📚 SciFi Reading List

Organized by author in publishing order

Authors in publishing order gives you insight into their development.

Ted Chiang

START Stories of Your Life and Others (contains "Story of Your Life" = Arrival)

Pure Sci-Fi (AI, linguistics, hard science) Publishing Order:
  1. "Tower of Babylon" (1990) - Short story (Omni, November 1990)
  2. "Understand" (1991) - Short story (Asimov's, August 1991)
  3. "Division by Zero" (1991) - Short story (Full Spectrum 3, 1991)
  4. "Story of Your Life" (1998) - Novella (Starlight 2, 1998)
  5. "Seventy-Two Letters" (2000) - Novella (Vanishing Acts, 2000)
  6. "The Evolution of Human Science" (2000) - Short story (Nature, 2000)
  7. "Hell Is the Absence of God" (2001) - Novella (Starlight 3, 2001)
  8. "Liking What You See: A Documentary" (2002) - Novelette (Stories of Your Life and Others, 2002)
  9. "What's Expected of Us" (2005) - Short story (Nature, 2005)
  10. "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" (2007) - Novelette (F&SF, September 2007)
  11. "Exhalation" (2008) - Short story (Eclipse Two, 2008)
  12. "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" (2010) - Novella (Subterranean Press, 2010)
  13. "Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny" (2011) - Short story (The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, 2011)
  14. "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling" (2013) - Novella (Subterranean Press, 2013)
  15. "The Great Silence" (2015) - Short story (e-flux Journal, 2015)
  16. "Omphalos" (2019) - Novelette (Exhalation, 2019)
  17. "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom" (2019) - Novella (Exhalation, 2019)
    18. Collections:

    - Stories of Your Life and Others (2002) - Exhalation: Stories (2019)

    Robert J. Sawyer

    START Calculating God or The Terminal Experiment

    Hard Sci-Fi (paleontology, physics, AI) Publishing Order:
  18. Golden Fleece (1990)
  19. End of an Era (1994)
  20. The Terminal Experiment (1995) - aka Hobson's Choice
  21. Starplex (1996)
  22. Frameshift (1997)
  23. Illegal Alien (1997)
  24. Factoring Humanity (1998)
  25. Flashforward (1999)
  26. Calculating God (2000)
  27. Iterations (2002) - Short story collection
  28. Relativity (2004) - Short story collection
  29. Mindscan (2005)
  30. Rollback (2007)
  31. Wake (2009) - WWW Trilogy #1
  32. Watch (2010) - WWW Trilogy #2
  33. Wonder (2011) - WWW Trilogy #3
  34. Triggers (2012)
  35. Red Planet Blues (2013)
  36. Quantum Night (2016)
  37. The Oppenheimer Alternative (2020)
    38. Neanderthal Parallax Trilogy:
  38. Hominids (2002)
  39. Humans (2003)
  40. Hybrids (2003)

    41. Greg Bear

    START Eon or Blood Music

    Hard Sci-Fi (genetics, space, biology) Publishing Order (Selected Major Works):
  41. Hegira (1979)
  42. Beyond Heaven's River (1980)
  43. Strength of Stones (1981)
  44. The Wind from a Burning Woman (1983) - Short story collection
  45. Blood Music (1985) - Expanded from 1983 novella
  46. Eon (1985) - The Way #1
  47. The Forge of God (1987)
  48. Eternity (1988) - The Way #2
  49. Queen of Angels (1990)
  50. Heads (1990) - Novella
  51. Anvil of Stars (1992) - Sequel to The Forge of God
  52. Moving Mars (1993)
  53. Legacy (1995) - The Way #3
  54. Slant (1997) - Sequel to Queen of Angels
  55. Dinosaur Summer (1998)
  56. Foundation and Chaos (1998) - Second Foundation Trilogy #2
  57. Darwin's Radio (1999) - Darwin #1
  58. Vitals (2002)
  59. Darwin's Children (2003) - Darwin #2
  60. Dead Lines (2004)
  61. Quantico (2005) - Quantico #1
  62. Mariposa (2009) - Quantico #2
  63. City at the End of Time (2008)
  64. Hull Zero Three (2010)
  65. War Dogs (2014) - War Dogs #1
  66. Killing Titan (2015) - War Dogs #2
  67. Take Back the Sky (2016) - War Dogs #3
  68. The Unfinished Land (2021)
  69. The Complete Songs of the Seven Isles (2022) - Poetry collection

    70. Mary Robinette Kowal

    START The Calculating Stars (Lady Astronaut #1)

    Alternate History Sci-Fi Publishing Order:
  70. "Evil Robot Monkey" (2008) - Short story (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume 2)
  71. Shades of Milk and Honey (2010) - Glamourist Histories #1 (Fantasy)
  72. Glamour in Glass (2012) - Glamourist Histories #2
  73. Without a Summer (2013) - Glamourist Histories #3
  74. Valour and Vanity (2014) - Glamourist Histories #4
  75. Of Noble Family (2015) - Glamourist Histories #5
  76. Ghost Talkers (2016) - WWI supernatural
  77. The Calculating Stars (2018) - Lady Astronaut #1
  78. The Fated Sky (2018) - Lady Astronaut #2
  79. The Relentless Moon (2020) - Lady Astronaut #3
  80. The Spare Man (2022)
    81. Note: Her early Glamourist Histories series is fantasy (Regency fantasy with magic). Start with The Calculating Stars for pure alternate history sci-fi.

