Bruce Sterling Books in Order
Bruce Sterling has written 33 books, published between 1977 and 2021. The first book is Involution Ocean (1977) and the newest is Robot Artists and Black Swans: The Italian Fantascienza Stories (2021). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 33
- Published
- 1977–2021
- Pages on record
- 6,490 in 21 of 33 books
- Reading time
- 108–162 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 6,490 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 21 of 33 titles with a page count on record.
Michael Bruce Sterling, born in 1954, is an American science fiction author linked to the cyberpunk subgenre and known for editing the Mirrorshades anthology. Sterling sold a first science-fiction story, Man-Made Self, in 1976. The catalogue holds 33 titles from Involution Ocean (1977) to Robot Artists and Black Swans: The Italian Fantascienza Stories (2021), taking in The Artificial Kid (1980), Schismatrix (1985), Islands in the Net (1988), Crystal Express (1989) and Globalhead (1992). The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier (1992) was the first non-fiction book Sterling published. Mechanist Shapers is the one series listed, beside standalone novels, short fiction and non-fiction. Subjects cover cyberpunk fiction, American science fiction, short stories and life on other planets.
How many Bruce Sterling books are there?
Bruce Sterling has 33 books, released between 1977 and 2021. They include 2 separate series.
Bruce Sterling Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 33 Bruce Sterling books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 11977–2/4
- 219803092/4
- 3Dinner in Audoghast (in Asimov's) (Short Story)Bruce Sterling Short Stories/Novellas #11985 · confirmed 2/41985–2/4
- 419852882/4
- 5Flowers of Edo (in Asimov's) (Short Story)Bruce Sterling Short Stories/Novellas #21987 · confirmed 2/41987–2/4
- 619883962/4
- 7Our Neural Chernobyl (in F&SF) (Short Story)Bruce Sterling Short Stories/Novellas #31988 · 164 pages · confirmed 2/419881642/4
- 819892882/4
- 91989–2/4
- 1019923012/4
- 11The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic FrontierBruce Sterling Non-Fiction #11992 · 336 pages · confirmed 2/419923362/4
- 121993–2/4
- 1319943102/4
- 1419953192/4
- 1519963682/4
- 1619962792/4
- 1719984962/4
- 1820002802/4
- 19Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty YearsBruce Sterling Non-Fiction #22002 · 352 pages · confirmed 2/420023522/4
- 2020043412/4
- 2120053202/4
- 2220075522/4
- 2320092952/4
- 242010–2/4
- 252010–2/4
- 262011–2/4
- 272011–2/4
- 282012–2/4
- 292012–2/4
- 30The Epic Struggle of the Internet of ThingsBruce Sterling Non-Fiction #32014 · 53 pages · confirmed 2/42014532/4
- 3120151872/4
- 322016–2/4
- 33Robot Artists and Black Swans: The Italian Fantascienza StoriesBruce Sterling #62021 · 256 pages · confirmed 2/420212562/4
Bruce Sterling books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Bruce Sterling Short Stories/Novellas
11 books11 titles published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.
Bruce Sterling Standalone Novels
10 books10 titles published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.
Bruce Sterling in order
5 booksMechanist Shapers in order
3 booksBruce Sterling Non-Fiction
3 books3 titles published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.
Harlan Ellison Discovery in order
1 bookDo you have to read Bruce Sterling books in order?
You only need to read Bruce Sterling books in order within each series: the books listed here span 2 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.
Where to start with Bruce Sterling
Start with Involution Ocean (1977), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Bruce Sterling book?
Robot Artists and Black Swans: The Italian Fantascienza Stories (2021) is the newest Bruce Sterling book released so far.
Is there a new Bruce Sterling book coming?
No next Bruce Sterling book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Awards Bruce Sterling has won
Wikidata records 6 awards and 83 nominations for Bruce Sterling. The most recent 12 are listed here. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.
- Arthur C. Clarke Award2000Wonfor Distraction
- Hugo Award for Best Novelette1999Wonfor Taklamakan
- Locus Award for Best Short Story1999Wonfor Maneki Neko
- Locus Award for Best Novelette1999Wonfor Taklamakan
- Hugo Award for Best Novelette1997Wonfor Bicycle Repairman
- John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel1989Wonfor Islands in the Net
- Locus Award for Best Collection2022Shortlistedfor Robot Artists & Black Swans: The Italian Fantascienza Stories
- Locus Award for Best Novella2017Shortlistedfor Pirate Utopia
- Locus Award for Best Anthology2016Shortlistedfor Twelve Tomorrows
- Locus Award for Best Novelette2013Shortlistedfor The Peak of Eternal Light
- Theodore Sturgeon Award2013Shortlistedfor The Peak of Eternal Light
- Locus Award for Best Collection2012Shortlistedfor Gothic High-Tech
Bruce Sterling at a glance
- Paused
- No new Bruce Sterling title has appeared for 5 years. The last was published in 2021.
- Release pace
- Bruce Sterling books have appeared about one a year on average.
- Length
- 6,490 pages across the 21 of 33 books with a recorded length, a median of 309 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Bruce Sterling books, 9 of 33, were published in the 2010s.
What the Bruce Sterling books are about
22 of the 33 Bruce Sterling books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: science fiction is tagged on 12 of 22. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Science fiction 12 of 22 books
- Short stories 4 of 22 books
- Fantasy 3 of 22 books
- Cyberpunk fiction 2 of 22 books
- Fantasy fiction, American 2 of 22 books
- Life on other planets 2 of 22 books
- Long Now Manual for Civilization 2 of 22 books
- Science fiction, cyberpunk 2 of 22 books
- Technology 2 of 22 books