Anthologies#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Shakespearean Whodunnits |
1997 |
Buy |
| The Mammoth Book of Awesome Comic Fantasy |
2001 |
Buy |
| The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2009 |
2008 |
Buy |
| The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 5 |
2011 |
Buy |
| The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2011 |
2011 |
Buy |
| The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2012 |
2012 |
Buy |
| The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2014 |
2013 |
Buy |
| The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Nine |
2014 |
Buy |
| The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas 2015 |
2015 |
Buy |
| The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas 2016 |
2016 |
Buy |
| Tor.com Collection: Season 1 |
2016 |
Buy |
| The Best of Beneath Ceaseless Skies Online Magazine, Year Seven |
2016 |
Buy |
| The Book of Swords: Part 1 |
2017 |
Buy |
| The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories |
2017 |
Buy |
| The Book of Magic: A Collection of Stories |
2018 |
Buy |
Collections#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Bitter Lemmings |
1997 |
Buy |
| Holt! Who Goes There? |
1998 |
Buy |
| Expecting Beowulf |
2002 |
Buy |
| Under My Skin |
2023 |
Buy |
Corax Trilogy Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Saevus Corax Deals With the Dead |
2023 |
Buy |
| Saevus Corax Captures the Castle |
2023 |
Buy |
| Saevus Corax Gets Away With Murder |
2023 |
Buy |
Engineer Trilogy Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Devices and Desires |
2005 |
Buy |
| Evil for Evil |
2006 |
Buy |
| The Escapement |
2007 |
Buy |
Fencer Trilogy Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Colours in the Steel |
1998 |
Buy |
| The Belly of the Bow |
1999 |
Buy |
| The Proof House |
2000 |
Buy |
Five Stories High Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Gnaw |
2016 |
Buy |
| Maggots |
2016 |
Buy |
| The Best Story I Can Manage Under the Circumstances |
2016 |
Buy |
| Priest’s Hole |
2016 |
Buy |
| Skin Deep |
2016 |
Buy |
J. W. Wells & Co. Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| The Portable Door |
2003 |
Buy |
| In Your Dreams |
2004 |
Buy |
| Earth, Air, Fire and Custard |
2005 |
Buy |
| You Don’t Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But it Helps |
2006 |
Buy |
| The Better Mousetrap |
2008 |
Buy |
| May Contain Traces of Magic |
2009 |
Buy |
| Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages |
2011 |
Buy |
| The Eight Reindeer of the Apocalypse |
2023 |
Buy |
K.J. Parker Short Stories/Novellas Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Purple and Black |
2009 |
Buy |
| The Sun and I |
2013 |
N/A |
| Academic Exercises |
2014 |
Buy |
| The Last Witness |
2015 |
Buy |
| Downfall of the Gods |
2016 |
Buy |
| Mightier than the Sword |
2017 |
Buy |
| My Beautiful Life |
2019 |
Buy |
| Burning Books for Pleasure and Profit |
2022 |
Buy |
| Set in Stone |
2024 |
Buy |
| Making History |
2025 |
Buy |
K.J. Parker Short Story Collections Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| The Father of Lies |
2018 |
Buy |
| Under My Skin |
2023 |
Buy |
Prosper’s Demon Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Prosper’s Demon |
2020 |
Buy |
| Inside Man |
2021 |
Buy |
Saloninus Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Blue and Gold |
2010 |
Buy |
| The Devil You Know |
2016 |
Buy |
Scavenger Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Shadow |
2001 |
Buy |
| Pattern |
2002 |
Buy |
| Memory |
2003 |
Buy |
Short Stories/Novellas#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Someone Like Me |
2006 |
Buy |
| Purple and Black |
2009 |
Buy |
| The Sun and I |
2013 |
N/A |
| Academic Exercises |
2014 |
Buy |
| The Last Witness |
2015 |
Buy |
| Downfall of the Gods |
2016 |
Buy |
| Mightier than the Sword |
2017 |
Buy |
| My Beautiful Life |
2019 |
Buy |
| Burning Books for Pleasure and Profit |
2022 |
Buy |
| Set in Stone |
2024 |
Buy |
Standalone Novels#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Expecting Someone Taller |
1987 |
Buy |
| Who’s Afraid Of Beowulf? |
1988 |
Buy |
| Flying Dutch |
1991 |
Buy |
| Ye Gods! |
1992 |
Buy |
| Here Comes The Sun |
1993 |
Buy |
| Overtime |
1993 |
Buy |
| Grailblazers |
1994 |
Buy |
| Faust Among Equals |
1994 |
Buy |
| Odds And Gods |
1995 |
Buy |
| Djinn Rummy |
1995 |
Buy |
