John O'Brien

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John O'Brien's Latest Book

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  • Bibliography:
    58 Books
  • First Book:
    November 1973
  • Latest Book:
    March 2023
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Book List in Order: 58 titles

  • Interviews with Black Writers

  • The Calico Mother Goose

    An illustrated collection of fifty-seven traditional rhymes arranged under such categories as "Animal Friends," "Boys & Girls," and "Riddles & Games." Also includes music for the songs and a glossary explaining the origins of some of the best-known r...

  • The Calico Mother Goose Book of Games, Riddles, and Tongue Twisters

  • Sam and Spot

  • Leaving Las Vegas

    This “brutal and unflinching” novel of fleeting love in Sin City inspired the film starring Nicholas Cage and Elizabeth Shue (Jay McInerney, author of Bright Lights, Big City).   John O’Brien’s debut novel, Leaving Las Vegas, is an emoti...

  • Dear Old Donegal

  • The Assault on Tony's

    As a riot rages outside a bar, patrons barricaded inside face their own battle in a “brilliant and twisted” novel by the author of Leaving Las Vegas (The Kansas City Star).   Completed posthumously, The Assault on Tony’s is an unapologetic...

  • Tyrannosaurus Tex

    Tyrannosaurus Tex, with his ten-thousand-gallon hat and his stories about Texas before the people came, proves himself a loyal friend to a group of cowboys out on the range leaving behind a new legend to be told around the campfire....

  • Mother Hubbard's Christmas

    Poor Mother Hubbard. Her cupboard is bare. She can't give her dog anything to eat. But while Mother Hubbard tries to get ready for Christmas, her silly dog does all sorts of strange and funny things. Will Mother Hubbard have a merry Christmas? Only h...



  • Poof!

    Here is a picture book that could only come from the wacky imagination of John O'Brien. Imagine a wizard and his wife who love to spend the day lounging in their easy chairs. These two will do anything to avoid ordinary household chores. To change t...

  • The Twelve Days of Christmas

    John O'Brien provides plenty of Yuletide laughter when he sets his sights on one of our favorite Christmas songs. From the first day of Christmas, when his true love gives him a partridge in a pear tree, the narrator of the song finds himself in one ...

  • Better

    A riveting and sexually charged posthumous novel from the author of Leaving Las Vegas.“No contemporary novelist has plumbed so deeply into the human heart, and none has paid a steeper price for visiting those depths than John O’Brien. Better...

  • The Review of Contemporary Fiction: Special Fiction Issue; Or the Whale

    "The Review of Contemporary Fiction" was founded in 1981 to promote a vision of literary culture that is not limited to the immediately popular, and to ensure that important world writers out- side the popular attention continue to be written abou...

  • The Review of Contemporary Fiction: Dalkey Archive Annual 3

    The third edition of the Dalkey Archive Annual offers an advance look at some of the new writing the Dalkey Press will be publishing in the coming seasons, not only novels but also poetry and philosophy. The issue includes such authors as Stig Saterb...

  • The Review of Contemporary Fiction: Slovak Fiction

    This issue of The Review of Contemporary Fiction presents new Slovak fiction in translation, congregating such significant writers as Dusan Dusek, Brano Hochel, Michal Hvorecky, Jan Johanides, Daniela Kapitanova, Monika Kompanikova, and Dusan Simko, ...

  • Around the Boree Log and Other Verses

    “Around the Boree Log and Other Verses” is a wonderful collection of poems by Australian Poet Patrick Hartigan. This work celebrates the lives and mores of the outback pastoral folk that the author ministered when he was a peripatetic curate to t...

  • Chaos

    There is no sanctuary.That was taken away in the blink of an eye. Humanity went out not with a whimper, but a bang.Jack, a sometimes humorous, sometimes philosophical ex-special operations pilot and soldier is one of the few left to struggle through...

  • A New World: Chaos

    There is no sanctuary.That was taken away in the blink of an eye. Humanity went out not with a whimper, but a bang.Jack, a sometimes humorous, sometimes philosophical ex-special operations pilot and soldier is one of the few left to struggle through ...

  • A New World: Return

    Safety is the dream.Nightmare is the reality. A nightmare where danger lurks around every corner.Jack Walker, journeyed half way around the world and completed his daring rescue. He must now return home, traversing a world filled with endless hordes ...



  • Taken

    Dark clouds gatherA storm is breaking...With the sanctuary built, there is a respite from the nightly night runner assaults. Jack Walker and the group of survivors have bought themselves a little breathing room. Or have they?A peaceful daytime outi...

