I’m currently reading through the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown. I’ve been amazed at how awesome the books are, especially considering he’s published all 6 current books in the series since 2014. Then I stop and wonder what the eff is taking Patrick Rothfuss so long to finish the 3rd book in the Kingkiller Chronicles. If Brown can write and publish 6 books in 9 years, why can’t Rothfuss do one in 12? \*sigh\*
So I thought it might be fun to come up with lists of novels that different authors have published since Rothfuss published The Wise Man’s Fear in 2012. I’ll start with two notable ones…
Pierce Brown (6 novels):
1. Red Rising (2014)
2. Golden Son (2015)
3. Morning Star (2016)
4. Iron Gold (2018)
5. Dark Age (2019)
6. Light Bringer (2023)
Brandon Sanderson (15+ novels):
1. Words of Radiance (2014)
2. Shadows of Self (2015)
3. The Bands of Mourning (2016)
4. Oathbringer (2017)
5. Rhythm of War (2020)
6. The Lost Metal (2022)
7. Alcatraz Series (2 novels since 2012)
8. Cytoverse Series (3 novels since 2012, plus other Novellas)
9. Wheel of Time Series (1 novel written after 2012)
10. The Reckoners Series (3 novels and 1 short story since 2012)
11. Plus many other novellas, short stories, and graphic novels that I didn’t even include in this list.
What other authors amaze you at being able to crank out amazing books year after year?
by Gortanus
33 Comments
Colson Whitehead is excellent and just keeps writing.
In fantasy, Mercedes Lackey and Ursula le Guin, Guy Gavriel Kay, Terry Pratchett come to mind. (You didn’t say you only wanted living authors) Lois Bujold
Bro woke up on a Monday and got ready for hating.
The expanse series began in 2011 and the second book was published in 2012. It currently has 9 main series entries and 5 novellas
Honestly, what breaks my mind is the release pacing of Malazan: Book of the Fallen. All books in that series have around 800+ pages, yet all ten were released in a span of 10 years. Holy shit.
What bums me out about the Kingkiller Chronicles and ASOIAF is that now it’s become really common for people to say they don’t start a series still being published because they don’t want to get burned. But I’d say it’s way, way more common for series to come out more or less on time — Red Rising is a great example of this, I’ve literally recced it to people and they’ve asked “are they all out?” and I say “no, six of the seven” and they’re like “ooooh, don’t want to risk it.” But Brown is a total workhorse and I have full faith in him! I have picked up lots of series in the beginning or middle and not been burned. I get it if people just don’t want to have to pause in the middle of their reading experience (that’s not me, I love re-reading the previous book before the release of something I’m super hyped for) but something about not reading something you’re interested in because GRRM and Rothfuss have ruined it for you bums me out. The irony is, I think if the third Kingkiller book came out at a regular time, we all would have completely forgotten about the series by now, it’s just the wait that has made everyone crazy.
Even the comparison to George R. R. Martin in that time period is not flattering to Rothfuss, especially given the way he was dunking on Martin in 2007 by bragging that his whole trilogy was already written and would be released in full shortly.
Well, whatever. Now he’s some people’s favorite former author.
Honestly I was a huge fan of the books after the first read or 2. But the more I reread it or relisten to the audio book the more I think it’s an alright series
Don’t forget Brandon Sanderson had the four novels he wrote during Covid and is putting out this year via Kickstarter. Four fully fleshed-out novels.
Rothfuss is a really good author. In my opinion, Rothuss issue is that he couldn’t handle being a bestselling author. From what I remember him saying, he had all three books written. He knew exactly where he was going. Then, The Name of the Wind drops. Suddenly, he’s in his own head about books 2 and 3 being good enough. He rewrites book 2, which leads to the delay in the release of book 2. Now we come to what I suspect is the issue with book 3. His rewrites of book 2 completely upend book 3. Now book 3 needs a rewrite. Unfortunately, Rothfuss has written himself into a corner with changes already established in book 2. He doesn’t know how to finish his series, and his depression from seeing negative comments keeps him from writing book 3 at all. So he escapes into charities, live streams, and shorter novellas, hoping to charm some goodwill from people who still adore him. Insert Charlie Day conspiracy meme.jpeg
Terry Brooks has 13 books (assuming the next one comes out on time in 2 months) since 2012, averaging slightly over 1 book per year in that time period. He’s also published some short fiction during that time period. You pretty much can’t get more regular than Brooks when it comes to publication. He’s published 39 novels since 1985, putting him at 39 novels in 38 years.
