Kage Baker’s bibliography has one reading-order problem that causes more confusion than all the others combined.
The Company is larger than its main novel series.
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Eight novels tell the central Company saga from In the Garden of Iden through The Sons of Heaven. Around those books sit story collections, prequels, Mars fiction, Victorian adventures, and other works from the same universe. Some catalogs combine everything into one long sequence, which makes the series look much more complicated than it needs to be.
For a first read, keep the eight main novels together. Add the extended-universe material afterward or at carefully chosen points once the Company itself is familiar.
Quick Answer
Best Kage Baker book to start with: In the Garden of Iden
Main Company Saga order:
- In the Garden of Iden
- Sky Coyote
- Mendoza in Hollywood
- The Graveyard Game
- The Life of the World to Come
- The Children of the Company
- The Machine’s Child
- The Sons of Heaven
Does the Company series end with The Sons of Heaven? The main eight-book saga does.
Are The Empress of Mars and Not Less Than Gods Company books? Yes, but they belong to the extended universe rather than the main eight-book arc.
Best fantasy reading order: The Anvil of the World, The House of the Stag, then The Bird of the River for publication order. Chronologically, The House of the Stag comes first.
Latest published Kage Baker collection: Maelstrom and Other Martian Tales (2024).
Next scheduled Kage Baker book: The Lady Keeps the Sea, scheduled for September 15, 2026.
The Eight Books That Form the Main Company Saga
The current publisher classification is especially useful because it separates the central novels from the wider setting.
The main Company Saga consists of eight books:
- In the Garden of Iden (1997)
- Sky Coyote (1999)
- Mendoza in Hollywood (2000)
- The Graveyard Game (2001)
- The Life of the World to Come (2004)
- The Children of the Company (2005)
- The Machine’s Child (2006)
- The Sons of Heaven (2007)
Read these in publication order.
Baker’s time-travel premise naturally sends characters across thousands of years, but that does not make internal chronology a good guide. Later books reveal information about the Company that earlier protagonists do not yet know.
Rearranging the sequence would damage those revelations.
In the Garden of Iden
Company Saga, Book 1
This is the required starting point.
The novel introduces Mendoza, a young woman rescued from the Spanish Inquisition and transformed into an immortal cyborg operative for Dr. Zeus Incorporated, commonly called the Company.
The Company sends immortal agents into the past to preserve valuable plants, animals, art, and other objects before history records their destruction.
That premise sounds simple at first.
The larger series gradually reveals that the Company’s history, motives, and future are far more complicated.
Read In the Garden of Iden before any later Mendoza novel.
Sky Coyote
Company Saga, Book 2
Sky Coyote changes the primary viewpoint to Joseph, one of the Company’s oldest operatives.
That shift can make the second book initially feel more episodic than a direct sequel.
It is still essential.
Joseph’s experience begins exposing aspects of Company culture that Mendoza could not have understood in the first novel.
Read it second.
Mendoza in Hollywood
Company Saga, Book 3
Mendoza in Hollywood returns attention to Mendoza.
The book was also published in the United Kingdom under the title At the Edge of the West.
These are the same novel.
Do not buy both expecting two different Company stories.
The story develops Mendoza’s personal history and introduces material that becomes crucial later in the saga.
The Graveyard Game
Company Saga, Book 4
The fourth novel significantly expands the central mystery.
Joseph and Lewis investigate what happens to Company operatives who disappear from official records.
By this point, the novels have moved beyond isolated historical missions into a connected conspiracy narrative.
Do not skip from the early books directly to the later Alec Checkerfield material.
The Graveyard Game is one of the bridges that makes the larger plot understandable.
The Life of the World to Come
Company Saga, Book 5
This book introduces Alec Checkerfield as a major figure.
It also returns directly to Mendoza’s story.
The connections among Mendoza, Alec, Nicholas Harpole, and Edward Alton Bell-Fairfax become increasingly important from this point onward.
Readers sometimes encounter Not Less Than Gods and wonder whether it should be inserted before Book 5 because it concerns Edward.
Do not do that on a first read.
The Life of the World to Come should remain Book 5.
