Steven Erikson books

Malazan Book of the Fallen Reading Order

Steven Erikson is the pseudonym of Steve Rune Lundin, born in 1959 in Toronto, Canada. He earned degrees in creative writing and archaeology, studying anthropology and history alongside fiction writing. His academic work focused on the archaeology of the Canadian Shield, excavating Indigenous sites and working with First Nations communities.

In the early 1980s, Erikson and Ian C. Esslemont created the Malazan world as the setting for their AD&D and GURPS campaigns. They spent years developing a thousand-year timeline, complete with theological disputes, magical systems, and the rise and fall of empires. Erikson wrote the first Malazan novel, Gardens of the Moon, around 1991 but couldn’t find a publisher for nearly a decade. The manuscript circulated among publishers who felt it was too complex or too long, or that it lacked a clear entry point for readers.

Bantam UK finally published Gardens of the Moon in 1999. Tor brought it to the United States. The series grew to ten books, concluding with The Crippled God in 2011. Reviews praised the ambition, scale, and complexity. Critics compared it to Glen Cook’s Black Company and the works of Stephen R. Donaldson. The series developed a cult following, with readers comparing notes, creating reading guides, and debating interpretations on forums and social media.

Erikson’s archaeological training informs his treatment of culture and empire. His books examine how societies govern themselves, how myths form, and how ordinary people navigate extraordinary circumstances. The gods in his world are real but often small. The magic operates according to systems that characters must learn rather than receive as gift. The scope spans continents and millennia, yet the focus remains on individual consequences.

Erikson lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He continues to write, including works set in the post-Malazan world called the Third Empire, but publication schedules remain to be determined.