Science Fiction authors: books in reading order

John Scalzi

75 books• 17 series

John Scalzi, born May 10, 1969, is an American science fiction author and a former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The Old Man's War series is Scalzi's best known work, and three of its novels earned Hugo Award nominations. Scalzi has kept the blog Whatever since 1998, won the 2008 Hugo for Best Fan Writer largely on its strength, and used it for charity drives. Non-fiction subjects include finance, video games, film, astronomy, writing and politics, and Scalzi consulted on the series Stargate Universe. The catalogue holds 75 titles from Rough Guide to Money Online (2000) to Monsters of Ohio (2026), including Agent to the Stars (2004), Old Man's War (2005) and The Android's Dream (2006).

Douglas Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author, humourist and screenwriter, born in Cambridge and died in Santa Barbara, California, of a heart attack at 49. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy began as a BBC radio comedy in 1978 and grew into a five-book trilogy that sold more than 14 million copies during Adams's lifetime, with a 1981 television series, a 1984 video game and a 2005 feature film. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979), The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980), Life, the Universe and Everything (1982) and So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (1984) appear in the catalogue, as do The Meaning of Liff (1983) and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987).

Ann Leckie

15 books• 2 series

Ann Leckie, born March 2, 1966, is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy. Leckie's debut novel, Ancillary Justice (2013), features artificial consciousness and gender-blindness and won the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Novel along with the Nebula, Arthur C. Clarke and BSFA awards. Ancillary Sword (2014) and Ancillary Mercy (2015) each took a Locus Award. Provenance (2017), Translation State (2023) and Radiant Star (2026) share the Imperial Radch setting, and The Raven Tower (2019) is Leckie's first fantasy novel. The catalogue's 15 titles begin with Hesperia and Glory (2006), and an Imperial Radch short stories and novellas line sits beside the main series.

Evan Currie, born in 1976, is a Canadian writer of space opera, military science fiction and techno-thrillers. His 41 catalogued books span 2011 to 2026, from Into the Black (2011) to Once and Future (2026), grouped into sequences including Odyssey One, Warrior's Wings, Archangel One, Imperium of Terra, Scourwind Legacy, Superhuman, Anselm Gunnar and SEAL Team 13. Human-alien encounters, interplanetary voyages, space warfare and conspiracies are the recurring subjects. Currie studied computer sciences and has worked in the lobster industry, and his books have been translated into Polish and German.

Christopher Ruocchio

15 books• 3 series

Christopher Ruocchio is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, best known for The Sun Eater series. The first Sun Eater book won the 2019 Manly Wade Wellman Award, and the second, Howling Dark, was a 2020 Dragon Award nominee. Ruocchio previously worked as an assistant editor at Baen Books and has co-edited four genre anthologies. The catalogue lists 15 titles from Empire of Silence (2018) to Songs of the Sun Eater (2026), including Demon in White (2020), Ashes of Man (2022) and the Tales of the Sun Eater story volumes.

Cixin Liu is a Chinese science fiction writer, published in English under that form of his name and a winner of the Hugo Award. Two titles are catalogued: Death's End (2017) and The Redemption of Time (2021). Human-alien encounters, imaginary wars, space flight and survival are the recorded subjects, and nothing later than 2021 is catalogued.

Douglas E. Richards, born May 7, 1962, is an American writer of science fiction and of fiction and non-fiction for children. The catalogue lists 38 Richards books from Trapped and Wired (both 2005) to Nexus (2026). Genetic engineering, bioterrorism, extraterrestrials and women medical scientists appear among the subjects. The Richards series include Nick Hall, Prometheus Project, Alien Artifact, Split Second, Frequency, Rift, Epic of Atlantis and Galactic Resurgence.

Vaughn Heppner is catalogued under science fiction, with space opera, space warfare, human-alien encounters and interplanetary voyages among the recorded subjects. The catalogue holds 122 books from Giants (2001) to The Lost Maddox (2026), including a run of 2010 titles among them Battle Pod, Bio-Weapon, Dark Crusade, Eden, Gog and Leviathan. Series include the Lost Starship, the Lost Civilization, the Invaders, the Doom Star books, Extinction Wars, the Ark Chronicles, Gravity Wars and Starhunter. All 122 books are credited to Heppner alone.

Ken Lozito writes science fiction, and space warfare is the subject recorded across the catalogue. Forty books run from Road to Shandara (2013) to Remnant (2026). Federation Chronicles, Safanarion Order, First Colony, Space Raiders and Browning's Gambit are the five series credited to Lozito. Star Alliance, Star Divide and Star Shroud all appeared in 2016, and Heir of Shandara is dated 2015. Lozito is still publishing.