The Children of the Company
Company Saga, Book 6
The Children of the Company has a different structure from a conventional single-protagonist novel.
It draws together stories and episodes concerning several Company immortals and stretches across a large span of history.
That structure sometimes causes catalogs to classify it more like a fix-up or linked collection.
Within the main saga, however, it is Book 6.
Read it between The Life of the World to Come and The Machine’s Child.
The historical background it supplies becomes increasingly relevant as the series approaches its conclusion.
The Machine’s Child
Company Saga, Book 7
This is the penultimate main novel.
The Mendoza and Alec storyline moves toward resolution while the Company’s future crisis accelerates.
At this stage there is little room for skipping around.
Read the first six main books before it.
The Sons of Heaven
Company Saga, Book 8
The Sons of Heaven concludes the central eight-book Company Saga.
The novel resolves the major long-running questions involving Dr. Zeus, its immortal operatives, the year 2355, and the characters whose stories have converged across the series.
This is the endpoint of the main narrative.
Books published later in the Company universe should not be mistaken for Books 9, 10, and 11 of this arc.
The Recommended Company Reading Order
A first-time reader should use:
- In the Garden of Iden
- Sky Coyote
- Mendoza in Hollywood
- The Graveyard Game
- The Life of the World to Come
- The Children of the Company
- The Machine’s Child
- The Sons of Heaven
Then explore the extended universe.
This recommendation is intentionally simpler than a full publication list.
Baker’s short stories often take place between, before, or alongside the novels, but the eight-book sequence controls the major revelations.
Why You Should Not Read the Company Chronologically
The Company series is about time travel, immortality, secret history, and information being deliberately withheld.
A chronological rearrangement sounds appealing because stories range from ancient history to the far future.
It is the wrong priority for a first read.
Characters know different amounts at different points in publication order. Readers gradually learn what Dr. Zeus is doing, what happens after 2355, and why certain people recur in apparently impossible ways.
Chronological order can expose background before the main novels are ready to explain its significance.
Use chronology only as a rereading experiment.
Company Extended Universe Books
Once the eight core novels are separated out, the remaining Company material becomes much easier to classify.
Major extended-universe books include:
- Black Projects, White Knights: The Company Dossiers
- The Empress of Mars
- Gods and Pawns
- Rude Mechanicals
- The Women of Nell Gwynne’s
- Not Less Than Gods
- Nell Gwynne’s On Land and At Sea
- In the Company of Thieves
- Maelstrom and Other Martian Tales
These do not all form one direct sequel chain.
Some are collections. Some are prequels. Some follow characters operating at the edges of the Company’s history.
Black Projects, White Knights
Optional Company collection
Black Projects, White Knights: The Company Dossiers was published in 2002.
It collects shorter Company stories involving figures such as Mendoza, Joseph, Lewis, and other operatives.
Publication places it after The Graveyard Game and before The Life of the World to Come.
Readers who want the fullest publication-order experience can read it there.
Readers who want to keep the central novel plot moving can save it until after The Sons of Heaven.
Both choices work.
Gods and Pawns
Optional Company collection
Gods and Pawns appeared in 2007.
Like Black Projects, White Knights, it gathers shorter Company fiction from different points in the larger timeline.
It is not a ninth main Company novel.
Read it after you already understand the Company’s basic structure.
For a first-time reader concentrating on the novels, finishing The Sons of Heaven first remains the cleaner route.
In the Company of Thieves
Optional Company collection
In the Company of Thieves was published posthumously in 2013.
It gathers later Company short fiction involving both immortal agents and mortal associates.
Because it arrived after Baker’s death and after completion of the central saga, it works naturally as a final Company collection.
Read it after the eight main novels.
The Empress of Mars
Company extended universe
The Empress of Mars began as a novella and was later expanded into a novel.
The story takes place on Mars within the larger future associated with the Company setting.
It follows Mary Griffith and the human colonists of Mars rather than Mendoza and the central Company protagonists.
That makes it connected without making it Book 9.
Where Should You Read The Empress of Mars?
