Jeff VanderMeer Reading Order

3 books (2001–2009)

The Ambergris series is a complete trilogy of fantasy and science fiction novels published between 2001 and 2009. Set in the mysterious city of Ambergris, these three interconnected books should be read in publication order: City of Saints and Madmen, Shriek, and Finch. The series blends imaginative worldbuilding with experimental storytelling across its installments.

Start with City of Saints and Madmen and read in order.

#	Title
1	City of Saints and Madmen 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Shriek 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Finch 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

46 books (1995–2023)

Jeff VanderMeer edited 40 anthologies spanning fantasy, science fiction, and related genres between 1995 and 2018, with the series now complete. These collections should be read in publication order, beginning with Dark Terrors and progressing through notable entries like Leviathan, The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases, and Logorrhea: Good Words Make Good Stories. The anthologies showcase diverse voices and stories across speculative fiction and experimental narrative forms.

Start with Dark Terrors, the first of 40 books in the Anthologies series.

#	Title
1	Dark Terrors 1995Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 7 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Leviathan 2 1998Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Infinity Plus One 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Dark Terrors 6 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Leviathan 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Breaking Windows 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 14 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Polyphony, Volume 5 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Best New Fantasy 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Booklife 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Brothers & Beasts 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	Logorrhea: Good Words Make Good Stories 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	TwentiethAnnual Collection 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	Best American Fantasy 2008 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	Fast Ships, Black Sails 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	Polluto 2: Apocalypses and Garden Furniture 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	Steampunk 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
20	The New Weird 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
21	The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2009 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
22	Last Drink Bird Head 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
23	Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honour of Jack Vance 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
24	Steampunk II: Steampunk Reloaded 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
25	The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
26	Creatures: Thirty Years of Monsters 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
27	Happily Ever After 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
28	ODD? 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
29	The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
30	Arc 1.2: Post Human Conditions 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
31	Circus: Fantasy Under the Big Top 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
32	Fungi 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
33	Steampunk III 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
34	The Mammoth Book of Steampunk 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
35	The Time Traveler's Almanac 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
36	Lightspeed Magazine, February 2014 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
37	Love Hurts 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
38	Sisters of the Revolution 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
39	Beyond the Woods: Fairy Tales Retold 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
40	The Big Book of Science Fiction 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
41	Mixed Up: Cocktail Recipes (and Flash Fiction) for the Discerning Drinker 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
42	Worlds Seen in Passing 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
43	The Big Book of Classic Fantasy 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
44	The Big Book of Modern Fantasy 2020Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
45	Terraform: Watch/Worlds/Burn 2022Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
46	Grimdark Magazine, Issue #34 2023Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

3 books (2017–2019)

The Borne series is a complete trilogy of science fiction novels published between 2017 and 2019. All three books should be read in their publication order: Borne, The Strange Bird, and Dead Astronauts. The series blends fantasy and action-adventure elements across its three installments.

Start with Borne and read in order.

#	Title
1	Borne 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Strange Bird 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Dead Astronauts 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

5 books (2007–2016)

The Cat Rambo Collections is a five-book series of short story anthologies published between 2007 and 2016, presenting the complete run in publication order. The series spans fantasy, science fiction, and speculative fiction across its volumes, beginning with the collaborative collection The Surgeon's Tale and Other Stories and continuing through Eyes Like Sky and Coal and Moonlight, Near + Far, Altered America, and concluding with Neither Here Nor There. This finished series should be read in the order the books were released to follow the natural progression of the collections.

Start with The Surgeon's Tale and Other Stories(With: Cat Rambo), the first of 5 books in the Cat Rambo Collections series.

#	Title
1	The Surgeon's Tale and Other Stories(With: Cat Rambo) 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Eyes Like Sky and Coal and Moonlight(By: Cat Rambo) 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Near + Far(By: Cat Rambo) 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Altered America(By: Cat Rambo) 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Neither Here Nor There(By: Cat Rambo) 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

17 books (2001–2027)

The Halo series comprises 16 books published between 2001 and 2025, with the saga still ongoing. Written by various authors including Eric Nylund, Karen Traviss, Peter David, and others, these science fiction and action adventure novels should be read in publication order beginning with The Fall of Reach. The series includes novels, short story collections, and novellas that expand the Halo universe across multiple timelines and perspectives.

