Lester Del Rey Books in Order

This early story collection gathers Del Rey's science fiction and fantasy about robots, aliens, monsters, and people under pressure. It includes "Helen O'Loy," one of his best-known robot stories, alongside darker and stranger work.

A young would-be Mars colonist gets stranded on the red planet before the settlement can take shape. With supplies limited and rescue uncertain, he must rely on skill, persistence, and the unfamiliar world around him.

A short science-fiction tale centered on a chase, a difficult choice, and a problem that refuses to stay simple. Del Rey uses a quick pace to explore how people react when escape seems like the only option.

Jerry Blaine enters the Armstrong Classic, a rocket race across the inhabited Solar System. Winning means mastering his ship and facing rivals, hazards, and the hard choices that come with turning a dangerous sport into a career.

On the maiden voyage of an atomic submarine, Don Miller and the crew of the Triton encounter the hidden people of Atlantis. Their underwater adventure becomes a struggle to understand an old civilization before conflict destroys both sides.

A Mercury expedition becomes a fight for survival when humans encounter dangers on the harsh inner planet. The novel combines planetary adventure, unfamiliar life, and the kind of practical problem-solving that drives Del Rey's early space fiction.

This short story imagines the frustrations and hazards of a crowded human future reaching into space. Its title captures Del Rey's blunt, energetic style as practical people push back against rules that make no sense.

A wandering planet enters the Solar System, carrying a mystery that could set humanity against itself. As its alien purpose becomes clearer, people on Earth must confront a threat that reaches far beyond one strange visitor.

A short science-fiction story in which an apparent offer of freedom comes with hidden limits. Del Rey uses the premise to put ordinary human wishes under pressure and reveal what the bargain may really cost.

A young man joins a spacefaring future where rockets promise escape, work, and danger in equal measure. What begins as an adventure becomes a test of competence when trouble leaves people far from the help they need.

Jim Stanley joins the effort to build humanity's first space station. As sabotage, political tension, and a perilous accident threaten the project, he must prove he belongs among the people opening the way to space.

This concise science-fiction story considers life, survival, and the unsettling ways technology can change both. Del Rey keeps the focus on people facing a problem that is as emotional as it is scientific.

Computer engineer Dave Hanson is pulled into a world where magic, not science, explains reality. Ordered to save its literally collapsing sky, he must use logic while learning the deadly rules of an unfamiliar society.

In a future ruled by an all-powerful insurance company, claims adjuster Wills discovers that its promise of safety hides a threat to the whole planet. His investigation forces him to choose between a secure career and a terrifying truth.

Jim Stanley returns to the space station to help prepare ships for the first journey to the Moon. International rivalry and an impulsive stowaway turn a bold mission into a race to prevent disaster.

A failure at a nuclear plant threatens a disaster on an unimaginable scale. With the one man who may know how to stop it trapped inside, plant workers and rescuers face a desperate battle against time and radiation.

Bruce Gordon arrives on a one-way ticket to a rough colony world where crime and power run deep. To survive, he is pulled into the planet's police force and the dangerous politics behind its apparent lawlessness.

In a future where a medical lobby controls who may treat the sick, disgraced doctor Daniel Feldman flees to Mars. A deadly outbreak forces him to practice medicine again and challenge the authority that branded him an outcast.

A collection of science-fiction stories about artificial beings, transformation, and the uneasy boundary between human and nonhuman. Del Rey mixes adventure and sentiment with sharp twists that keep the ideas close to everyday emotions.

A strange future threat makes humanity feel suddenly small and vulnerable. Del Rey builds the novel around people forced to face overwhelming forces, balancing action with questions about courage, fear, and what survival demands.

Expelled from space academy despite his talent, Fred Halpern gets one last chance on a lunar expedition. When accidents and suspicion turn the crew against him, he must show he has learned responsibility as well as piloting.

After nuclear war, an authoritarian church enforces a new commandment to multiply, even as Earth buckles under overcrowding and pollution. A Martian-born man finds that his scientific training makes him dangerous in this rigid society.

At an outpost on Ganymede, humans and aliens are caught in a fight to survive a spreading plague. The crisis tests old fears and rivalries as the stranded community searches for a way to save itself.

