New Books Snake Draft: Fall 2026

Shelf Respect

The hosts of Shelf Respect conduct a fall book snake draft, selecting highly anticipated Q4 releases across fiction and nonfiction while engaging

Key takeaways

• The hosts use a mock draft category of 'problematic men in pop culture' (Clavicular, Tate Brothers, Don Jr.) to determine pick order, sparking extended jokes about algorithmic feeds and public figures.
• Barbara Kingsolver's upcoming novel Partita is highlighted as a major fall release, with the hosts praising her prose style and comparing the reading experience to sitting in a cinnamon roll.

Main topics

• Fall book snake drafting
• Horror and speculative fiction sequels

Notable quotes

"Sitting in the middle of a Barbara Kingsolver novel is like sitting in the middle of a cinnamon roll. Like it's just, you're just, it's just juicy and it's perfect and it's warm."

Conclusion

The episode provides listeners with a curated, personality-driven roadmap for

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:10) Hello and welcome to Shelf Respect, the book podcast focused on both craft and chaos of fiction. I'm Knox McCoy. Join me as always. They just fired Dolly Parton's nephew. It's Jamie Golden and Aaron Moon. Speaker 3 (0:19) No, listen, I don't think that's just because of a conflict of interest because he is a trustee and he's going to get a Speaker 1 (0:25) lot of the money. Yes, because it didn't change Speaker 3 (0:26) his Speaker 2 (0:27) trustee status. Yeah, Speaker 3 (0:28) he's still inheriting all the things that he's going to inherit. Speaker 1 (0:31) Yeah, it just felt like him and all of his related, like effective immediately, we're going to scorch you out the building. Like your stuff is in a box. I Speaker 2 (0:39) don't like Speaker 1 (0:39) that. It was Speaker 2 (0:39) weird. Speaker 1 (0:40) It's just like, man, is this going to affect Dollywood is my question. And I'm asking on behalf of Evan because I feel like he's out there. He's wondering. He Speaker 2 (0:46) will not be okay. He will not be okay. He will not, yeah. Speaker 1 (0:49) Okay, in this episode, we will be stake drafting the books we think will be the best reads of Q4, which is October, November, and December. Speaker 2 (0:57) For everyone who forgets. Forever and ever. For Speaker 1 (0:59) someone who had a couple September books on his list before he went through, this is important. I will Speaker 3 (1:04) say, I did see a fall reading guide that had a lot of books at the beginning of September. And I go, I don't. think that we're Speaker 2 (1:10) we're we're in the climate change stage where the september is not yeah you that's it no longer qualifies the Speaker 3 (1:16) autumnal equinox which everyone taught me about yesterday when it happened yeah Speaker 2 (1:20) but i also don't think that it counts anymore no i don't think it does either yeah it's my birthday Speaker 1 (1:25) it's she's on she's on the the fall line demarcation yeah so i know Books have to be after that. Speaker 3 (1:31) Books have to be after that. Okay, but before we do all of that, did Knox come to Birmingham earlier this month? And as we were plotting and storyboarding 2027, did I realize by going through our Shelf Respect launch notes from last year that we almost called our subscribers on Patreon plot holes and Aaron vetoed it? I don't know that I was the veto for that. There's no way you would let us choose plot holes. You're Speaker 2 (1:52) right. And that's because I care about our audience. Because Speaker 3 (1:54) did at some point us, we were like, should we call people ask holes? And you were like. Absolutely not. It's such a good name. Speaker 2 (2:02) It's such a good name. Speaker 3 (2:04) Trademark, Speaker 2 (2:04) trademark, trademark. And you're right. It is. But I just, I can't let Andy have like a designation. Your dad wouldn't be willing to be Speaker 3 (2:12) an Speaker 2 (2:12) ass. Cole. I just don't think he would. Speaker 3 (2:14) He wouldn't wear a Speaker 2 (2:14) hat that says ask Cole? No, he would not. He definitely would not. Aaron's like Speaker 1 (2:18) the inverse of Trump because he's like executive order. I'm doing it anyway. And she's just veto, veto, veto everything. Yeah, she vetoes Speaker 2 (2:24) it. Speaker 1 (2:24) That's Speaker 2 (2:24) what's great about this three-way partnership. Speaker 3 (2:27) Okay, Speaker 2 (2:28) but no Speaker 3 (2:28) matter. If you'd like to Speaker 2 (2:29) become a Speaker 3 (2:29) hardback. See, it can be fun, too. On Patreon, we have exclusive episodes on trope detective, fake dating, author it's, covers the good, the bad, and what Knox ended up with on his last book. Our school reading list we'd make if anyone would let us teach a class. And of course, you can hear every book that we have read in 2026 and the