His science fiction and fantasy works include The Warrior Who Carried Life (1985), the novella The Unconquered Country (1986) (winner of the British Science Fiction Award and the World Fantasy Award), and The Child Garden (1989) (winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award). His more mainstream fiction works include Was (1992), Lust (2001), and Air (2002).
His work 253 was first published as hypertext fiction on a Web site (http://www.ryman-novel.com/ ). The print version (a 'remix') was published in 1997 and won the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award.