    Ann Leckie

    START Ancillary Justice

    Space Opera/Sci-Fi Publishing Order:
  81. "Hesperia and Glory" (2006) - Short story (Subterranean Magazine, Spring 2006)
  82. "The God of Au" (2012) - Short story (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan/Feb 2012)
  83. Ancillary Justice (2013) - Imperial Radch #1
  84. Ancillary Sword (2014) - Imperial Radch #2
  85. Ancillary Mercy (2015) - Imperial Radch #3
  86. "Night's Slow Poison" (2016) - Short story (Tor.com)
  87. Provenance (2017) - Imperial Radch #4
  88. "She Commands Me and I Obey" (2017) - Short story (Tor.com)
  89. The Raven Tower (2019) - Fantasy (standalone)
  90. "Another Word for World" (2020) - Short story (Future Tense Fiction)
  91. Translation State (2023) - Imperial Radch #5
    92. Note: The Raven Tower is fantasy. All others are sci-fi.

    Kazuo Ishiguro

    START Never Let Me Go (then Klara and the Sun)

    Literary Sci-Fi/Speculative Fiction Publishing Order:
  92. A Pale View of Hills (1982) - Literary fiction
  93. An Artist of the Floating World (1986) - Literary fiction
  94. The Remains of the Day (1989) - Literary fiction
  95. The Unconsoled (1995) - Literary/Surrealist
  96. When We Were Orphans (2000) - Literary/Mystery
  97. Never Let Me Go (2005) - Speculative Fiction/Sci-Fi
  98. Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (2009) - Short stories
  99. The Buried Giant (2015) - Fantasy (Arthurian)
  100. Klara and the Sun (2021) - Sci-Fi (AI/Robotics)
    101. Sci-Fi Works: Never Let Me Go, Klara and the Sun Fantasy: The Buried Giant Others: Literary fiction

    Justin Cronin

    START The Passage -

    Post-Apocalyptic Publishing Order:
  101. A Short History of the Long Ball (1990) - Non-fiction (baseball)
  102. Mary and O'Neil (2001) - Literary fiction
  103. The Summer Guest (2004) - Literary fiction
  104. The Passage (2010) - The Passage Trilogy #1
  105. The Twelve (2012) - The Passage Trilogy #2
  106. The City of Mirrors (2016) - The Passage Trilogy #3
    107. Note: All three Passage novels are post-apocalyptic sci-fi/horror.

    P.W. Singer

    Military/Tech Sci-Fi & Non-Fiction Publishing Order (Fiction only):
  107. Ghost Fleet (2015) - with August Cole
  108. Burn-In (2020) - with August Cole
    109. Non-Fiction Tech/Military: Wired for War (2009), LikeWar (2018), The Wired for War Trilogy

    Jack Campbell (pseudonym for John G. Hemry)

    START Dauntless (Lost Fleet #1)

    Military Space Opera Publishing Order (as Jack Campbell): The Lost Fleet Series:
  109. Dauntless (2006)
  110. Fearless (2007)
  111. Courageous (2007)
  112. Valiant (2008)
  113. Relentless (2009)
  114. Victorious (2010)
    115. The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier:
  115. Dreadnaught (2011)
  116. Invincible (2012)
  117. Guardian (2013)
  118. Steadfast (2014)
  119. Leviathan (2015)
    120. The Lost Stars Series:
  120. Tarnished Knight (2012)
  121. Perilous Shield (2013)
  122. Imperfect Sword (2014)
  123. Shattered Spear (2016)
    124. The Genesis Fleet Trilogy:
  124. Vanguard (2017)
  125. Ascendant (2018)
  126. Triumphant (2019)
    127. Standalones:

    - The Lost Fleet: Outlands (2022) - Boundless (2023)

    Your Missing Books Checklist

    From your current library, you're missing:

    Ted Chiang:

    - Full collection Stories of Your Life and Others - Exhalation (you have only partial)

    Robert J. Sawyer:

    - Golden Fleece (debut) - End of an Era - The Terminal Experiment - Starplex - WWW Trilogy (Wake, Watch, Wonder) - Later works (Triggers, Quantum Night, etc.)

    Greg Bear:

    - Eon (classic!) - Blood Music (award-winning) - Queen of Angels/Slant - Darwin's Radio/Darwin's Children - The Way trilogy

    Mary Robinette Kowal:

    - The Relentless Moon (Lady Astronaut #3)

    Ann Leckie:

    - Provenance (Imperial Radch #4) - Translation State (newest)

    Reading Order Recommendations

    For each author, I suggest:
  127. Start with their seminal work (bolded below)
  128. Follow publishing order for series
  129. Read award-winners first to understand why they're acclaimed

Key Starting Points:

- Ted Chiang: Stories of Your Life and Others (contains "Story of Your Life" = Arrival) - Robert J. Sawyer: Calculating God or The Terminal Experiment - Greg Bear: Eon or Blood Music - Mary Robinette Kowal: The Calculating Stars (Lady Astronaut #1) - Ann Leckie: Ancillary Justice - Kazuo Ishiguro: Never Let Me Go (then Klara and the Sun) - Justin Cronin: The Passage - Jack Campbell: Dauntless (Lost Fleet #1)

Would you like me to create a spreadsheet or Calibre metadata template to help you track your reading progress through each author's bibliography?