books we DNF'd in our Shelf Reflection series. We recently talked about The Pirate Queen and Exit Party. And we talked about The Night in the Moth and The Knave in the Moon. And so and many, many, many more books. So head to patreon.com. slash shelf respect and try us for free dollars with a seven day trial or you want 90 % off your first month. Just use code plot holes and pay only 70 cents. This will get you access to everything in Patreon and add you to the almost 4000 hardbacks who discuss reading and all the things books and are not so secret exclusive club. The links are in the show notes. Speaker 1 (3:22) I'm excited. Snake Draft. New releases. This was a tough list to come up with. I got to be honest with you. Speaker 3 (3:29) The fourth quarter is tough because there are amazing books that come out in October. It's kind of like what fall TV used to be, but really what Oscar movies are now. Like a lot of great stuff October, November. But unlike movies, December is a wasteland because Speaker 2 (3:43) first Speaker 3 (3:45) of all, I learned the hard way that people don't even work at the publishing house in December. They just all take a month off and they're like, We're on holiday. Well, according Speaker 1 (3:53) to every agent I've worked with, if you want to reach out to anybody in publishing after August, you should just wait until January. Speaker 3 (4:01) Which is so insane. So Speaker 1 (4:04) how about you Speaker 3 (4:04) all stop complaining about how much you're paid? How about that? Maybe we go to work. I don't know. I don't know. So this is a tough. And, you know, I read a lot of fall reading guides for this. And I will say I just didn't feel like anybody made a good case for many things. I was like. That sounds like a book I already read this year. Like, why did they hold this so long? Like, this should have come out earlier and been more competitive. There Speaker 1 (4:26) was a lot of, that sounds like a DNF. So we'll see what happens here. So let's draw for spots. I have the category is problematic men in pop culture. Speaker 2 (4:36) Okay. Speaker 1 (4:37) Erin, you've got first pick here. You're going to pick between Clavicular, the Tate Brothers, and Don Jr. So Clavicular. You get both Tate brothers or Don Jr. I Speaker 2 (4:49) think I'm going to choose Clavicular because he has decided that he wants to marry AOC. Speaker 1 (4:56) Oh, did y'all see this? Really? Speaker 2 (4:57) Yes. We did see Speaker 3 (4:58) this, but do you know why he told everybody that? Why? I feel like you haven't seen the- I haven't. You're right. Yeah, he probably raped somebody. What? So he's probably going to jail. Oh, God. I Speaker 2 (5:08) mean, good. But you picked him. You picked him. He's off the board. You picked him. I picked Clavicular. You Speaker 1 (5:13) did. It did get you the number one overall pick. Yes! Let's go! Speaker 2 (5:16) I'm so Speaker 3 (5:17) sad. I think we're going to compete for one. Listen, you know, the other thing about Clavicular is it was funny because- Him wanting to marry OC, but he did a whole, the reason I was no longer interested in him is because when somebody asked about a podcast, like, so do you spend a lot of time, like, do you care about a woman's orgasm when you have sex? And he was like, it just doesn't feel like a good return on investment. So I really don't care. And I was like, and Speaker 2 (5:38) that's all for me. Thank Speaker 1 (5:40) you. What Speaker 2 (5:40) did Speaker 1 (5:40) you, what did you expect from clavicular? Yeah. I Speaker 2 (5:43) just Speaker 3 (5:43) don't think that he's like an eater. I mean, listen, clavicular, clavicular is. Speaker 2 (5:48) Wait, is this, is this main feeder? Oh, yeah. This is amazing. You did Speaker 3 (5:52) it. It stays in. It stays in. Drake Passage it is. Speaker 2 (5:56) The Speaker 1 (5:56) clavicular. Now, to defend her, she wasn't picking the person. She was trying to get into my psyche on who has the number one overall. Let me be very clear. I'm the issue because I gave him the number one overall pick because I thought you guys wouldn't pick him. That's exactly right. Speaker 3 (6:11) Okay. Let's try reverse Speaker 2 (6:12) psychology. Speaker 3 (6:13) Listen, I'm going to pick the one that commits white collar crimes, and that is Dawn. Junior. Okay. Don Jr. Speaker 1 (6:20) Don Jr. has gotten you the third overall pick. That we know of. That's right. Third. Of Speaker 3 (6:24) course. I feel like you probably got Speaker 1 (6:25) some. God, I Speaker 3 (6:25) like that you put all the sex crime people at the top. Knox. It's just three. Speaker 1 (6:30) There's just three. Three choices. And they're all bad dudes. They're all bad Speaker 3 (6:33) dudes. But I don't know. Sex crimes are worse than taking money from the Saudis. Speaker 1 (6:37) No one's