For a new Company reader, the easiest placement is after The Sons of Heaven.
If you are following Baker’s original publication history, the novella appeared earlier and the expanded novel was published in 2009.
Either way, do not interrupt the main saga because you think The Empress of Mars is a required numbered sequel.
It is not.
Maelstrom and Other Martian Tales
Optional Mars collection, Company-related setting
Maelstrom and Other Martian Tales was published in 2024 by Subterranean Press.
The collection gathers Baker’s Mars fiction, including stories associated with the world of The Empress of Mars.
It is the most recent newly assembled Kage Baker collection published as of August 8, 2026.
Read it after The Empress of Mars if you want to explore her Martian setting in greater depth.
It is not a continuation of Mendoza’s central Company storyline.
Not Less Than Gods
Company extended universe, prequel material
Not Less Than Gods was published in 2010.
It focuses on Edward Alton Bell-Fairfax and his involvement with the Gentlemen’s Speculative Society in Victorian England.
Edward is important to the central Company novels, which makes this book more closely tied to the saga than some of the other spin-offs.
Even so, do not read it before Edward’s role is established in the main series.
Where Does Not Less Than Gods Fit?
Chronologically, much of it takes place long before the principal future-facing events of the later Company novels.
Recommended first-read placement:
- Finish The Sons of Heaven
- Read Not Less Than Gods
This preserves the mysteries surrounding Edward during the main saga.
Readers on a reread can place the book according to its nineteenth-century setting.
The Gentlemen’s Speculative Society and Nell Gwynne’s
The Victorian branch of the Company universe connects Not Less Than Gods with the Nell Gwynne stories.
The Gentlemen’s Speculative Society is an organization of scientists and adventurers operating in nineteenth-century Britain.
Nell Gwynne’s appears as a related institution whose women conduct intelligence work.
These stories connect to the larger Company universe, but they also function as their own Victorian adventure strand.
The Women of Nell Gwynne’s
Company extended universe, Victorian companion
The Women of Nell Gwynne’s was published in 2009.
The novella follows Lady Beatrice and the women of a Victorian brothel that secretly serves an intelligence-gathering role connected with the Gentlemen’s Speculative Society.
It can be understood largely on its own.
Readers of the Company novels will recognize the broader technological and historical framework behind it.
Is Nell Gwynne’s Scarlet Spy a Different Book?
Not in the way the title can suggest.
Nell Gwynne’s Scarlet Spy is an expanded trade edition of The Women of Nell Gwynne’s.
It includes the original novella plus additional Nell Gwynne material.
Do not count The Women of Nell Gwynne’s and Nell Gwynne’s Scarlet Spy as two separate numbered adventures containing completely different main stories.
If you have the expanded edition, you already have The Women of Nell Gwynne’s.
Nell Gwynne’s On Land and At Sea
Company extended universe
Nell Gwynne’s On Land and At Sea was published posthumously in 2012.
Kage Baker left the work unfinished. Her sister Kathleen Bartholomew completed it using Baker’s material and notes.
Read the earlier Nell Gwynne fiction first.
A practical sequence is:
- The Women of Nell Gwynne’s or the expanded Nell Gwynne’s Scarlet Spy
- Nell Gwynne’s On Land and At Sea
Not Less Than Gods can be read before or after those books, but reading it first gives more background on the Gentlemen’s Speculative Society.
Rude Mechanicals
Optional Company novella
Rude Mechanicals is another shorter work within the Company setting.
It features Company operatives during an episode involving Shakespearean England.
It is supplemental rather than part of the numbered eight-book saga.
Read it after you know the basic Company premise.
Saving it until after the core novels is the simplest option.
A Full Company Universe Reading Route
Readers who want a broad Company experience without trying to sort every individual short story can use:
- In the Garden of Iden
- Sky Coyote
- Mendoza in Hollywood
- The Graveyard Game
- The Life of the World to Come
- The Children of the Company
- The Machine’s Child
- The Sons of Heaven
- Black Projects, White Knights
- Gods and Pawns
- Rude Mechanicals
- The Empress of Mars
- Not Less Than Gods
- The Women of Nell Gwynne’s or Nell Gwynne’s Scarlet Spy
- Nell Gwynne’s On Land and At Sea
- In the Company of Thieves
- Maelstrom and Other Martian Tales
This is a reader-friendly sequence, not strict fictional chronology.
