Robert Rankin Books in Order
Robert Rankin has written 39 books, published between 1981 and 2025. The first book is The Antipope (1981) and the newest is Normanghast (2025). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 39
- Published
- 1981–2025
- Confirmed
- 39 of 39 titles
- Pages on record
- 9,791 in 29 of 39 books
- Reading time
- 163–245 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 9,791 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 29 of 39 titles with a page count on record.
Robert Rankin, born in 1949 in Parsons Green, London, writes comedic fantasy. 39 catalogued books run from The Antipope (1981) to Normanghast (2025). Brentford, Cornelius Murphy, Eddie Bear, the Japanese Devil Fish Girl and the Barking Mad Trilogy are the series, and the novels mix science fiction, fantasy, the occult, urban legend, running gags, metafiction and steampunk. Rankin entered the bestseller lists with Snuff Fiction in 1999, by which point his previous eighteen books had sold around a million copies. Rankin calls the style Far Fetched Fiction.
How many Robert Rankin books are there?
Robert Rankin has 39 books, released between 1981 and 2025. They include 6 separate series.
Robert Rankin Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 39 Robert Rankin 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.
- 119812833/4
- 219822403/4
- 319842843/4
- 419882863/4
- 519903313/4
- 619912403/4
- 719923143/4
- 819933473/4
- 919943523/4
- 1019943203/4
- 1119953173/4
- 121995–3/4
- 1319963173/4
- 1419963203/4
- 1519973503/4
- 1619973653/4
- 1719983363/4
- 1819983643/4
- 1919993613/4
- 2019993813/4
- 2120002793/4
- 2220013893/4
- 2320013803/4
- 2420023423/4
- 2520034003/4
- 2620043843/4
- 2720054163/4
- 2820063433/4
- 2920073503/4
- 3020084003/4
- 312009–3/4
- 32The Japanese Devil Fish Girland Other Unnatural AttractionsJapanese Devil Fish Girl #12010 · confirmed 3/42010–3/4
- 33The Mechanical Messiah and Other Marvels of the Modern AgeJapanese Devil Fish Girl #22011 · confirmed 3/42011–3/4
- 342012–3/4
- 35The Chickens of Atlantis and Other Foul and Filthy FiendsJapanese Devil Fish Girl #42013 · confirmed 3/42013–3/4
- 362014–3/4
- 372017–3/4
- 382019–3/4
- 392025–3/4
Robert Rankin 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.
Robert Rankin Standalone Novels
12 books12 titles published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.
Brentford in order
11 booksCornelius Murphy in order
4 booksJapanese Devil Fish Girl in order
4 booksArmageddon in order
3 booksBarking Mad Trilogy in order
3 booksEddie Bear in order
2 booksDo you have to read Robert Rankin books in order?
You only need to read Robert Rankin books in order within each series: the books listed here span 6 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.
Where to start with Robert Rankin
Start with The Antipope (1981), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Robert Rankin book?
Normanghast (2025) is the newest Robert Rankin book released so far.
Is there a new Robert Rankin book coming?
No next Robert Rankin 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 Rankin at a glance
- Still publishing
- Robert Rankin published a book as recently as 2025.
- Release pace
- Robert Rankin books have appeared about one a year on average.
- Length
- 9,791 pages across the 29 of 39 books with a recorded length, a median of 343 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Robert Rankin books, 16 of 39, were published in the 1990s.
What the Robert Rankin books are about
34 of the 39 Robert Rankin 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 11 of 34. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Science fiction 11 of 34 books
- Humor 10 of 34 books
- Fantasy 6 of 34 books
- End of the world 3 of 34 books
- Time travel 3 of 34 books
- Conspiracies 2 of 34 books
- Cornelius Murphy (Fictitious character) 2 of 34 books
- England 2 of 34 books
- Science fiction, action & adventure 2 of 34 books
- Science fiction, steampunk 2 of 34 books