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George RR Martin Books in Order

See George RR Martin books in order, from A Song of Ice and Fire to Wild Cards, with quick summaries, series pages, and where-to-start tips.

Last updated: December 27, 2025

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67 books

The Rise of the Dragon

by George R. R. Martin

2022

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.

Full House

by George RR Martin

2022

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.

Joker Moon

by George RR Martin

2021

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.

Three Kings

by George RR Martin

2020

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.

American Hero

by George RR Martin

2020

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.

Long is the Way

by George RR Martin

2019

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.

The Flight of Morpho Girl

by George RR Martin

2018

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.

Texas Hold'em

by George R. R. Martin

2018

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.

Low Chicago

by George R. R. Martin

2018

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.

Fire and Blood

by George R. R. Martin

2018

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.

Mississippi Roll

by George R. R. Martin

2017

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.

The Thing about Growing Up in Jokertown

by George RR Martin

2016

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.

High Stakes

by George RR Martin

2016

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.

Old Venus

by George R. R. Martin

2015

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.

Rogues

by George R. R. Martin

2014

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.

Lowball

by George RR Martin

2014

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.

Dangerous Women Part 3

by George R. R. Martin

2014

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.

Dangerous Women Part 2

by George R. R. Martin

2014

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.

Dangerous Women Part 1

by George R. R. Martin

2014

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.

Old Mars

by George R. R. Martin

2013

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.

Dangerous Women

by George R. R. Martin

2013

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 Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

by George R. R. Martin

2013

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.

Fort Freak

by George RR Martin

2011

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.

A Dance with Dragons

by George R. R. Martin

2011

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.

Suicide Kings

by George RR Martin

2009

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.

Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honour of Jack Vance

by Robert Silverberg

2009

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.

Inside Straight

by George R. R. Martin

2008

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.

Busted Flush

by George RR Martin

2008

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.

Hunter's Run

by George R. R. Martin

2007

On the colony world of São Paulo, prospector Ramón Espejo flees into the wild after killing a man in a bar fight. He stumbles into something alien and dangerous, and is forced into a brutal hunt that will test his body, his mind, and his sense of who he is.

Death Draws Five

by George RR Martin

2006

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.

A Feast for Crows

by George R. R. Martin

2005

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.

Dreamsongs Volume II

by George R. R. Martin

2003

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.

Dreamsongs Volume I

by George R. R. Martin

2003

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.

Deuces Down

by George RR Martin

2002

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.

Quartet

by George R. R. Martin

2001

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 Storm of Swords

by George R. R. Martin

2000

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.

A Clash of Kings

by George R. R. Martin

1998

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.

A Game of Thrones

by George R. R. Martin

1996

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.

Black Trump

by George R. R. Martin

1995

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.

Marked Cards

by George R. R. Martin

1994

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.

Turn of the Cards

by George RR Martin

1993

A new shuffle of Wild Cards characters deals with the fallout from past clashes and the cost of survival. As fresh threats emerge, friendships strain and rivalries sharpen, and the stories build toward a turning point that forces the community to reckon with what it has become.

Card Sharks

by George R. R. Martin

1993

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.

Double Solitaire

by George RR Martin

1992

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.

Dealer's Choice

by George RR Martin

1992

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.

The Pear-Shaped Man

by George R. R. Martin

1991

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.

One-Eyed Jacks

by George RR Martin

1991

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.

Jokertown Shuffle

by George RR Martin

1991

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.

Dead Man's Hand

by George RR Martin

1990

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.

Ace in the Hole

by George RR Martin

1990

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.

Down and Dirty

by George RR Martin

1988

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.

Aces Abroad

by George RR Martin

1988

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.

Jokers Wild

by George RR Martin

1987

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.

Aces High

by George RR Martin

1987

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.

Wild Cards

by George RR Martin

1986

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.

Tuf Voyaging

by George R. R. Martin

1986

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.

Portraits of His Children

by George R. R. Martin

1985

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.

