Samuel R. Delany Reading Order

47 books (1967–2027)

Samuel R. Delany's Anthologies series spans 43 books published between 1967 and 2021, collecting his contributions to various science fiction and literary anthologies over more than five decades. The series encompasses appearances in landmark collections like Dangerous Visions, Quark, and the Nebula Awards anthologies, as well as numerous other prestigious science fiction and fantasy compilations. These books should be read in publication order to follow the chronological development of Delany's work across this extended period. The series appears to be complete, offering a comprehensive record of the author's anthology participation across multiple genres and editorial projects.

Start with Dangerous Visions, the first of 43 books in the Anthologies series.

#	Title
1	Dangerous Visions 1967Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Dangerous Visions 3 1967Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Quark 1 1970Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Quark 4 1971Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Shores Beneath 1971Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Those Who Can: A Science Fiction Reader 1973Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Alpha 5 1974Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Wondermakers 2 1974Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Cosmos Science Fiction and Fantasy, November 1977 1977Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Nebula Awards 13 1980Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	TriQuarterly 49: Science Fiction 1980Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Three: Nebula Winners 1965-1969 1981Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	What If? Volume 3 1982Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	Nebula Award Stories 3 1983Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	Worlds Apart 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	diacritics: a review of contemporary criticism 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	Mississippi Review 47 / 48 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	Storming the Reality Studio 1991Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	Fiction International 22 1992Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
20	Avant-Pop: Fiction for a Daydream Nation 1993Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
21	The Mammoth Book of Erotica 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
22	Shade 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
23	Swords of the Rainbow 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
24	Boys Like Us: Gay Writers Tell Their Coming Out Stories 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
25	A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
26	Supermen 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
27	The Ultimate Cyberpunk 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
28	110 Stories 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
29	Reading the Bones 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
30	The Space Opera Renaissance 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
31	Fiction's Present 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
32	The WisCon Chronicles, Volume 1 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
33	The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
34	Ecce Kosti Addenda 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
35	Telling Tales: The Clarion West 30th Anniversary Anthology 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
36	The Shadows Took Shape 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
37	The Sixth Science Fiction Megapack 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
38	Cross Worlds: Transcultural Poetics: An Anthology 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
39	Mermaids and Other Mysteries of the Deep 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
40	People of Color Destroy Science Fiction! 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
41	Everyone: Worlds Without Walls 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
42	The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2018 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
43	I Transgress 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
44	The Unquiet Dreamer: A Tribute to Harlan Ellison 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
45	Theater of Terror: Revenge of the Queers! 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
46	Out of the Ruins: The Apocalyptic Anthology 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
47	Unfolding Corpus: Radical Creativity and Vulnerability in Times of Plague 2027Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

15 books (1967–2027)

Samuel R. Delany's Collections series spans thirteen volumes published from 1967 to 2026 and remains ongoing. These collections bring together Delany's acclaimed science fiction stories, literary essays, and other writings, with some volumes featuring collaborations and specialized selections like the Nebula Award-winning fiction anthology. Readers should approach the series in publication order, beginning with Aye, and Gomorrah, to experience how Delany's work and critical perspective developed over the decades.

Start with Aye, and Gomorrah, the first of 13 books in the Collections series.

#	Title
1	Aye, and Gomorrah 1967Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Driftglass 1971Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Distant Stars 1981Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	The Complete Nebula Award-Winning Fiction 1986Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Driftglass/Starshards 1993Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Atlantis 1995Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Sensitive Skin #9: post-beat, pre-apocalyptic art, writing and music(With: Bernard Meisler,John Lurie) 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	A, B, C 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	In Search of Silence 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	The Novels of Samuel R. Delany Volume One 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Occasional Views, Volume 1 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Occasional Views, Volume 2 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Roots of Imagination: A Chrestomathy 2023Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	Last and First Tales 2026Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	The Edge of Language 2027Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

22 books (1977–2021)

Samuel R. Delany's non-fiction series spans 22 books published from 1977 to 2021, documenting his critical essays, interviews, and autobiographical reflections across nearly five decades. The series should be read in publication order, beginning with The Jewel-Hinged Jaw and proceeding through landmark volumes like The Motion of Light in Water, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue, and Black Gay Man. This likely complete collection represents one of science fiction's most significant literary voices engaging with theory, culture, sexuality, and the craft of writing itself.

