I’ve compiled lists of Iraq and Afghanistan war fiction by category as a reference for those interested. The focus is on novels and short-story collections published by major and medium-sized publishers. Comprehensive lists of self-published and smaller-press titles await compiling, as do catalogs of romance, war-adventure/mil-thriller, young-adult, and graphic novels. I know they’re out there in numbers, and don’t gainsay their importance, but it’s beyond me to account for them right now.
I’ve identified authors by branch-of-service or civilian status, since that’s a breakdown oft-inquired about. Most of my categories are obvious and self-explanatory (ie, Iraq vs. Afghanistan), but a few reflect more specialized queries I’ve received over the years. If there’s a categorization you think important that I haven’t provided, please let me know.
Mistakes and omissions are inevitable and corrections are easy, so if you spot a problem let me know.
2020 is shaping up to be fruitful year for new fiction by established vet-writers, with work due to arrive from heavy-hitters Elliot Ackerman, Matt Gallagher, Jesse Goolsby, and Phil Klay. Hoo-wah!
Novels Set Mostly in Iraq
Last One In (2007) Nicholas Kulish (Civilian)
The Sandbox (2010), David Zimmerman (Civilian)
Sand Queen (2011) Helen Benedict (Civilian)
One Hundred and One Nights (2011), Benjamin Buchholz (Army)
Fobbit (2012), David Abrams (Army)
The Yellow Birds (2012), Kevin Powers (Army)
War of the Encyclopaedists (2014), Gavin Kovite (Army) and Christopher Robinson (Civilian)
Fives and Twenty-Fives (2014), Michael Pitre (Army)
Youngblood (2016), Matt Gallagher (Army)
The Good Lieutenant (2016), Whitney Terrell (Civilian)
The Baghdad Eucharist (2017), Sinan Antoon (Civilian)
Brave Deeds (2017), David Abrams (Army)
Spoils (2017), Brian Van Reet (Army)
The Book of Collateral Damage (2019), Sinan Antoon (Civilian)
The Surge (2019), Adam Kovacs (Army)
Novels Set Mostly in Afghanistan
The Wasted Vigil (2008), Nadeem Aslam (Pakistani-British)
The Watch (2012), Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya (Civilian)
The Blind Man’s Garden (2013), Nadeem Aslam (Pakistani-British)
What Changes Everything (2013), Masha Hamilton (Civilian)
Wynne’s War (2014), Aaron Gwyn (Civilian)
Green on Blue (2015), Elliot Ackerman (Marines)
Old Silk Road (2015), Brandon Caro (Army)
The Valley (2015), John Renehan (Army)
Anatomy of a Soldier (2016), Harry Parker (British Army)
And the Whole Mountain Burned (2018), Ray McPadden (Army)
Still Come Home (2019), Katey Schultz (Civilian)
Fictional Global War on Terror Setting:
The Knife (2015), Ross Ritchell (Army)
Novels Set Stateside and/or Post-Deployment
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2012), Ben Fountain (Civilian)
Sparta (2013), Roxana Robinson (Civilian)
The Apartment (2014), Greg Baxter (Civilian)
Be Safe, I Love You (2014), Cara Hoffman (Civilian)
Preparation for the Next Life (2014), Atticus Lish (Marines)
I’d Walk With My Friends If I Could Find Them (2015), Jesse Goolsby (Air Force)
Casualties (2016), Elizabeth Marro (Civilian)
A Hard and Heavy Thing (2016), Matthew Hefti (Air Force)
War Porn (2016), Roy Scranton (Army)
Wolf Season (2017), Helen Benedict (Civilian)
Waiting for Eden (2018), Elliot Ackerman (Marines)
The Heart of War (2018), Kathleen McInnis (Civilian)
Cherry (2018), Nico Walker (Army)
Short Story Collections and Anthologies
You Know When the Men Are Gone (2011), Siobhan Fallon (Civilian)
Fire and Forget (2013), Matt Gallagher (Army) and Roy Scranton (Army), eds.
Flashes of War (2013), Katie Schultz (Civilian)
The Corpse Exhibition (2014), Hassan Blasim (Iraqi-Finnish civilian)
Redeployment (2014), Phil Klay (Marines)
The Road Ahead (2016), Brian Castner (Air Force) and Adrian Bonenberger (Army), eds.
