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Looking for your next great science fiction or fantasy read? Start with this year's Hugo Awards winners. As one of the genre’s longest-running literary honors, the Hugos have recognized some of science fiction’s and fantasy’s greatest books and writers for more than seven decades.
This year, the awards have gone to a range of fascinating stories—from a legendary knight whose story has been rewritten across centuries to a coffeeshop that exists between alternate universes. These Hugo Award winners prove just how expansive science fiction and fantasy can be.
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Now, here are the best science fiction and fantasy stories of 2026—the official Hugo Awards winners—and their descriptions, so you can find your next great fall read.
The best fantasy and sci-fi novels of 2026, according to the Hugo Awards:
Best Novel: The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
“From Alix E. Harrow, the New York Times bestselling author of Starling House, comes a moving and genre-defying quest about the lady-knight whose legend built a nation, and the cowardly historian sent back through time to make sure she plays her part–even if it breaks his heart.
Sir Una Everlasting was Dominion’s greatest hero: the orphaned girl who became a knight, who died for queen and country. Her legend lives on in songs and stories, in children’s books and recruiting posters—but her life as it truly happened has been forgotten.
Centuries later, Owen Mallory—failed soldier, struggling scholar—falls in love with the tale of Una Everlasting. Her story takes him to war, to the archives—and then into the past itself. Una and Owen are tangled together in time, bound to retell the same story over and over again, no matter what it costs.
But that story always ends the same way. If they want to rewrite Una’s legend—if they want to tell a different story--they’ll have to rewrite history itself.”
Alix E. Harrow is the New York Times–bestselling and Hugo Award–winning author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January, The Once and Future Witches, Starling House, The Everlasting and various short fiction.
Best Novella: The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
“In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family. There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honour an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family’s latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees. But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters’ bond but also their lives will be at risk…”
Amal El-Mohtar is a Hugo Award-winning author of science fiction, fantasy, poetry and criticism. Her books include The River Has Roots and the New York Times bestseller This is How You Lose the Time War, written with Max Gladstone, which has been translated into over 10 languages.
Best Series: Old Man's War by John Scalzi
“John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army. The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce—and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.
Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity's resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force. Everybody knows that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don't want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You'll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You'll serve two years at the front. And if you survive, you'll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets. John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine—and what he will become is far stranger.”
John Scalzi's Old Man's War also won him the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His New York Times bestsellers include The Last Colony, Fuzzy Nation, Redshirts (which won the Hugo Award for Best Novel), The Last Emperox, The Kaiju Preservation Society, Starter Villain, When the Moon Hits Your Eye, and The Shattering Peace.
Best Graphic Story or Comic: A Wizard of Earthsea: A Graphic Novel written by Ursula K. Le Guin, adapted & art by Fred Fordham
“Ged was the greatest sorcerer in Earthsea, but in his youth he was the reckless Sparrowhawk. In his hunger for power and knowledge, he tampered with long-held secrets and unleashed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tumultuous tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance."
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contributions to American Letters, six Nebula Awards, seven Hugo Awards, and the Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master Award, along with a PEN/Malamud Award and many other accolades. In 2016, she joined the short list of authors to be published in their lifetimes by the Library of America.
Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book: Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by C.B. Lee
“When Brenda’s internet goes out right before an important scholarship deadline, she stumbles right into Kat’s family’s coffee shop. Brenda is swept away by cool, confident Kat, who actually cares about Brenda’s 19-step plan to save the world through science. Meanwhile, Kat can’t stop thinking about Brenda, who is smart, passionate, and doesn’t seem to care that Kat is the prophesized Chosen One. The only problem? Kat and Brenda are from different universes. Like need-to-find-a-portal-to-go-on-a-second-date different universes. As their universes collide and things spiral out of control, can a girl who is determined to save the world find love with a girl determined to outrun her destiny?”
C.B. Lee is the author of the New York Times Bestseller Minecraft: The Shipwreck. Their works also include the Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selected A Clash of Steel: A Treasure Island Remix, the Lambda Literary Award nominated Sidekick Squad series, Ben 10 graphic novels, Out Now: Queer We Go Again, and From A Certain Point Of View: The Empire Strikes Back.
The Hugo Awards also named the best poem and its Astounding Award for Best New Writer. They are:
- Best Poem: “Hex Supply Customer Support Log” by Elis Montgomery (Strange Horizons, Issue 25 August 2025)
- Astounding Award for Best New Writer: Antonia Hodgson