James Lovegrove is a British science fiction, fantasy, horror, and tie-in writer with a bibliography that ranges from military mythology and vampire fiction to Sherlock Holmes, Firefly, Marvel, Conan, and books for younger readers.
The first distinction readers need is between his original series and his licensed fiction.
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The Pantheon novels, Redlaw, and Dev Harmer belong to Lovegrove’s own fictional settings. His Sherlock Holmes novels use Arthur Conan Doyle’s characters, while Firefly, Marvel, Conan, Warhammer, and other projects belong to larger franchise continuities.
None of those groups should be combined into one master fictional chronology.
Original Fiction: The Orders to Know
Lovegrove has several original sequences with clear boundaries.
Pantheon
- The Age of Ra
- The Age of Zeus
- The Age of Odin
- Age of Aztec
- Age of Voodoo
- Age of Godpunk
- Age of Shiva
- Age of Heroes
- Age of Legends
The important caveat is that Pantheon is largely a sequence of standalone mythological scenarios rather than one continuing nine-part story.
Redlaw
- Redlaw
- Redlaw: Red Eye
These should be read in order.
Dev Harmer
- World of Fire
- World of Water
These form a continuing two-book science fiction sequence.
Five Lords of Pain
- The Lord of the Mountain
- The Lord of the Void
- The Lord of Tears
- The Lord of the Typhoon
- The Lord of Fire
This younger-reader sequence should be read numerically.
The Clouded World, as Jay Amory
- The Fledging of Az Gabrielson
- Pirates of the Relentless Desert
- Darkening for a Fall
- Empire of Chaos
The books were also repackaged into two larger collected volumes.
Pantheon Books in Order
The Pantheon series is Lovegrove’s best-known original sequence.
Its defining idea is the collision of modern or futuristic military science fiction with gods, mythology, and belief systems.
Read by publication:
- The Age of Ra (2009)
- The Age of Zeus (2010)
- The Age of Odin (2011)
- Age of Aztec (2012)
- Age of Voodoo (2013)
- Age of Godpunk (2013)
- Age of Shiva (2014)
- Age of Heroes (2016)
- Age of Legends (2019)
Age of Legends is the final Pantheon volume.
Do the Pantheon Books Have to Be Read in Order?
Not strictly.
The series is built from largely standalone stories that explore different gods, mythologies, characters, and speculative premises.
The Age of Ra does not begin a single plot that continues uninterrupted through Age of Legends.
Publication order is still recommended because it preserves Lovegrove’s development of the Pantheon concept and avoids unnecessary uncertainty about where the shorter material belongs.
Readers who encounter The Age of Odin or Age of Aztec first can usually read them without going back to Book 1.
Where Does Age of Godpunk Fit?
Age of Godpunk is different from the full-length Pantheon novels.
It collects three novellas:
- Age of Anansi
- Age of Satan
- Age of Gaia
The three novellas had individual publication histories before being gathered together.
For a complete Pantheon read, place Age of Godpunk after Age of Voodoo and before Age of Shiva.
Status: Included novella collection.
Readers who own Age of Godpunk do not need separate copies of the three novellas for story completion.
Is Age of Legends Really the Final Pantheon Book?
Yes.
Lovegrove identifies Age of Legends as the ninth and final volume of Pantheon.
The apparent numbering can look unusual because Age of Godpunk is a three-novella collection rather than a conventional novel.
The clean publication route is still:
- The Age of Ra
- The Age of Zeus
- The Age of Odin
- Age of Aztec
- Age of Voodoo
- Age of Godpunk
- Age of Shiva
- Age of Heroes
- Age of Legends
Series status: Complete.
Redlaw Books in Order
Redlaw is a much tighter sequence than Pantheon.
Read:
- Redlaw (2011)
- Redlaw: Red Eye (2012)
The books follow John Redlaw in a world where vampires are a recognized part of society and specialized officers deal with the dangers surrounding them.
Red Eye continues Redlaw’s story and moves the action to the United States.
Read Redlaw first.
Series status: Two published novels.
Is Redlaw Connected to Pantheon?
No.
Both combine speculative action with supernatural elements, but they use different settings and mythologies.
Do not insert the Redlaw books among the Pantheon novels.
