Madison Smartt Bell

Madison Smartt Bell is an American author of fiction. He was born August 1, 1957, in Nashville, Tennessee. He is the critically acclaimed author of over a dozen novels, story collections, and numerous essays as well as reviews that have been featured in such publications as the New York Times Book Review and Harper's.

The best place to start is the New Stories From The South series, the earliest of Madison Smartt Bell's multi-book series: it opens with New Stories from the South (1988) and runs to 20 books across 1988–2010, ending with New Stories from the South 2010 (2010). Madison Smartt Bell's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Madison Smartt Bell has 182 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1983 and 2025. 156 of them belong to 4 named series — the largest being the New Stories From The South series with 20 books — and 26 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. Madison Smartt Bell's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are New Stories From The South (1988–2010, 20 books), Haitian Revolutionary Trilogy (1995–2004, 3 books) and Great Discoveries (2004–2011, 12 books).

This guide splits Madison Smartt Bell's 182 books into 4 named series and 26 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: New Stories From The South (20 books, 1988–2010); Great Discoveries (12 books, 2004–2011); Haitian Revolutionary Trilogy (3 books, 1995–2004); Akashic Noir (121 books, 2002–2025).