Aimee Bender Reading Order

23 books (2002–2021)

Aimee Bender contributed stories to 20 different literary and speculative fiction anthologies between 2002 and 2021, creating a diverse collection that spans fantasy, magical realism, and experimental fiction. These anthologies should be read in publication order, beginning with On the Rocks: The KGB Bar Fiction Anthology and continuing through works like Sideshow: Ten Original Tales of Freaks, Illusionists and Other Matters Odd and Magical and My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me. The series appears to be complete as of 2021, offering readers access to Bender's short fiction scattered throughout various curated collections alongside work by other contemporary authors. This chronological approach captures the evolution of her contributions to anthology projects over two decades.

Start with On the Rocks: The KGB Bar Fiction Anthology, the first of 20 books in the Anthologies series.

#	Title
1	On the Rocks: The KGB Bar Fiction Anthology 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Future Dictionary of America 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	The Insomniac Reader 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	The Secret Society of Demolition Writers 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Awake! 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Tin House 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Sideshow: Ten Original Tales of Freaks, Illusionists and Other Matters Odd and Magical 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Unstuck #1 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Monsters of Literary Sightings 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	The Best Bizarro Fiction of the Decade 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	My First Novel 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	Selected Shorts: Behaving Badly 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	Unscrolled 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	xo Orpheus 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	Choose Wisely: 35 Women Up To No Good 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	Watchlist 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
20	Flashed 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
21	9 Stories on the Magic of Cities 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
22	Ploughshares Summer 2021 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
23	Speculative Los Angeles 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

3 books (1998–2013)

Aimee Bender's short story collections span fifteen years and comprise three complete volumes that should be read in publication order. Beginning with The Girl in the Flammable Skirt in 1998, followed by Willful Creatures in 2003, and concluding with The Color Master in 2013, these collections showcase Bender's distinctive blend of literary fiction and fantastical elements. The series is now complete and offers readers a chronological view of the author's evolving style across nearly two decades of short fiction.

Start with The Girl in the Flammable Skirt and read in order.

#	Title
1	The Girl in the Flammable Skirt 1998Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Willful Creatures 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Color Master 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

4 books (2007–2015)

Aimee Bender's Short Stories/Novellas series comprises four collections of imaginative and literary fiction published between 2007 and 2015. The series is complete and should be read in publication order, beginning with The Third Elevator, followed by Faces, The Doctor and the Rabbi, and Dreaming in Polish. These collections showcase Bender's distinctive blend of fantasy and literary elements across interconnected stories and novellas.

Start with The Third Elevator, the first of 4 books in the Short Stories/Novellas series.

#	Title
1	The Third Elevator 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Faces 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Doctor and the Rabbi 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Dreaming in Polish 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

3 books (2000–2020)

Aimee Bender has written three standalone novels that blend fantasy and literary fiction, published between 2000 and 2020. These books should be read in publication order: An Invisible Sign of My Own, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, and The Butterfly Lampshade. Each novel stands alone with its own characters and world, making them accessible as individual reads while forming a complete collection of Bender's imaginative work across two decades.

Start with An Invisible Sign of My Own and read in order.

#	Title
1	An Invisible Sign of My Own 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Butterfly Lampshade 2020Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible