Lin Carter

Linwood Vrooman Carter better known as Lin Carter was an American fantasy and science fiction author critic, poet, and editor. While he for the most part wrote as Lin Carter, he wrote some of his works as Grail Undwin and H.P. Lowcraft. He became well-known in the 1970s as an editor of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series that for many readers was an excellent introduction to the fantasy genre classics.

The best place to start is the Thongor series, the earliest of Lin Carter's multi-book series: it opens with Thongor and The Wizard of Lemuria (1965) and runs to 8 books across 1965–2016, ending with The Sword of Thongor (2016). Lin Carter's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Lin Carter has 130 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1965 and 2026. 91 of them belong to 18 named series — the largest being the Conan (Lancer/Ace) series with 12 books — and 39 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. Lin Carter's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Thongor (1965–2016, 8 books), Conan (Lancer/Ace) (1966–1977, 12 books) and Great Imperium (1966–1971, 3 books), plus 15 more.

This guide splits Lin Carter's 130 books into 18 named series and 39 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Conan (Lancer/Ace) (12 books, 1966–1977); Callisto (8 books, 1972–1978); Thongor (8 books, 1965–2016); Flashing Swords! (7 books, 1973–2023); Conan (Bantam) (7 books, 1978–2023), plus 13 further series.

This guide splits Lin Carter's 130 books into 18 named series and 39 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Conan (Lancer/Ace) (12 books, 1966–1977); Callisto (8 books, 1972–1978); Thongor (8 books, 1965–2016); Flashing Swords! (7 books, 1973–2023); Conan (Bantam) (7 books, 1978–2023), plus 13 further series.