Start with The Fall of Reach(By: Eric Nylund), the first of 16 books in the Halo series.

#	Title
1	The Fall of Reach(By: Eric Nylund) 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	First Strike(By: Eric Nylund) 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Evolutions: Essential Tales of the Halo Universe(With: Fred Van Lente,Tobias Buckell,Karen Traviss,Eric Nylund,B.K. Evenson,Tessa Kum) 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	The Thursday War(By: Karen Traviss) 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Broken Circle(By: John Shirley) 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Hunters in the Dark(By: Peter David) 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Saint's Testimony(By: Frank O'Connor) 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Shadow of Intent(By: Joseph Staten) 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Fractures(By: Christie Golden,Brian Reed,Tobias Buckell,John Jackson Miller,James Swallow,Kelly Gay,Matt Forbeck,Troy Denning,Joseph Staten,Andrew Ceroni,Kevin Grace,Morgan Lockhart,Frank O'Connor) 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Legacy of Onyx(By: Matt Forbeck) 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Contact Harvest(By: Joseph Staten) 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Shadows of Reach(By: Troy Denning) 2020Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	The Rubicon Protocol(By: Kelly Gay) 2022Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	Outcasts(By: Troy Denning) 2023Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	Epitaph(By: Kelly Gay) 2024Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	Edge of Dawn(By: Kelly Gay) 2025Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	Fireteam Noble(By: Troy Denning) 2027Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

1 book (2004–2004)

#	Title
1	Leviathan: Cities(By: Jay Lake,Forrest Aguirre,Ben Peek,Michael Cisco,K.J. Bishop,Stepan Chapman,Ursula Pflug,Allan Kausch,Tim Jarvis,Catherine Kasper,Darla Beasley) 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

1 book (2020–2020)

#	Title
1	A Peculiar Peril 2020Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

4 books (2010–2014)

This three-book non-fiction series by Jeff VanderMeer, published between 2010 and 2014, provides guides for writers and creative enthusiasts interested in speculative fiction and imaginative worldbuilding. The series is complete and should be read in publication order, beginning with The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals, followed by The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals: The Evil Monkey Dialogues, Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction, and The Steampunk User's Manual. Several titles are co-authored with Ann VanderMeer or S.J. Chambers.

Start with The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals: The Evil Monkey Dialogues(With: Ann VanderMeer) and read in order.

#	Title
1	The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals(With: Ann VanderMeer) 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals: The Evil Monkey Dialogues(With: Ann VanderMeer) 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	The Steampunk User's Manual(With: S.J. Chambers) 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

14 books (1987–2020)

The Predator series is a collection of thirteen science fiction and action novels based on the film franchise, written by various authors and published between 1987 and 2020. The series is now complete and should be read in publication order, beginning with Paul Monette's Predator and concluding with James A. Moore and Mark Morris's Stalking Shadows. Each installment expands the universe with different storylines and perspectives from multiple acclaimed writers in the science fiction and action genres.

Start with Predator(By: Paul Monette), the first of 13 books in the Predator series.

#	Title
1	Predator(By: Paul Monette) 1987Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Predator 2(By: Simon Hawke) 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Concrete Jungle(By: James A. Moore,Nathan Archer) 1995Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Concrete Jungle(By: Nathan Archer) 1995Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Cold War(By: Nathan Archer) 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Big Game(By: Sandy Schofield) 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Forever Midnight(By: John Shirley) 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Flesh and Blood(By: Robert Greenberger,Michael Jan Friedman) 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	South China Sea 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Turnabout(By: Steve Perry) 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Incursion(By: Tim Lebbon) 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	If It Bleeds(By: Jonathan Maberry,Jeremy Robinson,Kevin J. Anderson,Bryan Thomas Schmidt,Tim Lebbon,Andrew Mayne,Steve Perry,Mira Grant,Larry Correia,Dayton Ward) 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Hunters and Hunted Official Movie Prequel(By: James A. Moore) 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	Stalking Shadows(By: James A. Moore,Mark Morris) 2020Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

