Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hermes 3000 | 1972 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
| 2 | The Fan Man | 1974 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
| 3 | Nightbook | 1974 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
| 4 | Doctor Rat | 1976 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
| 5 | Fata Morgana | 1977 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
| 6 | Jack in the Box / Book of Love | 1980 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
| 7 | Christmas at Fontaine’s | 1982 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
| 8 | Queen of Swords | 1983 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
| 9 | Great World Circus | 1983 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
| 10 | Superman III | 1983 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
| 11 | Seduction in Berlin | 1985 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
| 12 | The Exile | 1987 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
| 13 | The Midnight Examiner | 1989 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
| 14 | A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master | 1992 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
| 15 | The Game of Thirty | 1994 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
| 16 | The Bear Went Over the Mountain | 1996 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
| 17 | The Amphora Project | 2005 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
Kotzwinkle’s standalone novels are unusually varied in tone, style, and subject, which is part of why he has always been hard to categorize. The Fan Man (1974) is a first-person stream-of-consciousness portrait of a young man in 1970s New York, a cult novel with a devoted readership. Doctor Rat (1976) is a fantasy satire about laboratory animals, savage in its critique of animal experimentation and written with enough dark invention to earn the World Fantasy Award. Fata Morgana (1977) is a noir fantasy set in Paris, closer in feel to a fever dream than a conventional mystery.
The later novels show the same range. The Bear Went Over the Mountain (1996) is probably his most accessible satire, following a bear who finds a novelist’s manuscript in the Maine woods, gets it published under the name Hal Jam, and becomes a celebrity author navigating the American book industry. The comedy is sharp and the premise sustains a full novel without straining. Earlier, Christmas at Fontaine’s (1982) offered something warmer and more sentimental, while Queen of Swords (1983) moved into adventure territory.
The list also includes novelizations, among them the 1983 Superman III and A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1992), which Kotzwinkle approached as professional assignments. His last standalone novel, The Amphora Project (2005), is a science fiction adventure that shows he had not lost his appetite for genre experimentation even into his late career.