We Come to Our Senses (2016), Odie Lyndsey (Army)
These Heroic Happy Dead (2016), Luke Mogelson (Civilian)
Desert Mementos (2017), Caleb S. Cage (Army)
Veterans Crisis Hotline (2018), Jonathan Chopan (Civilian)
Bring Out the Dog (2018), Will Mackin (Navy)
Novels and Short-Story Collections by Women
Sand Queen (2011) Helen Benedict (Civilian)
You Know When the Men Are Gone (2011), Siobhan Fallon (Civilian)
Eleven Days, (2013), Lea Carpenter (Civilian)
What Changes Everything (2013), Masha Hamilton (Civilian)
Sparta (2013), Roxana Robinson (Civilian)
Flashes of War (2013), Katie Schultz (Civilian)
Be Safe, I Love You (2014), Cara Hoffman (Civilian)
Casualties (2016), Elizabeth Marro (Civilian)
Wolf Season (2017), Helen Benedict (Civilian)
The Heart of War (2018), Kathleen McInnis (Civilian)
Still Come Home (2019), Katey Schultz (Civilian)
Novels and Short-Story Collections Portraying Special Operations Forces
Eleven Days (2013), Lea Carpenter (Civilian)
Wynne’s War (2014), Aaron Gwyn (Civilian)
The Knife (2015) Ross Ritchell (Army)
Bring Out the Dog (2018) Will Mackin (Navy)
And the Whole Mountain Burned (2018), Ray McPadden (Army)
Translations and Novels by Foreign Authors
The Wasted Vigil (2008), Nadeem Aslam (Pakistani-British)
The Corpse Washer (2013), Sinan Antoon (Iraqi-American)
The Blind Man’s Garden (2013), Nadeem Aslam (Pakistani-British)
The Corpse Exhibition (2014), Hassan Blasim (Iraqi-Finnish civilian)
Anatomy of a Soldier (2016), Harry Parker (British)
Frankenstein in Baghdad (2018), Amed Saadawi (Iraqi)
The Baghdad Eucharist (2017), Sinan Antoon (Iraqi-American)
The Book of Collateral Damage (2019), Sinan Antoon (Iraqi-American)
Novels in Which War in Iraq or Afghanistan Serves as an Important Backdrop
The Cuckoo’s Calling (2013), Robert Gailbraith (aka J.K. Rowling) (Civilian)
They Dragged Them Through the Streets (2013), Hilary Plum (Civilian)
A Big Enough Lie (2015), Eric Bennett (Civilian)
Dark at the Crossing (2017), Elliot Ackerman (Marines)
The Confusion of Languages (2017), Siobhan Fallon (Civilian)
Ohio (2018), Stephen Markley (Civilian)
Strawberry Fields (2018), Hilary Plum (Civilian)
Novels Featuring Unconventional Narration and/or Fantastical Elements
A Big Enough Lie (2015), Eric Bennett (Civilian). Contains a “novel-within-a-novel” portraying combat in Iraq authored by a character who pretends to be a disabled vet.
The Old Silk Road (2015), Brandon Caro (Navy). Features extended passages describing drug-induced time-travel.
The War of the Encyclopaedists (2015), Gavin Kovite (Army) and Christopher Robinson (Civilian). Co-written by a civ-mil author team, with alternating sections focused on characters resembling the authors.
Anatomy of a Soldier (2016), Harry Parker (British Army). Narrated by material objects associated with soldiering and war in Afghanistan.
The Good Lieutenant (2016), Whitney Terrell (Civilian). Narrated in reverse chronological order, chapter-by-chapter.
Waiting for Eden (2018), Elliot Ackerman (Marines). Narrated by the now-dead soldier-friend of a badly-wounded, near-comatose Marine who can neither move nor speak.
Frankenstein in Baghdad (2018), Ahmed Saadawi (Iraq). A monster built out of the human remains of war-dead stalks the streets of Baghdad.
Second and Third Acts: Subsequent novels by veteran-authors (and one military spouse) listed above, but not directly depicting war in Iraq or Afghanistan
The Confusion of Languages (2017), Siobhan Fallon (Army spouse)
A Shout in the Ruins (2018), Kevin Powers (Army)
I [Heart] Oklahoma (2019), Roy Scranton (Army)
Red Dress in Black and White (2020), Elliot Ackerman (Marines)
Empire City (2020), Matt Gallagher (Army)
Acceleration Hours (2020), Jesse Goolsby (Air Force)
Missionaries (2020), Phil Klay (Marines)
Time Now: The Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in Art, Film, and Literature 
Peter, These lists are such a good idea. Not easy to navigate all this war experience that needs to be understood by more than just those who deployed and sacrificed!
2020 has not started out well vis-a-vis the impeachment trial. Let’s hope we can survive the bastards!
Love to you and Sang Hui, B.
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Many thanks, and tell it like it is, Barbara! We’ll be in DC again soon and look forward to getting together.