Author guide

Catherynne M. Valente Books in Order

Catherynne M. Valente is an American fiction writer, poet, and literary critic. Her work spans literary fantasy, science fiction, mythic fiction, children's and young adult literature, poetry, short fiction, and essays, often reworking folklore and mythology through experimental forms.

fantasyscience fictionmythpunkliterary fictionyoung adult fictionchildren's fictionpoetryliterary criticism

Catalog record updated August 25, 2026.

Catherynne M. Valente's Newest Book

Space Oddity

novel · First published 2024

Return to the greatest contest in the galaxy in the sequel to the hilarious USA TODAY bestseller Space Opera from New York Times bestselling author and finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Ursula K. Le Guin awards. The Metagalactic Grand Prix—part gladiatorial contest, part beauty pageant, part concert extravaganza, and part continuation of the wars of the past returns and the fate of the Earth is once again threatened. The civilizations opposed to humanity have been plotting and want to take down the upstarts. Can humanity rise again in this sequel to the beloved Hugo Award–nominated national bestselling Space Opera by New York Times bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente?

Not sure where to begin?

Start with one of these

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

The accessible, award-winning entry point to Valente's Fairyland sequence.

The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden

The first volume of her signature nested-story fantasy series.

Space Opera

A lively standalone-feeling science-fiction entry point and the first book in The Space Opera.

Read in order

Books by series

duology · complete

The Orphan's Tales

A pair of intricately nested, folklore-inspired fantasy novels in which an orphaned girl tells stories that branch into further stories.

Series guide →

1
The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden
Book 1 · novel · 2006
2
The Orphan's Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice
Book 2 · novel · 2007

series · complete

Fairyland

A five-novel fantasy series following September's adventures in Fairyland, with a separately published prequel novella.

Series guide →

0
The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland—For a Little While
Book prequel · novella · 2011 Optional
1
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
Book 1 · novel · 2011

Twelve-year-old September lives in Omaha, and used to have an ordinary life, until her father went to war and her mother went to work. One day, September is met at her kitchen window by a Green Wind (taking the form of a gentleman in a…
2
The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There
Book 2 · novel · 2012

September has longed to return to Fairyland after her first adventure there. And when she finally does, she learns that its inhabitants have been losing their shadows—and their magic—to the world of Fairyland Below. This underworld has a…
3
The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two
Book 3 · novel · 2013

September misses Fairyland and her friends Ell, the Wyverary, and the boy Saturday. She longs to leave the routines of home, and embark on a new adventure. Little does she know that this time, she will be spirited away to the moon,…
4
The Boy Who Lost Fairyland
Book 4 · novel · 2015

When a young troll named Hawthorn is stolen from Fairyland by the Red Wind, he becomes a changeling – a human boy -- in the strange city of Chicago, a place no less bizarre and magical than Fairyland when seen through trollish eyes. Left…
5
The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home
Book 5 · novel · 2016

This final book in the *New York Times*-bestselling Fairyland series finds September accidentally crowned the Queen of Fairyland. But there are others who believe they have a fair and good claim on the throne, so there is a Royal…

series · incomplete

A Dirge for Prester John

A mythic fantasy series inspired by the medieval legends of Prester John; two novels have been published.

Series guide →

1
The Habitation of the Blessed
Book 1 · novel · 2010
2
The Folded World
Book 2 · novel · 2011

series · ongoing

The Space Opera

A science-fiction series centered on extravagant interstellar musical competition and the civilizations drawn into it.

Series guide →

1
Space Opera
Book 1 · novel · 2018

"Mankind will not get to fight for its destiny. They must sing. A century ago, the Sentience Wars tore the galaxy apart and nearly ended the entire concept of intelligent space-faring life. In the aftermath, a curious tradition was…
2
Space Oddity
Book 2 · novel · 2024

Return to the greatest contest in the galaxy in the sequel to the hilarious USA TODAY bestseller Space Opera from New York Times bestselling author and finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Ursula K. Le Guin awards. The…

fiction-cycle · ongoing

The Omikuji Project

A cycle of fiction developed from Japanese fortune slips, represented in book form by its first separately published collection.

Series guide →

1
This Is My Letter to the World: The Omikuji Project, Cycle One
Book 1 · short-story-collection · 2010

Outside the series

Bibliography by category

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Novels (17)

The Labyrinth
novel · 2004
The Ice Puzzle
novel · 2005
Yume No Hon: The Book of Dreams
novel · 2005
The Grass-Cutting Sword
novel · 2006
Palimpsest
novel · 2009

In the Cities of Coin and Spice and In the Night Garden introduced readers to the unique and intoxicating imagination of Catherynne M. Valente. Now she weaves a lyrically erotic spell of a place where the grotesque and the beautiful…
Deathless
novel · 2011

Set in an alternate version of St. Petersburg in the first half of the twentieth century, Marya Morevna, a clever child of the revolution, is transformed into the beautiful bride of Koschei the Deathless, a menacing overlord.
Silently and Very Fast
novella · 2011

Fantastist Catherynne M. Valente takes on the folklore of artificial intelligence in this brand new, original novella of technology, identity, and an uncertain mechanized future. Neva is dreaming. But she is not alone. A mysterious…
Six-Gun Snow White
novella · 2013

