Order of Book Series
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Robert Olen Butler Books in Order

Robert Olen Butler has written 29 books, published between 1981 and 2021. The first book is The Alleys of Eden (1981) and the newest is Late City (2021). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
29
Published
1981–2021
Confirmed
2 of 29 titles
Pages on record
6,758 in 26 of 29 books
Reading time
113–169 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 6,758 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 26 of 29 titles with a page count on record.

See all 29 books in order Printable Robert Olen Butler checklist
Photo of Robert Olen Butler, author

A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, Robert Olen Butler's short story collection, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1993. Butler, born January 20, 1945, is an American fiction writer whose catalogue runs to 29 books published between 1981 and 2021. The Vietnam War appears among the recorded subjects, along with the First World War, veterans and married people. The Alleys of Eden (1981) opens the listing, followed by Sun Dogs (1982), Countrymen of Bones (1983) and On Distant Ground (1985), and Late City (2021) is the newest entry. Christopher Marlowe Cobb is the character of one recorded series.

How many Robert Olen Butler books are there?

Robert Olen Butler has 29 books, released between 1981 and 2021. They include 2 series and 21 titles listed outside any series.

Robert Olen Butler Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 29 Robert Olen Butler 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 The Alleys of Eden by Robert Olen Butler (1981)
  2. Cover of Sun Dogs by Robert Olen Butler (1982)
  3. Cover of Countrymen of Bones by Robert Olen Butler (1983)
  4. Cover of On Distant Ground by Robert Olen Butler (1985)
  5. Cover of Wabash by Robert Olen Butler (1987)
  6. Cover of The Deuce by Robert Olen Butler (1989)
  7. Cover of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler (1992)
  8. Cover of They Whisper by Robert Olen Butler (1994)
  9. Cover of Tabloid Dreams by Robert Olen Butler (1996)
  10. Cover of New Stories from the South 1997 by Robert Olen Butler, book 7 of the New Stories From The South series (1997)
  11. Cover of The Deep Green Sea by Robert Olen Butler (1998)
  12. Cover of Mr. Spaceman by Robert Olen Butler (2000)
  13. Cover of Listening For God, Vol. 4, book 4 of the Contemporary Literature and the Life of Faith series (2002)
  14. Cover of Fair Warning by Robert Olen Butler (2002)
  15. Cover of Had a Good Time by Robert Olen Butler (2004)
  16. Cover of From Where You Dream: The Process of Writing Fiction by Robert Olen Butler (2005)
  17. Cover of Severance by Robert Olen Butler (2006)
  18. Cover of Intercourse by Robert Olen Butler (2008)
  19. Cover of Hell by Robert Olen Butler (2009)
  20. Cover of A Small Hotel by Robert Olen Butler (2011)
  21. Cover of The Hot Country by Robert Olen Butler, book 1 of the Christopher Marlowe Cobb series (2012)
  22. Cover of The Star of Istanbul by Robert Olen Butler, book 2 of the Christopher Marlowe Cobb series (2013)
  23. Cover of The Empire of Night by Robert Olen Butler, book 3 of the Christopher Marlowe Cobb series (2014)
  24. Cover of Perfume River by Robert Olen Butler (2016)
  1. 1
    The Alleys of Eden1981 · 256 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1981256
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Sun Dogs1982 · 218 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1982218
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    Countrymen of Bones1983 · 217 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1983217
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    On Distant Ground1985 · 256 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1985256
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    Wabash1987 · 207 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1987207
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    The Deuce1989 · 303 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1989303
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain1992 · 249 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1992249
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    They Whisper1994 · 333 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1994333
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    Jealous Husband Returns in the Form of a Parrot1996 · confirmed 2/4
    1996–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    Tabloid Dreams1996 · 203 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1996203
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    New Stories from the South 1997New Stories From The South #71997 · 306 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1997306
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    The Deep Green Sea1998 · 226 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1998226
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    Mr. Spaceman2000 · 223 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2000223
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 14
    Listening For God, Vol. 4Contemporary Literature and the Life of Faith #42002 · confirmed 3/4
    2002–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 15
    Fair Warning2002 · 225 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2002225
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 16
    Had a Good Time2004 · 267 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2004267
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 17
    From Where You Dream: The Process of Writing Fiction2005 · 269 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2005269
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  18. 18
    Severance2006 · 264 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2006264
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  19. 19
    Intercourse2008 · 216 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2008216
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  20. 20
    Hell2009 · 232 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2009232
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  21. 21
    A Small Hotel2011 · 241 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2011241
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  22. 22
    The Hot CountryChristopher Marlowe Cobb #12012 · 326 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2012326
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  23. 23
    The Star of IstanbulChristopher Marlowe Cobb #22013 · 369 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2013369
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  24. 24
    The Empire of NightChristopher Marlowe Cobb #32014 · 401 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2014401
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  25. 25
    The Best Small Fictions 2015Best Small Fictions #12015 · 143 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2015143
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  26. 26
    Perfume River2016 · 273 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2016273
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  27. 27
    Paris in the DarkChristopher Marlowe Cobb #42018 · 231 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2018231
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  28. 28
    The Hemingway ValiseBibliomysteries #342018 · confirmed 3/4
    2018–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  29. 29
    Late City2021 · 304 pages · confirmed 2/4
    2021304
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Robert Olen Butler 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.

Christopher Marlowe Cobb in order

4 books
  1. 1. The Hot Country
  2. 2. The Star of Istanbul
  3. 3. The Empire of Night
  4. 4. Paris in the Dark

Best Small Fictions in order

1 book
  1. 1. The Best Small Fictions 2015

Contemporary Literature and the Life of Faith in order

1 book
  1. 4. Listening For God, Vol. 4

New Stories From The South in order

1 book
  1. 7. New Stories from the South 1997

Bibliomysteries in order

1 book
  1. 34. The Hemingway Valise

Standalone books

21 books

21 Robert Olen Butler titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Do you have to read Robert Olen Butler books in order?

You only need to read Robert Olen Butler 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 Robert Olen Butler

Start with The Alleys of Eden (1981), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Robert Olen Butler book?

Late City (2021) is the newest Robert Olen Butler book released so far.

Is there a new Robert Olen Butler book coming?

No next Robert Olen Butler book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Robert Olen Butler at a glance

Paused
No new Robert Olen Butler title has appeared for 5 years. The last was published in 2021.
Release pace
Robert Olen Butler books have appeared about one a year on average.
Length
6,758 pages across the 26 of 29 books with a recorded length, a median of 252 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Robert Olen Butler books, 8 of 29, were published in the 2010s.

What the Robert Olen Butler books are about

26 of the 29 Robert Olen Butler books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: man-woman relationships is tagged on 6 of 26. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.