George RR Martin Books in Order

A collection of early short science fiction and fantasy that showcases Martin’s range and his interest in love, faith, and loneliness. The Hugo-winning title novella follows two telepaths investigating a strange religious practice on a distant world.

Two early science fiction novellas from Martin’s pre-Westeros years, centered on outsiders caught in dangerous situations far from home. The stories balance big feelings with hard choices, and they offer a compact look at his shorter, sharper storytelling.

The wanderer Sharra steps into a dying city and finds Laren Dorr, a singer kept alive for his lonely music. To help him escape, she has to outwit local powers and survive a world that doesn’t forgive strangers or second chances.

Dirk t’Larien travels to Worlorn, a planet slipping into permanent winter, after an invitation from the woman he never forgot. He arrives to find her married into a fierce warrior culture, and their personal history becomes the spark for a dangerous clash of loyalties.

A story collection that gathers Martin’s early science fiction and fantasy, with worlds that feel vast, strange, and a little haunted. These tales mix adventure with emotional stakes, often focusing on outsiders, belief, and the price of wanting something too much.

Adara was born during the coldest winter anyone can remember, and the ice dragon has always seemed to belong to her. When war reaches her family’s farm, she must decide what she is willing to sacrifice to protect the people she loves.

Simon Kress buys a terrarium of intelligent, warlike creatures called sandkings and treats their battles as entertainment. As the colonies grow smarter and stranger, his cruelty comes back at him, turning a hobby into a nightmare he can’t control.

On the world of Windhaven, flying messengers rule the skies by tradition, not talent. Maris of Amberly fights to earn wings of her own, and when she succeeds, she discovers that changing a rigid system can be more dangerous than defying it.

In 1857, steamboat captain Abner Marsh partners with the secretive Joshua York to build the fastest boat on the Mississippi. Their voyage uncovers a hidden vampire war, and Marsh is forced to choose between profit, friendship, and a chance to stop a darker kind of predator.

A former 1960s radical turned journalist investigates a brutal murder tied to a vanished rock band and a powerful legend. The search pulls him through America’s fading counterculture toward a reunion tour that feels less like nostalgia and more like a fuse being lit.

A team of scientists hires a mysterious ship to hunt an elusive alien species at the edge of known space. Trapped together for weeks, they face sabotage and murder, and the growing fear that the true danger may be the ship’s owner, or the ship itself.

A wide-ranging collection that blends science fiction, fantasy, and unsettling horror. These stories circle loneliness, obsession, and strange worlds, including the eerie title piece and the bittersweet fantasy of The Ice Dragon.

Haviland Tuf, a solitary trader with a weakness for cats, ends up owning the Ark, an ancient ecological engineering ship. He travels from world to world solving environmental crises, often by giving people exactly what they asked for, and forcing them to live with it.

An alien virus is released over Earth and remakes humanity in an instant, killing most victims and transforming the rest. Through linked stories, this opening Wild Cards volume introduces Aces, Jokers, and the birth of Jokertown, where survival depends on power, luck, and community.

New York’s superpowered scene is growing, and with it comes celebrity, crime, and exploitation. This second Wild Cards volume uses interlinked stories to show Aces and Jokers colliding with fame and politics, while ordinary people try to survive the fallout.

Jokertown is a community under pressure, and the fight for rights and respect can turn explosive. In this linked Wild Cards volume, activists, criminals, and would-be heroes clash as tensions rise, and one spark threatens to turn the neighborhood into a battlefield.

The Wild Cards world widens beyond New York as Aces and Jokers get pulled into international trouble and new kinds of missions. Powers help, but politics and betrayal travel just as easily, and the cost of being extraordinary keeps climbing.

In Jokertown, power is never just about abilities, it’s about who controls the streets and the story people believe. These linked tales follow Aces, Jokers, and ordinary New Yorkers as crime, corruption, and hard choices drag the community into messier, more personal fights.

Wild carders head into the spotlight as a major political convention becomes a target for violence and manipulation. As the stakes rise, Aces and Jokers are forced to pick sides quickly, and a struggle for power threatens to turn public spectacle into tragedy.

A string of murders hits the heart of Jokertown, and the glamorous ace Chrysalis becomes a focus of suspicion. As investigators and vigilantes dig for answers, the case exposes secrets that could tear the Wild Cards community apart from the inside.

Old grudges, new crimes, and political pressure collide as Jokertown faces another dangerous turn. The interlocking stories follow Aces and Jokers caught between community ties and personal survival, where the wrong alliance can be deadlier than any power.

This linked Wild Cards volume shifts into the rougher corners of Jokertown and follows characters living close to the edge. As new schemes and threats close in, survival depends on who you trust, how far you’ll bend the rules, and what you’re willing to lose.