A New York Times bestselling author offers a brilliant reinvention of one of the best-known fairy tales of all time with Snow White as a gunslinger in the mythical Wild West. Forget the dark, enchanted forest. Picture instead a…
Speak Easy
novella · 2015
Radiance
novel · 2015

"Severin Unck's father is a famous director of Gothic romances in an alternate 1986 in which talking movies are still a daring innovation due to the patent-hoarding Edison family. Rebelling against her father's films of passion, intrigue,…
The Refrigerator Monologues
illustrated-fiction-collection · 2017

"From the New York Times bestselling author Catherynne Valente comes a series of linked stories from the points of view of the wives and girlfriends of superheroes, female heroes, and anyone who's ever been "refrigerated": comic book…
The Past Is Red
novella · 2021

“The Candide of our #@$\*%?! age.”— Ken Liu, award-winning author Catherynne M. Valente, the bestselling and award-winning creator of Space Opera and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland returns with The Past Is Red, the enchanting,…
Comfort Me with Apples
novella · 2021

Comfort Me With Apples is a terrifying new thriller from bestseller Catherynne M. Valente, for fans of Gone Girl and Spinning Silver Sophia was made for him. Her perfect husband. She can feel it in her bones. He is perfect. Their home…
The Glass Town Game
novel · 2017

Charlotte and Emily must enter a fantasy world that they invented in order to rescue their siblings in this adventurous and fiercely intelligent novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in…
Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods
novel · 2022

“I loved every speck of it.” —Kelly Barnhill, Newbery Medal–winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon From New York Times bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente comes an inventive middle grade fantasy that follows a boy journeying…
Mass Effect: Andromeda—Annihilation
media-tie-in-novel · 2018
Minecraft: The End
media-tie-in-novel · 2019

This official Minecraft novel is an epic battle for survival! When humans enter the End, a pair of endermen must decide which side they’re really on. For as long as they can remember, the twin endermen Fin and Mo have lived in the…

Short fiction (4)

Ventriloquism
short-story-collection · 2010
The Melancholy of Mechagirl
short-story-collection · 2013

Science fiction and fantasy stories about Japan by the multiple-award winning author and New York Times best seller Catherynne M. Valente. A collection of some of Catherynne Valente's most admired stories, including the Hugo…
The Bread We Eat in Dreams
short-story-collection · 2013

The twenty-six pieces collected here explore an extraordinary breadth of styles and genres, as Valente presents readers with something fresh and evocative on every page. From noir to Native American myth, from folklore to the final…
The Future Is Blue
short-story-collection · 2018

Essays and speeches (1)

Indistinguishable from Magic
essay-collection · 2014

Poetry (5)

Music of a Proto-Suicide
poetry-collection · 2004
Apocrypha
poetry-collection · 2005

Catherynne M. Valente's first full-length poetry collection, where freaks, emperors, bodhisattvas, beasts, witches, wicked stepmothers, Greek heroes, told seductively and wickedly in poem and prose, jostle and vie for supremacy . . .
Oracles: A Pilgrimage
poetry-collection · 2006
The Descent of Inanna
poetry-collection · 2006
A Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects
poetry-collection · 2008

"Structured around a series of folktale motifs, Valente's eloquent second full-length poetry collection dissects the perceived roles of women in Earth's and otherworldly fable and myth.... enlightening and enthralling." "Publishers Weekly."

Frequently asked questions about Catherynne M. Valente

Who is Catherynne M. Valente?

Catherynne M. Valente is an American poet, novelist, and writer born in Seattle in 1979. She studied at the University of Edinburgh and works across fantasy, science fiction, poetry, and literary criticism.

Source: encyclopedia.com (opens in a new tab)

Has Catherynne M. Valente publicly identified as queer?

Yes. In a 2025 interview with Vector, Valente publicly described herself as queer while discussing gender and sexuality in her fiction.

Source: vector-bsfa.com (opens in a new tab)

What influenced Catherynne M. Valente’s writing?

She has cited classical mythology, literature, musical theater, science fiction, murder mysteries, and horror as formative influences. Her writing also deliberately reworks folklore and fairy tales, especially narratives that exclude women, queer people, and people of color.

Sources: vector-bsfa.com (opens in a new tab)strangehorizons.com (opens in a new tab)

Which major awards has Catherynne M. Valente won?

Her honors include the 2009 Andre Norton Award for The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making and the 2008 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature for The Orphan’s Tales. She has also won the James Tiptree, Jr. Award and the Rhysling Award.

Sources: nebulas.sfwa.org (opens in a new tab)mythsoc.org (opens in a new tab)encyclopedia.com (opens in a new tab)

What is Catherynne M. Valente’s literary legacy?

Her legacy is closely tied to mythpunk, a term she coined in 2006 for speculative work that reworks myth, folklore, and fairy tales through experimental and often feminist or multicultural perspectives. Her genre-spanning career and recognition from major speculative-fiction award bodies have helped establish her as an influential contemporary voice.

Sources: strangehorizons.com (opens in a new tab)mythsoc.org (opens in a new tab)nebulas.sfwa.org (opens in a new tab)