Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Forums

It's actually part of her Saga of the Skolian Empire, with the storyline falling in between Skyfall and Schism.

Thanks for adding those.

I know, daxxh, my TBR list just keeps getting longer and longer!

Those who liked Old Man's War and/or The Forever War will quite probably like The Chaplain's War.

Another one to add, when someone has the chance:

Carnelians, by Catherine Asaro (book #15 in the Saga of the Skolian Empire) 

Our standard default is publication order which is how Asaro's works are listed currently.  We don't usually include short works or collections in the series though there are plenty of examples where we do for one reason or another.  That's where the sequencing can be off compared to other sites.  There are no hard and fast rules really.  The vagaries of the publishing industry prevent that - just look at the Elric series for one prime example of series confusion.  Sometimes you just have to pick a method and go with it.

The arguments for publication order:

Simplicity of listing:  publication order is easily verifiable and is the most common method used.  People expect that to be the default order.  It also matches the numbering on the book covers, when there are numbers, which will prevent some confusion.

That's the order in which the stories sprang from the author's imagination.  We're along for the ride following the creative process in the same order as the author experienced it.

Generally speaking an author's ability evolves over the course of years.  You'll be reading progressively better told tales as you advance in a series as the author hones her craft.  In chronologic order you could be getting to a book 3 that was written 10 years after the next book in line and then you'd be back 10 years for book 5.  Pub order provides a smoother transition between books and lets you experience the author's growing ability more naturally over time.

As for the toggle idea I think that would be a neat feature for down the road.  It would take a lot of work to go through all the series and determine chronological order.  There are more priority projects in front of it but if we could have that one the site it would be cool.

I've just finished reading all the Skolian Saga books in chronological (story) order -- and I have to say that while there is a difference, I did not notice a major change in the quality between the novels written earlier and those written later (such as you find with MZB's Darkover series). I suspect that Asaro had a great deal of the worldbuilding and the entire story arc developed before she published the first novel, and that helped to make the quality and continuity more consistent.

An enhancement to toggle between publication vs chronological order would be awesome -- but my preference would be to implement Best Novella / Novelette / Short Story categories for those awards which have them.

I know, I know, but one can dream.  

Yeah, that's been happening here and there lately.  Damned odd.  We'll look into it.