Homeward Books June 2026

Homeward is a small press. We publish books that defy the constraints of genre, because we believe that weird, brave, complex stories deserve a home.

We launched in 2026 with two books: a novel, The Witch of Prague, and a novella, The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo. We’re now seeking to fill our slate of books for 2028 and beyond. We’re primarily interested in speculative fiction—science fiction, fantasy and horror—and books that don’t fit easily into any one category. The four of us started Homeward primarily in order to publish books that struggle to find a traditional publisher because they’re difficult, slippery, weird, genre-bending, or otherwise unmarketable.

These are some of the kinds of things we’re looking for:

• Lara would like to see books like The Gilda Stories (Jewell Gomez), Lote (Shola von Reinhold), and The Works of Vermin (Hiron Ennis)—weird, sexy, queer, fantastical stories filled with history, politics, excess, and art.
• Rachel is all about that intense sense of place and time, whether we’re talking the weird history of Gentlemen of the Road (Michael Chabon), the vivid city imaginary of The Saint of Bright Doors (Vajra Chandrasekera), or the invented cultures and societal upheaval of Five Ways to Forgiveness (Ursula K Le Guin).
• Rebekah likes stories where everything isn’t spelled out, but is open to multiple layers of interpretation: The Employees (Olga Ravn) or I Who Have Never Known Men (Jacqueline Harpman). These are both works in translation—and we’d love to see books which weren’t originally written in English.
• Huw wants big faith-testing literary science fiction, like The Sparrow (Mary Doria Russell) or Aurora (Kim Stanley Robinson)… and tear-your-heart-and-guts-out voice-driven horror: The Only Good Indians (Stephen Graham Jones) or The Devourers (Indra Das).