Below is the complete list of George R.R. Martin books in order. For each series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
Publication Order of A Song Of Ice and Fire Books
Publication Order of Game Of Thrones Collection Books
Publication Order of Game Of Thrones Graphic Novels Books
Publication Order of Game Of Thrones Non-Fiction Books
Publication Order of Targaryen History Books
Publication Order of Wild Cards Books
- Ghost Girl Takes Manhattan (2010)
(By Carrie Vaughn)
Ghost Girl Takes Manhattan is a 2010 release and appears as book #18 in the Wild Cards series. 
- Prompt. Professional. Pop! (2014)
(By Walter Jon Williams)
In the Wild Cards series, Prompt. Professional. Pop! is book #24 and was published in 2014. - The Atonement Tango (2017)
(By Stephen Leigh)
The Atonement Tango is a 2017 release and appears as book #28 in the Wild Cards series. 
- Ripple Effects (2021)
(By Laura J. Mixon)
In the Wild Cards series, Ripple Effects is book #39 and was published in 2021. 
Publication Order of Wild Cards: USA Triad Books
by Melinda M. Snodgrass
Publication Order of Standalone Books
Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas Books
- Nightflyers (Short Story) (1980)
Published in 1980, Nightflyers (Short Story) is listed as book #2 in the Short Stories/Novellas series. 
- The Glass Flower (1986)
In the Short Stories/Novellas series, The Glass Flower is book #4 and was published in 1986. - The Skin Trade (1988)
The Skin Trade was first published in 1988; within the Short Stories/Novellas series, it is listed as book #5. 
- The Hedge Knight (1998)
The Hedge Knight is a 1998 release and appears as book #8 in the Short Stories/Novellas series. - The Mystery Knight (2010)
In the Short Stories/Novellas series, The Mystery Knight is book #9 and was published in 2010.
Publication Order of Short Story Collections Books
Publication Order of Graphic Novels Books
Publication Order of Hedge Knight Graphic Novel Books
with Ben Avery
Publication Order of George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards Graphic Novel Books
with Daniel Abraham
Publication Order of Dangerous Women Anthologies Books
Publication Order of Dreamsongs Books
Publication Order of Night Visions Books
Publication Order of Daniel Abraham Short Stories/Novellas Books
with Daniel Abraham
Publication Order of Raya Golden Graphic Novels Books
with Raya Golden
About George R.R. Martin
George R.R. Martin is an American science fiction and fantasy author best known for A Song of Ice and Fire, the epic series that began with A Game of Thrones and became the basis for HBO’s Game of Thrones. Born in Bayonne, New Jersey, in 1948, Martin developed an early interest in comics, monsters, science fiction, and storytelling. He later studied journalism at Northwestern University, a background that helped sharpen the observational detail, political texture, and character-focused realism that became hallmarks of his fiction.
Before Westeros made him a household name, Martin built a significant career in short fiction and science fiction. His early stories appeared in major genre magazines, and works such as “A Song for Lya,” “Sandkings,” and “Nightflyers” helped establish him as a writer of dark imagination, emotional intensity, and moral ambiguity. Many of these stories belong loosely to his Thousand Worlds setting, a future-history universe where human societies, alien cultures, religion, power, and loneliness are explored across different planets and civilizations.
Martin also worked in television before returning to long-form fantasy. He wrote for shows such as The Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast, gaining experience with serialized storytelling, ensemble casts, and the practical demands of dramatic structure. That screenwriting background is easy to see in his later novels: shifting points of view, cliffhangers, layered dialogue, and scenes built around conflict, reversal, and consequence.
His defining achievement remains A Song of Ice and Fire. The series begins with A Game of Thrones, followed by A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, and A Dance with Dragons. Set largely in Westeros and Essos, the books combine dynastic struggle, war, prophecy, religion, family loyalty, and political betrayal. Martin drew from history, especially medieval power struggles, but reshaped those influences into a fantasy world where honor can be fatal, victory can be morally compromised, and no character is protected simply because the story seems to need them.
What made the series stand apart was its refusal to treat fantasy as a simple contest between good and evil. The Starks, Lannisters, Targaryens, Baratheons, and other houses are bound by competing claims, old wounds, ambition, fear, and survival. Martin’s use of multiple point-of-view characters allows readers to see enemies from the inside, making the world feel larger and more human than a single heroic quest.
Martin expanded Westeros through related works as well. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms collects the Dunk and Egg novellas, set generations before the main series, while Fire & Blood explores the history of House Targaryen and the civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons. These books show Martin’s interest not only in plot, but in fictional history: how power is recorded, distorted, inherited, and mythologized.
Beyond his own novels, Martin is also known as the longtime editor of the Wild Cards shared-world anthologies, a superhero mosaic series created with other writers. That project reflects another side of his career: collaboration, worldbuilding, and interest in characters whose powers often complicate rather than solve their lives.
George R.R. Martin’s legacy rests on scale, complexity, and consequence. His books are filled with politics, violence, humor, grief, desire, and sudden reversals, but their lasting power comes from how deeply they question heroism, legitimacy, loyalty, and the cost of power. Whether writing science fiction, horror, superhero fiction, or epic fantasy, Martin is drawn to flawed people inside unstable systems, making choices that echo far beyond what they can control.