🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About James Alan Gardner
James won the Aurora Award, the grand prize of the 1989 Writers of the Future contest, and has been nominated for the Nebula and Hugo Awards. James is also a technical writer and an educator. His book, called “Learning UNIX” is used as a textbook in some Canadian universities. He was raised in Bradford and Simcoe, Ontario, he earned Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Applied Mathematics from the University of Waterloo. Along with writing, he is strongly interested in geology and math. In whatever spare time he has, he teaches kung fu to kids and (unsuccessfully) his rabbit. James finds that writing has the best safety net in the whole world. Unlike doctors and many others, if he has a bad day, nobody suffers. He can always come back and rewrite it tomorrow, or the next day. Or the next.
All Book Series by James Alan Gardner
All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault
Series opener · book 1 of 2 · published 2017
They Promised Me The Gun Wasn't Loaded
Latest in the series · book 2 of 2 · published 2018
Three Hearings on the Existence of Snakes in the Human Bloodstream
Series opener · book 1 of 5 · published 1997
The One With the Interstellar Group Consciousnesses
Book 3 of 5 · published 2009
Tomb Raider Tech Manual
Series opener · book 1 of 4 · published 2001 Anthology · Michael Jan Friedman
Some of the Best from Tor.com, 2011 edition
Latest in the series · book 12 of 12 · published 2012
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is James Alan Gardner?
James won the Aurora Award, the grand prize of the 1989 Writers of the Future contest, and has been nominated for the Nebula and Hugo Awards. James is also a technical writer and an educator. His book, called “Learning UNIX” is used as a textbook in some Canadian universities.
Which James Alan Gardner series should I start with?
The best place to start is the League of Peoples series, the earliest of James Alan Gardner's multi-book series: it opens with Expendable (1997) and runs to 7 books across 1997–2004, ending with Radiant (2004). James Alan Gardner's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.
How many books has James Alan Gardner written?
James Alan Gardner has 31 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1994 and 2019. 13 of them belong to 3 named series — the largest being the League of Peoples series with 7 books — and 18 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should James Alan Gardner's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. James Alan Gardner's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are League of Peoples (1997–2004, 7 books), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001–2004, 4 books) and Dark/Spark (2017–2018, 2 books).
How are James Alan Gardner's books organised into series?
This guide splits James Alan Gardner's 31 books into 3 named series and 18 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: League of Peoples (7 books, 1997–2004); Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (4 books, 2001–2004); Dark/Spark (2 books, 2017–2018).