Shannara Series :
* Wards of Faerie (2012)
* Bloodfire Quest (2013)
* Witch Wraith (2013)
* The High Druid’s Blade (2014)
* The Darkling Child (2015)
* The Sorcerer’s Daughter (2016)
* The Black Elfstone (2017)
* The Skaar Invastion (2018)
* The Stiehl Assassin (2019)
* The Last Druid (2020)
Viridian Deep Series:
* Child of Light (2021)
* Daughter of Darkness (2022)
* Sister of Starlit Seas (November 14, 2023)
Good lord. NONE of them have published a sequel to *Wise Man’s Fear*.
Slackers all.
Rothfuss is stuck.
He either completely rewrites Kvothe and says “yeah, uh, so all that neckbeard power fantasy stuff was just Kvothe making shit up to embellish his story”
Or he keeps writing Harem Potter and the Chamber of Wish Fulfilment
Neither is a good option since he still needs to finish the whole arc about learning and mastering words etc. so he can’t just jump straight to “Kvothe now” either
The doors of stone. The thorn of emberlain. The winds of winter. 3 books in series I enjoyed that are never comming out.
Scott Lynch since 2011:
1. Republic of Thieves
2.
I am so disappointed in this whole fiasco. I love the Kingkiller Chronicles and used to believe that Rothfuss would finish the trilogy one day. I wish I could trust that he was actually making progress, but nowadays I don’t think that’s even still true. I just wish I knew why…
I’m almost certain Rothfuss will never release a third novel in the series. He wrote himself into a corner having far too much story left to tell in order to do it in one novel.
Stephen King has been writing at least a book a year (and often 2 or even 3, as well as several short stories), for almost 50 years. He also had a near-death experience in there.
Sure, his productivity was ascribed to cocaine in the ’80s, but he’s been sober for decades, and he keeps writing, having just celebrated his 76th birthday last week.
He talks about it in *On Writing* – if you want to be a professional writer, you have to be prepared to write something every day. It helps that he has a very vivid imagination, and really likes writing, but that dedication to writing is phenomenal.
To answer the question, he’s published 17 novels (3 co-written) since 2012, and two collections – with a 3rd coming next year. The guy just writes.
Joe Abercrombie, who is a British modern fantasy author, is pretty productive (and brilliant).
​
|2006|The Blade Itself|Novel|
|:-|:-|:-|
|2007|Before They Are Hanged|Novel|
|2008|Last Argument of Kings|Novel|
|2009|Best Served Cold|Novel|
|2011|The Heroes|Novel|
|2012|Red Country|Novel|
|2014|Half a King|Novel|
|2015|Half the World|Novel|
|2015|Half a War|Novel|
|2016|Sharp Ends|Collection|
|2019|A Little Hatred|Novel|
|2020|The Trouble With Peace|Novel|
|2021|The Wisdom of Crowds|Novel|
|2023|The Great Change (and other lies)|Collection|
= 0.82 books a year.
​
That being said, I don’t really fault authors for being slow or for stopping altogether.
Sure, it’s *really* disappointing, but.. They are people, you know? They are a single creative individual who can have whatever reasons for not delivering. Writhing is an art form and is often deeply personal.
Like.. I don’t think we as readers get to demand that they force it, and be creative, for our benefit.
If their heart isn’t in it, it’s gonna suck anyways.
I feel completely differently when a work is made by a team or corporate entity. Games, movies and such.
In *that* case, they better deliver what they promise. Because then the creator isn’t a single creative individual, who can get depressed or burnout or what not, but an abstract entity who doesn’t get the same kind of benefit of the doubt.
Joe Abercrombie also comes to mind. Really enjoying Last Argument of Kings at the moment.
