J.G. Ballard Reading Order
7 series · 76 books
J.G. Ballard was a prolific English author recognized for his unique blend of psychological insights and speculative fiction, often delving into the intersections of technology, human behavior, and societal norms. Over his career from 1962 to 2023, he penned 76 works across seven series, including the acclaimed Empire Of The Sun, along with standalone novels, short stories, and essays. His distinctive narrative style and thought-provoking themes have left a lasting impact on the science fiction genre.
Anthologies Series
Likely Complete27 books (1964–2022)
Start with Connoisseur's Science Fiction, the first of 27 books in the Anthologies series.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  Connoisseur's Science Fiction 1964Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 2 |  Dangerous Visions 1967Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 3 |  Dangerous Visions 3 1967Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 4 |  Mind At Bay 1969Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 5 |  The Inner Landscape 1969Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 6 | The Year's Best Science Fiction No. 3 1970Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 7 |  Best From Fantasy And Science Fiction: 18th Series 1973Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 8 |  Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow... 1974Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 9 |  Star Book of Horror No. 1 1975Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 10 |  Beyond Tomorrow 1976Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 11 |  The Best of British SF 2 1977Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 12 |  Nebula Award Stories 3 1983Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 13 |  Firebird 3: Writing Today 1984Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 14 |  Great Tales of Fantasy and Science Fiction 1985Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 15 |  The Penguin Book of Modern British Short Stories 1987Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 16 | Mississippi Review 47 / 48 1988Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 17 |  Great Flying Stories 1991Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 18 |  Semiotext SF 1991Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 19 |  Storming the Reality Studio 1991Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 20 | The Starry Wisdom: A Tribute to H.P. Lovecraft 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 21 |  Mondo Marilyn 1995Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 22 |  Bangs & Whimpers 1999Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 23 |  The Campfire Collection 2005Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 24 |  The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction 2010Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 25 | Fakes: An Anthology of Pseudo-Interviews, Faux-Lectures, Quasi-Letters, "Found" Texts, and Other Fraudulent Artifacts 2012Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 26 |  Terminal Atrocity Zone: Ballard: J.G. Ballard 1966-73 2013Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 27 |  Love, Death + Robots: The Official Anthology: Volumes 2 & 3 2022Buy 🇺🇸 |
Collections Series
Complete18 books (1962–2009)
Start with Billenium, the first of 18 books in the Collections series.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  Billenium 1962Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 2 |  The Voices of Time 1962Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 3 |  Passport To Eternity 1963Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 4 |  The Terminal Beach 1964Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 5 |  The Day of Forever 1967Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 6 |  The Disaster Area 1967Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 7 |  The Atrocity Exhibition 1970Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 8 |  Chronopolis and Other Stories 1971Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 9 |  Vermilion Sands 1971Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 10 |  Low Flying Aircraft and Other Stories 1976Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 11 | The Best Short Stories of J. G. Ballard 1978Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 12 |  The Venus Hunters / The Overloaded Man 1980Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 13 |  Myths of the Near Future 1982Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 14 |  War Fever and Other Stories 1990Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 15 |  The Complete Stories of J.G. Ballard 2001Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 16 |  The Complete Short Stories, Volume 1 2006Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 17 | The Complete Short Stories: Volume 2 2006Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 18 |  The Best Science Fiction of J. G. Ballard 2009Buy 🇺🇸 |
Empire Of The Sun Series
Complete2 books (1984–1991)
Start with Empire of the Sun and read in order.
