Reading Order – The Xeelee Sequence by Stephen Baxter

The Xeelee Sequence by Stephen Baxter is hard science fiction series concerned primarily with deep time, the fate of the human species, and the pervasiveness of life in the universe, amidst the backdrop of a universe shaped by the incredibly advance alien Xeelee. This is Sci-Fi that takes full advantage of hard science ideas to spin incredible and intriguing stories, with themes compelling enough to go along with a truly cosmic scale. I read the first five books of the series a couple years ago (following Stephen Baxter’s recommended order) and enjoyed them a lot. I decided to do a full reread in publication order this year, which has been really interesting and just as fun as my first read.

As a series this actually fairly easy to read in publication order because there are several collections that collect nearly all of the short fiction in the sequence, at the time of writing only one hasn’t been collected somewhere. I used the Complete Xeelee Sequence ebook collection for most of my reading, which was very convenient. Since so much of this series is available in collections this reading order largely favors those formats, but I’ve also included where stories were initially published if you’re interested in tracking those down.

Xeelee Sequence Publication Reading Order

• “The Xeelee Flower” (First published in Interzone, Spring 1987. Collected in Wondrous Beginnings and Vacuum Diagrams.)
• “The Bark Spaceship/Shell” (First published as “The Bark Spaceship” in Dream Magazine 14. Collected as “Shell” in Vacuum Diagrams.)
• “More Than Time or Distance” (First published in Opus Quarterly, Winter 1988. Collected in Vacuum Diagrams)
• “The Eighth Room” (First published in Dream Science Fiction, Summer 1989. Collected in Vacuum Diagrams.)
• “Blue Shift” (First published in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writer’s of the Future Volume V. Collected in Vacuum Diagrams.)
• “The Quagma Datum” (First Published in Interzone: The 4th Anthology. Collected in Vacuum Diagrams)
• “Raft” (First published in Interzone, September-October 1989. Later collected in The Hunters of Pangaea and Gravity Dreams)
• “The Switch” (First Published in The Edge 2. Collected in Vacuum Diagrams)
• “Vacuum Diagrams” (First published in Interzone, May 1990. Collected in Vacuum Diagrams)
• “The Tyranny of Heaven” (First published in Dream Science Fiction, Summer 1990. Collected in Vacuum Diagrams)
• Raft (Expanded from a short story first published in Interzone, September-October 1989. Later collected in The Hunters of Pangaea and Gravity Dreams.)
• “The Secret History” (First published as parts of The Baryonic Lords in Interzone, July 1991 and August 1991. A version revised into a standalone short story is collected in Vacuum Diagrams.)
• The Baryonic Lords (First published in Interzone July 1991 and August 1991. A revised version with the passages rewritten as “The Secret History” removed is collected in Vacuum Diagrams.)
• “Stowaway” (An revised excerpt from Raft. Collected in Vacuum Diagrams)
• “The Gödel Sunflowers” (First published in Interzone, January 1992. Collected in Vacuum Diagrams.)
• “Planck Zero” (First Published in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, January 1992. Collected in Vacuum Diagrams.)
• Timelike Infinity
• Flux
• “Chiron/Pilot” (First published as “Chiron” in Novacon 23, a revised version is collected in Vacuum Diagrams as “Pilot”)
• “The Sun-Person” (First published in Interzone, March 1993. Collected as “The Sun-People” in Vacuum Diagrams)
• “Lieserl” (First published in Interzone, December 1993. Collected in The Years Best Science Fiction: Eleventh Annual Collection, Vacuum Diagrams, and Exploring the Horizons)
• Ring
• “The Logic Pool” (First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 1994. Collected in Vacuum Diagrams and Nanotech)
• “Cilia-of-Gold” (First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, August 1994. Collected in The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twelfth Annual Collection, Vacuum Diagrams, The Good Stuff, and Isaac Asimov’s Solar System)
• “Hero” (First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, January 1995. Collected in Vacuum Diagrams)
• “Gossamer” (First published in Science Fiction Age, November 1995, Collected in Year’s Best SF, Vacuum Diagrams, The Hard SF Renaissance, and Lightspeed: Year One)
• “Soliton Star” (First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, May 1997. A revised version is collected as “Eve” in Vacuum Diagrams, where it serves as a frame narrative)