**Michelle Sagara West**, writes as Michelle West & Michelle Sagara.
* Battle: A Novel of the House War, Book 5 (December 2012)
* Oracle: A Novel of the House War, Book 6 (May 2015)
* Firstborn: A Novel of the House War, Book 7 (Feb 2019)
* War: A Novel of the House War, Book 8 (June 2019)
* “Hunter’s Redoubt” with a tentative publication date of October 2023
* Cast in Sorrow (October 2013)
* Cast in Flame (July 2014)
* Cast in Honor (November 2015)
* Cast in Flight (October 2016)
* Cast in Deception (January 2018)
* Cast in Oblivion (January 2019)
* Cast in Wisdom (January 2020)
* Cast in Conflict (June 2021)
* Cast in Eternity (November 2022)
* Shards of Glass (Forthcoming, November 28, 2023)
* The Emperor’s Wolves (October 2020)
* Sword and Shadow (February 2022)
* Silence (May 2012)
* Touch (January 2014)
* Grave (February 2017)
**L. E. Modesitt Jr.**
* Imager’s Battalion (2013)
* Antiagon Fire (2013)
* The One-Eyed Man: A Fugue, with Winds and Accompaniment (2013)
* Cyador’s Heirs (2014)
* Heritage of Cyador (2014)
* Rex Regis (2014)
* Madness in Solidar (2015)
* Solar Express (2015)
* Treachery’s Tools (2016)
* Assassin’s Price (2017)
* The Mongrel Mage (2017)
* Outcasts of Order (2018)
* The Mage-Fire War (2019)
* Endgames (2019)
* Quantum Shadows (2020)
* Fairhaven Rising (2021)
* Isolate (2021)
* Councilor (2022)
* Contrarian (2023)
**Rachel Aaron Bach**, writes as Rachel Aaron and Rachel Bach
* Fortune’s Pawn (2013)
* Honor’s Knight (2014)
* Heaven’s Queen (2014)
* Nice Dragons Finish Last (2014)
* One Good Dragon Deserves Another (2015)
* No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished (2016)
* A Dragon of a Different Color (2017)
* Last Dragon Standing (2018)
* Attack on Titan: Garrison Girl (2018)
* Forever Fantasy Online (2020)
* Last Bastion (2020)
* The Once King (2020)
* Minimum Wage Magic (2020)
* Part-Time Gods (2020)
* Night Shift Dragons (2020)
* 2K to 10K: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love (2017) Non-Fiction
**Christian Cameron**, writes as Christian Cameron, Miles Cameron and co-writes as Gordon Kent
* Destroyer of Cities (2013)
* Force of Kings (2014)
* The Great King (2014)
* Salamis (2015)
* The Rage of Ares (2016)
* Treason of Sparta (2023)
* The Ill-Made Knight (2013)
* The Long Sword (2014)
* The Green Count (2017)
* Sword of Justice (2018)
* Hawkwood’s Sword (2021)
* The New Achilles (2019)
* The Last Greek (2020)
* The Fell Sword (2014)
* The Dread Wyrm (2015)
* The Plague of Swords (2016)
* The Fall of Dragons (2017)
* Cold Iron (2018)
* Dark Forge (2019)
* Bright Steel (2019)
* Against All Gods (2022)
* Storming Heaven (2023)
* Artifact Space (2021)
Rothfuss? Martin? Amateurs!
Bow down before David Gerrold, author of a series called “The War Against the Chtorr.”
The fourth book in the series was published in *1993*. The fifth book has been “coming next year, I promise” for **30 years.**
Joe Abercrombie wrote about 8 books in that time.
Sanderson also wrote:
– Tress of the Emerald Sea
– The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England
– Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
– Secret Project #4
**Mark Lawrence:**
The Broken Empire
– Prince of Thorns (August 2011)
– King of Thorns (August 2012)
– Emperor of Thorns (August 2013)
– A short story entitled Sleeping Beauty set in the Broken Empire was released in April 2014.
The Red Queen’s War
– Prince of Fools (June 2014)
– The Liar’s Key (June 2015)
– The Wheel of Osheim (June 2016)
Book of the Ancestor trilogy
– Red Sister (April 2017)
– Grey Sister (April 2018)
– Holy Sister (April 2019)
Impossible Times
– One Word Kill (May 2019)
– Limited Wish (June 2019)
– Dispel Illusion (November 2019)
The Book of the Ice
– The Girl and the Stars (April 2020)
– The Girl and the Mountain (April 2021)
– The Girl and the Moon (April 2022)
The Library Trilogy
– The Book That Wouldn’t Burn (May 2023)
Jrr Tolkien published 4 books and he has been dead for 50 years
I have a good one for you, Craig Alanson. His first book released in 2016 to very positive reviews. Nearly all of these are full blown novels. So in 7 years, he’s released 15 full novels.
