Today on the site I’m delighted to reveal the cover of Exquisite Decay by Xan van Rooyen, a trans YA sci-fi thriller releasing from Tiny Ghost Press on December 1, 2026! Here’s the story:
Rian Gray wasn’t born in the slums of Axis City.
They were left there to rot.
When their estranged grandmother dies, Rian is plucked from the gutter and thrust into the upper echelons of society and the hallowed halls of Curzon Academy. The opportunity of a lifetime to some, for Rian, this will be a tactical infiltration. Their mission: dismantle the corporatocracy that destroyed their family. But to burn it all down, they need access, and their inheritance comes with strings. Rian will have to excel at both the rigorous academics and the complex social politics of the elite school.
Enter Baz Hallward, a reclusive yet brilliant scholarship student, who is instantly enthralled by the new transfer, and who agrees to tutor Rian if they’ll submit to uploading their memories through an AI cyborg as part of Baz’s final science project; a project which will guarantee him success and acceptance from the uppercrust.
As Rian navigates this treacherous yet seductive world, their thirst for vengeance is threatened by the mind-altering allure of the privilege they swore to destroy. And with Baz’s experiments chipping away at Rian’s mind, their humanity is at risk of decay.
In a city where identity is a commodity and wealth is the measure of human worth, can Rian tear down a corrupt system before the world they despise consumes them entirely?
Dark academia meets cyberpunk, in this visceral and immersive, queer retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray from the visionary author of My Name Is Magic and Waypoint Seven.
And here’s the killer cover by Cael Lyons!
Xan van Rooyen is an award-winning autistic and non-binary storyteller from South Africa, currently living in Finland. Xan has a Master’s degree in music, and–when not teaching–enjoys conjuring strange worlds and creating quirky characters. You can find Xan’s stories in the likes of Three-Lobed Burning Eye, Daily Science Fiction, and Galaxy’s Edge among others. They have also written several books including Waypoint Seven (Mirari Press), and My Name is Magic (Tiny Ghost Press). Xan is also part of the Sauútiverse, an African writer’s collective, with stories in the multi award-nominated anthology Mothersound as well as the forthcoming Sauúti Terrors anthology (Flame Tree Press). Xan has also had a number of non-fiction articles published, which you can find in the Locus Award winning Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction (Bloomsbury, Australia) among others. You can find Xan online here: https://linktr.ee/xanvanrooyen
Sierra Branham is the author of the forthcoming science fiction novel LOVE GALAXY, a romantic and political thriller releasing with DAW Books in spring of 2026. Her short fiction can be found in venues like Small Wonders Magazine and Apex Magazine. When not spinning words into stories, she can be found hiking with her goats, juggling knives, or battling existential crises. Find her on Instagram at @authorsierrabranham or sign up for her newsletter on her website at 
Bogi Takács is a Hungarian Jewish agender trans person (e/em/eir/emself or they pronouns) and an immigrant to the US. Bogi lives in Lawrence, Kansas, with eir family and a congregation of books. Bogi writes, edits, and reviews speculative fiction and poetry. E is a winner of the Lambda Literary award for editing Transcendent 2: The Year’s Best Transgender Speculative Fiction, the Hugo award for Best Fan Writer, and a finalist for the Ignyte award, the Locus award, and the Hexa award for advocates of Hungarian SFF. Bogi talks about books at 
Y. M. Resnik (she/her) is a writer living in the tri-state area. While she loves creating new worlds and re-imagining Jewish folklore, her main goal is simply to brighten your day with a story. Her work has appeared in Cast of Wonders, Worlds of Possibility, Diabolical Plots, and khōréō, among other places. When not writing, she can be found collecting tiaras and trying not to kill her houseplants. You can keep up with her work at 
Rae Ryan’s science fiction lets people escape into stories with flawed characters, but without identity-based discrimination. Because we all deserve a break. She’s currently working on a contemporary FFM romance when she’s not walking her silly dog, Piper, on the Colorado Front Range.
What starts as a simple rescue mission for a crew of teen aliens to recover one of their own soon becomes an interstellar encounter no one will forget.
JJ Clapton is a queer, autistic writer of science fiction and fantasy across multiple age ranges. Originally from London, she grew up retreating from life into the stories in her head. When she became sick with a chronic illness as a teen, she relied on the stories to help her escape. After more than half her life spent somewhere between housebound and bedbound, stories have been a constant companion and light even in the hardest of times. JJ loves to write stories in which characters like her exist and have adventures even if she doesn’t get to have many herself. Apart from being an avid reader, she loves craft, watching sports, and stimming to music. She now lives in Lanzarote where she enjoys meowing at all the local cats (of which there are many!). And has a lovely, vicious, cute little cat of her own called Rocky.
Aoibh Wood is the author of the Cait Reagan series of lesbian urban fantasy novels and the #1 bestselling “The Senator’s Widow,” which tops the Amazon Queer Thrillers chart. She lives in the Boston Metro Area with her wife and their orange tabby, who looks suspiciously like Jabba the Hutt.