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Barnes and Noble Reveals Highly Awaited Fall Book Releases
Summer reads are still sitting on a lot of nightstands right now but the publishing world is already looking ahead. Barnes and Noble just released its list of the most anticipated books coming this fall, and honestly, the lineup is a lot. From a long awaited Stephen King collaboration to the next chapter in the Divergent universe, there is something on this list for pretty much every kind of reader.
Here is the full lineup organized by release date, starting in late August when most of us are settling back into our routines.
Stephen King’s New Book This Fall: Other Worlds Than These
Alongside Barnes & Noble’s most anticipated fall picks, one of the season’s biggest releases is Stephen King’s Other Worlds Than These, the third and final book in the Talisman trilogy. Scribner is publishing it on October 6, 2026, in hardcover, audiobook, and e-book formats, and it runs 624 pages.
The novel brings back Jack Sawyer, whom readers first met as a twelve-year-old crossing America and “the Territories” to save his mother’s life, and met again in Black House. It also wraps up the fate of the worlds in King’s Dark Tower saga, while still working as a stand-alone novel for new readers.
King co-wrote the series with the late Peter Straub. Straub sent King a letter with ideas for the final book before he died, and King built the story from there. Straub receives co-author credit on the finished book.
Also for King fans this fall: The Art & Craft of Stephen King: The Story Behind Every Novel, Novella, and Short Story, a deep dive into how King’s work was created and adapted, was published on September 15.
Fantasy and Romance Releases Worth Clearing Your Calendar For
A Deluxe Manga Collection Kicks Things Off
Kamome Shirahama’s Witch Hat Atelier returns in a deluxe three volume collection packed with bonus content, following Coco as she discovers her place in a world of magic and dragons. This one arrives August 25.
Romantasy Fans Have Plenty Coming Their Way
Rachel Gillig continues her romantasy series with The Knave and the Moon, bringing visions, prophecies, and a slow burn romance as Sybil confronts both fate and faith. This releases September 1 alongside Laurie Gilmore’s Big Bad Wolf, the first book in her new Maple Hollow series about secrets hiding in a small town forest.
And of course, the one fantasy fans have been waiting years for. Sarah J Maas closes out October with the sixth book in her massive A Court of Thorns and Roses series, pulling readers back into Prythian one more time on October 27.
Literary Fiction From Some of the Biggest Names in Publishing
Familiar Authors Return With New Stories
Liane Moriarty brings readers back into the world of Big Little Lies a decade later in Big Little Truths, where the same mothers now navigate raising teenagers while old secrets resurface. That one lands August 25 too.
R F Kuang follows with Taipei Story on September 8, a coming of age novel about a young Chinese American woman uncovering family mysteries while figuring out who she actually is.
Min Jin Lee returns with American Hagwon, a multi generational saga following a Korean family navigating love, ambition, and betrayal across continents, releasing September 29.
Stories About Memory Loss and Resilience
Amanda Peters explores memory and tradition in The Birthing Tree, following one woman’s effort to protect the past while building something better for the future. Chloe Benjamin takes a different approach in Under Story, where a biologist trying to outrun a painful past gets pulled into a discovery that bends time and memory itself. Both arrive September 1.
Barbara Kingsolver also joins the fall lineup with Partita, an expansive story about resilience and the power of music following a pianist confronting ghosts from her past. That one releases October 6.
Mystery Thriller and Suspense Titles to Watch
Cozy Mysteries and Classic Detective Stories
Richard Osman continues his beloved We Solve Murders series with We Chase Shadows on September 15, sending his favorite detective trio after a brand new case.
That same week brings Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel, where Lucy Foley draws on Agatha Christie’s legendary Miss Marple for a fresh mystery set at a luxurious mountaintop resort.
Darker and More Unsettling Reads
Jodi Picoult returns with Hollow Bones on September 15, a story about grief and protection that forces its main character to question everything she once believed. Stephen Graham Jones brings something far bloodier with Off the Reservation, a revenge story following Nate Yellow Tail as his search for lost bones leads him somewhere far more sinister. That one arrives October 13.
Emily St John Mandel also returns to dystopian territory with Exit Party, set in a crumbling future America where one man’s disappearance at a house party sparks an unsettling mystery. That releases September 15 as well.
Highly Anticipated Sequels and Collaborations
A Legendary Horror Crossover Finally Arrives
Another one of our favourite writing partnerships, Stephen King and Peter Straub, join forces again for “Other Worlds Than These”, the long-awaited third instalment of The Talisman and a tie-in with the Stephen King-verse’s other massive project The Dark Tower series. Horror readers have been anticipating this release and will be pleased to hear it’s coming our way October 6.
Beloved Series Continue Their Stories
The boarding school continues to deliver in the second installment of Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham’s Tiffin Academy series, The Thoroughbreds (September 15). Heated Rivalry, the enemies to lovers hockey romance that was adapted into a popular streaming show, also receives a deluxe edition from Rachel Reid.
Heartfelt and Unexpected Stories Rounding Out the Season
A Tender Love Story and a Quirky Comedy
John Green returns to fiction with Hollywood Ending, a tender love story set against the underbelly of the entertainment industry, releasing September 22. Bonnie Garmus follows with something lighter in Peck and Peck, a funny novel about a young man finding community and purpose after joining an unconventional poetry journal in New York City.
A Spooky Comic Mystery to Close Things Out
Jason Rekulak wraps up the list with Look What the Cat Dragged In, a comic mystery about a pet sitter whose cat starts acting unsettlingly sinister, prompting some very real questions about whether something darker is at play. That one arrives October 13.
And finally, Hernan Diaz closes the lineup with Ply, a futuristic exploration of technology and connection set centuries into the future, also releasing September 29.
What This Fall Lineup Tells Us About Where Publishing Is Headed
Taking in the whole list as a sum of its parts, here are a couple things I noticed: There’s a definite risk being taken by publishers in launching both the familiar comfort series that people love and a handful of truly challenging new literary voices to share a season. Romance and fantasy still occupy a very visible position, but there’s a solid presence of literary fiction that seems to tackle generations and memories.
If you’re a writer or a hopeful writer looking at this list, take some time and note how many of the books listed here are by authors who took time, sometimes years and even decades, to develop a readership before they ever got here. The strong fall here is a testament to the work of building relationships, not of releasing books into the void, and by and by publishers and authors who understand career development.
At Rockefeller Publishing we work with authors across the United States who are building exactly that kind of long term career, one book at a time. Whether you are working on your first manuscript or your fifth, we help you think beyond a single release and toward building something readers will keep coming back for.
FAQ’s
What Stephen King book comes out this fall?
Other Worlds Than These, co-written with the late Peter Straub, comes out October 6, 2026. It’s the final book in the Talisman trilogy.
Do I need to read The Talisman before Other Worlds Than These?
It helps, but the book is designed to work as a stand-alone novel for new readers as well as longtime fans.
What are Barnes & Noble’s most anticipated fall books of 2026?
Our list above covers 22 of the season’s biggest releases highlighted by Barnes & Noble, plus Stephen King’s Other Worlds Than These.
