Alternative history book series in reading order

by Taylor Anderson

by Genevieve Cogman

Harry Turtledove

141 books• 28 series

Harry Turtledove, born June 14, 1949, is an American historian and novelist of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction and mystery, based in Southern California. The catalogue counts 142 books, starting with Wereblood and Werenight (1979), published as Eric G. Iverson, and listing The Succulent Succubus for 2027. Other pen names are H. N. Turteltaub, Dan Chernenko and Mark Gordian. The Videssos Cycle, Southern Victory / Timeline-191, Worldwar, Colonization, Crosstime Traffic, The War That Came Early and Gerin the Fox are among the series. World War II and the American Civil War are frequent subjects.

Eric Flint's catalogue opens with Mother of Demons (1997) and runs to 1637: The Pilgrim's Passage (2026). 1632 appeared in 2000, alongside Fortune's Stroke and Rats, Bats & Vats, and In the Heart of Darkness (1998) and Destiny's Shield (1999) came before it. Series include Ring of Fire: Assiti Shards, Grantville Gazette, Belisarius, Jao, Boundary, Pyramid, Demon Rift and Rats, Bats & Vats, and two short fiction lines carry Dave Freer's name alongside Flint's. Subjects include time travel, alternate history, West Virginia, Europe, the Thirty Years' War and life on other planets.

S.M. Stirling

96 books• 25 series

Born in France on September 30, 1953, Stephen Michael Stirling writes science fiction and fantasy as S.M. Stirling and holds Canadian and American nationality. Stirling is the author of the Draka alternate history novels, the Nantucket books combining time travel with alternate history, and the Emberverse. The catalogue starts with Snow Brother (1985), then The Sharpest Edge (1986), Marching Through Georgia (1988) and Under the Yoke (1989). Series include Raj Whitehall, Fifth Millennium, Island in the Sea of Time, Dies the Fire, Lords of Creation, Shadowspawn and T2. Subjects include time travel, the regression of civilization, imaginary wars and space warfare.

Taylor Anderson is a former history professor, an artillery and firearms expert, and a re-enactor. His Destroyermen series follows the crews of the USS Walker, the USS Mahan and the USS S-19 in their fight against the Grik, and short stories extend the same fictional universe. The catalogue holds 24 books published between 2008 and 2026, opening with Into the Storm and Crusade in 2008 and reaching Fleet of Ghosts in 2026, with the Artillerymen and Corps of Discovery sequences alongside. Alternative history, naval battles, the Second World War and time travel recur as subjects. Anderson has consulted on weapons for media organisations, including the 2004 film The Alamo.

Stephen Baxter

78 books• 19 series

Time travel, alternative history, space exploration and prehistoric peoples run through the 78 catalogued books of Stephen Baxter, an English hard science fiction author born in 1957 who holds degrees in mathematics and engineering. Raft (1991), Timelike Infinity (1992), Anti-Ice (1993), Flux (1993), Ring (1994), The Time Ships (1995), Voyage (1996) and Titan (1997) are among the early titles, and Hearthspace (2025) is the newest. Series include the Xeelee Sequence, Manifold, Destiny's Children, Time's Tapestry, Northland, NASA Trilogy, Mammoth, Flood and World Engines.

Mercedes Lackey

230 books• 52 series

Valdemar, a country in the world of Velgarth, is the setting for many of Mercedes Lackey's interlinked fantasy novels and trilogies. Lackey, an American writer born on June 24, 1950, brings human and non-human protagonists from many cultures together in the Valdemar books. A second Lackey setting resembles Earth but hides populations of elves, mages, vampires and other mythical beings. Bedlam's Bard follows a young man who works magic through music, SERRAted Edge features elves who race cars, and the Diana Tregarde thrillers star a Wiccan fighting evil. Arrows of the Queen (1987), Arrow's Flight (1987) and Arrow's Fall (1988) are among the listed titles, and Elemental Masters and Five Hundred Kingdoms are further series.

