Robert Olen Butler Books In Order
Book links take you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.Publication Order of Christopher Marlowe Cobb Books
The Hot Country | (2012) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Star of Istanbul | (2013) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Empire of Night | (2014) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Paris in the Dark | (2018) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
The Alleys of Eden | (1981) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Sun Dogs | (1982) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Countrymen of Bones | (1983) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
On Distant Ground | (1985) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Wabash | (1987) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Deuce | (1989) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
They Whisper | (1994) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Deep Green Sea | (1998) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Mr. Spaceman | (2000) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Fair Warning | (2002) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Hell | (2009) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
A Small Hotel | (2011) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Perfume River | (2016) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Late City | (2021) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas
Publication Order of Short Story Collections
A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain | (1992) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Tabloid Dreams | (1996) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Had a Good Time | (2004) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Severance | (2006) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Intercourse | (2008) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
Publication Order of Best Small Fictions Books
Publication Order of Bibliomysteries Books
The Book of Virtue | (2012) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Pronghorns of the Third Reich | (2012) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Book Thing | (2012) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Book Case | (2012) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
An Acceptable Sacrifice | (2012) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Death Leaves a Bookmark | (2012) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Final Testament | (2013) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Rides a Stranger | (2013) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Long Sonata of the Dead | (2013) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Book of Ghosts | (2013) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Compendium of Srem | (2014) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
What's in a Name? | (2014) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Remaindered | (2014) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Sequel | (2014) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Gospel of Sheba | (2014) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Nature of My Inheritance | (2014) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
It's in the Book | (2014) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Scroll | (2014) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Book of the Lion | (2015) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Little Men | (2015) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Condor in the Stacks | (2015) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Mystery, Inc. | (2015) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Every Seven Years | (2015) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
From the Queen | (2015) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Travelling Companion | (2016) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Citadel | (2016) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Reconciliation Day | (2016) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Dead Dames Don't Sing | (2016) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Haze | (2016) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Hoodoo Harry | (2017) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Pretty Little Box | (2018) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Seven Years | (2018) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Hemingway Valise | (2018) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Last Honest Horse Thief | (2018) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository | (2018) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Dark Door | (2022) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Chronological Order of Bibliomysteries Books
The Book of Virtue | (2012) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Scroll | (2014) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Pronghorns of the Third Reich | (2012) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
An Acceptable Sacrifice | (2012) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Death Leaves a Bookmark | (2012) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Seven Years | (2018) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Book Thing | (2012) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Book of Ghosts | (2013) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Long Sonata of the Dead | (2013) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Final Testament | (2013) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Rides a Stranger | (2013) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
What's in a Name? | (2014) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
It's in the Book | (2014) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Nature of My Inheritance | (2014) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Remaindered | (2014) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Compendium of Srem | (2014) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Gospel of Sheba | (2014) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Sequel | (2014) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Book of the Lion | (2015) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Little Men | (2015) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
From the Queen | (2015) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Every Seven Years | (2015) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Citadel | (2016) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Condor in the Stacks | (2015) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Mystery, Inc. | (2015) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Travelling Companion | (2016) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Haze | (2016) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Dead Dames Don't Sing | (2016) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Reconciliation Day | (2016) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Hoodoo Harry | (2017) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Pretty Little Box | (2018) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository | (2018) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Hemingway Valise | (2018) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Last Honest Horse Thief | (2018) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Book Case | (2012) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Dark Door | (2022) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Publication Order of Best American Short Stories Books
The Best Short Stories of 1915 | (1916) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1916 | (1916) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1917 | (1917) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1918 | (1918) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1919 | (1919) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1921 | (1921) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1922 | (1922) | |
The Best Short Stories of 1923 | (1923) | |
The Best Short Stories 1924 | (1924) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1925 | (1925) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1926 | (1926) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1927 | (1927) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1928 | (1928) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1929 | (1929) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1930 | (1930) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1931 | (1931) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1932 | (1932) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1933 | (1933) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1934 | (1934) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1935 | (1935) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1936 | (1936) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1937 | (1937) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1938 | (1938) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
50 Best American Short Stories, 1915-1939 | (1939) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1939 | (1939) | |
