Space and time book series in reading order

by Lucy M. Boston

by Mary Pope Osborne

by Lynne Reid Banks

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.

Eoin Colfer

59 books• 18 series

Eoin Colfer, born 14 May 1965, is an Irish children's writer and a former primary school teacher, best known for the eleven Artemis Fowl fantasy novels. By 2013 the Artemis Fowl books had sold more than 21 million copies in 44 languages, and in a 2010 public poll readers chose Artemis Fowl as their favourite Puffin Books title. The novel Artemis Fowl (2001) was followed by The Arctic Incident (2002) and The Eternity Code (2003). Other series include the Fowl Twins, W.A.R.P., Benny Shaw and Plugged, with Benny and Omar (1998) among the early titles and Deerheart (2026) the newest. The listing also credits The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1996) to Colfer.

Mary Pope Osborne

166 books• 9 series

Mary Pope Osborne, born May 20, 1949, is an American children's author and audiobook narrator best known for the Magic Tree House series, which had sold more than 134 million copies worldwide by 2017. Awards have gone to both the series and Osborne, including recognition for work promoting children's literacy. Osborne attended the University of North Carolina and published a first book in 1982. The catalogue counts 166 Osborne books, from Run, Run, As Fast As You Can (1982) to Sea Otter Sunrise (2025). Time travel, tree houses, history, folklore and Greek mythology appear among the subjects.

Bryan Davis writes Christian fantasy. Dragons in Our Midst, Oracles of Fire and Children of the Bard are the best known of the twelve series, and dragons, prophecy, demonology and the supernatural are their recurring subjects. Born in 1958, Davis grew up in the eastern United States, graduated from the University of Florida in industrial engineering and worked as a computer professional for more than 20 years before writing full time; publishers rejected his work over 200 times first. The catalogue holds 52 books from 1997 to From the Ashes (2026).

Andre Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 to March 17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy who also produced historical and contemporary fiction, and used the names Andrew North and Allen Weston as well. Norton was the first woman named Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master, and the first inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. The catalogue carries 209 books from The Prince Commands (1934) onward. Witch World, Solar Queen, Time Traders, Beast Master and Forerunner are series.

James Dashner

26 books• 7 series

The Maze Runner series and the young adult fantasy series The 13th Reality are what American writer James Dashner, born November 26, 1972, is best known for. Much of Dashner's speculative fiction is aimed at children or young adults. The Journal of Curious Letters (2008), first in The 13th Reality, was a Borders Original Voices pick. The Maze Runner reached cinemas in 2014, with further films in 2015 and 2018 grossing an estimated $949 million together. The catalogue lists 26 books from A Door in the Woods (2003) to The Infinite Glade (2025), with the Jimmy Fincher Saga, Mortality Doctrine and Maze Cutter among the series.

Terry Pratchett

148 books• 18 series

Terry Pratchett (28 April 1948 to 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist and satirist. Discworld, a run of 41 comic fantasy novels published from 1983 to 2015, is the work most associated with Pratchett, together with Good Omens (1990), written with Neil Gaiman. The Carpet People (1971) was the first Pratchett novel, and The Colour of Magic (1983) opened Discworld. The Shepherd's Crown, the last Discworld novel, came out in August 2015, five months after Pratchett's death. The catalogue also lists the Long Earth, Bromeliad Trilogy and Johnny Maxwell series, with The Discworld Bestiary dated 2026.

Margaret Peterson Haddix

55 books• 12 series

Margaret Peterson Haddix, born April 9, 1964, is an American writer best known for two children's series: Shadow Children (1998-2006) and The Missing (2008-2015). She also wrote the tenth book of The 39 Clues, a series with multiple authors. The catalogue lists 55 of her books from Running Out of Time (1995) to Moonleapers (2025), including Among the Hidden (1998), Just Ella (1999) and Turnabout (2000). Other series listings include Palace Chronicles, Children of Exile, Greystone Secrets, Mysteries of Trash and Treasure and Under Their Skin. Subjects include time travel, science fiction, brothers and sisters, and schools.