arguing with you. We agree. Speaker 2 (6:40) Stop acting like we chose them for our dodgeball team. We didn't do that. Speaker 1 (6:46) Okay, so Aaron's first. I'm second. Jamie is third. No, Speaker 2 (6:50) you have to pick. You have to say, I pick the Tate brothers. Yeah, you do have to say it. You have to officially Speaker 3 (6:55) say Speaker 1 (6:55) that. I don't think I do. You do. Process of elimination. No, you do. I choose Speaker 3 (6:59) the Tate brothers. I Speaker 1 (7:01) think you're saying it right now. So Madison, can we clip that, please? Speaker 3 (7:04) Who would you have chosen if you had gotten to go first, Knox? I honestly, Speaker 1 (7:08) because. I really value my integrity. I wouldn't have chosen. I would just been like, I'll choose last. Speaker 2 (7:13) Wow. Wow. But Speaker 1 (7:15) you guys really dove in there fast. So Speaker 2 (7:17) I think it Speaker 1 (7:17) says a lot. And Jamie, you had like, you had oppo on clavicular. So you're like, you're really invested in clavicular. You watched interviews with him. It sounds like so interesting. I do watch a lot of Speaker 3 (7:27) stitches about clavicular. I do. Weirdly. What does your Speaker 1 (7:29) algorithm think of you? Do you think? You Speaker 2 (7:32) just Speaker 3 (7:32) think, gosh, she loves hate and clavicular. Let's show her some more reasons to hate her. Sometimes a Speaker 2 (7:37) video will pop up and I'm like, why is this? here and then it's like you go to the comments and you're like oh now I know why okay got it got it got it Speaker 1 (7:43) got it that's what I'm here for um okay Erin what you got first pick I Speaker 2 (7:47) think I'm taking this probably from one of you but I'm really excited about it and it is partita by Speaker 3 (7:53) Barbara Speaker 2 (7:54) Kingsolver listen after demon copperhead I would read Barbara Kingsolver's take on the phone book yeah I think I think I've also decided that Speaker 3 (8:05) I'm going to read her backlist because if if if anything is as Speaker 2 (8:10) good as Demon Copperhead, like even by like 60 percent, I'm in. So this is a story. Livia gets a phone call from her former lover, a man she was with as a music conservatory student and a piano prodigy. This has a back and forth timeline of like she's in the present. Now we're going back in time, which I love. So this has I liked. I liked this particular Goodreads. This is from Colin Jack. And he says, I haven't read a single page yet, but here's what I do know. Barbara Kingsolver is about to hit us with heartbreak, class commentary, music metaphors, and at least one character who makes you question all your life's choices. And he says five stars in advance because optimism. And I love that. So this is a 4.29 on Goodreads right now. I just... I feel like sitting in the middle of a Barbara Kingsolver novel is like sitting in the middle of a cinnamon roll. Like it's just, you're just, it's just juicy and it's perfect and it's warm and it's also hard to get through, but you're, you're enjoying the journey. And so I'm really excited about this one. Speaker 3 (9:17) I'm looking forward to this book. I will say this cover's stupid. Yeah, it is a weird cover. Especially like Demon Copperhead was so good. Oh my gosh. So good. Poisonwood Bible? Poisonwood Speaker 2 (9:27) Bible's great too. So Speaker 3 (9:28) good. What's this S word? I don't like that. We just got arms. That's what that's. We play the piano. Did you get it? She plays the piano. Yeah. I don't like Speaker 2 (9:37) it. Speaker 3 (9:37) But I'm in on this. But I'm in on the book. Yeah, I'm in on the book. Speaker 1 (9:41) I'm really mad at you, Erin, because this is going to be one of my picks. Thanks, Clavicular. Yeah. Wow. That's going to be clipped. I put down because I wanted in my scratch pad when I read something really good. that I put in that was like inspiration of how to write good. I went to my Demon Copperhead section and I wanted to read, like if you've never read Barbara Kingsolver, this is just like a hint of the kind of stuff you'll get in a book like hers. She describes a lamp as a lamp without a shade looking all bald and forlorn, freckles on his face spattered everywhere like blood. Ants packed in tight like cigarettes and uncles in the other room sprawled out on furniture like butts in an ashtray. This is just good Southern writing. Give it Speaker 2 (10:29) to me. Yeah, Speaker 1 (10:31) it's good. Speaker 2 (10:32) Very excited. Speaker 1 (10:33) Now it's time for my pick. And I this is this is I'm going to explain my rationale here. Speaker 1 (10:41) Hurt people hurt people. It's Speaker 3 (10:42) already 3.3 stars on Goodreads. No, no. This is actually 4.28 Speaker 1 (10:46) on Goodreads. Okay, okay. Hurt people hurt people. Aaron hurt me, so I want to try to get Payne back, and I'm