  • A New World

    Dark clouds gatherA storm is breaking...With the sanctuary built, there is a respite from the nightly night runner assaults. Jack Walker and the group of survivors have bought themselves a little breathing room. Or have they?A peaceful daytime outing...

  • A New World: Sanctuary

    Danger lurks in the shadowsA place where the brave tread warilyJack Walker has returned from the rescue of his girlfriend with a small band of survivors. Their harrowing journey from the Middle East included a stop at the CDC where they learned vital...

  • A New World: Awakening

    Awareness grows... The gathering commences....The world has changed. Jack Walker and the other survivors must adjust with it if they are to have a chance. They've managed to stay one step ahead so far but the gap is narrowing. The night runners are g...

  • The Review of Contemporary Fiction: Robert Coover Festschrift, Volume XXXII, No. 1

    In honor of the 80th birthday of one of the grandmasters of American experimental fiction, editor St phane Vanderhaeghe has gathered critical essays and appreciations by William Gass, John Barth, Bradford Morrow, Shelley Jackson, Kathryn Hume, Brian ...

  • RANK HAS ITS PRIVILEGES

    Ed Stone, a baby boomer, spent his youth rebelling against his domineeringmother. When Ed graduates from college (1977) and takes a corporate position,he expects to achieve happiness with his new independence. Ed’s immatureexpectations with attract...

  • Dissension

    Fire Rains From Above…A Fracture Forms…Jack Walker and the other survivors continue their search for others. Unbeknownst to them, the night runners have initiated their own gathering and, with Michael’s leadership, they are adapting. The surv...

  • Elves, Gnomes, and Other Little People Coloring Book

    Elves, gnomes, small trolls, brownies, leprechauns, and other little people are depicted here in captivating illustrations by well-known children's book artist John O'Brien. Brimming over with whimsy and originality, the 25 illustrations also feature...

  • A New World: Takedown

    The Dice Are Cast... Death Watches and WaitsThe sanctuary walls were breached and through them poured screaming hordes of night runners. About to be overrun, the survivors formed a last stand against the thousands that threatened to end their existen...

  • KISS OF PEACE

    KISS OF PEACE is a novel based on the facts and circumstances of German immigrants who fled to the United States to escape from Nazi persecution and then got caught in the web of America’s wartime hysteria. All characters and events in this story...



  • XIII, #3: Autofictions

    Editor's note/An interview with Gerald Murnane by Antoni Jach/Looking for Writers Beyond Their Work by John Griswold/Five Silhouettes by Luis Chitarroni (translated by Sarah Denaci)/Seven and a Half Studies by S.D. Chrostowska/Nine Suppositions Co...

  • Soldier Tales

    A mysteriously ugly woman is found in a soldier s bed. Hallucinations due to lack of sleep haunt a trooper s mind as he tries to carry out his mission. Pints are drained, weddings are coordinated, and jokes are shared. Gunfire fills the ranges as Tro...

  • Storm

    A vengeful darkness… Gathers in the night…One threat has been destroyed - another grows stronger. Even though Jack and the teams have won a major confrontation, their lives still hang by a thread. There are decisions to be made, and ones that...

  • A New World: Untold Stories 2

    A gust of wind…And the storm descends…Twilight crept across the surface, the sun dipping below the horizon. Darkness closed in, a hush settling upon the world. For most, dinners were devoured, shows watched, and alarms for the next day set. Shrie...

  • Stripper Lessons

  • Arctic Storm

    What would happen if a viral agent was released on American soil? How would local agencies react? How would the military respond? What if it was one of their own? Would they own it or attempt to cover it up? If a major operation was jeopardized becau...

  • White Horse

    The ARES Virus ran rampant throughout the world, leaving very few remaining. There are no sanctuaries in the midst of the infected, where the very air is contaminated. For the few surviving, the slightest misstep can introduce the viral agent into th...

  • Phoenix Rising

    The race is on. The last remnants of humankind fight to maintain their very existence. Everything is at stake as they push to preserve their homeland. Forward bases have been established, but they have a long ways to go if they’re to carve out a sa...

  • The Third Wave

    In 2003, the largest recorded solar flare collided with Earth. The sensors measuring the solar storm were destroyed at an X28 rating, but it was determined later to be an X45 class flare. A satellite monitoring solar activity picks up something far s...

  • Bearfish

    In January 1911, President Taft signed The Useful Animals Appropriation Act, and within months, the first hippopotomi arrived on the Calcasieu River.In real life, none of this happened. But in 'Bearfish', John O'Brien offers a deep, amusing and often...