Continuity: Separate.
Dev Harmer Books in Order
The Dev Harmer series is science fiction centered on a troubleshooter whose consciousness can be transferred into different bodies for missions on distant worlds.
Read:
- World of Fire (2014)
- World of Water (2016)
These are direct series installments rather than independent variations on one concept.
World of Fire establishes Dev Harmer and his circumstances.
World of Water comes second.
Series status: Two published novels.
Five Lords of Pain Books in Order
Lovegrove also wrote the Five Lords of Pain fantasy series for younger readers.
Read:
- The Lord of the Mountain (2010)
- The Lord of the Void (2010)
- The Lord of Tears (2010)
- The Lord of the Typhoon (2010)
- The Lord of Fire (2010)
This is a numbered five-book sequence.
Unlike Pantheon, there is no benefit to selecting books according to which title sounds most interesting. Begin with The Lord of the Mountain and continue numerically.
The Clouded World Books in Order
Lovegrove published the Clouded World fantasy sequence under the pen name Jay Amory.
The original four-book order is:
- The Fledging of Az Gabrielson (2006)
- Pirates of the Relentless Desert (2007)
- Darkening for a Fall (2008)
- Empire of Chaos (2008)
Readers searching only under James Lovegrove can therefore overlook this series.
The Clouded World Omnibus Editions
The four books were also gathered into two larger editions.
The Wingless Boy
Collects:
- The Fledging of Az Gabrielson
- Pirates of the Relentless Desert
The Clouded World
Collects:
- Darkening for a Fall
- Empire of Chaos
These are omnibus editions rather than additional sequels.
A reader can therefore choose either four individual books or the two collected volumes.
James Lovegrove Standalone Novels
Lovegrove’s original novels outside his principal series include:
- The Hope (1990)
- Days (1997)
- Escardy Gap (1998), with Peter Crowther
- The Foreigners (2000)
- Untied Kingdom (2003)
- Worldstorm (2004)
- Provender Gleed (2005)
- Better Life (2014)
These are not an eight-book sequence.
They can be read independently.
The Hope
The Hope was Lovegrove’s first novel.
It is not a prequel to Pantheon or any of his later science fiction series.
Status: Standalone.
Days
Days is a standalone speculative novel centered on an enormous department store and the society surrounding it.
It does not share continuity with The Hope.
Status: Standalone.
Escardy Gap
Escardy Gap was co-written with Peter Crowther.
It belongs outside Lovegrove’s later named series.
Status: Standalone collaboration.
Untied Kingdom
Untied Kingdom is a standalone alternate-history and speculative novel.
The title is sometimes visually mistaken for a series label because of Lovegrove’s later interest in recurring worlds, but no sequel is required.
Worldstorm
Worldstorm is another standalone speculative novel.
It is not a Dev Harmer book despite its planetary title.
Provender Gleed
Provender Gleed stands independently from Lovegrove’s series.
No other novel needs to precede it.
Sherlock Holmes by James Lovegrove
Lovegrove has written two different kinds of Sherlock Holmes novels.
The first consists of relatively traditional Holmes pastiches.
The second is the Cthulhu Casebooks, which deliberately merges Holmes with H. P. Lovecraft-inspired cosmic horror.
Those two groups should be kept separate.
James Lovegrove Sherlock Holmes Novels in Publication Order
The principal non-Cthulhu Holmes novels are:
- Sherlock Holmes: The Stuff of Nightmares (2013)
- Sherlock Holmes: Gods of War (2014)
- Sherlock Holmes: The Thinking Engine (2015)
- Sherlock Holmes: The Labyrinth of Death (2017)
- Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Dust (2018)
- Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon (2019)
- Sherlock Holmes and the Beast of the Stapletons (2020)
- Sherlock Holmes and the Three Winter Terrors (2021)
These use Doyle’s Holmes and Watson but generally present separate cases.
Publication order is tidy, but it is not as strict as the order of a continuous fantasy trilogy.
Which Lovegrove Sherlock Holmes Book Should You Read First?
The Stuff of Nightmares is the natural place to begin if you intend to read all of Lovegrove’s Holmes novels.
Individual later cases can often be understood independently.
