🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Rachel Swirsky
She is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she taught undergrad science fiction and fantasy writing as a teaching assistant at the University of Iowa. In 2005, she went to the Clarion West Writers workshop. Rachel, in addition to her fiction writing, also writes critical reviews, essays, and other non fiction. She has donated her writing to a number of charity anthologies. “Heat Engine” appeared in “Last Bird, Drink Head”, which is a flash fiction anthology supporting the ProLiteracy charity. In September of 2010, she contributed this story to the online chapbook story collection “Clash of the Geeks”, presented by Subterranean Press and supporting the Lupus Alliance of America.
All Book Series by Rachel Swirsky
The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen’s Window
Book 2 of 11 · published 2010
After the Invasion of the Bug-Eyed Aliens
Latest in the series · book 11 of 11 · published 2025
Alien Bootlegger
Series opener · book 1 of 112 · published 1993 Anthology · Rebecca Ore
The Grand Conversation: Essays
Book 4 of 112 · published 2004 Anthology · L. Timmel Duchamp
The Adventures of the Faithful Counselor: A Narrative Poem
Book 7 of 112 · published 2005 Anthology · Anne Sheldon
The Red Rose Rages : A Short Novel
Book 9 of 112 · published 2005 Anthology · L. Timmel Duchamp
Talking Back: Epistolary Fantasies
Book 10 of 112 · published 2006 Anthology · L. Timmel Duchamp
Candle in a Bottle
Book 11 of 112 · published 2006 Anthology · Carolyn Ives Gilman
Making Love in Madridla
Book 14 of 112 · published 2007 Anthology · Kimberly Todd Wade
Naomi Mitchison: A Profile of Her Life and Work
Book 15 of 112 · published 2007 Anthology · Lesley A. Hall
Aliens of the Heart
Book 17 of 112 · published 2007 Anthology · Carolyn Ives Gilman
Voices from Fairyland
Book 18 of 112 · published 2008 Anthology · Theodora Goss
De Secretis Mulierum
Book 19 of 112 · published 2008 Anthology · L. Timmel Duchamp
The Buonarotti Quartet
Book 21 of 112 · published 2009 Anthology · Gwyneth Jones
Slightly Behind And To The Left: Four Stories And Three Drabbles
Book 22 of 112 · published 2009 Anthology · Claire Light
Three Observations and a Dialogue
Book 23 of 112 · published 2010 Anthology · Sylvia Kelso
Slightly Behind and to the Left
Book 25 of 112 · published 2010 Anthology · Claire Light
Shotgun Lullabies
Book 26 of 112 · published 2011 Anthology · Sheree Renée Thomas
The Red Rose Rages
Book 28 of 112 · published 2011 Anthology · L. Timmel Duchamp
The Grand Conversation
Book 29 of 112 · published 2011 Anthology · L. Timmel Duchamp
Of Love And Other Monstersla
Book 30 of 112 · published 2011 Anthology · Vandana Singh
The Adventures of the Faithful Counselor
Book 32 of 112 · published 2011 Anthology · Anne Sheldon
Making Love in Madrid
Book 36 of 112 · published 2012 Anthology · Kimberly Todd Wade
The Receptionist and Other Tales, poems
Book 38 of 112 · published 2012 Anthology · Lesley Wheeler
Birds and Birthdays
Book 40 of 112 · published 2012 Anthology · Christopher Barzak
The Queen, the Cambion, and Seven Others
Book 42 of 112 · published 2013 Anthology · Richard Bowes
Myths, Metaphors, and Science Fiction
Book 45 of 112 · published 2014 Anthology · Sheila Finch
Numa: An Epic Poem with Photo Collages
Book 46 of 112 · published 2014 Anthology · Katrinka Moore
The Prince of the Aquamarines
Book 49 of 112 · published 2015 Anthology · Ruth Berman,Louise Cavelier Levesque
Back, Belly, and Side: True Lies and False Tales
Book 52 of 112 · published 2015 Anthology · Celeste Rita Baker
