Below is the complete list of Alan Merrett books in order. For each series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
Publication Order of The Horus Heresy Books
- Vulkan Lives (2013)
In the The Horus Heresy series, Vulkan Lives is book #74 and was published in 2013. 
- Brotherhood of the Moon (2014)
Brotherhood of the Moon is a 2014 release and appears as book #98 in the The Horus Heresy series. 
- The Heart of the Pharos (2016)
The Heart of the Pharos was published in 2016 and is listed as book #131 in the The Horus Heresy series. 
About Alan Merrett
Alan Merrett is a British writer, game designer, creative manager, and former Games Workshop executive whose career was closely tied to the development of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000. He is best known as the author of the illustrated Horus Heresy background books, but his influence extends well beyond the titles carrying his name. During thirty-six years with Games Workshop and Citadel Miniatures, he worked across manufacturing, game development, studio management, intellectual-property oversight, and the organization of the fictional histories that support the company’s major settings.
Merrett joined Citadel Miniatures in 1980, when the business was still comparatively small and British fantasy gaming was beginning to develop into a substantial industry. He initially worked as a miniature caster and also handled practical responsibilities such as stock control, customer orders, and deliveries. As Citadel and Games Workshop expanded, he moved into design and management positions, becoming involved in the systems through which miniatures, rules, artwork, and fictional background were developed as a unified product.
During the 1980s, Merrett belonged to the wider creative group that shaped early Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 alongside figures such as Rick Priestley, Richard Halliwell, John Blanche, Jervis Johnson, and the Perry brothers. His credits include work on gaming material such as Citi-Block, a supplement for the Judge Dredd role-playing game, and studio responsibilities connected to projects including Advanced HeroQuest. His role increasingly concerned coordination and continuity rather than individual authorship, helping ensure that rules, miniatures, illustrations, names, and background material supported the same recognizable fictional worlds.
Merrett eventually became Games Workshop’s Head studio responsibilities connected to projects of Intellectual Property. In that position, he was responsible for maintaining the internal consistency and distinctiveness of Warhammer’s settings while the company expanded into novels, tabletop games, licensed products, computer games, and international markets. His unusually long memory of the company’s early creative decisions made him an important source on how concepts such as the Space Marines and the Imperium developed before Warhammer 40,000 possessed its later depth and structure.
His principal books concern the Horus Heresy, the ancient civil war that provides much of the historical foundation for the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Beginning with Visions of War, Merrett supplied background text for a four-volume sequence combining artwork from the Horus Heresy collectible card game with concept work by artists including John Blanche. Visions of Darkness, Visions of Treachery, and Visions of Death expanded the conflict through the betrayal of Warmaster Horus, the division of the Space Marine Legions, and the campaigns leading toward the siege of Terra.
Those volumes were gathered as The Horus Heresy: Collected Visions in 2007. The book became an important bridge between the comparatively brief early accounts of the Heresy and the far larger narrative later developed by Black Library novelists. Visions of Heresy, published in 2014, revised and expanded that illustrated history to reflect developments introduced during the ongoing novel series.
Merrett’s other credited work includes Insignium Astartes, which examines Space Marine organization, heraldry, and equipment, and contributions to illustrated Warhammer 40,000 publications such as Inquis Exterminatus. These are reference and world-building books rather than conventional novels, so his bibliography is best understood through subject, edition, and collected format. Multiple Horus Heresy titles may contain substantially overlapping material because the original four art books were later combined and revised.
Merrett left Games Workshop in 2016. His published catalogue is smaller than that of the novelists who subsequently explored the universes he helped manage, but his significance lies in codifying their foundations. His books present fictional history with the confidence of an archivist, turning scattered game lore, illustrations, and early concepts into a coherent ythology that other writers could expand.