Nightflyers

by George R. R. Martin

1985

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.

The Armageddon Rag

by George R. R. Martin

1983

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.

Fevre Dream

by George R. R. Martin

1982

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.

Windhaven

by George R. R. Martin

1981

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.

Sandkings

by George R. R. Martin

1981

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.

The Ice Dragon

by George R. R. Martin

1980

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.

Songs of Stars and Shadows

by George R. R. Martin

1977

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.

Dying of the Light

by George R. R. Martin

1977

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.

The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr

by George R. R. Martin

1976

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.

Starlady and Fast-Friend

by George R. R. Martin

1976

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.

A Song for Lya

by George R. R. Martin

1974

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.

Where should I start?

If you want the big epic fantasy: A Game of ThronesA Clash of KingsA Storm of Swords
If you want Westeros in shorter bursts: A Knight of the Seven KingdomsFire and BloodThe Rise of the Dragon
If you want a standalone with bite: Fevre DreamThe Armageddon Rag
If you want sci-fi adventures: Tuf VoyagingNightflyersSandkings
If you want a sampler of shorter work: Dreamsongs Volume IDreamsongs Volume IIA Song for Lya

Author bio

George R. R. Martin was born in 1948 in Bayonne, New Jersey, and he grew up there in a working-class neighborhood close to the water. As a kid, he was the sort of reader who wanted more stories than the library could give him, so he started making his own. He’s told the story of selling homemade monster tales to other children for pennies, and that early mix of imagination and hustle never really left.

He studied journalism at Northwestern University, and in the early 1970s he began selling science-fiction stories professionally, including “The Hero,” his first sale. Before long, readers of the magazines knew his name for work that was emotional, sharp, and a little restless about easy answers.

He liked stories where the heart mattered as much as the machinery.

After school, Martin worked a string of very real-world jobs: he served as a conscientious objector in VISTA, spent time as a chess tournament director, and later taught journalism at Clarke College in Dubuque, Iowa. By the end of the 1970s he had moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, which has remained his home base while he wrote, edited, and occasionally wandered into other corners of storytelling.

His early books and stories show a writer trying on different shapes. The debut novel Dying of the Light drops a personal heartbreak into a far-future setting, while Tuf Voyaging follows an unlikely spacefaring problem-solver with a dangerous tool kit and a soft spot for cats. In shorter work, pieces like “A Song for Lya” and “Sandkings” put human need, obsession, and cruelty under a microscope, and they helped earn him major genre awards.

Martin also has a long streak of genre-mixing. Fevre Dream marries historical detail to vampire horror on the Mississippi River, and The Armageddon Rag turns a rock-music mystery into something darker and stranger. Even when the settings change wildly, his characters tend to feel like people with messy loyalties, strong appetites, and blind spots they can’t see until it’s too late.

Then he spent years in television writers’ rooms.

In the 1980s and early 1990s he wrote and produced for TV, including work on The Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast. That experience sharpened his feel for ensemble casts, cliffhangers, and the practical side of building a story that has to move. It also fed into one of his longest-running projects outside Westeros: Wild Cards, a shared-world series that grew out of a superhero roleplaying game and became a decades-spanning collaboration with many writers, with Martin as editor and contributor.

Everything eventually loops back to the books, though. In 1996 he published A Game of Thrones, the opening volume of A Song of Ice and Fire, and the series became the thing most readers meet first: a sprawling fantasy of rival families, fragile promises, and looming supernatural danger. The novels inspired major screen adaptations, but on the page Martin’s focus stays stubbornly personal, how power changes people, what love costs, and how hard it is to keep your honor when the world won’t play fair.

Today he’s still based in Santa Fe, where he continues to write, edit, and circle back to the worlds that have followed him for decades. Whether you come for court politics and dragons or for tight, unsettling short fiction, his best work has the same pull: smart setups, human trouble, and consequences that don’t disappear when the chapter ends.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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All 67 George RR Martin Books in Order (Complete List 2026)