Science fiction, short stories book series in reading order

Ray Bradbury

132 books• 13 series

Fahrenheit 451 (1953) is the novel Ray Bradbury is best known for, alongside the short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951) and The October Country (1955). Bradbury (22 August 1920 – 5 June 2012) was an American author and screenwriter whose work covered fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery and realistic fiction. Dandelion Wine (1957) is a coming-of-age novel, Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) a dark fantasy, and Green Shadows, White Whale (1992) a fictionalized memoir. The catalogue reaches back to Kaleidoscope (1940) and Dark Carnival (1947), and Green Town and Crumley Mysteries are among the series.

George R.R. Martin

90 books• 19 series

George R.R. Martin, born George Raymond Martin on September 20, 1948 and known by the initials GRRM, is an American author, screenwriter and television producer. A Song of Ice and Fire, the epic fantasy series adapted by HBO as Game of Thrones (2011–2019) and the prequel House of the Dragon, is Martin's best-known work; the related Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas became A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. The catalogue begins in 1976 with A Song for Lya, Starlady and Fast-Friend and The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr, followed by Dying of the Light (1977), Sandkings and Windhaven (1981), and Fevre Dream (1982). Science fiction, fantasy and short stories appear among the subjects.

Isaac Asimov

553 books• 31 series

Isaac Asimov (c. January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer who also taught biochemistry at Boston University. Hard science fiction is the core of Asimov's reputation, and the Foundation series about a fallen space empire is the most famous work; Asimov ranked with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke as one of the "Big Three" of the genre. The output also covers mysteries, fantasy and popular science, with non-fiction lines such as How Did We Find Out and the Library of the Universe. Asimov wrote or edited more than 500 books. This catalogue opens with the story Marooned Off Vesta (1939) and names Asimov on 400 of the listed books.

George R. R. Martin and various others is the shared credit on the Wild Cards books, a science fiction anthology run about superheroes. Wild Cards (1986) is the first volume, followed by Aces High and Jokers Wild in 1987. The catalogue holds 26 books over nearly four decades, with card-game titles such as Down and Dirty, Dead Man's Hand, Jokertown Shuffle and Deuces Down. New York City is a setting, and House Rules (2025) is the newest volume.

Ursula K. Le Guin

121 books• 18 series

Ursula K. Le Guin (born Ursula Kroeber, 21 October 1929 to 22 January 2018) was an American writer of speculative fiction, including science fiction set in the Hainish universe and the Earthsea fantasy series. First published in 1959, Le Guin wrote for nearly sixty years, producing more than twenty novels and over a hundred short stories alongside poetry, criticism, translations and children's books. Catalogued titles include April in Paris (1962), Rocannon's World (1966), A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) and The Left Hand of Darkness (1969). Le Guin series include Hainish Cycle, Catwings, Orsinia and Annals of the Western Shore.

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.

Fritz Leiber

88 books• 4 series

Fritz Leiber was an American writer of fantasy, horror and science fiction, and a Hugo Award winner. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser is the signature creation, a fantasy adventure pairing with a graphic novel line of its own. Ninety-four titles are catalogued from 1943 to 2024, opening with Conjure Wife (1943) and Gather, Darkness! (1943), and taking in the Change War stories and several short fiction collections.

More Than Human (1953), a science fiction novel by Theodore Sturgeon, won the 1954 International Fantasy Award for best novel. Sturgeon (1918–1985), born Edward Hamilton Waldo, was an American writer of fantasy, science fiction and horror and a critic, with roughly 400 reviews, more than 120 short stories, 11 novels and two Star Trek: The Original Series scripts. The Science Fiction Writers of America ranked Baby Is Three fifth among the greatest novellas to 1964. The catalogue lists 54 books from Without Sorcery (1948), plus the Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon.

H.G. Wells

152 books• 8 series

H.G. Wells, born Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946), was an English writer of more than forty novels and dozens of short stories. Science fiction novels are the work Wells is most known for today, and Wells shares the title of father of science fiction with Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback. The non-fiction covers social commentary, politics, history, popular science, satire, biography and autobiography. The catalogue opens with The Chronic Argonauts (1888) and includes The Time Machine (1895), The Wonderful Visit (1895) and The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896). Utopias, civilization and philosophy appear among the subjects.

Michael Moorcock

160 books• 29 series

Michael John Moorcock, born 18 December 1939, is an English writer who started in science fiction and fantasy and later produced literary novels, comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. Moorcock has also worked as an editor and a musician. The Elric of Melniboné novels shaped the fantasy field in the 1960s and 1970s. Other series include Jerry Cornelius, Eternal Champion, Corum, Runestaff/Hawkmoon, Von Bek Family and Colonel Pyat Quartet. The catalogue runs from The Sundered Worlds / The Blood Red Game (1962) to The Wounds of Albion (2026).

Harlan Ellison

91 books• 6 series

Harlan Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer associated with New Wave speculative fiction and known for an outspoken, combative personality. Ellison's output ran past 1,700 pieces, spanning short stories, novellas, screenplays, comic-book scripts, teleplays and essays, plus criticism of literature, film, television and print. The catalogue lists 91 titles from The Deadly Streets (1958) to Greatest Hits (2024), including Web of the City (1958), Gentleman Junkie (1961) and Ellison Wonderland (1962). Subjects span science fiction, fantasy, horror and short stories, and the series listed are Brain Movies, Dream Corridor and Vic and Blood.

Clifford D. Simak

76 books• 2 series

Clifford D. Simak (1904–1988) was an American science fiction writer who also worked as a journalist. Simak won three Hugo Awards and one Nebula Award, became the third SFWA Grand Master, and was among the first three recipients of the Horror Writers Association's Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement. The catalogue records 76 books, from Empire (1932) through City (1952) to the collection The Thing in the Stone: And Other Stories (2024). Subjects include robots, telepathy, time travel and space travel, and the pastoral science fiction subgenre is linked to Simak's name.

Ted Chiang

8 books• 1 series

Ted Chiang is an American science fiction writer working mostly at short lengths. Four Nebula awards, four Hugo awards, six Locus awards and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer sit against the work. The catalogue holds 8 titles, from Tower of Babylon (1990) through Hell Is the Absence of God (1998), The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate (2007) and The Lifecycle of Software Objects (2010) to The Great Silence (2015); the collections Stories of Your Life and Others (2002) and Exhalation: Stories (2019) gather the stories. Story of Your Life supplied the basis for the film Arrival (2016). Chiang writes nonfiction for The New Yorker on computing and artificial intelligence.

Philip José Farmer

86 books• 13 series

Philip José Farmer was an American science fiction and fantasy writer who lived from January 26, 1918 to February 25, 2009. Farmer is best known for two novel sequences, World of Tiers (1965–93) and Riverworld (1971–83). The work is noted for early use of sexual and religious themes, for reworking the lore of pulp heroes, and for occasional pseudonymous books presented as if written by fictional characters. The catalogue lists 86 Farmer books, opening with Queen of the Deep (1954) and including The Green Odyssey (1957), Flesh (1960) and The Lovers (1961). Other series include Dayworld, Herald Childe and Opar.