Human-alien encounters book series in reading order

by Gini Koch

by James Axler

by Ian Douglas

by John Norman

by James White

by E.E. Knight

by Timothy Zahn

by Christopher Paolini

C.J. Cherryh

105 books• 23 series

C.J. Cherryh is the pen name of Carolyn Janice Cherry, an American writer of speculative fiction born September 1, 1942. The silent h came at the prompting of editor Donald A. Wollheim, who judged that Cherry read like the name of a romance writer. Downbelow Station (1981) and Cyteen (1988), both set in the Alliance-Union universe, each won the Hugo Award, and the Foreigner series sits alongside them among Cherryh's notable work. The catalogue holds 105 books from Brothers of Earth (1976) to Alliance Unbound (2024). Worldbuilding grounded in research across history, language, psychology and archeology is what Cherryh is known for.

Julie E. Czerneda

41 books• 10 series

Julie E. Czerneda is a Canadian science fiction and fantasy author and a biologist by education. The catalogue opens in 1992 with the Great Careers guides, non-fiction books on career guidance, before A Thousand Words for Stranger (1997) starts the Trade Pact Universe. Web Shifters, Species Imperative, Stratification, Reunification and the Web Shifter's Library follow, reaching A Shift of Time in 2025. Czerneda has taken four Aurora Awards for Best Novel, for In the Company of Others, A Turn of Light, A Play of Shadow and The Gossamer Mage, and joined the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association Hall of Fame in 2022. 41 titles are listed.

John Ringo, born March 22, 1963, is an American author of science fiction and military fiction, with several New York Times best sellers. The work ranges from straight science fiction to military and political thrillers, and more than seven million copies are in print in seven languages. The catalogue starts with A Hymn Before Battle (2000), followed by Gust Front, March Upcountry and March to the Sea in 2001, and reaches Beyond the Rift (2026). Series include Posleen War, Black Tide Rising, Council Wars, Looking Glass, Troy Rising, Von Neumann's War and Special Circumstances. Subjects include space warfare, human-alien encounters, Navy SEALs and survival.

Whitley Strieber

49 books• 4 series

Whitley Strieber, born Louis Whitley Strieber on June 13, 1945, is an American writer best known for the horror novels The Wolfen (1978) and The Hunger (1980) and for Communion, a non-fiction account of Strieber's reported encounters with non-human entities. Alongside fiction, Strieber promotes metaphysical ideas through bestselling non-fiction, the Unknown Country website and the Dreamland podcast. The catalogue holds 49 books, including Black Magic (1982), The Night Church (1983), Warday (1984), Cat Magic (1986) and Nature's End (1986), and runs to Transformation 2026. Communion, Hunger and Alien Hunter are the series, and UFOs, alien abduction and vampires appear in the subjects.

Nancy Kress

58 books• 10 series

Nancy Kress, born January 20, 1948, is an American science fiction writer who began writing in 1976. Beggars in Spain (1991), a novella that won both the Hugo and Nebula, later grew into a novel. Kress won further Nebula Awards for Best Novella in 2013 and 2015, and also writes a column for Writer's Digest. Series include Sleepless, the Probability Trilogy and the Yesterday's Kin Trilogy, alongside the Write Great Fiction series. The 58 catalogued books run from The Prince of Morning Bells (1981) to The Queen's Witch (2026).

Timothy Zahn

98 books• 26 series

Timothy Zahn, born September 1, 1951, is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy who grew up in Lombard, Illinois. The Star Wars books, above all the Thrawn trilogy, are the core of Zahn's reputation, and those novels are credited with reviving interest in the franchise. Original series include Cobra, Blackcollar, Dragonback, Quadrail, Conquerors Saga, Icarus and Sibyl's War. The catalogue lists 99 books by Zahn, starting with The Blackcollar (1983); Trap Line appeared in 2025 and A Call to Deception is due in 2027.

Alan Dean Foster

162 books• 30 series

Alan Dean Foster, born on 18 November 1946, is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, with several book series, more than 20 standalone novels and many film novelizations. Catalogued titles open with The Tar-Aiym Krang (1972), followed by Bloodhype (1973), Icerigger (1974), Star Trek Log One (1974) and Midworld (1975). Lost on Paradise (2026) is the newest title. Foster series include Pip & Flinx, Icerigger, Journeys of the Catechist, Damned, Star Trek: The Animated, Alien Movie and Transformers. Subjects include the Humanx Commonwealth, interplanetary voyages and human-alien encounters.