Garth Nix

51 books• 11 series

Garth Nix, born Garth Richard Nix on 19 July 1963, is an Australian writer of children's and young adult fantasy, including the Old Kingdom, Seventh Tower and Keys to the Kingdom series. Asked often whether the name is a pseudonym, Nix has said it is a real name that happens to suit a fantasy writer. The catalogue lists 51 books, from The Ragwitch (1990) through Sabriel (1995) and Shade's Children (1997) to Massif (2026). Other Nix series include Troubletwisters, Have Sword, Will Travel and Left-Handed Booksellers of London. Subjects include magic, castles, good and evil, and space and time.

Alan Moore

89 books• 17 series

Alan Moore is an English comics writer, born 18 November 1953, whose work includes Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell, The Ballad of Halo Jones, Swamp Thing and Batman: The Killing Joke. The catalogue begins with Saga of the Swamp Thing, Book One (1983) and lists Tom Strong, Promethea, Miracleman and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen among the series. Some entries also credit collaborators such as Dave Gibbons. Moore has used pseudonyms including Curt Vile and Translucia Baboon, and some reprints carry the credit The Original Writer at Moore's request.

Neil Gaiman

199 books• 41 series

Neil Gaiman, born Neil Richard Gaiman on 10 November 1960, is an English writer of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre and screenplays. The Sandman comic series ran from 1989 to 1996, and the novels include Stardust (1999), American Gods (2001), Coraline (2002), Anansi Boys (2005) and The Graveyard Book (2008). The Graveyard Book made Gaiman the first author to win both the Newbery and Carnegie medals for one work, and other awards include the Hugo, Nebula and Bram Stoker. Gaiman co-created the television adaptations of Good Omens and The Sandman. The catalogue runs from Duran Duran (1984) to The Silver Age (2024) and includes Sandman and Death graphic novels and children's books.

Madeleine L'Engle (November 29, 1918 to September 6, 2007) was an American writer of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. A Wrinkle in Time (1962) earned L'Engle the Newbery Medal, and the American Library Association gave L'Engle its Margaret A. Edwards Award in 1998. The catalogue lists 70 books, beginning with The Small Rain (1945). Series include the Austin Family Chronicles, the Crosswicks Journals, the O'Keefe Family and the Time Quintet. Subjects run from science fiction and space and time to Christian life and meditations.

Lynne Reid Banks (31 July 1929 to 4 April 2024) was a British author who wrote for both children and adults. The Indian in the Cupboard sold more than 15 million copies and became a film. The L-Shaped Room, the 1960 debut novel, was a best seller, was filmed, and gained two sequels, The Backward Shadow and Two is Lonely. Banks also wrote Dark Quartet, about the Brontë family, and Path to the Silent Country, about Charlotte Brontë. The catalogue lists 50 books from 1960 to The Red Red Dragon (2022), including the Harry the Poisonous Centipede series.

Clive Barker

80 books• 19 series

Clive Barker, born 5 October 1952, is a British writer, filmmaker and visual artist. The Books of Blood, a series of short stories from the 1980s, made Barker a leading horror author, and the catalogue opens with those volumes in 1984 and 1985, along with Dread and Rawhead Rex. Films adapted from Barker's work include the Hellraiser series, whose first installment Barker also wrote and directed, and the Candyman series. Barker's paintings and illustrations have hung in US galleries and appear in the books. Imajica and Abarat are among the listed series, and Spook City (2024) is the newest title.

Victoria Laurie writes mysteries with psychic leads. Abby Cooper opens the Psychic Eye Mysteries with Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye (2004), and M.J. Holliday heads the Ghost Hunter Mysteries. The Life Coach Mysteries, the Magical Trinket Mysteries, Maddie Fynn and the Oracles of Delphi Keep complete the series work. Forty-five catalogued books reach A Future To Remember (2026). Women detectives and missing persons recur as subjects.

