Below is the complete list of Scott Cawthon books in order. For each series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
Publication Order of Five Nights at Freddy’s Books
Publication Order of Five Nights at Freddy’s: Fazbear Frights Books
Publication Order of Five Nights at Freddy’s: Tales from the Pizzaplex Books
with Kelly Parra, Andrea Waggener, Elley Cooper
Publication Order of Five Nights at Freddy’s Interactive Novel Books
with E.C. Myers, Adrienne Kress, Lyndsay Ely
Publication Order of Five Nights at Freddy’s Graphic Novel Books
Publication Order of Five Nights at Freddy’s Guidebooks Books
Publication Order of Five Nights at Freddy’s Non-Fiction Books
About Scott Cawthon
Scott Cawthon is an American video game developer, writer, and creator of the internationally successful Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise. Best known for transforming a modest independent horror game into a multimedia phenomenon, he has also built an extensive publishing catalogue encompassing supernatural thrillers, short-story collections, graphic novels, and interactive fiction. His stories are characterised by unsettling animatronic characters, hidden histories, psychological horror, and mysteries that invite readers to question what they know about his fictional world.
Born on June 4, 1978, in the United States, Cawthon developed an interest in animation, storytelling, and computer game design. Before achieving mainstream recognition, he worked independently on several games and animated projects, many incorporating Christian themes. These early efforts included The Pilgrim’s Progress, an animated adaptation of John Bunyan’s religious allegory, alongside family-friendly games such as Chipper & Sons Lumber Co.
The reception of Chipper & Sons Lumber Co. became a turning point in his career. Some reviewers criticised its animal characters for resembling unsettling animatronic figures rather than appealing cartoon creatures. Instead of abandoning the aesthetic, Cawthon transformed the criticism into the foundation of a horror game built around mechanical characters whose seemingly innocent appearances concealed frightening behaviour.
Released in August 2014, Five Nights at Freddy’s placed players in the role of a nighttime security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a fictional family entertainment restaurant populated by animatronic mascots. The game’s combination of limited resources, surveillance cameras, suspense, and sudden attacks proved enormously popular, particularly among online gaming communities.
Its success led to numerous sequels and an increasingly elaborate mythology involving missing children, haunted machinery, mysterious murders, and the disturbing history of Fazbear Entertainment. Rather than explaining every event directly, Cawthon frequently embedded narrative clues within gameplay, encouraging players to investigate the franchise’s hidden connections.
His transition into publishing began with Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Silver Eyes, co-written with Kira Breed-Wrisley and initially self-published in 2015. The novel follows Charlotte “Charlie” Emily and her childhood friends as they investigate the abandoned restaurant associated with a series of tragic events. It established a literary interpretation of the franchise’s mythology, introducing characters and circumstances that expanded beyond the original games.
The story continued through The Twisted Ones (2017) and The Fourth Closet (2018), completing a trilogy that developed the mysteries surrounding Charlie, her family, and the sinister animatronics.
Cawthon subsequently expanded his publishing work through the Fazbear Frights series, beginning with Into the Pit (2019). Working with contributing writers including Elley Cooper, Andrea Waggener, Carly Anne West, and Kelly Parra, he developed collections of interconnected horror stories featuring different protagonists confronting disturbing supernatural events.
The Tales from the Pizzaplex series, launched in 2022, explored further mysteries associated with the newer generation of Fazbear entertainment facilities. These collections retained the franchise’s emphasis on technological horror, dangerous secrets, and seemingly ordinary environments concealing extraordinary threats.
His literary catalogue also includes graphic novel adaptations, reference guides, activity books, and interactive adventures such as The Week Before and Return to the Pit. These publications allow readers to experience the franchise through different narrative forms, although not every story belongs to a single continuous timeline.
An important distinction in Cawthon’s bibliography is the collaborative nature of many publications. While he is credited as the franchise’s creator and frequently participates in developing its stories, individual books have been written or adapted with other authors and illustrators. His publishing career is therefore best understood as the expansion of a shared fictional universe under his creative direction.
In 2021, Cawthon announced his retirement from direct game development, although he continued to maintain creative involvement with Five Nights at Freddy’s. The franchise subsequently expanded further through games produced with partner studios and a theatrical film released in 2023, followed by a sequel in 2025.
Cawthon’s distinctive contribution to contemporary horror lies in his ability to turn simple visual concepts into elaborate mysteries spanning different media. His books preserve the unsettling atmosphere of the games while allowing greater attention to character histories, psychological fears, and the consequences of long-buried secrets. Through these interconnected creative projects, he has established Five Nights at Freddy’s as a substantial modern horror franchise extending far beyond its independent gaming origins.