The Best Short Stories of 1940 | (1940) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories 1941 | (1941) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1942 | (1942) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1943 | (1943) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1944 | (1944) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1945 | (1945) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1946 | (1946) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1947 | (1947) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1948 | (1948) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1949 | (1949) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1950 | (1950) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1951 | (1951) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1952 | (1952) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1953 | (1953) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1955 | (1955) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1956 | (1956) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1957 | (1957) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1958 | (1958) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1959 | (1959) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1960 | (1960) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1961 | (1961) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1962 | (1962) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1963 | (1963) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1964 | (1964) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1965 | (1965) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1966 | (1966) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1967 | (1967) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1968 | (1967) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories of 1969 | (1969) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1970 | (1970) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1971 | (1971) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1972 | (1972) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1973 | (1973) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1974 | (1974) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best of Best American Short Stories 1915-1950 | (1975) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1975 | (1975) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1976 | (1976) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1977 | (1977) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1978 | (1978) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1979 | (1979) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1980 | (1980) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1981 | (1981) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1982 | (1982) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1983 | (1983) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1984 | (1984) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1985 | (1985) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1986 | (1986) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1987 | (1987) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1988 | (1988) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1989 | (1989) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories of the Eighties | (1990) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1990 | (1990) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1991 | (1991) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1992 | (1992) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1993 | (1993) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1994 | (1994) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1995 | (1995) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1996 | (1996) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1997 | (1997) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1998 | (1998) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 1999 | (1999) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2000 | (2000) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories of the Century | (2000) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2001 | (2001) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2002 | (2002) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2003 | (2003) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2004 | (2004) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2005 | (2005) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2006 | (2006) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2007 | (2007) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Short Stories of 1921, and the Yearbook of the American Short Story | (2007) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories1921 | (2007) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2008 | (2008) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2009 | (2009) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2010 | (2010) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2011 | (2011) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2012 | (2012) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2013 | (2013) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2014 | (2014) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2015 | (2015) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
100 Years of The Best American Short Stories | (2015) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2016 | (2016) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2017 | (2017) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2018 | (2018) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2019 | (2019) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2020 | (2020) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best American Short Stories 2022 | (2022) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Anthology series. |
Publication Order of New Stories From The South Books
New Stories from the South | (1988) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
New Stories from the South 1992 | (1992) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
New Stories from the South 1993 | (1993) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
New Stories from the South 1994 | (1994) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
New Stories from the South 1995 | (1995) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
New Stories from the South 1996 | (1996) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
New Stories from the South | (1997) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
New Stories from the South 1998 | (1998) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
New Stories from the South 1999 | (1999) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
New Stories from the South 2000 | (2000) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
New Stories from the South 2001 | (2001) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
New Stories from the South 2002 | (2002) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
New Stories from the South 2003 | (2003) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
New Stories from the South 2004 | (2004) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
New Stories from the South, 2005 | (2005) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Best of the South | (2005) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
New Stories from the South | (2007) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
New Stories from the South 2008 | (2008) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
New Stories from the South 2009 | (2009) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
New Stories from the South 2010 | (2010) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Publication Order of Anthologies
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Tenth Annual Collection | (1996) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Future Dictionary of America | (2004) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The 2004 Robert Olen Butler Prize Stories | (2005) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Verb, An Audioquarterly, Volume 1, No. 1 | (2005) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The 2005 Robert Olen Butler Prize Stories | (2006) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The 2007 Robert Olen Butler Prize Stories | (2007) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Selected Shorts: Wartime Lives | (2007) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The 2008 Robert Olen Butler Prize Stories | (2008) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The 2009 Robert Olen Butler Prize Stories | (2011) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
In Sunlight or In Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper | (2016) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Peace Fiction | (2021) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Robert Olen Butler is an American author that is best known for his collection of short stories from 1993 that won him the Pulitzer Prize.
+Biography
Robert Olen Butler was born in 1945 in Granite City, Illinois to an executive secretary and an actor. A former student of Northwestern University from where he initially studied theater before finally settling for Playwriting (University of Iowa), one of Butler’s most memorable experiences were the years he spent in Vietnam during the war.
The author’s educational objectives initially kept him out of the war. But once he got his Master’s Degree, he lost his student deferment. So he was deployed to Vietnam in 1969, working primarily with the counter-intelligence department.
His contribution to the war effort, not only as a translator but also the work he did once he was promoted to Sergeant, saw Robert Olen Butler earn a Tu Do Chinh Kien prize (Vietnam Veterans of America).