An important exception in terms of literary background is Sherlock Holmes and the Beast of the Stapletons, which builds directly on the legacy of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Readers will gain more from that novel if they already know Doyle’s original Baskerville case.
The Cthulhu Casebooks in Order
The Cthulhu Casebooks are more tightly connected.
Read:
- Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows (2016)
- Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities (2017)
- Sherlock Holmes and the Sussex Sea-Devils (2018)
- Sherlock Holmes and the Highgate Horrors (2023)
This sequence reimagines Holmes’s world through cosmic horror and Lovecraftian mythology.
Publication order is the recommended order because the larger hidden history develops between books.
Is The Highgate Horrors Book 4?
Yes.
Sherlock Holmes and the Highgate Horrors is the fourth Cthulhu Casebook.
Do not place it among the ordinary Holmes cases simply because it was published several years after the first three.
The full Cthulhu order remains:
- The Shadwell Shadows
- The Miskatonic Monstrosities
- The Sussex Sea-Devils
- The Highgate Horrors
Are the Cthulhu Casebooks Connected to Lovegrove’s Other Holmes Novels?
They should be treated as a separate continuity.
The Cthulhu Casebooks fundamentally rewrite the hidden reality behind Holmes and Watson’s careers.
Lovegrove’s other Holmes novels are better approached as more conventional additions to the Doyle tradition.
Reading The Stuff of Nightmares is not required before The Shadwell Shadows.
Continuity: Separate Holmes interpretation.
Sherlock Holmes Short Fiction
Lovegrove has also written numerous Holmes short stories.
His Holmes-related anthology and collection work includes:
- Encounters of Sherlock Holmes
- Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets
- Associates of Sherlock Holmes
- Further Associates of Sherlock Holmes
- Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Seven
- The Manifestations of Sherlock Holmes
- Sherlock Holmes: A Detective’s Life
Some of these are multi-author anthologies rather than books written entirely by Lovegrove.
They are optional for readers concentrating on his novels.
The Manifestations of Sherlock Holmes
The Manifestations of Sherlock Holmes is particularly relevant to Lovegrove readers because it collects his own Holmes short fiction.
It is not another novel following The Three Winter Terrors.
Status: Short story collection.
Firefly Books by James Lovegrove
Lovegrove wrote four novels in the Firefly universe.
His contributions in publication order are:
- Firefly: Big Damn Hero (2018)
- Firefly: The Magnificent Nine (2019)
- Firefly: The Ghost Machine (2020)
- Firefly: Life Signs (2021)
Big Damn Hero was based on a story concept by Nancy Holder.
Are These the First Four Firefly Books?
They are early entries in Titan’s Firefly novel line, but the larger Firefly prose series eventually includes books by other authors.
That matters for reading-order pages.
A James Lovegrove bibliography should list his four contributions together.
A reader wanting the complete Firefly novel chronology should follow the entire multi-author Firefly series rather than reading only Lovegrove.
Status: Shared franchise continuity.
Can Lovegrove’s Firefly Books Be Read in Order by Themselves?
Yes, publication order is the cleanest Lovegrove-only route:
- Big Damn Hero
- The Magnificent Nine
- The Ghost Machine
- Life Signs
However, these are not a self-contained four-book James Lovegrove universe. They belong to the continuity of Firefly and Serenity.
Readers unfamiliar with the television series will be missing character and setting background.
Recent Marvel Prose Novels
Lovegrove has also written prose novels based on Marvel characters.
These include:
- Doctor Strange: Dimension War
- Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus
They are prose adaptations or reinterpretations of established Marvel material rather than parts of Pantheon or another Lovegrove-created setting.
Status: Licensed Marvel fiction.
Read them according to interest in the featured Marvel characters.
No original Lovegrove series needs to come first.
Doctor Strange: Dimension War
Doctor Strange: Dimension War retells classic Doctor Strange material in prose form.
It is not connected to Lovegrove’s Sherlock Holmes or Pantheon books.
Status: Standalone licensed fiction.
Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus
Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus similarly adapts classic Fantastic Four material into prose.
It stands separately from Doctor Strange: Dimension War.
The two books do not form a Lovegrove Marvel duology.
