Robert M Kerns Books in Order
Browse Robert M Kerns books in order, with series guides, short summaries, and easy starting points for his fantasy, science fiction, and mystery stories.
Last updated: June 30, 2026
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Publication Order
23 books
Awakening
by Robert M Kerns
2018
Gavin Cross wakes in a strange city with no memory, only his name and a dangerous power he cannot control. When he helps Kiri, an escaped slave, both of them become targets in a world of prophecy, politics, and rising magic.
...Till It's Over!
by Robert M Kerns
2019
Cole heads to Centauri to claim his inheritance and walks straight into assassination attempts and corporate power games. With old enemies closing in, survival matters a lot more than money or legacy.
Haven Ascendant
by Robert M Kerns
2019
With Beta Magellan rising again, Cole suddenly has refugees to protect, warships to build, and allies who are not always easy to trust. Leadership gets heavier as old enemies return and the galaxy keeps demanding more from him.
Into Vushaar
by Robert M Kerns
2019
Gavin escorts Kiri home to Vushaar, a kingdom torn apart by rebellion, slavers, and siege. What starts as a favor becomes a deeper struggle involving ancient enemies, old prophecies, and powers that know more about him than he does.
It Ain't Over...
by Robert M Kerns
2019
Cole plans to buy a planet and disappear, but an unconscious castaway, stranded survivors, and a buried alien ship ruin that idea fast. Suddenly he is stuck with an ancient AI, a new crew, and a mystery that reaches across the galaxy.
Archmagister
by Robert M Kerns
2020
Chosen by the gods as the new Archmagister of Tel, Gavin inherits a fragile kingdom and dangerous power. Court intrigue, necromancers, and half-remembered truths threaten to tear everything apart.
Home Sweet Home
by Robert M Kerns
2020
Back in rural Virginia after thirteen years and armed with impossible magic, Gavin Cross shocks his family and a world that thinks magic is fiction. As Earth's old protections fail, home becomes one more battlefield.
Consular Times
by Robert M Kerns
2021
A new U.S. consulate arrives in Precious just as a desperate mother asks Wyatt to save her dying son by turning him. Politics, law, and impossible choices collide in a case with consequences far beyond one family.
Roc
by Robert M Kerns
2021
When a hunted woman named Sloane collapses near Precious, Wyatt gives her protection and inherits her enemies. Her past brings dangerous hunters and deeper secrets that could drag the whole shifter community into open conflict.
Smilodon
by Robert M Kerns
2021
Wyatt Magnusson survives a deadly encounter in the woods and comes back changed into a sabertooth shifter no one has seen in millennia. The hidden supernatural world notices fast, and not everyone wants him alive.
The Fires of Aurelius
by Robert M Kerns
2021
Cole's growing protectorate is squeezed by pirate attacks, a fractured Coalition, and an unknown task force hitting the outer systems. To save what he has built, he must uncover a buried mystery tied to an old war.
Mistaken Identity
by Robert M Kerns
2022
Former detective Sam Colton is roughed up over a case he knows nothing about, then pulled into a murdered PI's last investigation. A coded message and a storage unit full of secrets send him hunting answers the hard way.
The Key to Happiness
by Robert M Kerns
2022
An unmarked key turns up in Sam Colton's pocket after a stranger brushes past him. Following it leads him to an old friend, fresh trouble, and a case that turns out to be much bigger than it first looks.
The Fall of Skullkeep
by Robert M Kerns
2023
Gavin leads a hard-won alliance against Skullkeep, stronghold of an undead empire ruled by a lich who has beaten him before. Old grudges and hard choices turn the fight for Drakmoor into one last brutal war.
Colfyr
by Robert M Kerns
2024
Alex takes on Shepherd Security Services' biggest contract yet when a major shipping company faces raided cargo and missing goods. The job leads to corporate secrets, a trap at a relay station, and a hard test of his leadership.
Dawn of the Sorcerer
by Robert M Kerns
2024
Gianna studies a blood moon prophecy while Jake Adams discovers the violent robbery that awakens impossible magic inside him. Their paths collide as hidden societies realize a Titan, a master of all twelve spheres, may have returned.
Hyperion
by Robert M Kerns
2024
Jake is still learning what it means to be a Titan when a long-lived manipulator starts moving pieces around him. A terrorist hostage crisis forces his power into the open and pushes the hidden magical world closer to open conflict.
