Wednesday 29 July 2026 at 7pm

Online via Zoom

We’re reading The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

What is the book about?

A pirate of infamy and one of the most storied and scandalous captains to sail the seven seas. Amina al-Sirafi has survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural. But when she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse, she jumps at the chance for one final adventure with her old crew that will make her a legend and offers a fortune that will secure her and her family’s future forever.

Yet the deeper Amina dives the higher the stakes. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savour just a bit more power…and the price might be your very soul.

Buy the book from our online festival bookshop.

Wednesday 26 August 2026 at 7pm

Online via Zoom

We’re reading Hex House by Amy Jane Stewart

What is the book about?

A woman in the woods alone is never the beginning of the story. It's usually the end.

Elly is running. Pregnant and still in her wedding dress, she flees the cottage that her new husband, Ethan, has rented for their wedding night. Because he's not what people think he is, and she knows that one day he'll hurt her in a way she can't fix. Freezing and alone in the woods in the dead of night, she accepts that she's going to die. But just as she has given up all hope, a house appears out of nowhere, and a woman beckons her in.

Welcome to Hex House. A place that can only be found by those who truly need it. A place that teaches broken women how to access a power more beautiful and more horrifying than anything they could have imagined.

Edinburgh, present day: Siobhan's life is in ruins. Once a promising documentary filmmaker, she has given up on her dream, and kept all the terrifying footage she has of Hex House hidden away. She tries to erase all the horrors she witnessed with drugs and alcohol, and spends her time toying with a man in increasingly feral and dangerous ways. Her brother won't speak to her, and she ignores the scar on her stomach that never fully healsBut despite everything, always, she feels the presence of that place. And she knows, deep down, that she has to return.

Buy the book from our online festival bookshop.

Wednesday 30 September 2026 at 7pm

Online via Zoom

We’re reading Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

What is the book about?

Meet Charles™, the latest in robot servant technology. Programmed to undertake the most menial household chores, Charles is loyal, efficient and logical to a fault. That is, until a rather large fault causes him to murder his owner.

Understandably perplexed, Charles finds himself without a master – therefore worthless in a society utterly reliant on artificial labour and services. Fleeing the household, he enters a world he never knew existed. Human hierarchy is disintegrating, and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to its wellbeing is struggling to find a purpose.

Charles must face new challenges, illogical tasks and a cast of irrational characters. He’s about to discover that sometimes all it takes is a nudge to overcome the limits of your programming. But can he help fix the world, or is it too badly broken?

Buy the book from our online festival bookshop.