Jessie hears warnings about the basement tenant everyone calls the Pear-Shaped Man, but the stories sound like ordinary apartment-house gossip. When his attention turns to her, the danger stops being a rumor, and she has to find a way to escape a nightmare no one else wants to see.

Gambling, grifts, and superpowers mix as Jokertown’s power players try to rig the odds in their favor. These interlinked stories follow Aces and Jokers navigating double-crosses and uneasy alliances, where even a winning hand can cost more than it pays.

In this linked Wild Cards volume, personal vendettas and long-running schemes collide in and around Jokertown. Multiple viewpoints build toward a shared crisis, where the biggest risk isn’t just a superpower, it’s the choices people make when they feel cornered.

Arson investigator Hannah Davis looks into a deadly church fire and discovers a pattern that doesn’t fit a lone criminal. In a city shaped by the Wild Card virus, her case points toward a secret cabal with a long game, and the people they are willing to burn to win it.

Hannah Davis digs deeper into a conspiracy that targets wild carders and manipulates public fear. As evidence mounts and the body count grows, she and her allies realize they’re not just solving crimes, they’re trying to stop a plan designed to erase a community.

The conspiracy reaches its endgame when a lethal new strain threatens anyone with Wild Card genes. With time running out, Hannah Davis and the survivors race to uncover who unleashed it, and whether there’s a cure before the virus finishes the job.

In a land of long summers and longer grudges, the great houses of Westeros play a deadly game for the Iron Throne. When Ned Stark rides south to serve his king, secrets, betrayals, and an ancient threat from the North begin to close in from every side.

The Seven Kingdoms fracture as rival kings claim the Iron Throne and war spreads from the capital to the farthest castles. Tyrion Lannister tries to hold King’s Landing together, while Jon Snow and Daenerys face growing threats at the edges of the known world.

The War of the Five Kings reaches a brutal turning point as alliances break and old debts come due. From the Wall to the riverlands to Slaver’s Bay, the fight for power spreads, and every victory seems to create a new enemy waiting in the dark.

Four longer works that show Martin outside Westeros, mixing horror, crime, and science fiction. It includes a werewolf tale, a Daenerys-centered Westeros novella, and other pieces that highlight his knack for dark turns and complicated characters.

A collection that spotlights the Deuces, wild carders whose powers are small, odd, or more trouble than help. Spanning decades of alternate history, these stories show how minor gifts can still reshape lives, and how survival can hinge on the tiniest edge.

The first half of Martin’s two-volume retrospective of short fiction and commentary. It pairs stories with candid introductions about how they were written, ranging across science fiction, fantasy, and horror, and showing the roots of themes he later expanded in his novels.

The second volume continues the retrospective with later and longer works, plus more autobiographical notes. It’s a deep dive into Martin’s award-winning shorter fiction and the craft choices behind it, with pieces that connect loosely to ideas that fed into A Song of Ice and Fire.

After years of war, the realm is exhausted, and the scramble for power turns colder and more desperate. New factions rise in Dorne and the Iron Islands, Cersei tries to tighten her grip in King’s Landing, and Brienne follows a stubborn trail through a shattered countryside.

John Fortune, son of two famous Aces, is kidnapped by a shadowy Vatican office, and a tangle of Wild Cards lives gets pulled into the rescue. From Las Vegas showmanship to secret missions, the chase forces uneasy allies to work together before it’s too late.

John Fortune forms a young-aces team called the Committee to tackle crises the world can’t ignore. Their first missions take them from political backrooms to disaster zones, where media pressure, hidden agendas, and real horror collide with the messy reality of trying to do good.

Twenty-eight young Aces sign up for American Hero, a reality show built to turn superpowers into prime-time entertainment. As the contestants compete and get voted off, real-world violence and ugly secrets intrude, and the line between staged heroics and genuine courage blurs.

A tribute anthology edited by George RR Martin and Gardner Dozois, set in Jack Vance’s far-future Dying Earth. The stories riff on tricky wizards, doomed bargains, and decadent cities, capturing the setting’s mix of dark humor, beauty, and menace.

The Committee’s mission to help the People’s Paradise of Africa drags them into propaganda, brutality, and a dangerous power struggle. While one ace searches for a missing child, others try to stop a regime without becoming pawns in someone else’s revolution.

Power shifts in both the North and the East as old wars sputter and new ones ignite. Jon Snow leads the Night’s Watch on a frontier that is cracking, Daenerys struggles to rule a conquered city, and Tyrion is pulled into a dangerous journey across the Narrow Sea.

At the Old Bowery Fifth Precinct, better known as Fort Freak, cops patrol the edge of Jokertown where every case has extra complications. This linked novel follows investigations and internal conflicts inside the station, where prejudice, politics, and superpowers collide on the job.