Its advantage is that nothing interrupts the eight novels that carry the main mystery.
Anvil of the World Books in Publication Order
Baker’s major fantasy setting is separate from the Company.
Publication order is:
- The Anvil of the World (2003)
- The House of the Stag (2008)
- The Bird of the River (2010)
These books occupy the same fantasy world.
They do not, however, form a simple Book 1, Book 2, Book 3 narrative in chronological order.
Anvil of the World in Chronological Order
Chronologically, the cleaner arrangement is:
- The House of the Stag
- The Anvil of the World
- The Bird of the River
The House of the Stag is a prequel.
It tells the earlier life of Gard, who is already an established figure in The Anvil of the World.
Which Anvil of the World Order Is Better?
For a first read, publication order has the stronger case:
- The Anvil of the World
- The House of the Stag
- The Bird of the River
The House of the Stag gains some of its effect from expanding a character readers have already encountered.
Chronological order is perfectly reasonable for a reread.
Unlike the Company, however, the risk of major revelation damage is much lower.
The Anvil of the World
Shared fantasy world
This book introduces Smith, an assassin attempting to leave his former profession behind.
The story moves through a fantasy world populated by different peoples, demons, religions, technologies, and eccentric social customs.
It also introduces Lord Ermenwyr and characters who connect the book to later material.
Start here for publication order.
The House of the Stag
Prequel in the Anvil world
The House of the Stag tells Gard’s earlier story.
It explains his origins, exile, enslavement, rise to power, and eventual place in the world seen in The Anvil of the World.
Because it is a prequel, readers who strongly prefer chronological fantasy can begin here.
Publication order still gives Gard’s later identity first and his history second.
The Bird of the River
Later Anvil-world novel
The Bird of the River was published in 2010.
It follows new central characters traveling aboard a huge river barge.
The setting is explicitly the same world as The Anvil of the World and The House of the Stag.
Read it third in either publication or broad chronological order.
The Hotel Under the Sand
Standalone children’s fantasy
The Hotel Under the Sand was published in 2009.
It is a children’s fantasy novel about a girl named Emma who discovers a remarkable hotel uncovered by a desert storm.
It has no required connection to the Company or the Anvil-world books.
Read it independently.
Or Else My Lady Keeps the Key
Standalone historical fantasy adventure
Or Else My Lady Keeps the Key was published in 2008.
The story follows former pirate John James after the sack of Panama and involves treasure, dangerous allies, storms, and supernatural elements.
It is not a Company novel.
Its historical setting can create confusion because Baker frequently placed Company stories inside real historical eras.
No Company knowledge is required.
The Lady Keeps the Sea
Forthcoming posthumous collection
As of August 8, 2026, Pyr has The Lady Keeps the Sea scheduled for September 15, 2026.
The publisher categorizes it as a collection rather than a new Kage Baker novel.
Because Baker died in 2010, it is a posthumous publication drawn from her existing body of work rather than a newly written 2026 manuscript.
Do not list it as already published before its scheduled release date.
Status: Forthcoming
Kage Baker Short Story Collections
Baker’s short fiction appeared both inside and outside the Company universe.
Major collections include:
- Black Projects, White Knights: The Company Dossiers (2002)
- Mother Ægypt and Other Stories (2004)
- Dark Mondays (2006)
- Gods and Pawns (2007)
- The Best of Kage Baker (2012)
- In the Company of Thieves (2013)
- Maelstrom and Other Martian Tales (2024)
- The Lady Keeps the Sea (forthcoming 2026)
Not every collection belongs wholly to one continuity.
That is why collections should be kept outside the numbered novel sequences unless the publisher specifically identifies them as Company material.
Mother Ægypt and Other Stories
Mixed collection
Mother Ægypt and Other Stories contains fantasy and science fiction from Baker’s shorter work.
