Prehistoric peoples book series in reading order

Michelle Paver

22 books• 3 series

Michelle Paver, born in 1960, is a British novelist. Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, her children's historical fantasy series set in prehistoric Europe, began with Wolf Brother (2004) and has sold more than 2.5 million copies in 30 languages; Spirit Walker (2005), Soul Eater (2006), Outcast (2007) and Oath Breaker (2008) follow. Gods and Warriors turns to the Bronze Age Mediterranean, and the Daughters Of Eden Trilogy and standalone adult novels sit alongside, beginning with Without Charity (2000). Born in Nyasaland, now Malawi, Paver moved to England as a young child and worked as a solicitor before writing full time. Twenty-two books are catalogued to 2022.

Earth's Children is the whole of Jean M. Auel's catalogue: six novels of prehistoric life opening with The Clan of the Cave Bear (1980) and closing with The Land of Painted Caves (2011). Ayla is the central character. Neanderthals, the glacial epoch, shamanism and sign language recur as subjects. The books are long, at a median of 626 pages.

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.

William Sarabande is the pen name of Joan Lesley Hamilton Cline, who started writing at 17 and first appeared in print in 1979. The First Americans series carries the Sarabande name across 12 catalogued books, from Beyond the Sea of Ice (1987) through Corridor of Storms (1988), Walkers of the Wind (1990) and Thunder in the Sky (1992) to Spirit Moon (2000). Subjects cover prehistoric peoples, Native Americans and historical fiction. The catalogue opens with Wolves of the Dawn (1986), filed with Celts and the Bronze Age.

Piers Anthony is the publishing name of Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob, born August 6, 1934, an American science fiction and fantasy writer. The long-running Xanth novels, set in the imaginary realm of Xanth, are his best-known work. Anthony has counted among his chief achievements the publication of a book beginning with every letter of the alphabet, from Anthonology to Zombie Lover, and a number of his books have reached The New York Times Best Seller list. This catalogue lists 195 titles from Chthon (1967) to Knicklepede Knight (2026), including the Apprentice Adept, Cluster, Battle Circle, Mode and Incarnations of Immortality sequences.

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.

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.

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.

Edgar Rice Burroughs

81 books• 12 series

Edgar Rice Burroughs (1 September 1875 to 19 March 1950) was an American writer of adventure, science fiction and fantasy, and the creator of Tarzan and John Carter. Burroughs wrote twenty-four Tarzan books and eleven books with John Carter as a recurring character, along with the Pellucidar and Amtor series and the Caspak trilogy. Tarzan also became a syndicated comic strip, films and merchandise. Catalogued titles begin in 1912 with A Princess of Mars and Tarzan of the Apes, followed by The Gods of Mars (1913), The Return of Tarzan (1913) and At the Earth's Core (1914). Subjects include extraterrestrial beings, Africa and Dejah Thoris.

Graham Hancock

27 books• 1 series

Graham Hancock writes about ancient civilisations, lost continents and the record of early exploration. The catalogue starts in travel and reportage, with Africa Guide 1980 (1979), Journey Through Pakistan (1982), Ethiopia (1985), AIDS (1986) and Lords of Poverty (1989). 27 titles are catalogued in all, the last being Visionary: The Mysterious Origins of Human Consciousness in 2022.

Guardians of Ga'Hoole is one of the series by Kathryn Lasky, an American children's writer born June 24, 1944, who writes for adults as Kathryn Lasky Knight and E. L. Swann. Lasky's children's work also includes Dear America and The Royal Diaries books, Wolves of the Beyond, Sugaring Time and The Night Journey, and honours include a Newbery Honor, the National Jewish Book Award and the Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature. The catalogue holds 159 books from I Have Four Names for My Grandfather (1976) to Sacred Light (2026), including Tugboats Never Sleep (1977), The Weaver's Gift (1980) and Beyond the Divide (1983). Horses Of The Dawn, Bears Of The Ice and Camp Princess are further series, and subjects name owls, wolves, diaries and Jews.

Jill Paton Walsh, 1937 to 2020, was an English novelist and children's writer, born Gillian Bliss and later Baroness Hemingford. Knowledge of Angels, nominated for the Booker Prize, stands among the best known of the work, along with the Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane mysteries that continued Dorothy L. Sayers's series. The Imogen Quy mysteries follow, with the University of Cambridge among the catalogued subjects, beside a long run of children's fiction on history and the Second World War. The catalogue lists 48 titles dated 1965 to 2013, opening with Wordhoard: Anglo-Saxon Stories (1965) and taking in Fireweed (1969), The Dolphin Crossing (1970), Goldengrove (1972) and The Emperor's Winding Sheet (1974). The Late Scholar (2013) is the last catalogued title.

Linda Lay Shuler wrote historical fiction about the prehistoric peoples of North America. Three books make up the Time Circle sequence: She Who Remembers (1988), Voice of the Eagle (1992) and Let the Drum Speak (1996). Indians of North America, the Zuni and prehistoric life are the catalogued subjects, and the sequence has stood complete since 1996.