  • Strigoi

    Those monsters that kept you up at night as a child, the ones that made you pull the covers up to your chin while you stared into the dark corners and saw shadows move. Or pulled the blankets over your head and imagined creatures inching across your ...

  • Soldier Tales - Reloaded

    Based on the true stories of author John O'Brien's service in the Irish Defence Forces, these ten tales are a laugh-out-loud comedy of errors bursting with brilliant dialogue, ridiculous antics, and an unforgettable cast of hapless soldiers making...

  • Lifting the Veil: Fallen

    Humanity is plunging down a slippery slope of morality. Righteous attitudes abound with malice, hatred, and discontent prevailing in the currents riding through humankind. In the spiritual planes, battles between the light and darkness are being foug...

  • Lifting the Veil: Winter

    The seven Seals were broken and the trumpets sounded, their notes echoing around the world. Four horsemen had emerged from the midst of roiling storms and set loose upon humanity. Civilization ended in smoke and flame with clouds of radioactivity enc...

  • Valhalla

    In this explosive fourth installment of the popular A Shrouded World Series, Jack is seemingly back from the dead. Mike and Trip are in a desperate bid to help their friend before he falls victim to whatever is plaguing the inhabitants of Valhalla. N...

  • Lifting the Veil: Emergence

    The nuclear winter has ended. Survivors cautiously begin to peek out of their underground shelters, each having endured their separate trials. They emerge into a foreign land wiped bare from the ferocious storms and glaciers. The landscape is barren ...

  • Lifting the Veil: Risen

    Following their emergence into a foreign and hostile land, survivors strive to cross the barren country, many intercepted by the darkness which has thundered out of the gates. Those who make it arrive either at the budding city striving to erect thei...

  • Lycan

    The rescue of hostages stirred up a hornet’s nest. Not one to take a defeat, the cartel plans for retaliation. News of an impending attack drifts through the intelligence channels and Red Team is called on to respond.On the other side of the world,...

  • Red Team: Cartel Part One

    Having recovered from the expedition into Lycan territory, an old foe is again making their appearance. The cartel has raised the stakes, drawing Red Team to the south. Hunting silently in dark alleys and jungle depths, they search for two DEA hostag...

  • Bitfrost

    A cosmic noose tightens around our heroes' necks as, once again, they are tasked to fight a war not their own. Their every move is watched, their every action, thwarted, yet failure here will seal the fate of countless billions to something worse tha...



  • Hvergelmir

    Fleeing from overseers and whistlers alike, the unlikely group of dimension travelers stumble upon an ancient structure buried under eons of sand. Within, they discover old pathways that send them on an even more incredible journey. There, they disco...

  • Asgard

  • Red Team: Cartel Part Two

    Red Team continues their search for the two kidnapped DEA agents, attempting to systematically dismantle the cartel responsible. The agent's location remains elusive, but Red Team continues the fight to force their release. The cartel digs in, but wi...

  • Opening Shots

    The Unites States and China vie for supremacy in the international marketplace as China seeks to become the global leader. A pandemic sweeping across the world send the markets spiraling into chaos, increasing the tension between the two superpowers....

  • Escalation

    In an engagement that many had said was inevitable, the United States and China had exchanged opening shots. While conducting a Freedom of Operations mission, a U.S. destroyer had been sunk by Chinese forces placed on a disputed man-made island. Twel...

  • Penghu

    Another American carrier was hit by the Chinese, this time from their vaunted hypersonic ship-killer missiles. The United States must respond or jeopardize losing the task forces meant to keep China from the South China Sea and Taiwan. In doing so, t...

  • Korea

    North Korea had planned on waiting until China invaded Taiwan. However, with the American preemptive strikes, as outlined in Operations Plan 5015, provided the impetus for the massed Korean People's Army to begin moving. Armored columns started out o...

  • The Beach Patrol

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

    Uh, oh! Someone is caught in a rip. GET READY! Alert the other stands. RESCUE!

    Just another day by the sea? For the beach patrol, every day is full of adventure!

    It takes a lot to make a beach run smoothly. From early-morning sand raki...

  • OPLAN 5015

    • / Science Fiction
    • Buy Buy

    In the midst of China's colossal buildup, the undersea battles for control of the South China, East China, and Philippine Seas continues. China and the United States have put a majority of their submarines to sea, both seeking to affect a winning sol...

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

John O'Brien has published 58 books.

John O'Brien does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, Korea, was published in March 2023.

The first book by John O'Brien, Interviews with Black Writers, was published in November 1973.

No. John O'Brien does not write books in series.
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