Chronology & Short Fiction

Which book should you read first? And what happens to the characters in between, before, and after?

All the novels and stories stand on their own, and can be enjoyed in any order. But for those who want to follow the chronological order of this imaginary world, here is an abbreviated explanation. For those who would like a longer chronology, please continue reading below:

Prehistory

“The Witch in the Wood”
by Delia Sherman (short story).
Under My Hat. New York: Random House, 2012.

“The Tragedy of King Alexander the Stag”
by Delia Sherman (short story).
A Distant Soil #29, ed. Colleen Doran, Image Comics, 1999.

15 years before Swordspoint

Tremontaine
Seasons 1-4 (complete) 2015-2018 (audio and e-text)
Season 1 (printed book)

7 years before Swordspoint

“‘A Wild and a Wicked Youth'”
Fantasy & Science Fiction, April/May 2009. Reprinted in: The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Vol 4. San Francisco: Night Shade Books, 2010, and in Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction, ed. Brit Mandelo, Lethe Press, 2012.

…and right before it begins

“Red Cloak”
In Whispers magazine. 1982. Reprinted in A Distant Soil #28, ed. Colleen Doran, Image Comics, 1999 and in Swordspoint (Bantam, 2003).

Swordspoint: a Melodrama of Manners
London: Allen & Unwin, February 1987. New York: Arbor House, November 1987. Tor Books, July, 1989. Bantam/Spectra, February 2003.

And so, on to….

“The Swordsman Whose Name was Not Death”
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1991. Reprinted, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, Fifth Annual Collection. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992 and in Swordspoint (Bantam, 2003).

“The Duke of Riverside”
Naked City: Tales of New Urban Fantasy, ed. Ellen Datlow New York: St Martin’s, 2011.

The Privilege of the Sword
Bantam/Spectra, July 2006. Small Beer Press, 2006.

“The Sweet Tooth of Angwar Bec”
Silk & Steel, ed. Janine A. Southard. Cantina Publishing, 2020.

“On the Island”
New Decameron Thirty-Nine, 2020
(Scenes taken from work-in-progress.)

City Year
Work in progress

“The Man with the Knives”
New York: Temporary Culture, April 2010. Reprinted, Tor online, 2010, and in The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 5. San Francisco: Night Shade Books, 2011.

“The Death of the Duke”
In Starlight 2. Tor Books, November, 1998. P/B Tor Books, 1999. Reprinted, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, Twelfth Annual Collection. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999 and in Swordspoint (Bantam, 2003).

“Honored Guest”
In The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales. Viking, 2007.

“The Fall of the Kings”
with Delia Sherman. (Novella). In Bending the Landscape: Fantasy. Atlanta: White Wolf, 1997. Reprinted, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, Eleventh Annual Collection. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.

The Fall of the Kings
with Delia Sherman. (Novel) Bantam/Spectra, November, 2002.