Random House Worlds to Publish Official Novels Based on the Hit Horror Podcast The Magnus Archives

Random House Worlds, an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House is thrilled to announce a new collaboration with the massively popular horror fiction anthology podcast The Magnus Archives.

With more than 300 million downloads worldwide since its debut in 2016, The Magnus Archives has garnered a devoted global fanbase, earning widespread acclaim and winning over 30 awards for its deeply unsettling storytelling, intricate supernatural mythology, and standout voice performances. The Magnus Archives is created by independent media production company Rusty Quill and distributed by Acast.

This October, Random House Worlds will publish FROM THE LIBRARY OF JURGEN LEITNER, a thrilling prequel novel written by the hit podcast’s creator Jonathan Sims and Nebula, World Fantasy, and Aurora award-winning author Premee Mohamed. FROM THE LIBRARY OF JURGEN LEITNER explores the most infamous institution in the podcast’s universe for the first time—the perilous private library of the enigmatic collector Jurgen Leitner, where esoteric books are guarded and researched at a fatal cost.

In this uncanny eldritch horror novel, two employees from different eras attempt to uncover the library’s secrets. Though their tenures at the library were years apart, their stories unfold in parallel, and their footsteps echo down the same eerie aisles, caught in a web spun long before either ever heard the name “Jurgen Leitner.” Will they find a way out… or will the library consume them before it’s too late?

Jonathan Sims is the mind and voice behind horror audio fiction sensation The Magnus Archives, which won a British Fantasy award, This is Horror award, Discover Pod award and multiple Audioverse awards, as well as the author of Thirteen Storeys and Family Business. He has also done voice work as the narrator of the multi-award winning Slay the Princess and writes UK Games Expo Award-winning TTRPGs as part of roleplay-design duo MacGuffin & Co. He lives in Stockport with his spouse and a pair of very distinguished (if not desperately bright) cats.

Premee Mohamed is a Nebula, World Fantasy, Ignyte, Locus, and Aurora award-winning Indo-Caribbean scientist and speculative fiction author based in Edmonton, Alberta. She has also been a finalist for the Hugo, British Fantasy, British Science Fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Crawford awards. In 2024, she was the Edmonton Public Library writer-in-residence, and she has taught at establishments including the Banff Institute for the Arts, the Clarion Workshop, and the Carl Brandon Society. She has judged short fiction contests for CBC and Alberta Views Magazine and can be found on her website at www.premeemohamed.com. She is represented by Michael Curry of DMLA.

FROM THE LIBRARY OF JURGEN LEITNER will publish on October 27, 2026, and is available for pre-order wherever books are sold. Additional titles set in The Magnus Archives universe will be announced by Random House Worlds at a later date.