• Vacuum Diagrams
  • A collection of all previously published short fiction.
• Reality Dust (First published as a chapbook. Collected in Futures, Reality Dust/Making History Binary Edition, and Resplendent)
• “Cadre Siblings” (First published in Interzone, March 2000. Collected in Resplendent)
• “Silver Ghost” (First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, September 2000. Collected in Resplendent)
• “On the Orion Line” (First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, November 2000. Collected in Space Soldiers, The Years Best Science Fiction: Eighteenth Annual Collection, The Mammoth Book of Best New SF 14, The Hard SF Renaissance, Resplendent, and The 2020 Look at Space Opera Book)
• “The Ghost Pit” (First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, July 2001. Collected in Resplendent)
• “The Cold Sink” (First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, August 2001. Collected in Resplendent)
• “In the Un-Black” (First published in Redshift: Extreme Visions of Speculative Fiction. Collected in Resplendent.)
• Riding the Rock (First published as a chapbook. Collected in Resplendent)
• “The Dreaming Mould” (First published in Interzone, May 2002. Collected in Resplendent)
• “All in a Blaze” (First published in Stars: Original Stories Based on the Songs of Janis Ian. Collected in Resplendent)
• “Breeding Ground” (First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, February 2003. Collected in Resplendent.)
• “The Great Game” (First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, March 2003. Collected in Year’s Best SF 9, The Space Opera Renaissance, and Resplendent.)
• “Conurbation 2473” (First published in Live Without a Net. Collected in Resplendent.)
• “The Chop Line” (First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, December 2003. Collected in Science Fiction: The Best of 2003, and Resplendent.)
• Coalescent
• Mayflower II (First published as a chapbook. Collected in Best Short Novels 2005, The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Second Annual Collection, The Mammoth Book of Best New Science Fiction: 18th Annual Collection, Resplendent, and The 2020 Look at Space Opera Book)
• Between Worlds (First published in Between Worlds SFBC anthology. Collected in Resplendent.)
• Exultant
• “PeriAndry’s Quest” (First published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact June 2004. Collected in Science Fiction: The Best of 2004, and Endurance.)
• “Lakes of Light” (First published in Constellations: The Best of New British SF. Collected in Year’s Best SF 11, and Resplendent.)
• Transcendent
• “Climbing the Blue” (First published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, July-August 2005. Collected in Endurance.)
• “The Time Pit” (First published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, October 2005. Collected in Endurance.)
• “Ghost Wars” (First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, January 2006. Collected in Resplendent.)
• “The Siege of Earth” (First published in and collected in Resplendent)
• Resplendent
  • A collection of short fiction written after the publication of Vacuum Diagrams. All are related thematically or directly to the Destiny’s Child sub-series.
• “The Lowland Expedition” (First published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, April 2006. Collected in Year’s Best SF 12 and Endurance)
• “Remembrance” (First published in The New Space Opera. Collected in Endurance)
• The Seer and the Silverman (First published in Galactic Empires (2008). Collected in Endurance.)
• Starfall (First published as a chapbook. Collected in Endurance)
• “Formidable Caress” (First published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, December 2009. Collected in The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume 4 and Endurance)
• The Return to Titan (First published in Godlike Machines. Collected in The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Eighth Annual Collection, The Mammoth Book of Best New SF 24, The Year’s Best Short SF Novels, and Endurance.)
• Gravity Dreams (First published in a self-titled chapbook collection. Collected in Endurance.)
• “Endurance” (First published in and collected in Endurance.)
• Endurance
  • A collection of short fiction published after Resplendent, including the full Old Earth sub-series.
• Xeelee: Vengeance
• “Starphone” (Published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, January-February 2017.)
• Xeelee: Redemption