Ellen Kushner Books In Order

Publication Order of The World of Riverside Books

Publication Order of Tremontaine Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Choose Your Own Adventure Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Ellen Kushner is a children’s fiction and fantasy author best known for writing the Swords of Riverside series of novels. Over the years, she has held a variety of jobs that include public speaker, radio host, performer, teacher, and author. Upon graduating from high school, she went to Barnard College and then proceeded to Bryn Mawr College. After she was done with college, she decided to find a job as a fiction editor working for a publishing company in New York. However, she did not stay long in publishing as she left soon after to go become a published author herself. She published “Swordspoint” her debut novel in 1987 and the novel went on to become the progenitor of mannerpunk subgenre of urban fantasy and a cult classic. She followed that up with the award-winning single standing novel “Thomas the Rhymer” before she went back to make the “Riverside” series trilogy with two more titles. Apart from her long-form prose fiction, her short stories have been featured in several anthologies. Her short fiction has also been translated into several languages such as Finnish, Japanese, Latvian, French, German, French, and Dutch.

After writing her second novel “Thomas the Rhymer” she left everything behind and moved to Boston, where she had landed a job on WGBH public radio as an announcer. She would then work several jobs at WGBH and become host and writer of “Sound and Spirit,” a PRI national series that went on to win several awards. With Ellen as writer and host, the program ran for many years until it was terminated in 2010. Most of the original episodes can still be found in archives on the internet. It was during her time with WGBH that she wrote “The Fall of the Kings” that wrapped up the “Swords of Riverside” series in 2002. She had written bits and bobs for the manuscript several years earlier and her agent encouraged her to finish it. She then went on to write the second novel of the series “The Privilege of the Sword” in 2006 though it was clear that she was penning the titles in the series out of order. Ellen Kushner has continued this practice as her Serial Box and Saga Press published series of novels titled “Tremontaine” are written in the dead tree format. In terms of other media, she has read all her three Riverside novels for Audible since she loves reading her works aloud. She has also been one of the original authors of the “Bordertown” series started by Terri Windling. In her capacity as one of the original authors, she convinced younger authors such as Holly Black that grown up reading the series to join the older writers in co-editing “Welcome to Bordertown.”

Ellen sometimes teaches creative writing at the Odyssey Workshop, Clarion, and the MFA Children’s Literature summer program at Hollins University. Kushner is also a dauntless traveler and has been invited to speak at conventions all across the globe. He is also a former president and co-founder of the Interstitial Arts Foundation, an organization committed to supporting artistic endeavors that are in-between genre categories. She currently lives with Delia Sherman, an educator and author in New York City.

“Swordspoint” by Ellen Kushner is a novel set in a city that combines 16th or 15th century London and Italy, a complicated and decadent setting that just recently graduated to bureaucracy after years in a monarchy. However, it is still full of nobles who still have money and privilege and hence avoids the lower-class neighborhoods like the plague. Richard St. Vier the infamous swordsman works for the upper classes who can afford his exorbitant charge. He is hired to challenge lovers that have spurned his clients, kill off rivals, or just bring life into a party. Perhaps he would have taken more time to consider his options on the last assignment had he known what the elite was planning as the elections approached. He is now deep in the conspiracy and has found that it is quite a convoluted plot. On top of everything, he still has to deal with Alec his dropout lover who is as eccentric as anyone could be. In the meantime, Michael Godwin the playboy is interested in the duchess that happens to be recently widowed. She has been rebuffing an influential councilman and seems to be gunning for the affections of Richard St. Vier the swordsman.

“The Privilege of the Sword “by Ellen Kushner is set in Riverside, where the ambitious and aristocratic elite battle for power in the boudoirs, brothels, and ballrooms of the city. Katherine saunters into this alluring world as a well-bred girl from the provinces that knows all about the social graces expected of her. But the mistake she made is thinking that what she had been taught in the provinces applies in the city. Alec Campion her uncle and host also known as the “Mad Duke Tremontaine” make all the rules which he often breaks at will. When he decides that Katherine would not be following the conventional path to marriage but rather become a swordsman, her life trajectory is altered forever. With sword in her hand, she now has to navigate a complex web of secrets and city rascals and learn what it means when one becomes a master of the dark arts of a swordsman.

Ellen Kushner’s “The Fall of Kings” is a novel with a setting in the Elizabethan era in a world that is centered around Riverside. Riverside is home to a demimonde of artists, prostitutes, and pickpockets with most of the elite moving out to the suburbs across the river. At the opening of the novel, the posthumous son of Alec named Theron Campion has been left by Ysaud. He is a very talented artist that just used his exceptional frame for a set of painting that harks to legends of the past. They include a band of young men stark-naked prancing around a fire, a man gazing at his stag likeness in a pool of water and a man slaying his king lover. After his heart was broken by the man he thought was his soul mate, will he be able to find new love? And will he be able to balance his obligations as the Duke in waiting with finding love? Meanwhile, Nicholas Galing the wannabe intelligence officer cannot wait to provide his services to Lord Arlen, the mysterious Serpent Chancellor. He is very concerned about rumors of a royalist plot in the city.

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