An incomplete guide to Ursula K. Le Guin’s novels and short stories
This is my best attempt at assembling a way to read a lot of Ursula K. Le Guin’s work and puzzling out her collections. This only includes her young adult and adult fiction stories because I'm more familiar with them, so if someone wants to add on with more information about essays, poetry, kids’ books, etc., feel free!
This isn’t very well-organized, so sorry if it’s totally unreadable, but it’s at least kind of a guide to where to find each story. It's roughly organized by universe and the short stories that don’t fit in to any larger setting are organized by collection. There's no way I found every single short story, so if you have any additions feel free to send me a message (or an ask if you’d rather do it on anon) and I'll edit the post, or you can just reblog it with the addition. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!
@m-tea @falliblefabrial @dabsandaciidtabs @rem-ir
I don’t know which editions are available where, so I'd suggest looking at the websites of larger chain stores to see what’s in print (your local bookstore can probably order them, but the information is easy to access on a chain website), and @dabsandaciidtabs recommends thriftbooks.com for secondhand copies. I apologize for any formatting mistakes I made with the titles; I never learned how to write titles in English.
Earthsea:
Novels: A Wizard of Earthsea; The Tombs of Atuan; The Farthest Shore; Tehanu; The Other Wind
Short stories: The Finder; Darkrose and Diamond; The Bones of the Earth; On the High Marsh; Dragonfly; The Word of Unbinding; The Rule of Names; The Daughter of Odren; Firelight
All of these can be found in The Books of Earthsea. The first five short stories and a description of Earthsea were printed together in Tales from Earthsea, and “The Word of Unbinding” and “The Rule of Names” can be found in The Wind’s Twelve Quarters. “The Daughter of Odren” and “Firelight” aren’t available in any other collections as far as I know, but “The Daughter of Odren” is available as an eBook and “Firelight” was featured in The Paris Review issue #225 and can be read here: x
“The Finder,” “On the High Marsh” and “Dragonfly” are all in The Found and the Lost, and “The Rule of Names” is in The Unreal and the Real.
Hainish:
Novels and novellas: Rocannon’s World; Planet of Exile; City of Illusions; The Left Hand of Darkness; The Dispossessed; The Word for World is Forest; Five Ways to Forgiveness (contents: Betrayals; Forgiveness Day; A Man of the People; A Woman’s Liberation; Old Music and the Slave Women); The Telling
Short stories: The Dowry of the Angyar/Semley’s Necklace; Winter’s King; Vaster than Empires and More Slow; The Day Before the Revolution; The Shobies’ Story; Dancing to Ganam; Another Story or A Fisherman of the Inland Sea; The Matter of Seggri; Unchosen Love; Solitude; Coming of Age in Karhide; Mountain Ways
The Hainish Cycle has been assembled into two books called The Hainish Novels and Stories. Volume I contains Rocannon’s World (with “Semley’s Necklace” as the prologue), Planet of Exile, City of Illusions, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, “Winter’s King,” “Vaster than Empires and More Slow,” “The Day Before the Revolution,” and “Coming of Age in Karhide.”* Volume II contains The Word for World is Forest, Five Ways to Forgiveness, The Telling, “The Shobies’ Story,” “Dancing to Ganam,” “Another Story or A Fisherman of the Inland Sea,” “The Matter of Seggri,” “Unchosen Love,” “Solitude,” and “Mountain Ways.” Both contain notes and essays.
Each of the novels and novellas has been published separately at one time or another, but Five Ways to Forgiveness was originally published as Four Ways to Forgiveness (without “Old Music and the Slave Women”). Rocannon’s World (with “Semley’s Necklace” as prologue), Planet of Exile, and City of Illusions have been reprinted together as both Three Hainish Novels and Worlds of Exile and Illusion. The Left Hand of Darkness and The Word for World is Forest have also been added to make Five Hainish Novels. The Dispossessed and The Telling are not part of any other collections.
“Semley’s Necklace,” “Winter’s King,” “Vaster than Empires and More Slow,” and “The Day Before the Revolution” are all in The Wind’s Twelve Quarters. “The Shobies’ Story,” “Dancing to Ganam,” and “Another Story or A Fisherman of the Inland Sea” are all in the collection A Fisherman of the Inland Sea, and “The Matter of Seggri,” “Unchosen Love,” “Solitude,” “Coming of Age in Karhide,” “Mountain Ways,” and “Old Music and the Slave Women,” can be found in The Birthday of the World. Between these three collections you can find every short story in the Hainish Cycle.
The Found and the Lost contains “Vaster than Empires and More Slow,” “The Matter of Seggri,” and “Another Story or A Fisherman of the Inland Sea,” as well as most of Five Ways to Forgiveness (all but “Betrayals”) and “Betrayals” can be found along with “Semley’s Necklace,” “The Shobies’ Story,” “The Matter of Seggri,” and “Solitude” in The Unreal and the Real (Volume 2: Outer Space, Inner lands). “Vaster than Empires and More Slow” is also in Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences.
Orsinia:
Novels: Malafrena
Short Stories: An die Musik; Imaginary Countries; A Week in the Country; Brothers and Sisters; Two Delays on the Northern Line; The Fountains; The Barrow; Ile Forest; Conversations at Night; The Road East; The House; The Lady of Moge; Unlocking the Air
All of these have been printed together (along with some poems/songs) as The Complete Orsinia, and all of the short stories except for “Two Delays on the Northern Line” and “Unlocking the Air” were published together as Orsinian Tales. “Two Delays of the Northern Line” can be found in The Compass Rose and “Unlocking the Air” can be found in Unlocking the Air and Other Stories. Malafrena is sold separately.