Joshua Dalzelle writes science fiction built on human-alien encounters, space colonies and imaginary wars. Omega Force is his first sequence, opening with Omega Rising (2013), and Terran Scout Fleet, the Black Fleet Trilogy, the Expansion Wars Trilogy, the Unification War Trilogy and Gates of Babylon follow it. Thirty-eight books reach Killshot (2026), and Dalzelle is still publishing.

Eric Brown was a British science fiction author and a critic for The Guardian, born on 24 May 1960 and died on 21 March 2023. Catalogue subjects include space opera, human-alien encounters, space colonies and mystery. The earliest listed book is The Time Lapsed Man And Other Stories (1990), followed by Meridian Days (1992) and Engineman (1994). Series credited to Brown include Langham and Dupré Mystery, Starship Seasons, Telemass Quartet, Virex Trilogy and Bengal Station.

Gini Koch

36 books• 7 series

Gini Koch was born Jeanne Marie Gerrard in California and writes science fiction, fantasy and horror from Phoenix, Arizona. The Alien novels, known informally by their lead Katherine 'Kitty' Katt and published in the United States by DAW Books, are the best known part of the catalogue. Koch is Lead Editor at the online zine Raphael's Village and contributes as a columnist, reviewer and webcaster to Slice of SciFi and It's Comic Book Day. The listing holds 36 books from Touched by an Alien (2010) to Aliens Like Them (2026), with the Martian Alliance, New West and Necropolis Enforcement Files sequences alongside.

Brian Lumley

67 books• 9 series

Brian Lumley wrote horror fiction in English. Lumley's early work entered the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft but brought in a new figure, Titus Crow; the Necroscope books, centred on Harry Keogh and his contact with the dead, reached a far wider readership in the 1980s. Sixty-seven books are catalogued between The Caller of the Black (1971) and Brian Lumley's The Best of the Rest (2023), across series including Titus Crow, Dreamlands, Psychomech, Tales of the Primal Land and House Of Doors. Vampires, human-alien encounters and short story collections recur throughout.

Joe Haldeman

48 books• 10 series

Joe Haldeman is an American science fiction writer whose 48 catalogued books begin with War Year (1972). The Forever War (1974) is his best known novel, drawn from his service as a combat soldier in Vietnam, and the Forever War name extends across later books, comics and graphic novel adaptations. The Hemingway Hoax (1991) and Forever Peace (1997) took Hugo and Nebula awards alongside it. Worlds, Marsbound and Attar The Merman are his other series. Human-alien encounters, space colonies, hard science fiction and war supply the subject matter. Haldeman received the SFWA Grand Master award, entered the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2012, and taught writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1983 to 2014.

Liu Cixin

32 books• 1 series

Liu Cixin is a Chinese science fiction writer and computer engineer, born in 1963 and published in English translation as Cixin Liu. The Three-Body Problem (2006) took the 2015 Hugo Award and Death's End the 2017 Locus Award; Liu has also won China's Galaxy Award nine times and the Chinese Nebula Award, and serves as vice president of the Shanxi Writers Association. Thirty-three titles are catalogued from 1998 onward, among them Ball Lightning (2004), The Wandering Earth (2005) and The Dark Forest (2008). Human-alien encounters, imaginary wars and survival recur as subjects.

James Patterson

510 books• 73 series

James Patterson, born on March 22, 1947, is an American writer whose catalogue here holds 514 books published from 1976 to 2027. The run opens with The Thomas Berryman Number (1976), and Along Came a Spider (1992) and Kiss the Girls (1995) follow later. Alex Cross, Michael Bennett, Maximum Ride, Daniel X, Witch & Wizard, NYPD Red, Private, Middle School and the Women's Murder Club are among the Patterson series, alongside standalone thrillers, non-fiction and romance. Marshall Karp shares the credit on 5 of the books. Patterson's sales exceed 425 million copies, and Patterson was the first person to sell one million e-books. Forbes ranked Patterson the highest-paid author in 2016, for a third year running, and the National Book Foundation gave Patterson the Literarian Award in November 2015. 27 Stars is scheduled for 2027.

Orson Scott Card

114 books• 29 series

Orson Scott Card, born August 24, 1951, is an American writer known chiefly for science fiction. Card is the only person, as of 2024, to win both the Hugo and Nebula Awards in consecutive years, for Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). Card coproduced the 2013 film of Ender's Game. The Tales of Alvin Maker won the Locus Fantasy Award. The catalogue counts 114 books from A Planet Called Treason / Treason (1978) to Ender's Tribe (2026), with Homecoming Saga, Mither Mages, Worthing and Women of Genesis among the other series.