Start with The Jewel-Hinged Jaw, the first of 22 books in the Non-Fiction series.

#	Title
1	The Jewel-Hinged Jaw 1977Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The American Shore 1978Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Heavenly Breakfast 1979Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Starboard Wine 1984Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	The Motion of Light in Water 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Wagner Artaud 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	The Straits of Messina 1989Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Silent Interviews 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Longer Views 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Times Square Red, Times Square Blue 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	1984 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Shorter Views 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Black Gay Man 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	About Writing 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	Conversations with Samuel R. Delany 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	The Atheist in the Attic(With: Eleanor Arnason) 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	Letters from Amherst 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	Frederick Weston & Samuel R. Delany in Conversation(With: Frederick Weston) 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	Occasional Views, Volume 1 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
20	Occasional Views, Volume 2 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
21	Of Solids and Surds 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
22	The Tragedy of Ophelia: Two Essays 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

33 books (1984–2026)

The Outspoken Authors series comprises 32 books published between 1984 and 2026, with the collection still ongoing. Each volume features work by science fiction, literary fiction, and non-fiction authors, presented in publication order. Begin with The Presidential Papers by John H. Kessel and continue through the series sequentially to experience the full scope of this anthology-style collection.

Start with The Presidential Papers(By: John H. Kessel), the first of 32 books in the Outspoken Authors series.

#	Title
1	The Presidential Papers(By: John H. Kessel) 1984Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Human Front(By: Ken MacLeod) 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Lucky Strike(By: Kim Stanley Robinson) 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	The Left Left Behind(By: Terry Bisson,Eleanor Arnason) 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Mammoths of the Great Plains(By: Eleanor Arnason) 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	The Underbelly(By: Gary Phillips,Eleanor Arnason) 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Modem Times 2.0(By: Michael Moorcock,Eleanor Arnason) 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow(By: Cory Doctorow,Eleanor Arnason) 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	The Wild Girls(By: Ursula K. Le Guin,Eleanor Arnason) 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Report from Planet Midnight(By: Nalo Hopkinson,Eleanor Arnason) 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Surfing the Gnarl(By: Rudy Rucker) 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	New Taboos(By: John Shirley) 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Patty Hearst & The Twinkie Murders: A Tale of Two Trials(By: Eleanor Arnason,Paul Krassner) 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	The Science of Herself(By: Karen Joy Fowler,Eleanor Arnason) 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	Raising Hell(By: Norman Spinrad,Eleanor Arnason) 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	Gypsy(By: Carter Scholz,Eleanor Arnason) 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	My Life, My Body(By: Marge Piercy) 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	Miracles Ain't What They Used to Be(By: Joe R. Lansdale) 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	Miracles Ain't What They Used to Be(By: Joe R. Lansdale,Eleanor Arnason) 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
20	Fire.(By: Elizabeth Hand,Eleanor Arnason) 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
21	Totalitopia(By: John Crowley) 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
22	The Atheist in the Attic(With: Eleanor Arnason) 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
23	Thoreau's Microscope(By: Michael Blumlein,Eleanor Arnason) 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
24	A City Made of Words(By: Paul Park) 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
25	Talk Like a Man(By: Nisi Shawl) 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
26	The Beatrix Gates(By: Rachel Pollack) 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
27	Big Girl(By: Meg Elison) 2020Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
28	Planetbreaker’s Son(By: Nick Mamatas) 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
29	Utopias of the Third Kind(By: Vandana Singh) 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
30	Night Shift(By: Eileen Gunn) 2022Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
31	The Collapsing Frontier(By: Jonathan Lethem) 2024Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
32	Not What I Intended(By: Nancy Kress) 2025Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
33	She is Here(By: Nicola Griffith) 2026Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

