Darwarth
The Darwath Trilogy
- The Time of the Dark (1982)
- The Walls of Air (1983)
- The Armies of Daylight (1983)
Standalone Darwath Novels
- Mother of Winter (1996; Locus award nominee 1997)
- Icefalcon's Quest (1998)
Sun Wolf and Starhawk
- The Ladies of Mandrigyn (1984; Locus award nominee, 1985)
- The Witches of Wenshar (1987; Locus award nominee, 1988)
- The Dark Hand of Magic (1990)
Winterlands
- Dragonsbane (1985; Locus award nominee, 1986 and 1987)
- Dragonshadow (1999; Locus award nominee, 2000)
- Knight of the Demon Queen (2000; Locus award nominee, 2001)
- Dragonstar (2002)
The Windrose Chronicles
- The Silent Tower (1986)
- The Silicon Mage (1988)
- Dog Wizard (1993; Locus award nominee, 1994)
- Stranger at the Wedding/Sorcerer's Ward (1994)
Star Trek Universe
- Ishmael (1985)
- Ghost-Walker (1991)
- Crossroad (1994)
Vampire Novels
- Those Who Hunt The Night / Immortal Blood (UK title) (1988; Locus award winner for Best Horror Novel in 1989)
- Traveling With The Dead (1995; Locus award nominee, 1996, winner of the Lord Ruthven award, 1996)
Beauty and the Beast
- Beauty and the Beast novelisation (1989)
- Song of Orpheus (1990)
Sun-Cross
- The Rainbow Abyss (1991; Locus award nominee, 1992)
- The Magicians of Night (1992; Locus award nominee, 1993)
Star Wars Universe
- Children of the Jedi (1995)
- Planet of Twilight (1997)
The Benjamin January Mysteries
The series beginning with 'A Free Man of Color' follows Benjamin January, a brilliant, classically educated free colored surgeon and musician living in New Orleans during the
belle epoque of the 1830s, when New Orleans had a large and prosperous free colored
demimonde. January was born a slave but freed as a young child and provided with an excellent education; he is fluent in several classical and modern languages and thoroughly versed in the whole of classical Western learning and arts. Although trained in Paris as a surgeon, he has returned to Louisiana to escape the memory of his dead Parisian wife. As he is a very dark-skinned black man, in Louisiana he cannot find work as a surgeon. Instead, he earns a modest living by his exceptional talent and skill as a musician.
Each title is an entertaining murder mystery with a complex plot and well-developed characters, and each explores many aspects of French Creole society. However, most tend to emphasize some particular element of antebellum Louisiana life, such as Voodoo religion (Graveyard Dust), opera and music (Die Upon a Kiss), the annual epidemics of yellow fever and malaria (Fever Season), fear of miscegenation (Dead and Buried), or the harsh nature of commercial sugar production (Sold Down the River).
Important themes running throughout the series are 1) the cultural clash between the rising protestant English-speaking Anglo-Americans on the one hand and the declining Catholic, French-speaking Creoles on the other, 2) the extreme regard of Creole society for "how" colored a person is (quite alien to modern readers), 3) January's bitterness at the many forms of racial injustice he observes, 4) the complex, partially race-based sexual politics of colonial French society, and 5) January's ongoing attempts to balance the primal, open, and frank African outlook acquired in his early childhood with the more restrained and rational European worldview he now holds. This last theme occurs most often with respect to music, spirituality, and respect for law and social custom.
- A Free Man of Color (1997)
- Fever Season (1998)
- Graveyard Dust (1999)
- Sold Down the River (2000)
- Die upon a Kiss (2001)
- Wet Grave (2002)
- Days of the Dead (2003)
- Dead Water (2004)
- Dead and Buried (2010)
Raven Sisters
- Sisters of the Raven (2002)
- Circle of the Moon (2005)
Standalone novels
- Bride of the Rat God (1994; Locus award nominee, 1995)
- Magic Time (2002) (with Marc Zicree)
- Renfield (2006)
Historical fiction
- Search the Seven Hills [originally The Quirinal Hill Affair] (1983)
- The Emancipator's Wife (2005; finalist for the Michael Shaara Prize for Excellence in a Civil War Novel, 2006)
- Patriot Hearts (2007)