going to take off the reservation. Speaker 3 (10:55) No! No! Speaker 3 (10:58) That's right. Speaker 1 (11:00) Steven. So it's the sequel to only good Indians. The summary is five years after the massacre on the black feet reservation, Nate yellow tails in the hospital after an accident that should have killed him and nearly killed his best friend. Who's holding on a few doors down from him in the hospital, offered a chance to reset his life and maybe save his best friend. He climbs into a camper van. Uh, uh, as, uh, that's run down, uh, with three older black feet, uh, tribe members, uh, on a mission to repatriate the bones of the lone black feet boy who died at the Carlisle Indian industrial school. Um, they get all the bones, but something terrible escapes with them and horror hijinks ensue. Um, clearly I think Stephen Graham Jones is probably the biggest horror writer in the game right now. Um, and I feel like it's fun to be with someone in their prime. who you can tell is going to be like an iconic writer in the genre forever. So I think I trust him. The Buffalo 100, 100, like incredible book. Incredible. It's one of those kind of like Demon Copperhead, honestly. A book so good that you're like, it's on site for me with this person forever until they let me down. So author's vision. And I hope it hurts really, really bad for both of you. Speaker 2 (12:09) It does. I'm Speaker 3 (12:10) actually really pissed at you about that. I read The Good Indians because of Knox. So to be fair, I am grandfathered into this because of him. But I never thought we'd get a sequel. And so I'm so excited. And I Speaker 2 (12:23) read that you don't necessarily need to have read The Only Good Indians to read this. Yeah. That they stand alone. Speaker 3 (12:29) So that's good too. Yeah. You can come back to this world. But listen, Speaker 2 (12:34) don't skip Speaker 3 (12:34) The Good Indians. That's a great October read. Like it's such a good October read. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 1 (12:40) Okay. Jamie for you got a back to back here. Speaker 3 (12:42) Okay. Nothing's left. So wait, that's it. Thanks for listening. Okay. So I'm, I'm, I don't think I'll steal this from anyone, but it is what the heart wants. And I do Speaker 2 (12:52) want to read the queen of Lombard street by Lisa Claybus. So Lisa Claybus has not Speaker 3 (12:57) written a book in many, many years. She is many consider her the godmother of historical romance. And listen, y'all, I just. If you are a hardback, you heard me try a contemporary romance. I just, unless it's, I'm going to be honest, unless it's Speaker 2 (13:12) BK or Allie Hazelwood, everybody else. Speaker 3 (13:17) Look, for me, I find contemporary romance. lacking when compared to historical romance, because historical romance always tells me a more interesting story about history. And like we get a little microcosm. And so Queen of Lombard Street, listen, already 4.46 stars. It comes out October 20th. This is a Victorian novel about we meet. This is actually based on the real life woman, Mary Paley Marshall, who was Britain's first female. economist and financial titan, Hedy Green. So this book is, we have Raina Martin, who is a female economist who wants to start the first women's owned bank in Britain that only serves women, which I really love. And of course, at a time when women had very little financial independence and her life gets complicated because her butler, her new butler, John. Is he an undercover detective? Oh, no. Investigating her mentor? Speaker 2 (14:12) Maybe so. Will they bone? Speaker 3 (14:15) I bet they will. Speaker 2 (14:16) I think that they will. I'm so Speaker 3 (14:17) excited. So this is like financial intrigue, but crime, a little investigative, women's independence, economic freedom, all the goodness of life. And Lisa Klepa sure Speaker 2 (14:28) does Speaker 3 (14:28) know how Speaker 2 (14:29) to write a historical romance. She does. So I'm very excited Speaker 3 (14:32) about that. Again, that is Queen of Lombard Street coming out October 20th. Speaker 1 (14:36) So is there part of this, do you think that's like, because this is in Victorian England. Yes. And she's like, I not only want to have my own bank account. Absurd. I would also like to start my own bank that also only does women. That does feel like me wanting to jump to the moon. That's right. Maybe I can like just really long jump to the moon here. Is there anyone who's just like, you need to start. You need to walk before you run. Speaker 3 (15:05) Well, what if I told you also that Raina is the illegitimate daughter of a Spanish immigrant? Speaker 2 (15:11) Okay. Speaker 1 (15:12) Okay. Speaker 3 (15:13) I've tripled down. Like a hot Spanish Speaker 1 (15:14) immigrant or like a secretly wealthy Spanish immigrant? I Speaker 3