David Morrell

He received the Friends of American Writers Distinguished Recognition Award, for his novel. First Blood, in 1973. He received the Horror Writers Association best novella prize for,"Orange is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity," in 1989. He also got the Horror Writers Association best novella prize for, " The Beautiful Uncut Hair of Graves," in 1991.

The best place to start is the Rambo: First Blood series, the earliest of David Morrell's multi-book series: it opens with First Blood (1972) and runs to 3 books across 1972–1988, ending with Rambo III (1988). David Morrell's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

David Morrell has 126 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1972 and 2025. 66 of them belong to 9 named series — the largest being the Cultural-Icon Non-Fiction series with 5 books — and 60 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. David Morrell's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Rambo: First Blood (1972–1988, 3 books), Mortalis (1983–2006, 4 books) and Cavanaugh (2003–2012, 3 books), plus 4 more.

This guide splits David Morrell's 126 books into 9 named series and 60 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Cultural-Icon Non-Fiction (5 books, 2012–2013); Mortalis (4 books, 1983–2006); Thomas De Quincey (4 books, 2013–2016); Rambo: First Blood (3 books, 1972–1988); Cavanaugh (3 books, 2003–2012), plus 4 further series.