Columbus Day 1 January 2016
SpecOps 2 June 2016
Paradise 3 October 2016
Trouble on Paradise 3.5 March 2017
Black Ops 4 May 2017
Zero Hour 5 November 2017
Mavericks 6 May 2018
Renegades 7 November 2018
Armageddon 8 August 2019
Valkyrie 9 December 2019
Critical Mass 10 August 2020
Brushfire 11 December 2020
Breakaway 12 June 2021
Fallout 13 December 2021
Match Game 14 June 2022
Failure Mode 15 December 2022
Since the Wise Man’s Fear came out, James SA Corey (a pen name for two people, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) started *and completed* an entire nine book series, plus 7 novellas and short stories (The Expanse). They also wrote a Star Wars tie in novel while they were at it, and we’re heavily involved in the Expanse TV adaptation. And Daniel Abraham also put out a complete five book fantasy series during this period (Dagger and Coin).
[john scalzi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Scalzi#Bibliography) finished the last 2 books of old man’s war series, 2 books in locked in series, 3 in the interdependency series( which i haven’t red yet), 3 in the dispatcher series, as well as 2 stand alone novels. and i liked everything i’ve read.
[N. K. Jemisin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._K._Jemisin#Partial_bibliography) has written the 3 book broken earth series, which i just started. 2 books in the great cities series as well a a lot of short stories
Adrian Tchaikovsky invented 5 universes and wrote at least a trilogy in each in the last 10 years. Dude is a machine. Winning multiple literary awards every year for different books set in completely separate and distinct universes.
Bet he could crank out Doors of Stone in a three day weekend.
Adrian Tchaikovsky is highly prolific:
* Children of Time 2015
* Children of Ruin 2019
* Children of Memory 2022
* The Tiger and the Wolf 2016
* The Bear and the Serpent 2017
* The hyena and the Hawk 2018
* Walking to Aldebaran 2019
* One day all this will be yours 2021
* And put away childish things 2023
* Shards of Earth 2021
* Eyes of the Void 2022
* Lords of uncreation 2023
* City of Last chances 2022
* House of open wounds 2023
Plus a few more…
Most working novelists put out a book at least every year or two. People writing a book or two and then taking a decade+ off early in their career are more the exception than the rule. There’s a lot of fantasy focus in the comments but look at Michael Crichton, for example. He wrote 14 novels between 1966 and 1976 before slowing down. He still ended up doing 25 novels over 40 years. Plus some nonfiction, short stories, and TV/film writing.
Or you could look at David McCullough, who writes historical non-fiction that requires a great deal of research. He’s still averaging about 4 years per book over fifty years.
You want to talk fast, look at someone like David Baldacci, who has written over 50 novels in the last 28 years. Or John Grisham, who’s put out like 40 bestsellers since 1990.
Seanan McGuire has five books plus some graphic novels in 2023 alone.
Nine Wayward Children books since 2016
Three Alchemical Travels since 2019
13 InCryptid novels since, plus 3 spin offs since 2012
17 October Daye since 2009
She’s also published 7 novels, and a bunch of novellas (9?) under her Mira Grant pseudonym since 2010.
Excluding the seven books that she wrote prior to the time that Wise Man’s Fear came out….
She’s published around 50 titles in the time that it’s taken Rothfuss to publish none.
Jim Butcher has written:
Ghost Story
Cold Days
Skin Game
Peace Talks
Battleground
The Aeronaught’s Windlass
The Olympian Affair
Several short stories and a half dozen microfictions. Go read them all =)
She isn’t popular here, but Sarah J. Maas has published every book she’s written since 2012.
Throne of Glass (2012)
Crown of Midnight (2013)
Heir of Fire (2014)
Queen of Shadows (2015)
A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015)
Empire of Storms (2016)
A Court of Mist and Fury (2016)
Tower of Dawn (2017)
Court of Wings and Ruin (2017)
Kingdom of Ash (2018)
A Court of Silver Flames (2021)
House of Earth and Blood (2021)
House of Sky and Breath (2022)
A total of 13, with 6 novellas. Her next book will be released January 2024. She’s contracted for at *least* 5 more books. And she’s openly said she has plans for the Throne of Glass series and Crescent City that don’t include the main characters those books followed, it’s just writing them/getting contracted for them. Forget about the fact that she’s laid the groundwork for a multi-universe story from the very beginning.