Butler’s comments about Vietnam were always positive. He described the people as being warm and welcoming. He also loved the culture and the traditions he encountered, and a number of the stories he went on to tell where inspired by his time in Vietnam.
Of course, like most veterans, Butler’s life after the war was quite complicated. He struggled to find a place he could call home, initially finding work as a steel mill laborer and proceeding to dabble in a few other fields before finally becoming a substitute teacher.
His future only began to take shape once he entered the publishing industry. He landed a position with Fairchild Publications which allowed him to work on the staffs of various trade publications.
It was while he worked for Fairchild that Butler began writing novels. He primarily wrote by hand using pen and paper. He had a daily commute on the Long Island Rail Road which gave him plenty of time to write.
His first novel (The Alleys of Eden) wasn’t the hit he hoped it would be. Nearly two dozen publishers turned it down. The experience did nothing to encourage Robert Olen Butler who had already written five horrible novels before ‘The Alleys of Eden’.
The story ‘The Alleys of Eden’ told followed an American soldier who was deployed to Vietnam, deserted his unit and decided to stay in the country. The story would have never seen the light of day if it wasn’t for ‘Horizon Press’ which came in and finally published Butler’s novel in 1981.
The development was all the push the author needed to write even more books. Over the years, Butler became quite the controversial figure. No one could ever truly peg him down because he wouldn’t stop changing and experimenting.
Each novel he wrote presented a side of the author that no one had ever seen. Books like ‘Sun Dogs’ were praised for their powerful moments but also criticized for being slow-paced and sorely lacking in momentum.
For every positive remark that Robert Olen Butler drew out of a critic, you would find another chastising him for his literary choices. Butler never wrote a book that didn’t divide audiences.
And when he wasn’t publishing novels, his short stories were making appearances in publications like ‘The Boston Globe’ and the ‘San Francisco Chronicle’.
Over the course of his long career, Butler has published multiple volumes of short stories. He has also written essays and lectures exploring the creative process. There are people who have had the pleasure of attending his creative writing classes at Florida State University.
It has been suggested that the author’s disparate approach to writing is the result of his extensive traveling. When Butler won the Pulitzer Prize in the early 1990s, he became a literary envoy of sorts.
The role saw him travel to a multitude of countries all over the world, sometimes teaching in Universities, other times congregating with writers in the places he visited. The experience allowed the author to learn as much as he taught.
He also felt compelled to keep experimenting, to keep pushing the boundaries of his stories. Some critics believe that the author’s most powerful tool is his straightforward approach to writing.
According to Butler, his training as a theater student heavily influenced his approach to writing. He spends a lot of time inhabiting the lives and mindsets of the characters he creates in the hopes of accurately bringing their personalities to life.
It is worth mentioning that while Butler accepts the praises and criticisms of people who say that he keeps reinventing himself with each novel and short story, those particular transformations in his writing are not always intentional. A lot of times, Butler just goes where his mind leads. The process is spontaneous.
On the personal front, Robert Olen Butler has been married five times. Four of his marriages ended in divorce. His marriage to Elizabeth Dewberry, a playwright, was the most controversial.
Following their divorce, Butler made a point to inform all his students and colleagues (Florida State University) in an email that their marriage had dissolved. The aspect that stuck out and which eventually snuck its way into major publications like The New York Times was the author’s insistence that Elizabeth had left him for Ted Turner, the communications tycoon.
+The Hot Country
Christopher Marlow Cobb is a renowned American reporter in the 20th Century with a reputation for corresponding from dangerous places. Cobb goes to Mexico just as the country groans under the weight of Civil Unrest.
American forces have invaded Vera Cruz in the wake of President Victoriano Huerta’s controversial presidency. The fact that Cobb has fallen in love with a local girl is the least of his worries.
A sniper that shot a priest almost killed Cobb. And now he wants to know how the man is connected to the German officials coming into the city.
+The Star of Istanbul
WWI is here. The Germans and the Turks are determined to wipe the British Empire off the face of the world, and President Woodrow Wilson isn’t so certain that he wants to take the country into the conflict.
Christopher Marlow Cobb is part war correspondent and part spy, and he has boarded the Ship Lusitania to find a man with critical information relating to the war. Cobb becomes smitten with a famed actress he stumbles across who, it turns out, isn’t quite what she appears to be.
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