4 books (1979–1987)

The Return to Nevèrÿon series consists of four literary science fiction novels published between 1979 and 1987, following their publication order: Tales of Nevèrÿon, Neveryóna, Flight from Nevèrÿon, and The Bridge of Lost Desire (also titled Return to Neveryon). The complete series blends speculative fiction with literary innovation across its finished run, with each installment building on the foundation established by its predecessor.

Start with Tales of Nevèrÿon, the first of 4 books in the Return to Nevèrÿon series.

#	Title
1	Tales of Nevèrÿon 1979Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Neveryóna 1983Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Flight from Nevèrÿon 1985Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	The Bridge of Lost Desire / Return to Neveryon 1987Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

59 books (1999–2025)

The Sexual Cultures series is an ongoing collection of 59 books edited by Samuel R. Delany, published between 1999 and 2025. This scholarly series explores sexuality, gender, and culture through essays and critical works by various authors, spanning literary fiction, science fiction, and non-fiction perspectives. Readers should follow the books in publication order to experience the series as it was developed and curated. The collection addresses topics ranging from queer theory and identity politics to contemporary cultural analysis and historical examinations of sexuality.

Start with Private Affairs(By: Phillip Brian Harper), the first of 59 books in the Sexual Cultures series.

#	Title
1	Private Affairs(By: Phillip Brian Harper) 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Times Square Red, Times Square Blue 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	In Your Face(By: Mandy Merck) 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Murdering Masculinities(By: Greg Forter) 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Tropics of Desire(By: José Quiroga) 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Black Gay Man(By: Robert F. Reid-Pharr) 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Our Monica, Ourselves(By: Lauren Berlant,Lisa A. Duggan) 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Passing(By: ) 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Queer Globalizations(By: Martin F. Manalansan IV,Arnaldo Cruz-Malave) 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	The Explanation For Everything(By: Paul Morrison) 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Love the Sin(By: Janet R. Jakobsen) 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Queer Latinidad(By: Juana María Rodríguez) 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Boricua Pop(By: Frances Negrón-Muntaner,Frances n-Muntaner) 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	In a Queer Time and Place(By: J. Jack Halberstam) 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	Why I Hate Abercrombie & Fitch(By: Dwight A. McBride) 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	God Hates Fags(By: Michael Cobb) 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	Arranging Grief(By: Dana Luciano) 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	Once You Go Black(By: Robert F. Reid-Pharr) 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	The Latino Body(By: Lazaro Lima) 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
20	Cruising Utopia(By: José Esteban Muñoz) 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
21	Another Country(By: ) 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
22	Extravagant Abjection(By: Darieck Scott) 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
23	Relocations(By: Karen Tongson) 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
24	Beyond the Nation(By: Martin Ponce) 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
25	Single(By: Michael Cobb) 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
26	Brown Boys and Rice Queens(By: Eng-Beng Lim) 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
27	Transforming Citizenships(By: Isaac West) 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
28	Investigating Young People's Sexual Cultures(By: Clarissa Smith,Feona Attwood) 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
29	Sensational Flesh(By: Amber Jamilla Musser) 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
30	Sexual Futures, Queer Gestures, and Other Latina Longings(By: Juana María Rodríguez) 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
31	The Delectable Negro(By: Vincent Woodard) 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
32	The Exquisite Corpse of Asian America(By: Rachel C.Lee) 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
33	A Taste for Brown Bodies(By: Hiram Pérez) 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
34	Embodied Avatars(By: Uri McMillan) 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
35	Not Gay(By: Jane Ward) 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
36	Wedlocked(By: Katherine Franke) 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
37	A Body, Undone(By: Christina Crosby) 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
38	Archives of Flesh(By: Robert F. Reid-Pharr) 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
39	The Color of Kink(By: Ariane Cruz) 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
40	Black Performance on the Outskirts of the Left(By: Malik Gaines) 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
41	Afro-Fabulations(By: ) 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
42	After the Party(By: ) 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
43	Queer Nuns(By: Melissa M. Wilcox) 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
44	Sensual Excess(By: Amber Jamilla Musser) 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
45	The Life and Death of Latisha King(By: ) 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
46	Archiving an Epidemic(By: Robb Hernández) 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
47	Frottage(By: Keguro Macharia) 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
48	Queer Faith(By: ) 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
49	Queer Times, Black Futures(By: ) 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
50	Becoming Human(By: Zakiyyah Iman Jackson) 2020Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
51	The Sex Obsession(By: Janet R. Jakobsen) 2020Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
52	The Tragedy of Heterosexuality(By: Jane Ward) 2020Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
53	Keeping It Unreal(By: Darieck Scott) 2022Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
54	Sexuality Beyond Consent(By: ) 2023Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
55	Bottoms Up(By: Xiomara Verenice Cervantes-Gomez) 2024Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
56	Deviant Matter(By: Kyla Wazana Tompkins) 2024Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
57	Queer Childhoods(By: Mary Zaborskis) 2024Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
58	Extravagant Camp(By: Chris A. Eng) 2025Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
59	Queer Lasting(By: Sarah Ensor) 2025Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