Its title story has a Company connection, but the whole book should not be treated as one Company installment.
Status: Optional mixed collection.
Dark Mondays
Mixed collection
Dark Mondays is another collection of Baker’s short fiction.
It is not a numbered Company book or part of the Anvil fantasy sequence.
Read it independently.
The Best of Kage Baker
Retrospective collection
The Best of Kage Baker was published posthumously.
It includes both Company and non-Company fiction.
Readers interested only in the central Company story do not need it before The Sons of Heaven.
Readers exploring Baker’s short fiction more generally can approach it at any point.
Ancient Rockets
Nonfiction
Ancient Rockets: Treasures and Trainwrecks of the Silent Screen was published in 2011.
The book collects Baker’s writing about silent movies and was edited posthumously by Kathleen Bartholomew.
It is not fiction.
It has no reading-order relationship with Baker’s novels.
Kage Baker Books in Broad Publication Order
A career chronology for Baker’s major books looks roughly like this:
- In the Garden of Iden (1997)
- Sky Coyote (1999)
- Mendoza in Hollywood (2000)
- The Graveyard Game (2001)
- Black Projects, White Knights (2002)
- The Anvil of the World (2003)
- The Life of the World to Come (2004)
- Mother Ægypt and Other Stories (2004)
- The Children of the Company (2005)
- The Machine’s Child (2006)
- Dark Mondays (2006)
- Gods and Pawns (2007)
- Rude Mechanicals (2007)
- The Sons of Heaven (2007)
- The House of the Stag (2008)
- Or Else My Lady Keeps the Key (2008)
- The Empress of Mars, expanded novel edition (2009)
- The Hotel Under the Sand (2009)
- The Women of Nell Gwynne’s (2009)
- Not Less Than Gods (2010)
- The Bird of the River (2010)
- Ancient Rockets (2011)
- The Best of Kage Baker (2012)
- Nell Gwynne’s On Land and At Sea (2012)
- In the Company of Thieves (2013)
- Maelstrom and Other Martian Tales (2024)
- The Lady Keeps the Sea (scheduled 2026)
This list is useful for bibliography purposes.
It is not the recommended reading sequence because it repeatedly interrupts the Company novels with collections and unrelated fantasy books.
Kage Baker’s Posthumous Books
Baker died on January 31, 2010.
Several books and collections have appeared afterward.
These include works assembled from previously written material, collections, and in one notable case a story completed with the help of her sister Kathleen Bartholomew.
Posthumous publication does not automatically mean a work belongs at the end of its fictional timeline.
That is especially important with the Company universe.
Is The Sons of Heaven the Last Company Book?
It is the conclusion of the central Company Saga.
That means it is the correct final book when reading the eight main novels.
It is not the final publication set in the Company universe.
Later books include Not Less Than Gods, the Nell Gwynne material, In the Company of Thieves, and collections of related fiction.
Think of The Sons of Heaven as the end of the main plot, not the last time Baker’s fictional universe appears in print.
Is The Empress of Mars Company Book 9?
No, not in the current core-series classification.
The eight-book Company Saga ends with The Sons of Heaven.
The Empress of Mars belongs to the expanded Company universe and shares the wider future setting.
Older lists may number it differently because cataloging practices have varied.
For a new reader, labeling it Company extended universe is clearer.
Is Not Less Than Gods Company Book 10?
No.
It is Company-related fiction focused on Edward Alton Bell-Fairfax and the Victorian Gentlemen’s Speculative Society.
Its events illuminate the larger saga, but it was published after the main sequence had already concluded.
Do not place it after The Sons of Heaven and call it a direct sequel.
It is better understood as an extended-universe prequel.
Is Nell Gwynne’s Part of the Company Universe?
Yes.
The Nell Gwynne material connects with the Gentlemen’s Speculative Society and the broader Company setting.
However, it occupies a distinct Victorian adventure strand.
Readers can enjoy The Women of Nell Gwynne’s with relatively little Company background, but people who have finished the main saga will recognize more of the surrounding framework.
Is The Anvil of the World Connected to the Company?
No.
It is a separate fantasy world.
