Interplanetary voyages book series in reading order

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.

Robert A. Heinlein

83 books• 11 series

Robert A. Heinlein wrote science fiction from 1939, starting with the short story Life Line. Interplanetary voyages, space colonies, space opera and time travel are the recurring subjects, and the catalogue carries a Hugo Award winner. The Future History timeline groups a large part of the early work; the Juveniles were written for younger readers, and World As Myth came later. Eighty-two titles are catalogued, with editions dated through 2025.

Arthur C. Clarke

74 books• 10 series

Sir Arthur C. Clarke (16 December 1917 to 19 March 2008) was an English science fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer and television host. Clarke promoted space travel in books and magazine essays, received UNESCO's Kalinga Prize for popularising science in 1961, and was called the Prophet of the Space Age. The Space Odyssey and Rama series appear in the catalogue with A Time Odyssey and Blue Planet, and Against the Fall of Night (1948), Prelude to Space (1950) and The Sands of Mars (1951) are among the early titles.

William Shatner

33 books• 8 series

William Shatner, born on 22 March 1931, is a Canadian actor who played Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek from 1966 to 1994, from the second pilot of the original television series to Star Trek Generations. Shatner started in Canadian film and television before guest roles on American shows. The catalogue lists 33 Shatner books, from Shatner: Where No Man ... (1979) to Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder (2022), including TekWar (1989), Star Trek Memories (1993) and The Ashes of Eden (1995). Series include Quest for Tomorrow, Star Trek: Odyssey, Star Trek: The Mirror Universe Trilogy and Star Trek: Totality.

Zecharia Sitchin wrote the Earth Chronicles, a non-fiction sequence arguing extraterrestrial influence on ancient civilisation. The 12th Planet (1976) opens the run, followed by The Stairway to Heaven (1980), The Wars of Gods and Men (1985), Genesis Revisited (1990) and The Lost Book of Enki (2001). Ancient history, the Bible, cosmogony and human-alien encounters are the subjects. Sixteen titles are catalogued through 2015.

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.

Lois McMaster Bujold

54 books• 8 series

Lois McMaster Bujold, born November 2, 1949, is an American writer of speculative fiction who has won the Hugo Award for best novel four times, equalling Robert A. Heinlein's record. The Vorkosigan Saga is her best-known work: science fiction novels set about 1000 years in the future and featuring Miles Vorkosigan of the planet Barrayar, a physically impaired man who serves as interstellar spy and mercenary admiral. The catalogue lists 54 books from 1986 to Darksight Dare (2026), including Shards of Honor, The Warrior's Apprentice, Falling Free, Brothers in Arms and The Vor Game. Other series listings include Penric and Desdemona, Sharing Knife and Curse Of Chalion. SFWA named Bujold its 36th Grand Master in 2019.

Poul Anderson

160 books• 18 series

Poul Anderson (25 November 1926 to 31 July 2001) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy who also wrote historical novels. Anderson won the Hugo Award seven times and the Nebula Award three times. The catalogue lists 160 titles, from Duel on Syrtis (1951) to Swordsmen from the Stars (2020), with series including Flandry, the Polesotechnic League, the Psychotechnic League, Time Patrol, Hoka, Maurai, King of Ys and Harvest of Stars. Subjects on file include space opera, time travel, space warfare and epic fantasy.

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.

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.

The Expanse is the work James S.A. Corey is catalogued for: space opera built on interplanetary voyages, space warfare and conspiracy. Leviathan Wakes (2011) opens it, followed by Caliban's War (2012), Abaddon's Gate (2013) and Cibola Burn (2014), with novellas such as The Butcher of Anderson Station, Drive and Gods of Risk between them. Corey also wrote the Star Wars novel Razor's Edge (2013) and has started the Captive's War series. Twenty-nine titles are catalogued, reaching The Faith of Beasts in 2026.

David A. Drake (1945-2023) wrote science fiction and fantasy. A Vietnam War veteran, Drake practised law before turning to military science fiction. The catalogue holds 106 books published between 1975 and 2021, from The Barrow Troll (1975) to The Serpent (2021). Series include Hammer's Slammers, the Lt. Leary / RCN novels featuring Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy, the Books of the Elements, Northworld, Reaches and Crown Of The Isles. Tony Daniel shares the credit on 2 titles and Eric Flint on 1. Subjects record space warfare, imaginary wars and battles, and epic fantasy.

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.

Steven Erikson

33 books• 5 series

Steven Erikson writes epic fantasy. The Malazan Book of the Fallen, opened by Gardens of the Moon (1999), is the central sequence, and 33 catalogued books reach Legacies of Betrayal in 2026 by way of the Kharkanas Trilogy, the Bauchelain and Korbal Broach novellas and the Willful Child science fiction. Imaginary wars, magic and invented places run through the subjects.