6 books (1962–2025)

Samuel R. Delany's collection of shorter science fiction works spans from 1962 to 2004, comprising five books that should be read in publication order: The Jewels of Aptor, Empire Star, Home Is the Hangman/We, in Some Strange Power's Employ, Move on a Rigorous Line, Bread and Wine, and Phallos. This complete series blends science fiction with literary sophistication and philosophical inquiry, showcasing Delany's distinctive voice across multiple decades of his career. Each entry represents a significant work from different periods of the author's evolution as a writer.

Start with The Jewels of Aptor, the first of 5 books in the Short Stories/Novellas series.

#	Title
1	The Jewels of Aptor 1962Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Empire Star 1966Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Home Is the Hangman/We, in Some Strange Power's Employ, Move on a Rigorous Line 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Bread and Wine 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Phallos 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Big Joe 2025Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

16 books (1965–2020)

Samuel R. Delany's standalone novels span from 1965 to 2020, comprising 16 distinct works of science fiction and literary fiction that can each be read independently. These books, including acclaimed titles like Babel-17, Dhalgren, and Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand, are best approached in publication order to trace the author's evolving themes and style across five decades. The series is complete, with The Ballad of Beta-2 serving as the entry point for readers beginning Delany's expansive body of standalone work.

Start with The Ballad of Beta-2, the first of 16 books in the Standalone Novels series.

#	Title
1	The Ballad of Beta-2 1965Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Babel-17 1966Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Einstein Intersection 1967Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Nova 1968Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	The Tides of Lust 1973Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Dhalgren 1975Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Tritón / Trouble on Triton 1976Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Empire 1978Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand 1984Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	They Fly At Çiron 1993Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Hogg 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	The Mad Man 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Dark Reflections 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	Voyage, Orestes! 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	Shoat Rumblin: His Sensations and Ideas 2020Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

3 books (1963–1965)

The Fall of the Towers is a completed science fiction series by Samuel R. Delany consisting of three novels published between 1963 and 1965. The trilogy should be read in publication order, beginning with Captives of the Flame (also titled Out of the Dead City), followed by The Towers of Toron and City of a Thousand Suns. This early work from Delany blends science fiction with literary elements that would become hallmarks of his career.

Start with Captives of the Flame / Out of the Dead City and read in order.

#	Title
1	Captives of the Flame / Out of the Dead City 1963Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Towers of Toron 1964Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	City of a Thousand Suns 1965Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible