Lawrence Watt-Evans books

Lawrence Watt-Evans is an American fantasy and science fiction author best known for his Legend of Ethshar series. He has written 82 books since 1980, including the Lords of Dus, Obsidian Chronicles, and Annals of the Chosen.

Adventures of Tom Derringer Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Tom Derringer and the Aluminum Airship 2014 Buy
Tom Derringer in the Tunnels of Terror 2017 Buy
Tom Derringer and the Steam-Powered Saurians 2020 Buy

Anthologies

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Best Fantasy Stories of the Year, 1989 1990 Buy
Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, August 1991 1991 Buy
Once Upon a Time 1991 Buy
Deathport 1993 Buy
The Beast Within 1994 Buy
100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories 1995 Buy
Superheroes 1995 Buy
Cthulhu 2000 1995 Buy
Strange City 1996 Buy
Between the Darkness and the Fire 1998 Buy
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 10 1999 Buy
Prom Night 1999 Buy
Seven Seasons of Buffy 2003 Buy
The Cthulhu Mythos Megapack 2012 Buy
The Wildside Book of Fantasy 2012 Buy
The Mammoth Book of Time Travel SF 2013 Buy
Unidentified Funny Objects 6 2017 Buy

Harry’s All Night Hamburgers Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Why I Left Harry’s All-Night Hamburgers 1987 Buy
A Flying Saucer with Minnesota Plates 2013 Buy

Legend of Ethshar Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Misenchanted Sword 1985 Buy
With a Single Spell 1987 Buy
The Unwilling Warlord 1989 Buy
The Nightmare People 1990 Buy
The Blood of a Dragon 1991 Buy
Taking Flight 1993 Buy
The Spell of the Black Dagger 1993 Buy
Night of Madness 2000 Buy
Ithanalin’s Restoration 2002 Buy
The Spriggan Mirror 2006 Buy
The Vondish Ambassador 2007 Buy
The Unwelcome Warlock 2012 Buy
Tales of Ethshar 2012 Buy
The Sorcerer’s Widow 2013 Buy
Relics of War 2014 Buy
Stone Unturned 2018 Buy
Charming Sharra 2023 Buy

Nightside City Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Nightside City 1989 Buy
Realms of Light 2010 Buy

Non-Fiction

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Turtle Moves! 2008 Buy
Mind Candy 2013 Buy

Obsidian Chronicles Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Dragon Weather 1999 Buy
The Dragon Society 2001 Buy
Dragon Venom 2003 Buy

Short Stories/Novellas

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Dead Things Don’t Move 2011 Buy
The Ghost Taker 2011 Buy
Heart of Stone 2011 Buy
Hearts and Flowers 2011 Buy
Parade 2011 Buy
Stab 2011 Buy
Jim Tuckerman’s Angel 2011 Buy

Short Story Collections

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Crosstime Traffic 1992 Buy
Celestial Debris 2002 Buy
The Final Folly of Captain Dancy 2011 Buy
In the Blood 2011 Buy
Hazmat & Other Toxic Stories 2016 Buy
The Lawrence Watt-Evans Fantasy Megapack 2017 Buy

Standalone Novels

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Chromosomal Code 1984 Buy
Shining Steel 1986 Buy
Denner’s Wreck / Among The Powers 1988 Buy
The Rebirth of Wonder 1992 Buy
Split Heirs 1993 Buy
Touched by the Gods 1997 Buy
The Spartacus File 2005 Buy
One Eyed Jack 2011 Buy

The Annals of the Chosen Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Wizard Lord 2006 Buy
The Ninth Talisman 2007 Buy
The Summer Palace 2008 Buy

The Fall of the Sorcerers Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
A Young Man Without Magic 2009 Buy
Above His Proper Station 2010 Buy

The Lords of Dûs Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Lure of the Basilisk 1980 Buy
The Seven Altars of Dûsarra 1981 Buy
The Sword of Bheleu 1982 Buy
The Book of Silence 1983 Buy

Three Worlds Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Out of This World 1994 Buy
In the Empire of Shadow 1995 Buy
The Reign of the Brown Magician 1996 Buy

War Surplus Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Cyborg and the Sorcerers 1982 N/A
The Cyborg and the Sorcerers / The Cyborg and the Sorceress 1982 Buy
The Wizard and the War Machine 1987 Buy

Lawrence Watt-Evans (born 1954) is an American author who has been writing fantasy and science fiction since 1980. He started his career with The Lure of the Basilisk, the first book in his Lords of Dus quartet, and quickly established himself as a reliable voice in genre fiction. Over the decades he has produced work across a wide range of subgenres, from sword-and-sorcery to science fiction to steampunk adventure.

His best-known work is the Legend of Ethshar series, which began with The Misenchanted Sword in 1985 and has grown to 17 books. The Ethshar novels are set in a shared fantasy world but each one follows different characters, so readers can pick up almost any entry as a starting point. Watt-Evans has described the series as his attempt to write “fantasy of manners” where everyday people deal with magic as part of their normal lives.

Beyond Ethshar, Watt-Evans has written the Obsidian Chronicles (a dragon-focused fantasy trilogy), the Annals of the Chosen, the Three Worlds trilogy, and the Adventures of Tom Derringer steampunk series. He has also contributed to numerous anthologies and published several short story collections. His non-fiction includes The Turtle Moves!, a book about Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books has Lawrence Watt-Evans written?

Lawrence Watt-Evans has written 82 books across fifteen series.

What was Lawrence Watt-Evans's first book?

Lawrence Watt-Evans’s first book is The Lure of the Basilisk, published in 1980.

What is Lawrence Watt-Evans's most popular series?

His most popular series is the Legend of Ethshar, a long-running fantasy sequence with 17 books published between 1985 and 2023. Each novel tells a self-contained story set in the same world, making it possible to read them in any order.

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