Order of Book Series
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Cordwainer Smith Books in Order

Cordwainer Smith has written 32 books, published between 1937 and 2022. The first book is The Political Doctrines of Sun Yat-sen (As:) (1937) and the newest is On the Gem Planet (2022). Publication order is the reading order below.

Cordwainer Smith is the pen name of Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger. Cordwainer Smith also publishes as Carmichael Smith, Felix C. Forrest.

Books
32
Published
1937–2022
Pages on record
3,248 in 9 of 32 books
See all 32 books in order Printable Cordwainer Smith checklist
Photo of Cordwainer Smith, author of the Norstrilia series

Cordwainer Smith was the pen name of Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger (1913-1966), an American science fiction author who was also a US Army officer, a scholar of East Asia and an expert in psychological warfare. Scanners Live in Vain (1950) and The Game of Rat and Dragon (1955) are among the stories, and Norstrilia names the series. The catalogue carries Linebarger's academic books as well, including The Political Doctrines of Sun Yat-sen (1937) and Psychological Warfare (1948). His output stayed small and his death came at 53, yet his influence on the field was large. Thirty-three titles are listed, the latest a 2022 reissue.

How many Cordwainer Smith books are there?

Cordwainer Smith has 32 books, released between 1937 and 2022. 3 of them belong to the Norstrilia series.

Cordwainer Smith Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 32 Cordwainer Smith 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.

  1. Cover of You Will Never Be The Same by Cordwainer Smith (1963)
  2. Cover of Under Old Earth And Other Explorations by Cordwainer Smith (1966)
  3. Cover of The Underpeople by Cordwainer Smith, book 2 of the Norstrilia series (1968)
  4. Cover of We the Underpeople by Cordwainer Smith (1968)
  5. Cover of The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith (1975)
  6. Cover of The Best of Cordwainer Smith by Cordwainer Smith (1975)
  7. Cover of When the People Fell by Cordwainer Smith (1993)
  8. Cover of 20th Century Science Fiction: Volume Two by Cordwainer Smith, book 66 of the Mammoth Book Of… series (2003)
  9. Cover of Scanners and Others by Cordwainer Smith (2010)
  1. 1
    The Political Doctrines of Sun Yat-sen (As:)1937 · confirmed 1/4
    1937–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Government in Republican China (As:)1938 · confirmed 1/4
    1938–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    The China of Chiang K\'ai-Shek: A Political Study (As:)1941 · confirmed 1/4
    1941–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    Ria (As:)1947 · confirmed 1/4
    1947–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    Carola (As:)1948 · confirmed 1/4
    1948–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    Psychological Warfare (As:)1948 · confirmed 1/4
    1948–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    Atomsk (As:)1949 · confirmed 1/4
    1949–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    Scanners Live in Vain1950 · confirmed 1/4
    1950–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    Far Eastern Government and Politics: China and Japan (As:)1954 · confirmed 1/4
    1954–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    The Game of Rat and Dragon1955 · confirmed 1/4
    1955–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    The Lady Who Sailed the Soul1960 · confirmed 1/4
    1960–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons1961 · confirmed 1/4
    1961–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    You Will Never Be The Same1963 · 176 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1963176
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 14
    The Boy Who Bought Old Earth / The Planet BuyerNorstrilia #11964 · confirmed 1/4
    1964–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 15
    Space Lords1965 · confirmed 1/4
    1965–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 16
    Quest of the Three Worlds1965 · confirmed 1/4
    1965–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 17
    On the Storm Planet1965 · confirmed 1/4
    1965–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  18. 18
    On the Sand Planet1965 · confirmed 1/4
    1965–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  19. 19
    Three to a Given Star1965 · confirmed 1/4
    1965–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  20. 20
    Under Old Earth And Other Explorations1966 · confirmed 1/4
    1966–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  21. 21
    The UnderpeopleNorstrilia #21968 · 144 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1968144
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  22. 22
    We the Underpeople1968 · 480 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1968480
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  23. 23
    Stardreamer1971 · confirmed 1/4
    1971–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  24. 24
    NorstriliaNorstrilia #31975 · confirmed 1/4
    1975–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  25. 25
    The Rediscovery of Man1975 · 400 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1975400
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  26. 26
    The Best of Cordwainer Smith1975 · 376 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1975376
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  27. 27
    The Instrumentality of Mankind1979 · 238 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1979238
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  28. 28
    When the People Fell1993 · 848 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1993848
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  29. 29
    20th Century Science Fiction: Volume TwoMammoth Book Of… #662003 · 512 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2003512
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  30. 30
    Scanners and Others2010 · 74 pages · confirmed 1/4
    201074
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  31. 31
    The Store Of Heart's Desire2022 · confirmed 1/4
    2022–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  32. 32
    On the Gem Planet2022 · confirmed 1/4
    2022–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Cordwainer Smith 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.

Norstrilia in order

3 books
  1. 1. The Boy Who Bought Old Earth / The Planet Buyer
  2. 2. The Underpeople
  3. 3. Norstrilia

Mammoth Book Of… in order

1 book
  1. 66. 20th Century Science Fiction: Volume Two

Standalone books

28 books

28 Cordwainer Smith titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Do you have to read Cordwainer Smith books in order?

You only need to read Cordwainer Smith books in order within the Norstrilia series, which holds 3 of the 32 Cordwainer Smith books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.

Where to start with Cordwainer Smith

Start with The Political Doctrines of Sun Yat-sen (As:) (1937), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Cordwainer Smith book?

On the Gem Planet (2022) is the newest Cordwainer Smith book released so far.

Is there a new Cordwainer Smith book coming?

No next Cordwainer Smith 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 Cordwainer Smith has won

Wikidata records 1 award and 7 nominations for Cordwainer Smith. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.

Cordwainer Smith at a glance

Paused
No new Cordwainer Smith title has appeared for 4 years. The last was published in 2022.
Release pace
Cordwainer Smith books have appeared about one every 3 years on average.
Length
3,248 pages across the 9 of 32 books with a recorded length, a median of 376 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Cordwainer Smith books, 12 of 32, were published in the 1960s.

What the Cordwainer Smith books are about

5 of the 32 Cordwainer Smith 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 4 of 5. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.