“Brothers and Sisters,” “A Week in the Country,” “Unlocking the Air,” and “Imaginary Countries” can also be found in The Unreal and the Real.
Annals of the Western Shore:
Gifts; Voices; Powers
Each of these is sold individually and they are also sold in one volume as a collection under the series name.
Other novels:
Always Coming Home; The Lathe of Heaven; Very Far Away from Anywhere Else; The Eye of the Heron; The Beginning Place; Lavinia
All sold individually. The Library of America edition of Always Coming Home includes some new material.
Collected short stories:
April in Paris; The Masters; Darkness Box; Nine Lives; A Trip to the Head; Things; The Good Trip; The Field of Vision; The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas; Direction of the Road; The Stars Below
Collected in The Wind’s Twelve Quarters. “The Direction of the Road” can be found in Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences. It is also in The Unreal and the Real, along with “Nine Lives” and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.”
The Author of the Acacia Seeds and Other Extracts from the Journal of the Association of Therolinguistics; Schrodinger’s Cat; Intracom; The Eye Altering; Mazes; The New Atlantis; The Diary of the Rose; Gwilan’s Harp; The Wife’s Story; SQ; The First Report of the Shipwrecked Foreigner to the Kadanh of Derb; The Pathways of Desire; Malheur Count; Where Does the Time Go?/Some Approaches to the Problem of Shortage of Time; The White Donkey; Small Change; Sur; The Phoenix; The Water is Wide
Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight; Horse Camp; May’s Lion; She Unnames Them
Everything from “The Author of the Acacia Seeds” to “The Water is Wide” is collected in The Compass Rose. “The Wife’s Story,” “Mazes,” “Schrodinger’s Cat,” “The White Donkey,” and “The Author of the Acacia Seeds” were published along with “Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight,” “Horse Camp,” “May’s Lion,” “She Unnames Them,” and various poems in Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences.
“The Diary of the Rose,” “The White Donkey,” “Gwilan’s Harp,” “The Water is Wide,” “Mazes,” “The Author of the Acacia Seeds,” “The Wife’s Story,” “Small Change,” “Sur,” “May’s Lion,” “Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight,” “Horse Camp,” and “She Unnames Them” can all be found in The Unreal and The Real. “Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight” is also in The Found and the Lost.
The Ascent of the North Face; The Kerastion; Newton’s Sleep; First Contact with the Gorgonids; The Rock that Changed Things
Collected in A Fisherman of the Inland Sea. “First Contact with the Gorgonids” and “The Ascent of the North Face” are in The Unreal and the Real.
The Spoons in the Basement; The Professor’s Houses; Daddy’s Big Girl; Half Past Four; Kore 87/A Child Bride; The Poacher; In the Drought; Ether, Or; Olders; Half Past Four; Ruby on the 67; Limberlost; The Creatures on My Mind; Standing Ground; Sunday in Summer in Seatown; Climbing to the Moon; Findings; The Wise Woman
Collected in Unlocking the Air and Other Stories. “Ether, Or,” “Half Past Four,” and “The Poacher” are in The Unreal and the Real.
Foam Women, Rain Women; The Ship Ahoy; Hand, Cup, Shell; Geezers; In and Out; Bill Weisler; True Love; Sleepwalkers; Quoits; Crosswords; Texts; Hernes
Collected in Searoad. “Hernes” is also in The Found and the Lost, and “Tests,” “Sleepwalkers,” and “Hand, Cup, Shell,” are in The Unreal and the Real.
Sita Dulip’s Method; Porridge on Islac; The Silence of the Asonu; Feeling at Home with the Hennebet; The Ire of the Veksi; The Seasons of the Ansarac; Social Dreaming of the Frin; The Royals of Hegn; Woeful Tales from Mahigul; Great Joy; Wake Island; The Nna Mmoy Language; The Building; The Fliers of Gy; The Island of the Immortals; The Confusion of the Uñi
Collected in Changing Planes. “The Fliers of Gy” and “The Silence of the Asonu” are in The Unreal and the Real.
The Lost Children; The Jar of Water; The Wild Girls
Collected in The Unreal and the Real.
The Birthday of the World; Paradises Lost
Collected in The Birthday of the World and Other Stories. “Paradises Lost” is also in The Found and the Lost.
Uncollected short stories:
“The Ursula Major Construct: or, A Far Greater Horror Loomed”
Can be found in the collection Clarion III, edited by Robin Scott Wilson.
“Desperadoes of the Galactic Union”
Published in “Science Fiction Review 14 (August 1975)”
“Selection”
Published in Amazing Stories August 1964.
“Ghost Story” and “Courtroom Scene”
Published in “Encore, Magazine of the Arts” Volume 1 issue 6, April/May 1977. There’s a signed copy for sale online for like 150$ (US), which includes a poor-quality photo of the stories. Find that here: x and if it gets taken down let me know and I'll send it to you. If you need or want a transcription, I’d be happy to make one, but I'd prefer to share it privately because I'm iffy about copyright stuff so again, just send me a message.
“Elementals”
Published in Lightspeed Magazine, January 2014 (issue #44) and The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy: 2013 Edition, edited by Rich Horton.
“Pity and Shame”
Published in Tinhouse Magazine, Issue #76, Summer 2018 and available here: x
“Along the River”
Published in Omni Best Science Fiction Three, edited by Ellen Datlow.
“An Eye for an Eye”
Apparently only published in German in Goldmann Fantasy Foliant I.



















