Among Carpenter's works are eleven Conan novels published by Tor Books, which he claims "make him the most prolific contributor, living or dead, to the Conan literary saga of the late Robert E. Howard." He has also written the science fiction novel Fatal Strain, and a number of short stories, articles and poems.

Carpenter's work has been published in the magazines Amazing Stories, Asimov's Science Fiction, Eldrich Tales, and 2AM, as well as the anthologies Dark Lessons (1985), L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume I (1985), The Year's Best Horror Stories XIV (1986), Horrorstory Volume 5 (1989), The Year's Best Horror Stories: XVII (1989), Short Sharp Shocks (1990), The Cthulhu Cycle (1996), Serve It Forth ... Cooking With Anne McCaffrey (1996), L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume XV (1999), and L. Ron Hubbard Presents the Best of Writers of the Future (2000).

Carpenter has been the recipient of the Writers of the Future award and the Origins Award for Best Game Related Fiction.

Conan novels

• Conan the Renegade (1986)
• Conan the Raider (1986)
• Conan the Warlord (1988)
• Conan the Hero (1989)
• Conan the Great (1989)
• Conan the Outcast (1991)
• Conan the Savage (1992)
• Conan of the Red Brotherhood (1993)
• Conan, Scourge of the Bloody Coast (1994)
• Conan the Gladiator (1995)
• Conan, Lord of the Black River (1996)

Other

• Fatal Strain (2003 - electronic publication only)

Short stories

• "Dead Week" (1984)
• "The Ebbing" (1985)
• "Fearing's Fall" (1987)
• "Recrudescence" (1988)
• "The Eighth Plague" (1989)
• "Torso" (1991)

Poetry

• "The Devourer" (1987)
• "The Egg" (1987)
• "The Fungoid Intruder" (1987)
• "The Priests" (1987)
• "The Combatants" (1988)
• "The Catcher" (1989)
• "The Hoard" (1989)
• "The Miser" (1989)

Nonfiction

• "Rondrini's Linguini and Clam Sauce" (1996)