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.

Caroline B. Cooney (born May 10, 1947) is an American writer of suspense, romance, horror and mystery for young adults. The catalogue counts 93 books from 1979 to The Wrong Good Deed (2023). Janie Johnson, Both Sides Of Time/Time Travelers, Losing Christina and Vampire's Promise are series. Early titles include Rear-View Mirror (1980), He Loves Me Not (1982) and Holly in Love (1983). Subjects include high schools, friendship, identity, popularity and vampires.

Stephen R. Lawhead, born 1950, is an American writer of fantasy, science fiction and historical fiction, with Celtic historical fiction the strand the name is most attached to. In the Hall of the Dragon King (1982) opens the Dragon King books and a catalogue of 44 titles that reaches Aurelia (2025). The Pendragon Cycle and King Raven take up Arthurian material and knighthood; the Song of Albion, Celtic Crusades, Eirlandia, Empyrion and Bright Empires follow. Children's books, among them the Howard and Riverbank Stories, sit alongside the novels.

Christopher Golden is an American writer, born in 1967, with 139 catalogued books published between 1994 and 2026. Horror, fantasy and science fiction run through the work, alongside vampires, the supernatural and murder. Of Saints and Shadows (1994) opens the catalogue and Carry Me to My Grave (2026) is the newest entry. Golden's series include the Shadow Saga, Baltimore, Joe Golem, Body of Evidence, Prowlers, Hollow, Hidden Cities and the Secret Journeys of Jack London, and the listing also carries Buffy the Vampire Slayer and X-Men titles. Mike Mignola is credited alongside Golden on 4 books.

Penelope Lively

65 books• 3 series

Penelope Lively, born in 1933, is a British writer of fiction for children and for adults, and holds the title Dame. Moon Tiger took the Booker Prize in 1987, and The Ghost of Thomas Kempe (1973) won the Carnegie Medal for British children's books. Her catalogue runs to 65 titles published between 1970 and 2021, from Astercote (1970) to Metamorphosis (2021), taking in The Whispering Knights (1971), The Driftway (1972), The House in Norham Gardens (1974) and A Stitch in Time (1976). Ghost stories, English social life, the Second World War, and space and time 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.

John Scalzi

75 books• 17 series

John Scalzi, born May 10, 1969, is an American science fiction author and a former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The Old Man's War series is Scalzi's best known work, and three of its novels earned Hugo Award nominations. Scalzi has kept the blog Whatever since 1998, won the 2008 Hugo for Best Fan Writer largely on its strength, and used it for charity drives. Non-fiction subjects include finance, video games, film, astronomy, writing and politics, and Scalzi consulted on the series Stargate Universe. The catalogue holds 75 titles from Rough Guide to Money Online (2000) to Monsters of Ohio (2026), including Agent to the Stars (2004), Old Man's War (2005) and The Android's Dream (2006).

Adrian McKinty's best known series follows Detective Sean Duffy through police investigations in Northern Ireland. McKinty also wrote the Michael Forsythe crime novels and the Lighthouse Trilogy for younger readers, which turns to magic and to space and time. Twenty-three books are catalogued, from Orange Rhymes With Everything (1997) to Hang on St. Christopher in 2025.

Claudia Gray

38 books• 13 series

Claudia Gray is the pen name of Amy Vincent, an American novelist working in science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, cozy mystery, paranormal romance and young adult fiction. Evernight, one of the series Gray is best known for, is also the title of the first catalogued book (2008); Stargazer (2009), Hourglass (2010) and Afterlife (2011) follow. Gray's Star Wars novels include Lost Stars, Bloodline, Leia, Princess of Alderaan, Into the Dark and The Fallen Star. The 38 listed books also cover Firebird, the House of El Trilogy and Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney, and the newest title is The Fatal Unpleasantness at Netherfield (2026). Vampires, boarding schools, witches and ghosts are recorded subjects.