This collection brings together stories of people meeting monsters, impossible situations, and their own worst instincts. The tales range from eerie to wry, showing Del Rey's liking for clear concepts and human-scale consequences.

Paul cannot bear to leave Rex, the robot companion he has known for years, behind on Ganymede. When Rex is sold away, boy and robot set out to find each other in a warm, fast-moving space adventure.

After a space-mining accident injures his father, Pete Mason suspects the rival Barry family. Then Jane Barry asks for help with a derelict rocket that appeared from nowhere, drawing them both into a dangerous mystery.

This youth-oriented science-fiction adventure follows young characters facing a future problem larger than they first understand. Del Rey's familiar mix of practical ingenuity, danger, and pressure to grow up keeps the story moving.

A missile satellite becomes the target of an unexpected Martian incursion. The people caught in the siege must respond quickly, with Earth itself at risk if they cannot understand what the invaders want.

Fourteen-year-old Kayoda wants to earn the spear that marks him as an adult in his Stone Age tribe. When his people are driven from their valley, he learns that survival may require change as much as courage.

A compact science-fiction story from Del Rey's early period, built around a strange situation and the human assumptions it exposes. It is a quick example of his interest in irony, pressure, and unexpected shifts in perspective.

When an experimental time tunnel leaves a scientist stranded in the distant past, Bob and Pete follow to find him. Dinosaurs, primitive landscapes, and the possibility of being trapped forever make the rescue a dangerous journey.

Dave and Jane were born on the Moon, making a visit to Earth nearly impossible for their bodies to endure. A small alien creature called Fuzzy draws them into an encounter with authorities and a chance at the wider world.

When Bill Franklin's scientist father disappears, he leaves behind a strange machine and notes about alternate realities. Bill and his teacher travel through worlds shaped by different histories, hoping to find him before the trail ends.

A young protagonist is swept into a spacefaring adventure where belonging, loyalty, and survival are all uncertain. The story delivers the direct action and far-future hazards of Del Rey's juvenile science-fiction novels.

A man discovers he has psychic powers, especially telepathy, and learns that people with such abilities are believed to go insane. Trying to understand what he is becoming turns his private fear into a dangerous dilemma.

A varied collection of Del Rey stories featuring gods, created beings, and humans caught between belief and invention. It moves through science fiction and fantasy while returning to questions about power, responsibility, and what makes someone human.

This collection gathers early, previously uncollected stories from Del Rey's first years in the pulps. Autobiographical notes link the fiction to his beginnings as a young writer finding his way through science fiction's magazine era.

Del Rey looks back on fifty years of science fiction, from pulp magazines and fan groups to major writers and publishing changes. It is a lively, personal history from someone who worked as both an author and editor.

The second volume of Del Rey's early fiction continues his look back at the pulp years. Its stories show him experimenting with robots, fear, humor, and high-concept science fiction before his later editorial career.

A career-spanning selection of Del Rey's short fiction, including stories of robots, aliens, ghosts, gods, and ordinary people in extraordinary trouble. It is an accessible place to sample the range of his Golden Age storytelling.

In a world scarred by catastrophe and distrust, people must decide what they owe one another when survival is at stake. This collaboration with Raymond F. Jones expands Del Rey's earlier ideas about fear, belief, and human conflict.

A short science-fiction story about conflict and the uncertain meaning of winning. Del Rey brings a human edge to its speculative setup, asking whether a triumph still counts when its consequences become impossible to ignore.

This posthumous collection gathers selected Del Rey stories about conflict, space travel, and the people caught between large forces. It offers a compact route into his brisk plotting, technical imagination, and concern for human choices.

A strange double and a dangerous mystery drive this compact science-fiction tale. Del Rey uses the familiar idea of mistaken identity to build suspense, then turns it toward questions of selfhood and trust.

This selected collection pairs Del Rey's robot tales with stories that lean toward fantasy and the supernatural. The mix highlights how often he used impossible ideas to explore loyalty, fear, hope, and the need to belong.

A broad anthology of Lester Del Rey's shorter science fiction, bringing together tales of space, robots, danger, and strange futures. It is a useful sampler for readers who want his work in shorter, fast-moving pieces.