Anthologies#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Blood Of The Imperium |
2025 |
Buy |
Ascendancy WarShort Stories/Novellas Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| VIPER One |
2016 |
Buy |
| VIPER One: Countervalue |
2017 |
Buy |
Empire of the Wolf Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| The Justice of Kings |
2022 |
Buy |
| The Tyranny of Faith |
2023 |
Buy |
| The Trials of Empire |
2024 |
Buy |
| The Scour |
2025 |
Buy |
Short Stories/Novellas#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Blood Harvest |
2023 |
Buy |
| Tears of Raphaela |
2024 |
Buy |
The Art of War Trilogy Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Reclamation |
2015 |
Buy |
| The Ascendancy War |
2016 |
Buy |
| Empire of the Fallen |
2016 |
Buy |
| Hadan’s Reach |
2018 |
Buy |
The Decurion Saga#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| The Infinite State |
2026 |
Buy |
The Great Silence Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Grave Empire |
2025 |
Buy |
| Steel Gods |
2026 |
Buy |
Richard Swan published his first series independently, beginning with Reclamation (2015) and building a space opera setting through the Art of War Trilogy that attracted readers through military science fiction venues before he transitioned to fantasy. The Empire of the Wolf series, published by Orbit from 2022, was a different project entirely — a grimdark fantasy following a royal prosecutor through an empire on the edge of collapse — and its immediate Sunday Times bestseller status and translation into seven languages marked a clear shift in his career.
The legal training shows throughout the Empire of the Wolf books. Sir Konrad Vonvalt is an Emperor’s Justice, a judicial figure with investigative and executive powers who carries a necromancer’s ability to compel the dead to answer questions. His clerk Helena narrates the series, and the relationship between them — professional, complicated, ultimately tested by the empire’s disintegration — gives the trilogy its emotional spine alongside the criminal investigations and political crises that drive each book.
His post-trilogy work has moved in two directions: The Great Silence (2025), a sequel series set two centuries after the events of the original trilogy, and The Decurion Saga, a new science fiction series from Tor examining totalitarianism and resistance in a fascist galactic empire. The range suggests a writer comfortable in both fantasy and science fiction who built his own publishing career before the mainstream caught up with him.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books has Richard Swan written?
Richard Swan has written sixteen books across seven series.
What was Richard Swan's first book?
Richard Swan’s first book is Reclamation, published in 2015.
What is Richard Swan's background?
Swan is a qualified British lawyer who spent a decade litigating multimillion-pound commercial disputes in London before transitioning to full-time writing. He now lives in Sydney with his wife and three sons. His legal background shapes the Empire of the Wolf series directly — Vonvalt is a judge and investigator who operates within a formal system of imperial law, and the series is as interested in legal process and institutional authority as it is in action and magic.