Craig Schaefer Books in Order

Understanding Craig Schaefer's Shared Multiverse

Craig Schaefer has crafted one of the most ambitious and tightly woven multiverses in modern urban fantasy. Known as The First Story, this shared universe links several distinct series together. What begins as a gritty, street-level noir about a sorcerer-conman in Las Vegas slowly expands into an epic, multi-dimensional struggle with cosmic stakes.

The key pillars of this multiverse are:

• The Daniel Faust Series: Gritty, fast-paced urban fantasy following a morally gray magician and thief navigating the criminal and occult underbelly of Las Vegas.
• The Harmony Black Series: A spin-off following FBI agent and witch Harmony Black as she works for a secret government black-ops group targeting supernatural threats.
• The Revanche Cycle: An epic, Renaissance-inspired dark fantasy saga centered on political intrigue and witchcraft in a parallel Earth. It provides the historical and cosmic foundation for the entire multiverse.
• The Wisdom's Grave Trilogy: An epic crossover event that brings the characters of the previous three series together to face a world-ending threat.

While the author designs each series to stand on its own, reading them in combination rewards you with deep lore, character crossovers, and satisfying payoffs. For those who want the full experience, following the recommended reading order is highly recommended.

The Two Best Starting Points

Depending on your reading preferences, there are two primary ways to jump into the First Story universe:

Option A: The Long Way Down (Faust-First)

If you prefer classic urban fantasy with a noir flavor, start directly with the first Daniel Faust book, The Long Way Down. This introduces you directly to the modern-day occult world, the rules of magic, and the central cast of characters without demanding a commitment to epic fantasy first.

Option B: Winter's Reach (Chronological/History-First)

If you enjoy complex, multi-POV political fantasy like Game of Thrones, start with the complete Revanche Cycle beginning with Winter's Reach. Since the Revanche Cycle takes place on a parallel Earth in a different era, it establishes the ancient cosmic history that later spills over into the modern-day Faust and Harmony Black books.

The First Story: Official Interleaved Reading Order

Below is the recommended, step-by-step reading order designed by Craig Schaefer to interleave the series chronologically as their plots and characters begin to overlap. Note that the Revanche Cycle can be read at any time before Daniel Faust Book 6 (The Castle Doctrine), which is where the dimensional bleed-over begins in earnest.

1. The Revanche Cycle (Books 1-4): Read Winter's Reach, The Instruments of Control, Terms of Surrender, and Queen of the Night. This epic fantasy quartet sets up the cosmic rules of the multiverse.
2. The Long Way Down (Daniel Faust Book 1)
3. The White Gold Score (Daniel Faust Novella 1.5)
4. Redemption Song (Daniel Faust Book 2)
5. The Living End (Daniel Faust Book 3)
6. A Plain-Dealing Villain (Daniel Faust Book 4) - Note: This book introduces the character Harmony Black, setting up her spin-off.
7. Harmony Black (Harmony Black Book 1)
8. The Killing Floor Blues (Daniel Faust Book 5)
9. Red Knight Falling (Harmony Black Book 2)
10. The Castle Doctrine (Daniel Faust Book 6) - Note: This is where the events of the Revanche Cycle actively collide with the Faust storyline.
11. Glass Predator (Harmony Black Book 3)
12. Double or Nothing (Daniel Faust Book 7)
13. Cold Spectrum (Harmony Black Book 4)
14. The Neon Boneyard (Daniel Faust Book 8)
15. The Wisdom's Grave Trilogy (Books 1-3): Read Sworn to the Night, Detonation Boulevard, and Bring the Fire. This trilogy serves as the grand crossover event tying all storylines together.
16. Right to the Kill (Harmony Black Book 5)
17. The Locust Job (Daniel Faust Book 9)
18. Black Tie Required (Harmony Black Book 6)
19. Down Among the Dead Men (Daniel Faust Book 10)
20. Never Send Roses (Harmony Black Book 7)
21. Dig Two Graves (Daniel Faust Book 11)
22. Snake Oil Bullet (Harmony Black Book 8)

The Sisterhood of New Amsterdam Continuity

Entirely separate from the First Story multiverse, the Sisterhood of New Amsterdam is a standalone urban fantasy continuity set in a dark, romanticized version of New York City. The setting is rich with ancient secrets, colonial ghosts, and witches hidden in the shadows of Manhattan.

This continuity features two parallel subseries that follow different casts of characters in the same city. You can read either sequence first:

The Ghosts of Gotham Arc

• Ghosts of Gotham (2019)
• A Time for Witches (2020)

The Midnight Scoop Arc

• The Hungry Dreaming (2021)
• The Wise Men of Gotham (2023)

Other Series and Future Settings

Schaefer has also written books outside of his primary fantasy settings, as well as new entry points that look to the future of the multiverse:

Charlie McCabe Thrillers

If you want a grounded crime thriller completely free of magic and the supernatural, Schaefer's Charlie McCabe series is the perfect option. It follows a former soldier and bomb disposal specialist who returns home to Boston to work as a bodyguard.

• The Loot (2019)
• The Insider (2020)

The Castaways Saga

Beginning with Castaways (2025), this five-book dark academia magic-school saga is set within the First Story multiverse but features a new cast of characters. While it operates as a standalone story, completionists are advised to read it after the Wisdom's Grave Trilogy to catch the subtle connections.

The Neon Meridian Series

Co-published with Aethon Books, this series is set roughly 70 years in the future of the First Story universe. Magic has been exposed to the entire world following an event known as the Battle of Broadway. Starting with Catch and Kill, it combines cyberpunk heist tropes with urban science fantasy and is designed as a fresh jumping-on point for new readers.