Becky Chambers

9 books• 4 series

Becky Chambers, born May 3, 1985, is an American science fiction writer and a pioneer of the hopepunk genre. The Wayfarers series won a Hugo Award, and the Monk & Robot series opens with A Psalm for the Wild-Built (2021), also a Hugo winner. To Be Taught, If Fortunate (2019) is a separate novella. The catalogue lists 9 works, from A Good Heretic (2013) and The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (2014) to As You Wake, Break the Shell (2026). Tagged subjects include space opera, interplanetary voyages, extraterrestrial beings and LGBTQ science fiction.

Peter F. Hamilton

48 books• 18 series

Peter F. Hamilton is a British author of science fiction space opera, born in 1960. Catalogue entries run from Mindstar Rising (1993) to The Helium Sea (2026). Series include Greg Mandel, Night's Dawn, Commonwealth Saga, Commonwealth: Chronicle of the Fallers, Salvation Sequence, Arkship Trilogy, Archimedes Engine and Queen of Dreams. The Suspect Genome (1993), A Quantum Murder (1994) and The Reality Dysfunction (1996) are among the earlier titles. Space colonies, telepathy and space warfare appear in the subjects.

Ben Bova

138 books• 17 series

Ben Bova, born Benjamin William Bova on November 8, 1932, was an American writer and editor whose career lasted 60 years; Bova died on November 29, 2020. As editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Bova won the Hugo Award six times, later served as editorial director of Omni, and was president of both the National Space Society and the Science Fiction Writers of America. The catalogue holds 138 books of science fiction and science fact, from The Star Conquerors (1959) to Pluto (2025). Non-fiction such as The Milky Way Galaxy (1961) sits beside series including Grand Tour, Orion, Kinsman, Sam Gunn, Jake Ross and the Star Quest Trilogy. Subjects name space opera, lunar bases, space stations and space colonies.

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).

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.

Jack McDevitt

35 books• 4 series

Jack McDevitt, born April 14, 1935, is an American science fiction author whose novels often turn on contact with alien races and on archaeology, including xenoarchaeology. Two sets of characters carry most of the books: the relic hunters Alex Benedict and Chase Kolpath, and the faster-than-light pilot Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins. Seeker took the 2006 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and McDevitt has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula and John W. Campbell awards many times. The catalogue lists 35 books from The Hercules Text (1986) to Doorway to the Stars (2024), including A Talent for War (1989), The Engines of God (1994), Eternity Road (1997) and Moonfall (1998). The first published McDevitt story was "The Emerson Effect" in The Twilight Zone Magazine in 1981.

Gene Wolfe

56 books• 8 series

The Book of the New Sun, four volumes published from 1980 to 1983, is the work Gene Wolfe is best known for and the first part of the Solar Cycle; a 1998 Locus poll ranked it the third-best fantasy novel published before 1990. Wolfe was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, born May 7, 1931, who died April 14, 2019, and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Wolfe was noted for dense, allusive prose, a fascination with memory and the strong influence of Catholic faith. The catalogue lists 56 books from 1970 to 2023, among them Operation Ares (1970), The Fifth Head of Cerberus (1972), Peace (1975) and The Shadow of the Torturer (1980). Series include Urth: Book of the Long Sun, Urth: Book of the Short Sun, Soldier Of The Mist and Wizard Knight.

Greg Bear

52 books• 12 series

American science fiction writer Greg Bear was born on August 20, 1951 and died on November 19, 2022. Conflict, consciousness and accelerated evolution run through the work. Two novels, The Forge of God and Anvil of Stars, established Bear's reputation, and Moving Mars won a Nebula Award. Series include Eon, Queen of Angels, Songs of Earth and Power, Darwin's Radio and Halo: The Forerunner Saga. The 52 catalogued books begin with Psychlone (1979) and close with The Unfinished Land.

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.

Gregory Benford

48 books• 7 series

Gregory Benford, born January 30, 1941, is an American science fiction author and astrophysicist, professor emeritus in physics and astronomy at the University of California, Irvine, and a contributing editor of Reason magazine. The Galactic Center sequence, which Benford opened with In the Ocean of Night (1977), sets sentient organic life against sentient electromechanical life across a galaxy at war. Benford wrote The Scarred Man in 1969, the first story about a computer virus, published in 1970. The catalogue holds 48 books from 1969 to 2021, including Timescape (1980) and Shadows of Eternity (2021), with Jupiter Project and Martian Race among the other groupings.