Rachel Caine

63 books• 11 series

Rachel Caine was the pen name of Roxanne Longstreet Conrad (April 27, 1962 to November 1, 2020), an American writer of science fiction, fantasy, mystery, suspense and horror. The catalogue lists 63 books under the Caine name, starting with The Undead (1993) and Cold Kiss (1995). Series include Weather Warden, Outcast Season, Morganville Vampires, Stillhouse Lake, Great Library, Red Letter Days and Revivalist. Subjects on file include vampires, weather control, jinn and university towns.

Genevieve Cogman

11 books• 2 series

Genevieve Cogman's Invisible Library sequence opens her catalogue: The Invisible Library (2014), The Masked City (2015), The Burning Page (2016), The Lost Plot (2017), The Mortal Word (2018), The Secret Chapter (2019), The Dark Archive (2020) and The Untold Story (2021). The Scarlet Revolution series follows with Scarlet (2023), Elusive (2024) and Damned (2025), for 11 books in all. Librarians, rare books, secret societies and alternative history are the recurring subjects. Cogman is a British writer of fantasy and of role-playing games, and remains actively publishing.

Anne Bishop writes dark fantasy. The Black Jewels series begins with Daughter of the Blood (1998) and runs on witches and the imagined realm of Terreille; The Others and the World of the Others turn to shapeshifters, werewolves and vampires. Ephemera, Tir Alainn and An Isle of Wyrd fill out 32 catalogued titles, with Storms of Fate scheduled for 2027. Books run 430 pages at the median.

Charlaine Harris

78 books• 14 series

Charlaine Harris, born Jean Charlaine Harris Schulz on November 25, 1951, in Tunica, Mississippi, is an American author specialising in mysteries. The Southern Vampire Mysteries, Harris's best-known series, became HBO's True Blood, which ran for seven seasons from 2008 to 2014. The catalogue starts with Sweet and Deadly (1981) and A Secret Rage (1984) and reaches The Last Wizards' Ball (2025). Sookie Stackhouse, Aurora Teagarden, Lily Bard, Gunnie Rose and Midnight, Texas are among the series. Vampires, werewolves and women librarians appear in the subjects, and Harris lives in Texas.

Neal Stephenson

34 books• 8 series

Neal Stephenson (Neal Town Stephenson, born October 31, 1959) is an American writer of speculative fiction classed as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk and baroque. Mathematics, cryptography, linguistics, philosophy, currency and the history of science recur in the novels. The site lists 34 books from The Big U (1984) to D: Heavy Water (2026), including Snow Crash (1992) and Cryptonomicon (1999). Baroque Cycle and Foreworld Saga are series. Stephenson and George Jewsbury, an uncle, co-wrote novels as Stephen Bury.

Lilith Saintcrow, born December 31, 1976 in New Mexico, is an American author of urban fantasy, historical fantasy, paranormal romance and steampunk, living in Vancouver, Washington. Books for teenage readers carry the pen name Lili St. Crow. The catalogue lists 83 books from Dark Watcher (2004) to Nigel (2026). Jill Kismet, Dante Valentine, Bannon & Clare, Steelflower Chronicles and Gallow and Ragged are among Saintcrow's series, and Working for the Devil dates from 2006.

Robert J. Sawyer

36 books• 6 series

Canadian and American science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer was born in Ottawa on April 29, 1960. Sawyer has published 25 novels, and short fiction by Sawyer has appeared in Analog, Amazing Stories, On Spec and Nature. Awards include the Nebula for Best Novel in 1995, the Hugo for Best Novel in 2003, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 2006 and the Robert A. Heinlein Award in 2017, plus more Aurora Awards than any other writer. The catalogue has 36 books from Golden Fleece (1990) to Sawyer on Science Fiction (2026), including the Quintaglio Ascension, Neanderthal Parallax and WWW series.