Three Westeros prequel novellas collected in one volume. Hedge knight Ser Duncan the Tall and his young squire Egg wander from tourneys to border disputes, stumbling into politics they don’t fully understand, and learning how honor holds up when powerful people start making demands.

A cross-genre anthology edited by George RR Martin and Gardner Dozois, built around women who are dangerous in different ways. The lineup ranges from fantasy and science fiction to historical and crime tales, each centered on agency, risk, and consequences.

A retro Mars anthology edited by George RR Martin and Gardner Dozois that celebrates classic visions of the Red Planet. These original stories lean into canals, ruins, and swashbuckling danger, letting modern writers play with the pulp myth of Mars.

The first installment of the Dangerous Women anthology, split into smaller parts for easier reading. It collects a set of original stories about women who survive, scheme, fight, and lead, across fantasy, science fiction, historical, and crime settings.

Part 2 continues the Dangerous Women anthology with more of the original cross-genre stories chosen by its editors. Each tale explores a different kind of danger, from battlefield courage to quiet, ruthless ambition, with consequences that stick.

The final installment of the Dangerous Women anthology, wrapping up the remaining stories from the full collection. It’s a mix of fantasy, science fiction, historical, and crime fiction, all focused on women whose choices drive the action.

Jokers are disappearing from the streets, and a Fort Freak cop starts asking questions no one wants answered. The trail leads from Jokertown to an illegal fighting circuit run by the terrifying Baba Yaga, where the next disappearance could mean death.

A cross-genre anthology edited by George RR Martin and Gardner Dozois, packed with stories about thieves, con artists, and charming troublemakers. Expect double-crosses, clever escapes, and characters who live by their wits, whether the setting is medieval, futuristic, or somewhere in between.

A companion to Old Mars, this anthology imagines Venus as pulp writers once dreamed it, steamy jungles, lost cities, and strange life. Edited by George RR Martin and Gardner Dozois, the collection delivers planetary-romance adventure with a modern touch.

The Mean Streets arc heads overseas as a crisis in Central Asia pulls wild carders into a volatile mix of refugees, smugglers, and secret agendas. With Baba Yaga’s shadow still looming, a rescue mission becomes a fight for survival far from Jokertown’s familiar streets.

A coming-of-age Wild Cards tale set in Jokertown, where growing up means learning the rules of a world that fears what you look like. As a young joker tries to find love and belonging, everyday problems collide with the violence and prejudice that never quite go away.

A murder aboard the steamboat Natchez launches a Wild Cards mystery that drifts through New Orleans nightlife and backroom deals. As an investigator follows the trail, it becomes clear that even a river cruise can hide conspiracies, old grudges, and deadly powers.

An in-world history of House Targaryen, told like a chronicle built from competing accounts, rumors, and official records. It follows the dragonlords from Aegon’s Conquest through generations of rule and civil war, showing how dynasties rise, and how they burn.

A freak accident sends a group of wild carders back to Prohibition-era Chicago, where mobsters and corrupt cops don’t care what year you came from. Stranded in a city built on deals, they have to survive long enough to find a way home without making history worse.

Amazing Bubbles heads to Texas as a reluctant chaperone for a group of teenagers. When a kidnapping plot and old Wild Cards grudges surface, the trip turns into a scramble across the state, where no one can afford to play fair and the wrong move can get someone killed.

Adesina was born a joker and has never had an easy time fitting in, even with Amazing Bubbles for a mother. When her best friend disappears, she takes to the air to search, and discovers that a gift that looks like freedom can also make you a target.

Reporter Jonathan Hive heads to the south of France to chase a story that feels too strange even for the Wild Cards world. What he finds forces him to confront old mistakes and decide what kind of man he wants to be when the easy choices are gone.

An inside look at a reality TV competition where wild carders perform heroics for cameras and cash. Told through reports, confessionals, and behind-the-scenes chatter, it shows how fame twists good intentions, and how a show can change the people trapped inside it.

In an alternate England, Queen Margaret is dying and the crown is up for grabs, but the leading candidate wants to exile all jokers and aces. A brilliant joker named Alan Turing is tasked with finding a better heir, and he has to outmaneuver powerful forces before the country tips into chaos.

Theodorus is a snail-centaur joker who dreams of a life beyond Earth, and Aarti, the Moon Maid, can project herself to the lunar surface. Together they imagine a refuge for jokers on the moon, but turning that dream into reality means facing politics, money, and human fear.

A collection of Wild Cards stories originally published separately, gathered into one volume. The tales range from New York to Rio and beyond, following characters like Amazing Bubbles and others as they face new threats, old grudges, and the everyday cost of living in a world shaped by the Wild Card virus.

An illustrated, in-world history of the Targaryen kings, queens, and dragons. Drawing on the events covered in Fire and Blood, it condenses the dynasty’s major reigns and conflicts into a clear narrative, paired with artwork that brings the family tree and its wars to life.