Ambergris Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| City of Saints and Madmen |
2001 |
Buy |
| Ambergris |
2002 |
N/A |
| Shriek |
2006 |
Buy |
| Shriek: An Afterword |
2006 |
N/A |
| Finch |
2009 |
Buy |
Anthologies#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Dark Terrors |
1995 |
Buy |
| The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 7 |
1996 |
Buy |
| Leviathan 2 |
1998 |
Buy |
| Infinity Plus One |
2001 |
Buy |
| Leviathan |
2002 |
Buy |
| Dark Terrors 6 |
2002 |
Buy |
| The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases |
2003 |
Buy |
| The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 14 |
2003 |
Buy |
| Breaking Windows |
2003 |
Buy |
| Polyphony, Volume 5 |
2005 |
Buy |
| Best New Fantasy |
2006 |
Buy |
| Logorrhea: Good Words Make Good Stories |
2007 |
Buy |
| TwentiethAnnual Collection |
2007 |
Buy |
| Brothers & Beasts |
2007 |
Buy |
| Booklife |
2007 |
Buy |
| Fast Ships, Black Sails |
2008 |
Buy |
| The New Weird |
2008 |
N/A |
| Polluto 2: Apocalypses and Garden Furniture |
2008 |
Buy |
| Steampunk |
2008 |
Buy |
| Best American Fantasy 2008 |
2008 |
Buy |
| The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2009 |
2008 |
Buy |
| Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honour of Jack Vance |
2009 |
Buy |
| Last Drink Bird Head |
2009 |
Buy |
| Steampunk II: Steampunk Reloaded |
2010 |
Buy |
| The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories |
2010 |
Buy |
| Happily Ever After |
2011 |
Buy |
| The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities |
2011 |
Buy |
| Creatures: Thirty Years of Monsters |
2011 |
Buy |
| Steampunk III |
2012 |
Buy |
| Arc 1.2: Post Human Conditions |
2012 |
Buy |
| The Mammoth Book of Steampunk |
2012 |
Buy |
| Circus: Fantasy Under the Big Top |
2012 |
Buy |
| Fungi |
2012 |
Buy |
| The Time Traveler’s Almanac |
2013 |
Buy |
| Lightspeed Magazine, February 2014 |
2014 |
Buy |
| Sisters of the Revolution |
2015 |
Buy |
| Love Hurts |
2015 |
Buy |
| Beyond the Woods: Fairy Tales Retold |
2016 |
Buy |
| Mixed Up: Cocktail Recipes (and Flash Fiction) for the Discerning Drinker |
2017 |
Buy |
Borne Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Borne |
2017 |
Buy |
| The Strange Bird: A Borne Story |
2017 |
N/A |
| The Strange Bird |
2017 |
Buy |
| Dead Astronauts |
2019 |
Buy |
Cat Rambo Collections Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| The Surgeon’s Tale and Other Stories |
2007 |
Buy |
| Near + Far |
2012 |
Buy |
| Neither Here Nor There |
2016 |
Buy |
| Eyes Like Sky and Coal and Moonlight |
2009 |
Buy |
| Altered America |
2016 |
Buy |
Leviathan Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Leviathan 2 |
1998 |
Buy |
| Leviathan |
2002 |
Buy |
| Leviathan: Cities |
2004 |
Buy |
| Mapping The Beast |
2009 |
Buy |
Misadventures of Jonathan Lambshead Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| A Peculiar Peril |
2020 |
Buy |
| Untitled |
- |
N/A |
Non-Fiction#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals: The Evil Monkey Dialogues |
2010 |
Buy |
| Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction |
2013 |
Buy |
| The Steampunk User’s Manual |
2014 |
Buy |
Polyphony Anthologies Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Polyphony, Volume 1 |
2002 |
Buy |
| Polyphony, Volume 2 |
2003 |
Buy |
Short Stories/Novellas#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Dradin, In Love |
1996 |
Buy |
| The Transformation of Martin Lake |
1999 |
N/A |
| Why Should I Cut Your Throat? |
2004 |
Buy |
| Errata |
2010 |
Buy |
| Balzac’s War |
2011 |
Buy |
| Greensleeves |