Conan: Cult of the Obsidian Moon
Conan: Cult of the Obsidian Moon is Lovegrove’s Conan novel.
It belongs to the wider Robert E. Howard and Conan publishing world and was written in connection with Titan’s Black Stone era.
Knowledge of the related comic material can add context, but it is not required to follow Lovegrove’s novel.
Status: Licensed Conan fiction.
It should not be placed after Age of Legends simply because both involve gods, sorcery, and action.
El Borak: The Siege of Lamakan
Lovegrove has also written El Borak: The Siege of Lamakan.
El Borak is a character created by Robert E. Howard.
This book therefore belongs with Howard-based licensed fiction rather than Lovegrove’s original novels.
Status: Separate licensed continuity.
Warhammer and Other Shared Worlds
Lovegrove’s bibliography includes additional fiction written for established properties and shared worlds.
These books should be separated from his original-series order.
The rule is simple: if the characters or universe were created outside Lovegrove’s own bibliography, use the reading order of that franchise.
This prevents a common mistake in large author bibliographies, where publication date makes unrelated licensed novels look like sequels to original work.
Books for Younger Readers
Lovegrove has written numerous shorter books aimed at younger or reluctant readers.
Outside Five Lords of Pain, these include:
- The Web: Computopia
- Wings
- The House of Lazarus
- Ant God
- Cold Keep
- Kill Swap
- Dead Brigade
- Freerunner
- Warsuit 1.0
- The Black Phone
These do not form one series.
They can generally be treated as separate works.
Is Wings Connected to the Other Younger-Reader Books?
No.
Wings is a separate title.
A Welsh-language edition was published as Adenydd, translated by Sian Lewis.
Those are versions of the same work rather than Books 1 and 2.
James Lovegrove Novellas
Lovegrove’s standalone novella-length publications include:
- The Hand That Feeds, with Peter Crowther
- How the Other Half Lives
- Gig
- El Borak: The Siege of Lamakan
The Pantheon novellas belong separately inside Age of Godpunk.
These titles do not form their own continuing series.
Short Story Collections
Lovegrove’s principal general short fiction collections include:
- Imagined Slights (2002)
- Diversifications (2010)
The collections gather stories from different settings.
Neither is required before Pantheon, Redlaw, Dev Harmer, or Sherlock Holmes.
Status: Optional collections.
James Lovegrove Nonfiction
Lifelines and Deadlines collects Lovegrove’s nonfiction.
It belongs outside the fiction bibliography and can be read independently.
Status: Nonfiction collection.
Recommended Order for Original Adult Fiction
Readers who want Lovegrove’s own worlds rather than franchise novels do not need to follow every book by publication date.
A more useful approach is:
Pantheon
- The Age of Ra
- The Age of Zeus
- The Age of Odin
- Age of Aztec
- Age of Voodoo
- Age of Godpunk
- Age of Shiva
- Age of Heroes
- Age of Legends
Redlaw
- Redlaw
- Redlaw: Red Eye
Dev Harmer
- World of Fire
- World of Water
The standalone novels can be inserted anywhere.
Recommended Sherlock Holmes Order
Readers wanting Lovegrove’s conventional Holmes pastiches should begin with:
- The Stuff of Nightmares
- Gods of War
- The Thinking Engine
Then continue in publication order.
Readers specifically interested in the Holmes and Lovecraft crossover should use the separate Cthulhu sequence:
- The Shadwell Shadows
- The Miskatonic Monstrosities
- The Sussex Sea-Devils
- The Highgate Horrors
Do not merge the two lists into one chronology.
Which Lovegrove Series Is Complete?
As of August 9, 2026:
Pantheon: Complete, ending with Age of Legends.
Redlaw: Two published novels.
Dev Harmer: Two published novels.
Five Lords of Pain: Complete five-book sequence.
Clouded World: Complete four-book sequence.
Cthulhu Casebooks: Four published books.
Lovegrove’s general Sherlock Holmes cases are individual adventures rather than a conventional serialized series with a formal finale.
His four Firefly novels are contributions to a larger multi-author franchise that continued beyond his own books.
James Lovegrove’s Recent Books
Lovegrove’s recent output has leaned strongly toward established fictional properties.
