How To Read Every Stephen King Book In Order

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Horror legend Stephen King has written a fair few books over the years. Ever since he burst on the scene with "Carrie" in 1974, he's given fans at least one book nearly every year. Since most of his work has been extremely popular, he's also established himself as a bit of an authority on the horror front — and isn't shy about commenting about either the genre or his craft as a writer.

Thanks to King's status as a horror luminary and extensive work in many other genres, we've analyzed his work many times before. You may have seen us discuss why King's endings have a reputation for being disappointing, look into his biggest career regret involving (of all things) a forgotten TV commercial, and examine the one Stephen King book that will never get a film adaption due to the author voluntarily scrubbing it from his catalog.

However, in order to make the most of the cultural discussion around the storyteller, it's good to be aware of the extent of his work and how to best approach it. To this end, we've compiled a full list of Stephen King's books in suggested order of reading. Strap in, because he's a hard-working guy, and the list is going to be long.

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Stephen King's writing career spans five decades, several (sometimes radically different) genres, and works that vary wildly in length. The shortest of his short stories are extremely quick to go through, while the epic "The Dark Tower" novel series spans thousands of pages. The author also has an extensive collection of non-fiction books as well as plenty of stories that involve no supernatural elements, so there really is something for everyone in his back catalog.

Without further ado, let's take a look at the best way to tackle Stephen King's bibliography. Here's the proper chronological reading order for the horror master's books:

• "Carrie" (1974)
• "'Salem's Lot" (1975)
• "The Shining" (1977)
• "Night Shift" (1978, short story collection)
• "Rage" (1977, published under his Richard Bachman pseudonym)
• "The Stand" (1978)
• "The Long Walk" (1979, published as Bachman)
• "The Dead Zone (1979)
• "Firestarter" (1980)
• "Roadwork" (1981, published as Bachman) 
• "Danse Macabre" (1981, non-fiction book)
• "Cujo" (1981)
• "The Running Man" (1982, published as Bachman)
• "The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger" (1982)
• "Different Seasons" (1982, novella collection)
• "Christine" (1983)
• "Pet Sematary" (1983)
• "Cycle of the Werewolf" (1983, with illustrations by Bernie Wrightson)
• "The Talisman" (1984, written with Peter Straub)
• "The Eyes of the Dragon" (1984)
• "Thinner" (1984, published as Bachman) 
• "Skeleton Crew" (1985, short story collection)
• "It" (1986)
• "The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three" (1987)
• "Misery" (1987)
• "The Tommyknockers" (1987)
• "Nightmares in the Sky" (1988, non-fiction book with illustrations by Richard "f-stop Fitzgerald" Minissali)
• "The Dark Half" (1989)
• "The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition" (1990)
• "Four Past Midnight" (1991, novella collection)
• "The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands" (1991)
• "Needful Things" (1991)
• "Gerald's Game" (1992)
• "Dolores Claiborne" (1992)
• "Nightmares & Dreamscapes" (1993, short story collection)
• "Insomnia" (1994)
• "Rose Madder" (1995)
• "The Green Mile" (1996)
• "Desperation" (1996)
• "The Regulators" (1996, published as Bachman as a twin novel for "Desperation")
• "The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass" (1997)
• "Bag of Bones" (1998)
• "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" (1999)
• "Hearts in Atlantis" (1999, novella and short story collection)
• "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft" (2000, non-fiction book)
• "Secret Windows, Essays and Fiction on the Craft of Writing" (2000, non-fiction and short story collection)
• "Dreamcatcher" (2001)
• "Black House" (2001, written with Peter Straub)
• "Everything's Eventual" (2002, novella and short story collection)
• "From a Buick 8" (2002)
• "The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla" (2003)
• "The Dark Tower VI: The Song of Susannah" (2004)
• "The Dark Tower VII:" The Dark Tower" (2004)
• "Faithful" (2004, non-fiction co-written by Stewart O'Nan)
• "The Colorado Kid" (2005)
• "Cell" (2006)
• "Lisey's Story" (2006)
• "Blaze" (2007, published as Bachman) 
• "Duma Key" (2008)
• "Just After Sunset" (2008, short story collection)
• "Under the Dome" (2009)
• "Full Dark, No Stars" (2010, novella collection)
• "11/22/63" (2011)
• "The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole" (2012)
• "Joyland" (2013)
• "Doctor Sleep" (2013)
• "Mr. Mercedes (2014)
• "Revival" (2014)
• "Finders Keepers" (2015)
• "The Bazaar of Bad Dreams" (2015, short story collection)
• "End of Watch" (2016)
• "Gwendy's Button box" (2017, written with Richard Chizmar)
• "Sleeping Beauties" (2017, written with Owen King) 
• "The Outsider" (2018)
• "Elevation" (2018)
• "The Institute" (2019)
• "If It Bleeds" (2020, novella collection)
• "Later" (2021)
• "Billy Summers" (2021)
• "Gwendy's Final Task" (2022, written with Richard Chizmar) 
• "Fairy Tale" (2022)
• "Holly" (2023)
• "You Like It Darker" (2024, short story collection)

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If you intend to tackle Stephen King's sizable bibliography, it's not enough to be aware that he's known to reuse certain locations and even characters, which ties the events of some otherwise unconnected books together. Many of his books are also part of a larger storyline, so picking up a King novel at random may throw you in the middle of a broader narrative with little context. In order to avoid such situations, here's a list of King's books that are sequels.

Sequel to "The Shining" (1977):

• "Doctor Sleep" (2013)

Sequels to "The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger" (1982): 

• "The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three" (1987)
• "The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands" (1991)
• "The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass" (1997)
• "The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla" (2003)
• "The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah" (2004)
• "The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower " (2004)
• "The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole" (2012)

Sequel to "The Talisman" (1984, written with Peter Straub): 

• "Black House" (2001, written with Straub)

Sequels to "Mr. Mercedes" (2014): 

• "Finders Keepers" (2015)
• "End of Watch" (2016)

Apart from traditional sequels, King has taken a more unconventional approach with his work with Richard Chizmar. The two authors wrote "Gwendy's Button Box" (2017) and "Gwendy's Final Task" (2022) together, but the second book in the Gwendy trilogy, "Gwendy's Magic Feather," was written by Chizmar without King's involvement. This leaves completionist-minded King fans in a strange place where they have to read a book that wasn't actually written by the author if they want to make the most of the trilogy's story.