mutual shrugs each way, and then Julia began mumbling.

I heard bits and pieces through her lowered voice, and caught the distinctive bits of the Heal incantation. Which — considering that the last time she tried it, a Magic Missile got launched into the sky — might not have been the best idea.

She finished the incantation, and a moment after the final words came out, the extra green mana drained from her fingertips. Really, everything about her demeanor changed, like she’d just woken from a nap.

Maybe green mana only backfired on the initial spell, but residual energy processed as planned. That didn’t really make much sense to me, but if it worked, it worked.

“Okay, I’m good. Thanks,” she said, picking up the pizza. “I’m hungry. I haven’t had pizza in a while.”

Julia took one bite, then two, letting out an “mmm” as she chomped down. On the other side of the table, my parents continued to sit with heads bowed. For the next few seconds, the only sound came from Julia eating way too loudly. Yet, what followed was . . .

Well, I’d never seen anything like it.“

And Cassandra Khaw Has Written a Cozy Fantasy!

I could not be more excited to get my hands on the new book from Cassandra Khaw! It has selkies! Khaw is known for their dark fantasy and cosmic horror novels, such as The Salt Grows Heavy and The Library at Hellebore. Now, they’re adding a cozy fantasy to their long list of great novels. Sweet Saints is about a bounty hunter who rescues enchanted creatures and whose life changes when they take in an abandoned baby.

From the publisher description:

“As a bounty hunter for animal wives, Sister Hound makes her living rescuing selkies, fox-brides, and other enchanted creatures who have been kidnapped by human men and kept, often against their wills, as wives. Hired by their kin, she hunts down the men who keep them and brings the stolen sisters home.

One morning, someone leaves a baby on her doorstep. Reluctantly, Sister Hound takes the child in and begins raising it as her own—until she meets a former selkie, now a human woman, who offers to take the baby off her hands. When another selkie shows up, unannounced, and demands the baby return to the sea, Sister Hound must make an impossible decision: to whom does this singular/peculiar, occasionally skinless baby belong to?”

Sweet Saints by Cassandra Khaw is out March 30, 2027, from Union Square & Co., and its beautiful cover was recently revealed on Reactor.

Okay, star bits, now take the knowledge you have learned here today and use it for good, not evil. If you want to know more about books, I talk about books pretty much nonstop (when I’m not reading them), and you can hear me say lots of adjectives about them on the BR podcast All the Books! and on Instagram.

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