The presence of unusual technology, historical echoes, and Baker’s characteristic humor does not establish a Company connection.
Keep the two settings separate.
Does House of the Stag Come Before The Anvil of the World?
Chronologically, yes.
By publication:
- The Anvil of the World
- The House of the Stag
For first-time readers, publication order is recommended.
For chronological rereading:
- The House of the Stag
- The Anvil of the World
- The Bird of the River
Is Mendoza in Hollywood the Same as At the Edge of the West?
Yes.
Mendoza in Hollywood was published under the alternate title At the Edge of the West in the United Kingdom.
They are not separate Company novels.
Whichever edition you own, place it third.
What Is Kage Baker’s First Book?
In the Garden of Iden was Baker’s first novel.
Its original publication dates to 1997, although edition dates can vary by country and publisher.
It is also the first Company Saga novel.
What Is Kage Baker’s Latest Published Book?
As of August 8, 2026, the newest newly assembled published Kage Baker collection is Maelstrom and Other Martian Tales, released in 2024.
Several of Baker’s older works are also receiving new Pyr editions in 2026. Those are reissues, not newly written novels.
The next newly issued collection currently scheduled is The Lady Keeps the Sea on September 15, 2026.
It is still forthcoming as of this update.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many main Company novels are there?
There are eight books in the main Company Saga:
- In the Garden of Iden
- Sky Coyote
- Mendoza in Hollywood
- The Graveyard Game
- The Life of the World to Come
- The Children of the Company
- The Machine’s Child
- The Sons of Heaven
What order should I read the Company books?
Read the eight main novels in publication order.
Afterward, move into collections, The Empress of Mars, Not Less Than Gods, and the Victorian extended-universe material.
Do I need the Company short stories between the novels?
No.
They add characters, history, and side missions, but the eight novels can be read consecutively.
Saving most short fiction until afterward is the least confusing first approach.
Is The Children of the Company a novel?
It has a linked, episodic structure and incorporates material with short-fiction origins, but it occupies Book 6 in the main Company Saga.
Do not omit it.
Where should I read Not Less Than Gods?
After completing the main Company Saga is safest.
Although it takes place earlier chronologically, reading it later prevents it from changing how you encounter Edward Bell-Fairfax in the central novels.
Where should I read The Empress of Mars?
After The Sons of Heaven is convenient for a first-time reader.
It shares the larger Company setting but does not continue the main Mendoza storyline as Book 9.
What is the Anvil of the World order?
Publication order:
- The Anvil of the World
- The House of the Stag
- The Bird of the River
Chronological order:
- The House of the Stag
- The Anvil of the World
- The Bird of the River
Is The Hotel Under the Sand part of a series?
No.
It is a standalone children’s fantasy.
Is Or Else My Lady Keeps the Key a Company story?
No.
It is a separate historical adventure with supernatural elements.
Did Kage Baker write books published after her death?
Yes.
Collections and other material have continued to appear posthumously.
Nell Gwynne’s On Land and At Sea was completed by her sister Kathleen Bartholomew from Baker’s unfinished work and notes.
What is the newest forthcoming Kage Baker book?
The Lady Keeps the Sea is scheduled for September 15, 2026.
As of August 8, 2026, it has not yet been published.
Conclusion
The cleanest Kage Baker reading order begins by ignoring the temptation to put every Company-related title into one giant timeline.
Read the eight Company Saga novels first, from In the Garden of Iden through The Sons of Heaven. They contain the central mysteries, major character arcs, and conclusion of the series.
After that, the universe opens outward. Black Projects, White Knights, Gods and Pawns, and In the Company of Thieves collect additional missions. The Empress of Mars explores another part of the future. Not Less Than Gods and the Nell Gwynne stories expand the Victorian history behind the Company.
Baker’s fantasy books need a different rule. The House of the Stag is chronologically earlier than The Anvil of the World, but publication order remains the better introduction: The Anvil of the World, The House of the Stag, then The Bird of the River.
For one starting point, choose In the Garden of Iden. For one complete reading project, finish all eight core Company novels before worrying about the time-travel chronology.
Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.