Iain M. Banks

32 books• 3 series

Iain M. Banks (16 February 1954 – 9 June 2013), born Iain Menzies Banks, was a Scottish author who published mainstream fiction as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks. The Wasp Factory (1984), the debut novel, has sold over a million copies in 80 languages, allowed Banks to write full time, and was ranked second-best Scottish novel of all time in a 2016 BBC Scotland poll. The Times placed Banks on its 2008 list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. The catalogue of 32 books includes the Culture novels Consider Phlebas (1987), The Player of Games (1988) and Use of Weapons (1990), as well as The Crow Road (1992), and ends with The Culture: The Drawings (2023).

Michael Mammay writes military science fiction. A retired army officer and a graduate of the United States Military Academy, he holds a master's degree in military history. Planetside (2018), his first novel, was a Library Journal Best Books of 2018 pick, and the sequels Spaceside (2019) and Colonyside (2020) drew starred reviews. Generation Ship (2023) took him outside the military science fiction subgenre for the first time. Eight books are catalogued through Blindside (2025), with The Misfit Soldier (2022), The Weight of Command (2022) and Darkside (2024) among them. Mammay lives in Georgia.

Robert M. Kerns writes science fiction and fantasy across six series: the Histories of Drakmoor, the Primogenitor Saga, Cole & Srexx, Shepherd Security Services, Sorcerous Pursuits and the Sam Colton Mysteries. Awakening (2018) opens the catalogue, and Into Vushaar, Haven Ascendant and Archmagister follow. Twenty-three titles reach Sol (2026).

Sylvain Neuvel

12 books• 2 series

Canadian science fiction writer Sylvain Neuvel, born 1973, also works as a linguist and translator. Neuvel wrote two series, The Themis Files and Take Them to the Stars. The catalogue lists 12 entries from 2016 to 2026, including Sleeping Giants (2016), Waking Gods (2017), Only Human (2018), A History of What Comes Next (2021), Until the Last of Me (2022) and The Many (2026), plus several entries titled FILE with a number. Robots, giants and women physicists appear among the subject headings.

Tamsyn Muir

12 books• 2 series

Tamsyn Muir, a New Zealand fantasy, science fiction and horror author born on 14 March 1985, is best known for The Locked Tomb, a science fantasy novel series. Gideon the Ninth (2019), the first Muir novel, won the 2020 Locus Award, and Harrow the Ninth followed in 2020. The catalogue lists 12 books from The House that Made the Sixteen Loops of Time (2011) to The Unwanted Guest (2023). Subject tags include necromancy, lesbians, dark fantasy and LGBTQ science fiction and fantasy, and Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower is also listed.

Dennis Taylor writes science fiction about artificial intelligence and the colonisation of space. Four books are catalogued: We Are Legion (2017), For We Are Many (2017), All These Worlds (2017) and Heaven's River (2020). Space flight, space warfare, planets and the extinction of the human race are the recorded subjects. Nothing has followed 2020.

George R. R. Martin and various others is the shared credit on the Wild Cards books, a science fiction anthology run about superheroes. Wild Cards (1986) is the first volume, followed by Aces High and Jokers Wild in 1987. The catalogue holds 26 books over nearly four decades, with card-game titles such as Down and Dirty, Dead Man's Hand, Jokertown Shuffle and Deuces Down. New York City is a setting, and House Rules (2025) is the newest volume.

Matthew Mather

18 books• 5 series

Matthew Mather was a Canadian science fiction writer, born on September 28, 1969, who died on September 13, 2022. Cyberstorm (2013) is the best-known Mather book, and 20th Century Fox bought the film rights. Mather's books have been translated into eighteen languages and were both self-published and issued through publishers including HarperCollins and 47North. The catalogue opens with The Atopia Chronicles / Blue Skies (2012) and lists the Atopia Chronicles, CyberStorm, Delta Devlin and Aeon series. Other titles include Darknet (2015), The Utopia Chronicles (2017) and Polar Vortex (2019).

Paul Antony Jones writes science fiction. Catalogue subjects record the end of the world, survivalism, virus diseases, women journalists and horror. Two series are listed: Extinction Point and This Alien Earth. Jones's 10 catalogued books run from Toward Yesterday (2011) to The Children of Tomorrow (2020), all credited alone, taking in Extinction Point (2012), Exodus (2013), Revelations (2014), Genesis (2015), The Darkening (2016), Kings (2017), A Memory of Mankind (2019) and The Paths Between Worlds (2019).

Fred Hughes writes science fiction, and every one of the 9 books credited to Hughes carries the word Prince in its title. The catalogued run covers 2022 to 2024: Prince Commander (2022), The Prince Awakens (2022), Prince Liberator (2023), Prince Peacemaker (2023), Prince Renegade (2023), Prince War Leader (2023), Prince Conqueror (2024), Prince Dominator (2024) and Prince Imperator (2024). Four of the books are dated 2023. The two measured volumes have a median length of 406 pages, and Hughes remains actively publishing.