11 books (1996–2022)

VanderMeer's collection of short stories and novellas spans nearly three decades, with ten entries published between 1996 and 2022. The series should be read in publication order, beginning with Dradin, In Love and progressing through works such as The Hoegbotton Guide to the Early History of Ambergris, The Transformation of Martin Lake, and concluding with Wildlife. While some entries share thematic or world-building elements characteristic of the author's fantasy and science fiction work, each story functions as a distinct narrative. The series appears to be complete as of 2022.

Start with Dradin, In Love, the first of 10 books in the Short Stories/Novellas series.

#	Title
1	Dradin, In Love 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Hoegbotton Guide to the Early History of Ambergris By Duncan Shriek 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Transformation of Martin Lake 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Why Should I Cut Your Throat? 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Errata 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Balzac's War 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Greensleeves 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Komodo 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	This World Is Full of Monsters 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Bliss 2022Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Wildlife 2022Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

9 books (1996–2011)

Jeff VanderMeer's Short Story Collections series spans seven volumes published between 2003 and 2011, presenting a complete and finished body of work. The series should be read in publication order, beginning with The Day Dali Died and progressing through standalone story collections that showcase VanderMeer's distinctive blend of fantasy and science fiction. Several volumes in the series include collaborative efforts, such as The Surgeon's Tale and Other Stories written with Cat Rambo, and The Steampunk Bible created with S.J. Chambers. This collection represents VanderMeer's explorations across multiple genres including action and adventure, with some entries offering essays and critical analysis rather than purely fictional narratives.

Start with The Day Dali Died, the first of 7 books in the Short Story Collections series.

#	Title
1	The Book Of Lost Places 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Day Dali Died 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Secret Life 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Strange Tales of Secret Lives 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	The Surgeon's Tale and Other Stories(With: Cat Rambo) 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	The Third Bear 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Secret Lives 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Monstrous Creatures: Explorations of Fantasy Through Essays, Articles and Reviews 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	The Steampunk Bible: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Imaginary Airships, Corsets and Goggles, Mad Scientists, and Strange Literature(With: S.J. Chambers) 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

5 books (2014–2027)

The Southern Reach series by Jeff VanderMeer consists of four science fiction novels published between 2014 and 2024, with the series remaining ongoing. The books should be read in publication order, beginning with Acceptance and continuing through Annihilation, Authority, and Absolution, with Abdication as the most recent installment. This series blends elements of science fiction and action-adventure storytelling across its expanding narrative.

Start with Acceptance, the first of 4 books in the Southern Reach series.

#	Title
1	Acceptance 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Annihilation 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Authority 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Absolution 2024Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Abdication 2027Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

4 books (2003–2021)

Jeff VanderMeer's four standalone novels span from 2003 to 2021 and should be read in publication order beginning with Veniss Underground. The series includes The Situation, The Three Quests of the Wizard Sarnod, and Hummingbird Salamander, with no indication of future additions planned. Each novel stands independently while showcasing VanderMeer's range across fantasy, science fiction, and speculative fiction genres.

Start with Veniss Underground, the first of 4 books in the Standalone Novels series.

#	Title
1	Veniss Underground 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Situation 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Three Quests of the Wizard Sarnod 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Hummingbird Salamander 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

4 books (2014–2014)

The Time Traveller's Almanac is a four-book science fiction series by Jeff VanderMeer published in 2014. The complete series consists of Communiqués, Experiments, Mazes & Traps, and Reactionaries, and should be read in publication order beginning with Communiqués. This finished series blends fantasy, science fiction, and adventure elements throughout its narrative arc.

Start with Communiqués, the first of 4 books in the The Time Traveller's Almanac series.

#	Title
1	Communiqués 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Experiments 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Mazes & Traps 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Reactionaries 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible