🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Laird Barron
An American poet and author, Laird Barron is well known for his mystery and horror novels, as he has reached a large audience worldwide. Masterfully creating both tension and suspense with his stories, he really engages the reader, allowing them to feel truly invested in the action. This has allowed him to discover his unique style and niche over the years, really coming into his own as a writer with something to say. Setting up a rich and evocative atmosphere with each and every story, he is also adept at building fantasy worlds too, allowing the reader to ultimately lose themselves within them. The characters also resonate with his readers too, as they bring the stories to life with their grounded appeal that provides his books with a sense of authenticity.
All Book Series by Laird Barron
The Imago Sequence and Other Stories
Series opener · book 1 of 6 · published 2007
Clockwork Phoenix 2
Book 2 of 5 · published 2009 Anthology · Tanith Lee,Mary Robinette Kowal,Steve Rasnic Tem,Saladin Ahmed,Forrest Aguirre,Mike Allen,Catherynne M. Valente,Claude Lalumière,Kelly Barnhill,Gemma Files,Ian McHugh,Leah Bobet,Barbara Krasnoff,Marie Brennan,Ann Leckie,Joanna Galbraith,Stephen J. Barringer
Clockwork Phoenix 3: New Tales of Beauty and Strangeness
Book 3 of 5 · published 2010 Anthology · Tanith Lee,John C. Wright,Gregory Frost,Michael M. Jones,Mike Allen,Cat Rambo,John Grant,Kenneth Schneyer,Shweta Narayan,C.S.E. Cooney,Gemma Files,Georgina Bruce,Marie Brennan,Nicole Kornher-Stace,Tori Truslow,S.J. Hirons
Clockwork Phoenix 4
Book 4 of 5 · published 2013 Anthology · Tanith Lee,Richard Parks,A.C. Wise,Mike Allen,Yves Meynard,Cat Rambo,Kenneth Schneyer,Gemma Files,Alisa Alering,Ian McHugh,Benjanun Sriduangkaew,Shira Lipkin,Barbara Krasnoff,Patricia Russo,Camille Alexa,Marie Brennan,Nicole Kornher-Stace,Yukimi Ogawa,Corinne Duyvis
Clockwork Phoenix 5
Latest in the series · book 5 of 5 · published 2016 Anthology · Alex Dally MacFarlane,A.C. Wise,Mike Allen,Keffy R.M. Kehrli,Rich Larson,Cassandra Khaw,C.S.E. Cooney,Carlos Hernandez,Benjanun Sriduangkaew,Sonya Taaffe,Beth Cato,Barbara Krasnoff,Patricia Russo,Gray Rinehart,Marie Brennan,Sam Fleming,Shveta Thakrar,Holly Heisey,Jason Kimble,Rachael L. Jones,Rob Cameron,Sunil Patel
If Living Is Seeing I'm Holding My Breath
Series opener · book 1 of 8 · published 2021 Anthology · Sunny Moraine
The Song of The Lady Rose
Book 3 of 8 · published 2021 Anthology · Gabino Iglesias
Spyder Threads
Latest in the series · book 8 of 8 · published 2021 Anthology · Craig Laurance Gidney
The Madness of Cthulhu
Series opener · book 1 of 2 · published 2014 Anthology · Robert Silverberg,Harry Turtledove,Arthur C. Clarke,John Shirley,S.T. Joshi,Caitlín R. Kiernan
The Madness of Cthulhu: Volume Two
Latest in the series · book 2 of 2 · published 2015 Co-authored · Jonathan Maberry,William F. Nolan,Erik Bear,Greg Bear,Kevin J. Anderson,Alan Dean Foster,Steve Rasnic Tem,S.T. Joshi,Karen Haber,Nancy Kilpatrick,Cody Goodfellow,Jason C. Eckhardt,Donald Tyson,Mark Howard Jones,Brian Stableford
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2010 Edition
Series opener · book 1 of 15 · published 2010
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2011 Edition
Book 2 of 15 · published 2011
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, 2012 Edition
Book 3 of 15 · published 2012
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2013 Edition
Book 4 of 15 · published 2013
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2014 Edition
Book 5 of 15 · published 2014
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2015 Edition
Book 6 of 15 · published 2015
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2016 Edition
Book 7 of 15 · published 2016
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2017 Edition
Book 8 of 15 · published 2017
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2018 Edition
Book 9 of 15 · published 2018
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2019 Edition
Book 10 of 15 · published 2020
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, Volume 3
Book 13 of 15 · published 2022
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Volume 5
Latest in the series · book 15 of 15 · published 2024
Conan: Black Starlight
Series opener · book 1 of 9 · published 2023 Anthology · John C. Hocking
Conan: Terror from the Abyss: The Heroic Legends Series
Book 3 of 9 · published 2024 Anthology · Henry Herz,Henry L. Herz
Solomon Kane: The Banquet of Souls
Book 4 of 9 · published 2024 Anthology · Steven Savile
Bêlit: Bone Whispers
Book 5 of 9 · published 2024 Anthology · Michael A. Stackpole
El Borak: The Siege of Lamakan
Book 7 of 9 · published 2024 Anthology · James Lovegrove,John C. Hocking
Solomon Kane: The Lair of the Mari Lwyd
Book 8 of 9 · published 2025 Anthology · Shaun Hamill
The Heroic Legends Series - Conan: The Treasures of Tortage
Latest in the series · book 9 of 9 · published 2026 Anthology · Robbie MacNiven
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume One
Series opener · book 1 of 19 · published 2009
The Best of the Best Horror of the Year: 10 Years of Essential Short Horror Fiction
Book 11 of 19 · published 2018
Best Horror of the Year, Volume Eighteen
Latest in the series · book 19 of 19 · published 2026
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction Volume 104 Number 2, February 2003
Series opener · book 1 of 74 · published 2003
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventeenth Annual Collection
Book 2 of 74 · published 2004
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Eighteenth Annual Collection
Book 3 of 74 · published 2005
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Nineteenth Annual Collection
Book 4 of 74 · published 2006
Poe: 19 New Tales of Suspense, Dark Fantasy, and Horror Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe
Book 8 of 74 · published 2008
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2011 Edition
Book 19 of 74 · published 2011
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2013 Edition
Book 33 of 74 · published 2013
Suffered from the Night: Queering Stoker's Dracula
Book 36 of 74 · published 2013
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2014 Edition
Book 42 of 74 · published 2014
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2015 Edition
Book 46 of 74 · published 2015
Whispers From The Abyss 2: The Horrors That Were and Shall Be
Book 48 of 74 · published 2015
There Is No Death, There Are No Dead: Tales of Spiritualism Horror
Book 65 of 74 · published 2021
Long Division: Stories of Social Decay, Societal Collapse, and Bad Manners
Book 72 of 74 · published 2024
Wilde Stories 2011: The Year's Best Gay Speculative Fiction
Latest in the series · book 74 of 74 · published 2011
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Laird Barron?
An American poet and author, Laird Barron is well known for his mystery and horror novels, as he has reached a large audience worldwide. Masterfully creating both tension and suspense with his stories, he really engages the reader, allowing them to feel truly invested in the action. This has allowed him to discover his unique style and niche over the years, really coming into his own as a writer with something to say.
Which Laird Barron series should I start with?
The best place to start is the Isaiah Coleridge series, the earliest of Laird Barron's multi-book series: it opens with Blood Standard (2018) and runs to 4 books across 2018–2023, ending with The Wind Began to Howl (2023). Laird Barron's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.
How many books has Laird Barron written?
Laird Barron has 165 books catalogued in this guide, published between 2003 and 2026. 69 of them belong to 9 named series — the largest being The Heroic Legends series with 9 books — and 96 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Laird Barron's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Laird Barron's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Nanashi Novellas (2016, 1 book), Isaiah Coleridge (2018–2023, 4 books) and Come Join Us By The Fire II (2021, 8 books), plus 1 more.
How are Laird Barron's books organised into series?
This guide splits Laird Barron's 165 books into 9 named series and 96 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: The Heroic Legends (9 books, 2023–2026); Come Join Us By The Fire II (8 books, 2021); Isaiah Coleridge (4 books, 2018–2023); Nanashi Novellas (1 book, 2016); Best Horror of the Year (19 books, 2009–2026), plus 4 further series.