Delightfully Twisted Tales Books in Order

The Delightfully Twisted Tales books are Nicky Drayden’s early collections of short speculative fiction. They are not a continuing story with one central cast or a single setting. Instead, each volume gathers quick trips into strange little worlds where the premise is often clear from the first line and then gets more complicated, funnier, darker, or all three at once.

The opening volumes move freely through science fiction, fantasy, horror, and absurd comedy. One collection may include a shapeshifter working an intergalactic casino, a robot couple trying suburban life, or rhinoceros-like aliens arriving in a Colorado town. Another might visit hell, introduce a dragon with big ambitions, or put a werewolf into the uncertain world of online dating. The stories are short, but the ideas are not small.

Expect odd creatures, awkward social rules, and practical problems made deeply impractical by magic or alien biology. A pirate gets a last chance to return to the old job. A restaurant visit takes an unexpected turn. A mother discovers that common advice has limits. A lonely zombie gets another shot at romance. Drayden uses these setups to make room for jokes, but she also lets them carry unease, affection, embarrassment, and the occasional nasty surprise.

There is no required plot order beyond publication order. Starting with Close Encounters of the Worst Kind gives readers the clearest sense of the series, since it introduces the fast, premise-driven approach that shapes the later books. Fire, Fangs and Brimstone, The Weirdos Next Door, Wisps, Spells and Faerie Tales, and Love and Other Filthy Habits continue in that compact format. Family Antimatters keeps the same spirit, while The Wide, Wide World of Weird gathers earlier material alongside additional work in a larger package.

The later entries shift the format a little. The Worst of Both Worlds offers another set of stand-alone tales, including stories about a troubled living ship and an alien athlete. The Future of Future Planning is a linked flash-fiction collection that treats future technology through the language of practical advice, finance, education, real estate, and retirement planning.

These are snacks, not a long meal.

They suit readers who like to sample different ideas rather than settle into one world for hundreds of pages. The tone can be silly, creepy, warm, or sharply satirical, sometimes in the same story. Read the books in order if you want to see Drayden’s early range develop, or dip into any volume whose title sounds like your kind of weird.