Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anomaly | 2011 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 2 | A Gigantic Leap | 2023 | Peter Cawdron | N/A |
| 3 | Galactic Exploration | 2012 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 4 | Xenophobia | 2013 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 5 | Little Green Men | 2013 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 6 | Feedback | 2014 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 7 | My Sweet Satan | 2014 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 8 | Alien Space Tentacle Porn | 2015 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 9 | Starship Mine | 2016 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 10 | Welcome to the Occupied States of America | 2016 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 11 | Maelstrom | 2017 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 12 | Losing Mars | 2018 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 13 | Hello World | 2019 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 14 | 3zekiel | 2019 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 15 | But The Stars | 2020 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 16 | Wherever Seeds May Fall | 2021 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 17 | Déjà Vu | 2021 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 18 | Jury Duty | 2021 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 19 | Dispatches from the War | 2021 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 20 | Cold Eyes | 2021 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 21 | Generation of Vipers | 2022 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 22 | Clowns | 2022 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 23 | The Tempest | 2022 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 24 | Apothecary | 2023 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 25 | The Art of War | 2023 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 26 | Ghosts | 2023 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 27 | The Artifact | 2023 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 28 | The Anatomy of Courage | 2024 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 29 | The Simulacrum | 2024 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 30 | Love, Sex and the Alien Apocalypse | 2024 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 31 | The Minotaur | 2025 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 32 | Dark Beauty | 2025 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 33 | Gold Rush | 2025 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 34 | The Darkness Between the Stars | 2025 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
| 35 | The Oracle | 2025 | Peter Cawdron | Buy |
The First Contact series is Peter Cawdron’s signature work, spanning 35 books from Anomaly (2011) to The Oracle (2025). Each novel takes a different approach to the question of what would happen if humanity encountered alien intelligence. Some, like Xenophobia (2013), focus on fear and misunderstanding. Others, like Hello World (2019), explore communication. 3zekiel (2019) examines artificial intelligence alongside alien contact.
Because every book is self-contained, readers can start anywhere. The series rewards sampling different entries to see how Cawdron reimagines the first-contact premise from multiple angles. His science tends toward the realistic, and the stories focus more on ideas and human reaction than on action sequences.