2011 |
Buy |
| Komodo |
2014 |
Buy |
| This World Is Full of Monsters |
2017 |
Buy |
| Wildlife |
2022 |
Buy |
| Bliss |
2022 |
Buy |
Short Story Collections#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| The Day Dali Died |
2003 |
Buy |
| Secret Life |
2004 |
Buy |
| The Third Bear |
2007 |
Buy |
| Strange Tales of Secret Lives |
2007 |
Buy |
| The Surgeon’s Tale and Other Stories |
2007 |
Buy |
| The Steampunk Bible: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Imaginary Airships, Corsets and Goggles, Mad Scientists, and Strange Literature |
2011 |
Buy |
| Monstrous Creatures: Explorations of Fantasy Through Essays, Articles and Reviews |
2011 |
Buy |
Southern Reach Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Annihilation |
2014 |
Buy |
| Hävitys |
2014 |
N/A |
| Authority |
2014 |
Buy |
| Acceptance |
2014 |
Buy |
| Adaptace |
2014 |
N/A |
| Absolution |
2024 |
Buy |
| Area X (Complete Trilogy) |
2014 |
Buy |
Standalone Novels#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Veniss Underground |
2003 |
Buy |
| The Situation |
2008 |
Buy |
| The Three Quests of the Wizard Sarnod |
2010 |
Buy |
| Hummingbird Salamander |
2021 |
Buy |
The Time Traveller’s Almanac Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Experiments |
2014 |
N/A |
| The Time Traveller’s Almanac Part 1 - Experiments |
2014 |
N/A |
| Reactionaries |
2014 |
N/A |
| The Time Traveller’s Almanac Part 2 - Reactionaries & Revolutionaries |
2014 |
N/A |
| Mazes & Traps |
2014 |
N/A |
| The Time Traveller’s Almanac Part 3 - Mazes & Traps |
2014 |
N/A |
| Communiqués |
2014 |
N/A |
| The Time Traveller’s Almanac Part 4 - Communiqués |
2014 |
N/A |
Jeff VanderMeer is an author and editor whose fiction sits at the intersection of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. His best-known work is the Southern Reach trilogy, which begins with Annihilation (2014) and was adapted into a film directed by Alex Garland. The trilogy follows expeditions into Area X, a mysterious zone where nature has mutated in disturbing ways. A fourth book, Absolution, was published in 2024.
His earlier Ambergris series, starting with City of Saints and Madmen (2001), established his reputation for atmospheric, densely layered fiction set in a city overrun by fungal organisms. The Borne sequence (2017-2019) is set in a post-apocalyptic landscape dominated by a giant flying bear named Mord, combining ecological themes with surreal imagery. VanderMeer has also published the standalone thriller Hummingbird Salamander (2021) and the young adult novel A Peculiar Peril (2020).
Beyond his fiction, VanderMeer is a prolific editor and nonfiction author. He co-edited The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories (2010), a massive anthology that traced the genre’s history, and wrote Wonderbook (2013), an illustrated guide to writing imaginative fiction. His editorial work spans steampunk, time travel, and fantasy anthologies.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books has Jeff VanderMeer written?
Jeff VanderMeer has written 100 books across thirteen series.
What was Jeff VanderMeer's first book?
Jeff VanderMeer’s first book is Dark Terrors, published in 1995.
What is the New Weird genre and how does Jeff VanderMeer relate to it?
New Weird is a literary genre that blends elements of science fiction, fantasy, and horror with literary techniques. Jeff VanderMeer is one of its primary figures, both as an author and through editing The New Weird anthology (2008), which helped define the genre. His Ambergris novels are often cited as key New Weird texts.