A Field Guide to the Spirits
Book 54 of 112 · published 2015 Anthology · Jean LeBlanc
Marginalia to Stone Bird
Book 55 of 112 · published 2016 Anthology · R.B. Lemberg
Sleeping Under the Tree of Life
Book 57 of 112 · published 2016 Anthology · Sheree Renée Thomas
The Adventure of the Incognita Countess
Book 60 of 112 · published 2017 Anthology · Cynthia Ward
Boundaries, Border Crossings, and Reinventing the Future
Book 61 of 112 · published 2017 Anthology · Beth Plutchak
Liberating the Astronauts
Book 62 of 112 · published 2017 Anthology · Christina M. Rau
In Search of Lost Time
Book 63 of 112 · published 2017 Anthology · Karen Heuler
Feed Me the Bones of Our Saints: Volume 60
Book 69 of 112 · published 2018 Anthology · Alex Dally MacFarlane
Feed Me the Bones of Our Saints
Book 70 of 112 · published 2018 Anthology · Alex Dally MacFarlane
The Adventure of the Dux Bellorum
Book 73 of 112 · published 2018 Anthology · Cynthia Ward
The Green and Growing
Book 76 of 112 · published 2019 Anthology · Erin K. Wagner
Everything is Made of Letters
Book 77 of 112 · published 2019 Anthology · Sofía Rhei
Midnight at the Organporium
Book 78 of 112 · published 2019 Anthology · Tara Campbell
Algorithmic Shapeshifting
Book 79 of 112 · published 2019 Anthology · Bogi Takács
Mary Shelley Makes a Monster
Book 81 of 112 · published 2019 Anthology · Octavia Cade
Articulation: Short Plays to Nourish the Mind & Soul
Book 83 of 112 · published 2019 Anthology · Cesi Davidson
City of a Thousand Feelings
Book 84 of 112 · published 2020 Anthology · Anya Johanna DeNiro
The Adventure of the Naked Guide
Book 85 of 112 · published 2020 Anthology · Cynthia Ward
Goddess Bandit of the Thousand Arms
Book 89 of 112 · published 2020 Anthology · Hal Y. Zhang
Resistance and Transformation
Book 90 of 112 · published 2021 Anthology · Mari Ness
Resistance and Transformation: On Fairy Tales
Book 91 of 112 · published 2021 Anthology · Mari Ness
The Silences of Ararat
Book 92 of 112 · published 2021 Anthology · L. Timmel Duchamp
Cabinet of Wrath: A Doll Collection
Book 93 of 112 · published 2021 Anthology · Tara Campbell
The Adventure of the Golden Woman
Book 95 of 112 · published 2021 Anthology · Cynthia Ward
Fricatives: Short Plays to Nourish the Mind & Soul
Book 96 of 112 · published 2021 Anthology · Cesi Davidson
We’ve Been Here Before
Book 98 of 112 · published 2022 Anthology · Anne Carly Abad
When Home, No Need to Cry
Book 100 of 112 · published 2022 Anthology · Erin K. Wagner
To the Woman in the Pink Hat
Book 102 of 112 · published 2023 Anthology · LaToya Jordan
From Voyages Unreturning
Book 103 of 112 · published 2023 Anthology · Deborah L. Davitt
Tales from Mnemosyne
Book 104 of 112 · published 2024 Anthology · Dennis Danvers
Cul de Sac Stories
Book 106 of 112 · published 2024 Anthology · Tamara Kaye Sellman
Sinking, Singing
Book 107 of 112 · published 2024 Anthology · Gwynne Garfinkle
Stop Plosive: Short Plays to Nourish the Mind and Soul
Book 108 of 112 · published 2024 Anthology · Cesi Davidson
Like Shards of Rainbow Frolicking in the Air
Book 110 of 112 · published 2025 Anthology · L. Timmel Duchamp
Bankrupting Sky Banks
Book 111 of 112 · published 2025 Anthology · Erik Hofstatter
Parallax
Latest in the series · book 112 of 112 · published 2025 Anthology · T.D. Walker
Dorothy Dreams
Series opener · book 1 of 15 · published 2013 Anthology · Simon R. Green
Emeralds to Emeralds, Dust to Dust
Book 2 of 15 · published 2013 Anthology · Seanan McGuire
Off to See the Emperor
Book 5 of 15 · published 2013 Anthology · Orson Scott Card