Gena Showalter is an American novelist, born in Oklahoma in 1975, who writes contemporary romance, paranormal romance and young adult fiction. Showalter sold a first book at age 27 and has reached the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. The catalogue lists 116 books from The Stone Prince (2004) to The Kraken Bride (2026). Lords of the Underworld, Alien Huntress, Angels of the Dark and the White Rabbit Chronicles are among the linked series, and vampires and demonology recur in the subject headings.

Nnedi Okorafor

40 books• 11 series

Nnedi Okorafor, born Nnedimma Nkemdili Okorafor on April 8, 1974, is a Nigerian American writer of science fiction and fantasy for children and adults. The Binti series and the novels Who Fears Death, Zahrah the Windseeker, Akata Witch, Akata Warrior, Lagoon and Remote Control lead Okorafor's body of work, which also takes in comics and film. Okorafor coined the terms Africanfuturism and Africanjujuism for this writing and has won the Hugo, Nebula, Eisner and World Fantasy awards. The catalogue lists 40 books from Zahrah the Windseeker (2005) to The Daughter Who Remains (2026).

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.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch, born June 4, 1960, is an American writer and editor who works across science fiction, fantasy, mystery, romance and mainstream fiction under several pen names, Kristine Grayson among them. Awards to Kristine Kathryn Rusch include the 2001 Hugo for Best Novelette (Millennium Babies), the 2003 Endeavour Award (The Disappeared) and two Sidewise Awards, for Recovering Apollo 8 in 2008 and The Enemy Within in 2015. Rusch is married to the writer Dean Wesley Smith, who shares credit on 4 catalogued books. The listing runs from the 1988 short story Stained Black to 2026 and includes the Retrieval Artist, Diving Universe, Fey and Oregon Coast / Seavy Village series plus Star Trek tie-ins.

Erich von Däniken

31 books• 1 series

Erich von Daniken was a Swiss author of pseudoscientific books arguing that extraterrestrials shaped early human culture. Chariots of The Gods (1968) opens the catalogue and became a bestseller; Return to the Stars (1970), Gods from Outer Space (1972), Miracles of the Gods (1975) and Signs of the Gods (1980) followed. Thirty-one titles are catalogued to 2022. Scientists and academics reject the claims and class the work as pseudohistory and pseudoarchaeology. Ancient civilisations, UFOs and human-alien encounters are the recorded subjects.

Tracey West, born October 1, 1965, is a children's author who writes for licensed series such as Pokémon and SpongeBob SquarePants. The catalogue lists 356 titles from 1988 to 2027, reaching Heart of the Ruby Dragon (2026), with Claw of the Diamond Dragon due in 2027. Named series include Pokémon chapter books, novelizations and readers, Naruto Chapter Books, LEGO Ninjago Reader, Bakugan Chapter Books, Pixie Tricks, Pet Vet Club and Scream Shop Pick Your Path. Dragon Masters and Heroes in Training appear as recurring lines. Ninja, dragons and plot-your-own stories appear among the subject headings.

James Axler is the pen name under which Mark Ellis wrote scores of Deathlands and Outlanders novels. The books are post-apocalyptic men's adventure: survivalism, the regression of civilisation, imaginary wars and the invented territory called Deathlands. The Axler name carries 234 titles published between 1986 and 2025, from Pilgrimage to Hell (1986) to Wraith Winter (2025). Volumes run long at a median of 347 pages, and Earthblood is a third series beside the two main runs.

Karen Kelley is a US nurse and author who began publishing romance in the early 1990s. The catalogue holds 54 books from Her Angel (1992) to Dark Illusions (2023), with paranormal and fantasy romance, human-alien encounters, shapeshifting and erotica among the recorded subjects. Series under Kelley's name include Planet Nerak, Princes of Symtaria, Warrior Breed, Sisters Bound By Blood, Bachelor and It's a Southern Thing. No further title is scheduled.

Christie Golden is an American author, born November 21, 1963, of novels and short stories in fantasy, horror and science fiction. The catalogue lists 52 Golden books, beginning with Vampire of the Mists (1991) and running to Blood Ties (2025). Series include Star Trek: Voyager: Homecoming, Dark Templar Saga, Starcraft II, Warcraft: Movie Novelization, Star Wars: Battlefront and World of Warcraft: Midnight. Subject tags include Dungeons & Dragons, Ravenloft, space opera, human-alien encounters and Kathryn Janeway. Seven of Nine (1998) is also listed.