Current author and publisher catalogs include:
- Sherlock Holmes and the Highgate Horrors
- El Borak: The Siege of Lamakan
- Conan: Cult of the Obsidian Moon
- Doctor Strange: Dimension War
- Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus
These should not be interpreted as a new five-book Lovegrove series.
Each belongs to the appropriate Sherlock Holmes, Robert E. Howard, Conan, or Marvel context.
Is a New Pantheon Book Coming?
No new Pantheon installment with a confirmed publication date was identified for this August 2026 update.
Lovegrove describes Age of Legends as the ninth and final Pantheon volume.
Until a new project is formally announced, readers should regard the series as complete.
Frequently Asked Questions
What James Lovegrove book should I read first?
For his original adult science fiction, The Age of Ra is the most natural series starting point.
For vampire fiction, begin with Redlaw.
For Sherlock Holmes, begin with The Stuff of Nightmares.
For Holmes mixed with cosmic horror, start instead with The Shadwell Shadows.
What order are the Pantheon books?
Read:
- The Age of Ra
- The Age of Zeus
- The Age of Odin
- Age of Aztec
- Age of Voodoo
- Age of Godpunk
- Age of Shiva
- Age of Heroes
- Age of Legends
Do the Pantheon books connect?
They share the central concept of mythological gods reshaping speculative worlds, but most are standalone scenarios rather than chapters in one plot.
Publication order is recommended, not mandatory.
What is Age of Godpunk?
It is a collection of three Pantheon novellas:
- Age of Anansi
- Age of Satan
- Age of Gaia
Is Age of Legends the final Pantheon book?
Yes.
Lovegrove identifies it as the ninth and final volume.
What order are the Redlaw books?
Read:
- Redlaw
- Redlaw: Red Eye
What order are the Dev Harmer books?
Read:
- World of Fire
- World of Water
What order are the Five Lords of Pain books?
Read:
- The Lord of the Mountain
- The Lord of the Void
- The Lord of Tears
- The Lord of the Typhoon
- The Lord of Fire
Who is Jay Amory?
Jay Amory is the name Lovegrove used for the Clouded World series.
The four original books begin with The Fledging of Az Gabrielson.
What order are the Cthulhu Casebooks?
Read:
- Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows
- Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities
- Sherlock Holmes and the Sussex Sea-Devils
- Sherlock Holmes and the Highgate Horrors
Are the Cthulhu Casebooks part of Lovegrove’s other Sherlock Holmes series?
They use Holmes and Watson but should be treated as a separate continuity because they rebuild the Holmes mythology around Lovecraftian cosmic horror.
What order are James Lovegrove’s Firefly books?
For his four contributions:
- Big Damn Hero
- The Magnificent Nine
- The Ghost Machine
- Life Signs
The complete Firefly novel line also contains books by other writers.
Is Conan: Cult of the Obsidian Moon part of Pantheon?
No.
It is a Conan novel using Robert E. Howard’s character and belongs to the wider Conan publishing universe.
Are Doctor Strange: Dimension War and Fantastic Four: The Coming of Galactus connected?
They both draw from Marvel, but they are separate prose projects centered on different characters.
They should not be numbered as one Lovegrove series.
What is James Lovegrove’s latest original series?
His official bibliography still identifies Pantheon, Redlaw, and Dev Harmer as his principal original adult series.
His more recent book-length work has largely involved Sherlock Holmes and other licensed properties.
The Best Place to Begin
James Lovegrove’s bibliography becomes straightforward once original fiction and franchise fiction are put on different shelves.
For his own speculative worlds, The Age of Ra is the broadest starting point. Pantheon continues through Age of Legends, but most installments are self-contained enough that readers have some freedom.
For a tighter two-book story, read Redlaw before Redlaw: Red Eye, or World of Fire before World of Water.
Sherlock Holmes needs a further division. Lovegrove’s standard Holmes mysteries can be read in publication order beginning with The Stuff of Nightmares, while the Cthulhu Casebooks form their own four-book continuity beginning with The Shadwell Shadows.
Firefly, Conan, Marvel, and Robert E. Howard projects belong to outside universes. Keep them there, and the apparent complexity of Lovegrove’s bibliography largely disappears.
Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.