Mondo Series
Complete4 books (1993–1996)
Start with Mondo Barbie(By: John Varley,Lynne Barrett,Julia Alvarez,Philip Levine,A.M. Homes,David Trinidad,Sandra Cisneros,Marge Piercy,Gary Soto,Roberta Allen,Alice McDermott,Hilary Tham,Lyn Lifshin,Rebecca Brown,Denise Duhamel,Lucinda Ebersole,Richard Peabody,Jeanne Beaumont,Lynne McMahon,Kathryn Harrison,Patricia Storace,Richard Grayson,Leslie Shiel,Laura Costas,Sharon Henry,Cookie Lupton,Lisa B. Herskovits,Belinda Subraman,Ellie Schoenfeld,Sparrow .,Gregg Shapiro,Cathryn Hankla,Wayne E. Kline,Jose Padua,Jeff Weddle), the first of 4 books in the Mondo series.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  Mondo Barbie(By: John Varley,Lynne Barrett,Julia Alvarez,Philip Levine,A.M. Homes,David Trinidad,Sandra Cisneros,Marge Piercy,Gary Soto,Roberta Allen,Alice McDermott,Hilary Tham,Lyn Lifshin,Rebecca Brown,Denise Duhamel,Lucinda Ebersole,Richard Peabody,Jeanne Beaumont,Lynne McMahon,Kathryn Harrison,Patricia Storace,Richard Grayson,Leslie Shiel,Laura Costas,Sharon Henry,Cookie Lupton,Lisa B. Herskovits,Belinda Subraman,Ellie Schoenfeld,Sparrow .,Gregg Shapiro,Cathryn Hankla,Wayne E. Kline,Jose Padua,Jeff Weddle) 1993Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 2 |  Mondo Elvis(By: Howard Waldrop,Cornelius Eady,Mark Childress,Susie Mee,Nick Cave,Mark Winegardner,Rafael Alvarez,Greil Marcus,Pagan Kennedy,Lucinda Ebersole,Richard Peabody,Lynne McMahon,Cathryn Hankla,Samuel Charters,Rachel Salazar,Eleanor Earle Crockett,Diane Wakoski,Judy Vernon,David Wojahn,William McCranor Henderson,Janice Eidus,Elizabeth Ash Vélez,Laura Kalpakian,Eri Makino,Ai,Michael Wilkerson,Brian Gilmore) 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 3 | Mondo Marilyn(With: Michael Hemmingson,Clive Barker,Doris Grumbach,Beth Meacham,Lynne Tillman,Charles Bukowski,David Trinidad,Tom Whalen,Sharon Olds,Leslie Pietrzyk,Lyn Lifshin,Nanci Griffith,Robert Peters,Lucinda Ebersole,Richard Peabody,Jeanne Beaumont,Gregg Shapiro,Judy Grahn,Sam Toperoff,Julia P. Dubner,Bill Morris,John Rechy,L.A. Lantz,Phyllis Burke,Hillary Johnson,Rita Valencia,Michael Lally,Eleanor E. Crocket,Taylor Mead,Susan Compo,Rosanne Daryl Thomas) 1995Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 4 |  Mondo James Dean(By: Lewis Shiner,Jack C. Haldeman II,Bentley Little,Michael Hemmingson,Chuck Taylor,Michael Martone,Louisa Ermelino,Terence Winch,Lucinda Ebersole,Richard Peabody,Sparrow .,Janice Eidus,Ai,Tino Villanueva,Edwin Corley,Robert Ready,Reuben Jackson,Stephanie Hart,D.E. Steward,David Plumb,Ed Graczyk,Hilary Howard,James Finney Boylan,Miranda Schwartz) 1996Buy 🇺🇸 |
Non-Fiction Series
Likely Complete6 books (1996–2023)
Start with A User's Guide to the Millennium, the first of 6 books in the Non-Fiction series.
Short Stories/Novellas Series
Complete2 books (1963–1971)
Start with The Subliminal Man and read in order.
Standalone Novels Series
Complete17 books (1962–2006)
Start with The Drowned World, the first of 17 books in the Standalone Novels series.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  The Drowned World 1962Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 2 | The Wind from Nowhere 1962Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 3 |  The Drought 1964Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 4 |  The Crystal World 1966Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 5 |  Love and Napalm 1970Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 6 |  Crash 1973Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 7 | Concrete Island 1974Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 8 |  High-Rise 1975Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 9 |  The Unlimited Dream Company 1979Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 10 |  Hello America 1981Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 11 |  The Day of Creation 1987Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 12 |  Running Wild 1988Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 13 |  Rushing to Paradise 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 14 | Cocaine Nights 1996Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 15 |  Super-Cannes 2000Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 16 |  Millennium People 2003Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 17 |  Kingdom Come 2006Buy 🇺🇸 |
Frequently Asked Questions
- How many books has J.G. Ballard written?
- J.G. Ballard has written 76 books across 7 series. Their published works span from 1962 to 2023.
- What is the first book in each J.G. Ballard series?
- Here are the first books in J.G. Ballard's series: Anthologies: Connoisseur's Science Fiction; Collections: Billenium; Empire Of The Sun: Empire of the Sun; Mondo: Mondo Barbie(By: John Varley,Lynne Barrett,Julia Alvarez,Philip Levine,A.M. Homes,David Trinidad,Sandra Cisneros,Marge Piercy,Gary Soto,Roberta Allen,Alice McDermott,Hilary Tham,Lyn Lifshin,Rebecca Brown,Denise Duhamel,Lucinda Ebersole,Richard Peabody,Jeanne Beaumont,Lynne McMahon,Kathryn Harrison,Patricia Storace,Richard Grayson,Leslie Shiel,Laura Costas,Sharon Henry,Cookie Lupton,Lisa B. Herskovits,Belinda Subraman,Ellie Schoenfeld,Sparrow .,Gregg Shapiro,Cathryn Hankla,Wayne E. Kline,Jose Padua,Jeff Weddle); Non-Fiction: A User's Guide to the Millennium.
- What order should I read J.G. Ballard's books?
- We recommend reading J.G. Ballard's series in publication order. Each series can be read independently.
- Are J.G. Ballard's series complete?
- J.G. Ballard has 5 completed series.