| My Hero |
1996 |
Buy |
| Paint Your Dragon |
1996 |
Buy |
| Open Sesame |
1997 |
Buy |
| Wish You Were Here |
1998 |
Buy |
| Only Human |
1999 |
Buy |
| Snow White and the Seven Samurai |
1999 |
Buy |
| Alexander at the World’s End |
1999 |
Buy |
| Olympiad |
2000 |
Buy |
| Valhalla |
2000 |
Buy |
| Nothing But Blue Skies |
2001 |
Buy |
| Falling Sideways |
2002 |
Buy |
| Little People |
2002 |
Buy |
| A Song for Nero |
2004 |
Buy |
| Meadowland |
2005 |
Buy |
| Barking |
2007 |
Buy |
| The Company |
2008 |
Buy |
| The Folding Knife |
2010 |
Buy |
| Blonde Bombshell |
2010 |
Buy |
| The Hammer |
2011 |
Buy |
| Sharps |
2012 |
Buy |
| Savages |
2015 |
Buy |
| The Management Style of the Supreme Beings |
2017 |
Buy |
| An Orc on the Wild Side |
2019 |
Buy |
| The Big Score |
2021 |
Buy |
| The Long Game |
2022 |
Buy |
| Pulling the Wings Off Angels |
2022 |
Buy |
The Loyal Opposition Trilogy Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Sister Svangerd and the Not Quite Dead |
2026 |
Buy |
| Sister Svangerd and the Devil You Know |
2026 |
Buy |
The Mapp & Lucia Novels Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Queen Lucia |
1920 |
Buy |
| Miss Mapp |
1922 |
Buy |
| Lucia in London |
1927 |
Buy |
| Lucia Rising |
1927 |
Buy |
| Mapp & Lucia |
1931 |
N/A |
| Mapp and Lucia |
1931 |
Buy |
| Lucia’s Progress |
1935 |
N/A |
| The Worshipful Lucia / Lucia’s Progress |
1935 |
Buy |
| Make Way for Lucia |
1939 |
Buy |
| Lucia in Wartime |
1985 |
Buy |
| Lucia Victrix |
1939 |
Buy |
| Lucia Triumphant |
1986 |
Buy |
| Trouble for Lucia |
1939 |
Buy |
| Major Benjy |
2008 |
Buy |
| Lucia on Holiday |
2012 |
Buy |
| Lucia and the Diplomatic Incident |
2013 |
Buy |
| Au Reservoir |
2014 |
Buy |
The Siege Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City |
2019 |
Buy |
| Шестнадцать способов защиты при осаде |
2019 |
N/A |
| How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It |
2020 |
Buy |
| A Practical Guide to Conquering the World |
2022 |
Buy |
The Two of Swords Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| The Two of Swords, Volume One |
2017 |
Buy |
| The Two of Swords, Volume Two |
2017 |
Buy |
| The Two of Swords, Volume Three |
2017 |
Buy |
The Walled Orchard Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Goatsong |
1989 |
Buy |
| The Walled Orchard |
1990 |
Buy |
Tom Holt Omnibus Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Dead Funny |
2000 |
Buy |
| Dead Funny: Omnibus 1 |
2000 |
N/A |
| Mightier Than The Sword |
2002 |
Buy |
| The Second Tom Holt Omnibus: My Hero - Who’s Afraid of Beowulf? |
2002 |
N/A |
| The Divine Comedies |
2002 |
Buy |
| For Two Nights Only |
2004 |
Buy |
| Tall Stories |
2004 |
Buy |
| Tall Stories: Expecting Someone Taller and Ye Gods |
2004 |
N/A |
| Fishy Wishes: Wish You Were Here and Djinn Rummy |
2004 |
N/A |
| Saints and Sinners |
2004 |
Buy |
| Fishy Wishes |
2004 |
Buy |
| Saints and Sinners: Paint Your Dragon and Open Sesame |
2004 |
N/A |
YouSpace Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Doughnut |
2013 |
Buy |
| When It’s A Jar |
2013 |
Buy |
| The Outsorcerer’s Apprentice |
2014 |
Buy |
| The Good, the Bad and the Smug |
2015 |
Buy |
Tom Holt has been writing comic fantasy since the late 1980s, starting with Expecting Someone Taller in 1987. His Holt novels tend toward absurdist humor, taking ancient myths, fairy tales, and modern office life and throwing them together in unexpected ways. The J.W. Wells & Co. series, about a magical law firm in London, is one of his most popular.
Under the name K.J. Parker, Holt writes a very different kind of fantasy. The Engineer Trilogy, Fencer Trilogy, and Siege series are built around detailed knowledge of trades, warfare, and logistics rather than magic. His Parker novellas have won multiple World Fantasy Awards.
Between the two pen names, Holt has published well over a hundred novels and dozens of shorter works. He has also written continuation novels for E.F. Benson’s Mapp & Lucia series.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books has Tom Holt written?
Tom Holt has written 150 books across 21 series.
What was Tom Holt's first book?
Tom Holt’s first book is Queen Lucia, published in 1920.
Does Tom Holt also write under a pen name?
Yes, Tom Holt writes darker historical and military fantasy under the pen name K.J. Parker. The two identities were kept separate for years before being publicly confirmed.