Tempus
by Robert M Kerns
2024
With a second Faerie War closing in, Wyatt races against time while Merlin prepares one final spell and a terrible sacrifice. The future of Earth's supernatural world may hinge on choices no one can take back.
The Shepherd
by Robert M Kerns
2024
Alex Hawke is abducted with his sheep and wakes light-years from Earth in the middle of an alien crime. Rescued but stranded, he must learn a new galaxy fast and figure out whether home is still possible.
Lynxeen
by Robert M Kerns
2025
A sabotaged climate system throws a colony world into crisis, and Alex is asked to help lead a huge relief convoy. With his team split between rescue work and investigation, he has to manage disaster and uncover who caused it.
Torvalin
by Robert M Kerns
2025
Alex answers a desperate call from a trapped protection team, then receives a summons to the Confederation Navy's headquarters. Rescue work gives way to high-level politics as he steps into the center of power.
Sol
by Robert M Kerns
2026
After years of hoping, Alex finally reaches Sol when an explorer ship finds humanity's lost home system. But Earth has changed, and a rescue mission there forces him to face old ties and new loyalties.
Vorcalix
by Robert M Kerns
2026
A bungled kidnapping leaves a crown princess in enemy hands, and Alex's team is trusted to bring her back alive. The rescue mission runs through palace politics, hard choices, and the first real search for Earth.
Where should I start?
If you want epic fantasy first: Awakening → Into Vushaar → Archmagister
If you want witty space opera: It Ain't Over... → ...Till It's Over! → Haven Ascendant
If you want character-driven sci-fi: The Shepherd → Colfyr → Lynxeen
If you want modern shifter fantasy: Smilodon → Roc → Consular Times → Tempus
If you want urban fantasy on Earth: Dawn of the Sorcerer → Hyperion
Author bio
Robert M Kerns is an American author who writes fantasy, science fiction, and mystery. Before fiction became the center of his working life, he spent close to twenty years in IT, especially systems, servers, and networks.
He calls himself a geek, and he means it as a compliment.
That practical streak shows up in his books.
Kerns started writing during the summer between his junior and senior years of high school. The push came after he finished the DragonLance Legends trilogy and decided, with the confidence only a teenager can really manage, that he could do better. He has said he has been trying ever since.
For a long time, writing had to fit around a day job. Kerns built a career in IT, held certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, and CompTIA, and specialized in systems and networks. He enjoyed the work until burnout hit hard. In May 2018, about a month after publishing Awakening, he stepped away from full-time IT.
That shift changed the shape of his life. He moved back home to help his aging parents and put more of his energy into fiction. He has still taken the occasional IT project, including a trip to Sitka, Alaska, but writing became the main lane.
His debut, Awakening, launched the Histories of Drakmoor books and set up a pattern that runs through much of his fiction: regular people get dropped into extraordinary trouble, then have to grow fast or be crushed by it. Gavin Cross wakes in a fantasy city with no memory and too much power, and Kiri, the escaped slave he tries to help, becomes just as important to the heart of the series. Readers who like epic fantasy tend to find strong hooks here, along with politics, magic with consequences, and a story that keeps widening through Into Vushaar, Archmagister, Home Sweet Home, and beyond.
He works with that same widening scale in science fiction. It Ain't Over... starts with a man trying to disappear and turns into a space opera with a castaway, an ancient alien ship, and a lonely AI. The Shepherd flips the setup in another direction, dropping Alex Hawke into a galaxy that does not even know Earth exists, then building toward rescue work, alien politics, and a found family among the stars. Readers who enjoy Kerns usually seem to come for the fast pace and stay for the dry humor, the team dynamics, and the way reluctant leaders keep ending up responsible for far more than they wanted.
He also likes to move between subgenres. Smilodon opens the door to modern shifter politics and supernatural power. Dawn of the Sorcerer brings secret societies, prophecy, and hidden magic into present-day life. The Sam Colton Mysteries, beginning with Mistaken Identity, show that he can scale things down too, trading epic stakes for a worn private investigator, an office couch, a crooked case, and a tighter noir rhythm. That range keeps his bibliography from feeling like the same story told in different clothes.
Across all of it, a few things keep repeating. Kerns likes people under pressure, hidden histories, dangerous gifts, and the price of leadership. He likes worlds that feel bigger than the characters first realize. There is usually at least one person who would really prefer to be left alone, and that person rarely gets the chance. That mix gives his catalog its shape, whether the setting is a fantasy kingdom, a small shifter town, or the far edge of known space.
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