Science fiction, fantasy, horror book series in reading order

by Anne Bishop

Sean Williams

43 books• 15 series

Sean Williams, full name Sean Llewellyn Williams and born 23 May 1967, is an Australian science fiction author living in Adelaide, South Australia, with several New York Times bestsellers. Catalogue subjects include space opera, hard science fiction, space warfare and fantasy. The 43 books run from Doorway to eternity (1994) to Little Labyrinths: Speculative Microfictions (2021), and Shane Dix shares the credit on 3. Series include Books of the Cataclysm, Evergence, Orphans Trilogy, Astropolis, Twinmaker and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

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.

Karen Chance is an American fantasy novelist. Chance grew up in Orlando, Florida, has lived in France, Great Britain, Hong Kong and New Orleans, taught history there, and has written full time since 2008. The Cassie Palmer books follow a clairvoyant who becomes the Pythia, chief seer of the supernatural world; Midnight's Daughter (2008) opens a spin-off from that sequence, and Dorina Basarab and Lia de Croissets are the other series. Forty-eight catalogued titles run from Touch the Dark (2006) to Rogue Elements (2026), at a median 418 pages. Vampires, clairvoyants and the occult recur as subjects.

Stephen King

223 books• 25 series

Horror fiction is the field most closely tied to Stephen King, an American author born on September 21, 1947, and nicknamed the "King of Horror". King's work also reaches into suspense, crime, science fiction, fantasy and mystery, and includes roughly 200 short stories, most later gathered in collections. Carrie (1974) was the debut that set King in horror; Different Seasons (1982), four novellas in one volume, marked the first major step outside it. The catalogue lists 223 books from 1971 to 2026, starting with The Blue Air Compressor, a short story, and reaching Other Worlds Than These (2026). Series on file include Holly Gibney, the Bill Hodges Trilogy, Green Mile, Shining and Talisman.

Alastair Reynolds

46 books• 7 series

Alastair Preston Reynolds, born 13 March 1966, is a Welsh science fiction author who specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. Forty-nine books sit in the catalogue, from A Spy in Europa (1997) to Halcyon Years (2026). Revelation Space (2000), Chasm City (2001), Redemption Ark (2002) and Absolution Gap (2003) come early in the run. Revelation Space, Revenger, Poseidon's Children, Medusa Chronicles and the Inspector Dreyfus books are the series credited to Reynolds. Subjects on record include life on other planets, space colonies, space warfare, time travel and human-alien encounters.

Andrzej Sapkowski

17 books• 5 series

Andrzej Sapkowski is a Polish fantasy writer, born 21 June 1948, best known for The Witcher, the saga of the monster hunter Geralt of Rivia. The Witcher has reached video games, television, the stage and comics, and appears in 37 languages; only Stanisław Lem is translated more among Polish science fiction and fantasy writers. Sapkowski's books have sold over 30 million copies and draw on Slavic mythology. The 17 catalogued titles run from Something Ends, Something Begins (1988) through The Last Wish (1993) and Blood of Elves (1994) to Crossroads of Ravens (2025), with the Hussite Trilogy as a second series.

Robert Kirkman

181 books• 31 series

Robert Kirkman, born 30 November 1978, is an American comic book writer, screenwriter and producer. Kirkman co-created The Walking Dead, Invincible, Tech Jacket, Outcast, Oblivion Song and Fire Power for Image Comics, wrote Ultimate X-Men, Irredeemable Ant-Man and Marvel Zombies for Marvel Comics, and worked with Todd McFarlane on Haunt. Kirkman is one of the five partners of Image Comics and serves as its COO. The catalogue gathers 181 volumes published between 2001 and 2026, listed as graphic novel and omnibus collections, from Battle Pope, Vol. 1: Genesis (2001) to The Emissary (2026). Charlie Adlard shares the credit on 2 volumes and Sean Phillips on 1.

Jennifer Fallon, born 1959, is an Australian fantasy and science fiction author who also works as a businesswoman, trainer and business consultant. Fallon holds a master's degree from the Creative Arts faculty at QUT, works in IT as a computer trainer and application specialist, and spends a month of each year at Scott Base in Antarctica. The catalogue records 27 books between Medalon (2000) and Retribution (2017). The Hythrun Chronicles run in three parts, Demon Child, Wolfblade and War of the Gods, and Tide Lords and Rift Runners are further series. One catalogued book also credits Sonny Whitelaw.

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.

Isobelle Carmody

37 books• 8 series

Isobelle Carmody, born in 1958, is an Australian writer of science fiction, fantasy, children's literature and young adult fiction, and a recipient of the Aurealis Award for best children's fiction. The Obernewtyn Chronicles are the recorded character grouping, opening with Obernewtyn (1987), the earliest of the 37 books catalogued under the Carmody name; Comes the Night (2024) is the most recent. Little Fur, Kingdom of the Lost, Legendsong and Tales from the Tower also appear, with magic, elves, human-animal communication and extrasensory perception among the subjects.

Christopher Priest

35 books

Christopher Priest (1943-2024) was a British science fiction novelist whose work took its bearings from H. G. Wells; in 2006 Priest was made a Vice-President of the H. G. Wells Society. The Inverted World (1974), The Affirmation (1981), The Prestige (1995) and The Separation (2002) are among the novels, with Fugue for a Darkening Island (1972) and The Space Machine (1976) from the 1970s, the heaviest decade of the run. The catalogue holds 35 books, opening with Indoctrinaire (1970) and reaching The Illuminated Man: Life, Death and the Worlds of J. G. Ballard (2026).

Richard Harland is an Australian fantasy and science fiction writer, academic and performance artist. Born in Huddersfield in the United Kingdom, Harland migrated to Australia in 1970 and lives in New South Wales. The published work runs to 17 full-length novels, three academic books, short stories and poems, and six Australian Aurealis Awards. Worldshaker (2009), Liberator (2011) and Song of the Slums (2013) form a trio of YA steampunk fantasies. The Ferren titles and The Black Crusade date from 2004, and Walter Wants to be a Werewolf followed in 2006.