The Great Zeppelin Heist of Oz
Book 12 of 15 · published 2013 Anthology · C.C. Finlay,Rae Carson
One Flew Over the Rainbow
Latest in the series · book 15 of 15 · published 2013 Anthology · Robin Wasserman
Tales from the TARDIS: Volume 2: Multi-Doctor Stories
Book 5 of 17 · published 2004
Red White and Who: The Story of Doctor Who in America
Latest in the series · book 17 of 17 · published 2017
The Wiscon Chronicles, Vol.3: Carnival of Feminist SF
Book 2 of 8 · published 2009 Anthology · Yoon Ha Lee
The WisCon Chronicles, Volume 4
Book 3 of 8 · published 2010 Anthology · Sylvia Kelso
The Wiscon Chronicles Volume 5
Book 4 of 8 · published 2011 Anthology · Nisi Shawl
The WisCon Chronicles Vol. 6: Futures of Feminism and Fandom
Book 5 of 8 · published 2012 Anthology · Alexis Lothian
The Wiscon Chronicles Vol 7: Shattering Ableist Narratives
Book 6 of 8 · published 2013 Anthology · JoSelle Vanderhooft
The WisCon Chronicles, Vol.9
Book 7 of 8 · published 2015 Anthology · Mary Anne Mohanraj
The WisCon Chronicles 11
Latest in the series · book 8 of 8 · published 2017 Anthology · Nisi Shawl,Jaymee Goh
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 5
Book 13 of 54 · published 2011
The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities
Book 15 of 54 · published 2011
The Best of Beneath Ceaseless Skies Online Magazine, Year Two
Book 16 of 54 · published 2011
Chicks Unravel Time: Women Journey Through Every Season of Doctor Who
Book 19 of 54 · published 2012
Telling Tales: The Clarion West 30th Anniversary Anthology
Book 28 of 54 · published 2013
Lightspeed Magazine, June 2014: Women Destroy Science Fiction! Special Issue
Book 34 of 54 · published 2014
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Nine
Book 35 of 54 · published 2014
The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2015 Edition
Book 41 of 54 · published 2015
Far Out: Recent Queer Science Fiction and Fantasy
Book 51 of 54 · published 2021
Heiresses of Russ 2011: The Year's Best Lesbian Speculative Fiction
Latest in the series · book 54 of 54 · published 2011
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Rachel Swirsky?
She is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she taught undergrad science fiction and fantasy writing as a teaching assistant at the University of Iowa. In 2005, she went to the Clarion West Writers workshop. Rachel, in addition to her fiction writing, also writes critical reviews, essays, and other non fiction.
Which Rachel Swirsky series should I start with?
The best place to start is the Conversation Pieces series, the earliest of Rachel Swirsky's multi-book series: it opens with Alien Bootlegger (1993) and runs to 112 books across 1993–2025, ending with Parallax (2025).
How many books has Rachel Swirsky written?
Rachel Swirsky has 225 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1993 and 2025. 158 of them belong to 5 named series — the largest being the Conversation Pieces series with 112 books — and 67 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Rachel Swirsky's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Rachel Swirsky's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Conversation Pieces (1993–2025, 112 books).
How are Rachel Swirsky's books organised into series?
This guide splits Rachel Swirsky's 225 books into 5 named series and 67 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Conversation Pieces (112 books, 1993–2025); Doctor Who Anthologies (17 books, 1999–2017); Oz Reimagined (15 books, 2013); The WisCon Chronicles (8 books, 2008–2017); Heiresses of Russ (6 books, 2011–2016).