Thomas King Reading Order

52 books (1988–2022)

The American Indian Literature and Critical Studies series comprises 52 books published between 1988 and 2022, examining Native American literary traditions and indigenous voices in contemporary fiction. This scholarly collection should be read in publication order, beginning with All My Relations and progressing through works that blend critical analysis with creative literature from Native American authors. The series appears to be complete as of 2022, offering readers a comprehensive exploration of American Indian cultural expression and literary criticism across multiple decades.

Start with All My Relations, the first of 52 books in the American Indian Literature and Critical Studies series.

#	Title
1	All My Relations 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Narrative Chance(By: Gerald Vizenor) 1989Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Dead Voices(By: Gerald Vizenor) 1992Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Other destinies(By: Louis Owens) 1992Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	The Sharpest Sight(By: Louis Owens) 1992Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Firesticks of Stories(By: Diane Glancy) 1993Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Summer in the Spring(By: Gerald Vizenor) 1993Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Bone Game(By: Louis Owens) 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Faces in the Moon(By: Betty Louise Bell) 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Grand Avenue(By: Greg Sarris) 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Eye Killers(By: A. A. Carr) 1995Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Mediation in Contemporary Native American Fiction(By: James Ruppert) 1995Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Only Approved Indians(By: Jack D. Forbes) 1995Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	The Massacre at Sand Creek(By: Bruce Cutler) 1995Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	Wolfsong(By: Louis Owens) 1995Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	Nightland(By: Louis Owens) 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	On Native Ground(By: Jim Barnes) 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	Kiss of the Fur Queen(By: Tomson Highway) 1998Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	Mixedblood Messages(By: Louis Owens) 1998Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
20	Dark River(By: Louis Owens) 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
21	Chancers(By: Gerald Vizenor) 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
22	Briefcase Warriors(By: E. Donald Two-Rivers) 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
23	I Hear the Train(By: Louis Owens) 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
24	Other Words(By: Jace Weaver) 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
25	American Gypsy(By: Diane Glancy) 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
26	The Mask Maker(By: Diane Glancy) 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
27	Where the Pavement Ends(By: William S. Yellow Robe Jr.) 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
28	Field of Honor(By: D.L. Birchfield) 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
29	Silko(By: Brewster E. Fitz) 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
30	A Pipe for February(By: Martin Scorsese,Charles H. Red Corn) 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
31	The Trickster of Liberty(By: Gerald Vizenor) 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
32	Muting White Noise(By: James H. Cox) 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
33	The Marriage of Saints(By: Dawn Karima Pettigrew) 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
34	The Singing Bird(By: John Milton Oskison) 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
35	The Cherokee Syllabary(By: Ellen Cushman) 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
36	Twenty Thousand Mornings(By: Susan Kalter,John Joseph Mathews) 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
37	Literacy and Intellectual Life in the Cherokee Nation, 1820–1906(By: James W. Parins) 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
38	The Native American Renaissance(By: Alan R. Velie) 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
39	Creative Alliances(By: Molly S. McGlennen) 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
40	Progressive Traditions(By: Joshua B. Nelson) 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
41	Scalping Columbus and Other Damn Indian Stories(By: Adam Fortunate Eagle) 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
42	Old Three Toes and Other Tales of Survival and Extinction(By: Susan Kalter,John Joseph Mathews) 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
43	Wil Usdi: Novella(By: Robert J. Conley,Luther Wilson) 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
44	Chenoo(By: Joseph Bruchac) 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
45	Imagining Sovereignty(By: David J. Carlson) 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
46	Red Bird, Red Power(By: Tadeusz Lewandowski) 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
47	Back to the Blanket(By: Kimberly G. Wieser) 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
48	John Joseph Mathews(By: Michael Snyder) 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
49	Plastic Indian(By: Robert J. Conley,Evelyn L. Conley,Geary Hobson) 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
50	Padoskoks(By: Joseph Bruchac) 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
51	Watermelon Nights(By: Greg Sarris) 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
52	Native Removal Writing(By: Sabine N. Meyer) 2022Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

2 books (1988–2004)

Thomas King's two-book anthology series spans from 1988 to 2004 and is now complete. Both volumes—All My Relations and Our Story—should be read in publication order. These non-fiction collections showcase diverse perspectives and voices across their span of sixteen years.

Start with All My Relations and read in order.

#	Title
1	All My Relations 1988Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Our Story 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

3 books (1993–2019)

Thomas King's Collections series comprises three non-fiction works published between 1993 and 2019. The complete series should be read in publication order, beginning with One Good Story, That One, followed by A Short History of Indians in Canada, and concluding with 77 Fragments of a Familiar Ruin. This finished series offers interconnected essays and explorations of cultural and historical themes.

Start with One Good Story, That One and read in order.

#	Title
1	One Good Story, That One 1993Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	A Short History of Indians in Canada 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	77 Fragments of a Familiar Ruin 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

8 books (2002–2024)

The DreadfulWater series comprises eight mystery novels written by Thomas King, beginning with DreadfulWater in 2002 and continuing through Black Ice in 2024. The series remains ongoing and should be read in publication order to follow the connected narratives across the books. Readers new to the series should start with the first installment, DreadfulWater, and proceed sequentially through The Red Power Murders, Cold Skies, A Matter of Malice, Obsidian, Deep House, Double Eagle, and Black Ice.

Start with DreadfulWater, the first of 8 books in the DreadfulWater series.

#	Title
1	DreadfulWater 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Red Power Murders 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Cold Skies 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	A Matter of Malice 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Obsidian 2020Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Deep House 2022Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Double Eagle 2023Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Black Ice 2024Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

1 book (2021–2021)

#	Title
1	Borders(With: Natasha Donovan) 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

1 book (2020–2020)

2 books (2003–2012)

Thomas King's two-book non-fiction series spans from 2003 to 2012 and is now complete. Both works should be read in publication order, beginning with The Truth About Stories followed by The Inconvenient Indian. These standalone but complementary volumes explore important themes through King's distinctive non-fiction approach.

Start with The Truth About Stories and read in order.

#	Title
1	The Truth About Stories 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Inconvenient Indian 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

5 books (1999–2017)

Thomas King's Picture series comprises five complete books published between 1999 and 2017, featuring tales centered on Coyote across different narratives and settings. The series should be read in publication order, beginning with Coyote Sings to the Moon and continuing through A Coyote Columbus Story, Coyote's New Suit, A Coyote Solstice Tale, and concluding with Coyote Tales. Each installment stands as its own story while contributing to the broader collection of Coyote-centered narratives. This series offers readers a series of interconnected stories spanning nearly two decades of King's creative work.

Start with Coyote Sings to the Moon, the first of 5 books in the Picture series.

#	Title
1	Coyote Sings to the Moon 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	A Coyote Columbus Story 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Coyote's New Suit 2004Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	A Coyote Solstice Tale 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Coyote Tales 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

7 books (1990–2025)

Thomas King's Standalone Novels series consists of seven books published between 1990 and 2025, with the series still ongoing. These works should be read in publication order, beginning with Medicine River. While each novel stands alone narratively, reading them in sequence provides insight into King's evolving exploration of themes relevant to his non-fiction interests across the span of three decades.

Start with Medicine River, the first of 7 books in the Standalone Novels series.

#	Title
1	Medicine River 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Green Grass, Running Water 1993Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Truth and Bright Water 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	The Back of the Turtle 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Indians on Vacation 2020Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Sufferance 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Aliens on the Moon 2025Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible