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Perhaps a slight alteration to Option #1 - have the era names as alpha-identifiers, rather than numeric, so it comes out as something like:

OE - Olden Era

ME - Modern Era

CE - Crypt Era

GE - GFL Era

So under this system, it becomes.

Infected - ME-1

Contagious - ME-2

Ancestor - ME-3

Crypt: The Crew – CE-1

Crypt: Shakedown - CE-2

THE ROOKIE – GE-1

THE STARTER – GE-2

THE REPORTER – GE2.2

TITLE FIGHT – GE-1.5

Etc, etc.

If you replace ongoing sequential numbering with era-sequential numbering, it allows for greater expansion of the era, and therefore more flexibility for new eras. For example, if you wanted to put some of the Bloodcast/Colour is Adjective short stories into the timeline, but wanted them to occur prior to Infected, but they didn’t necessarily fit into the Olden Time Era, you could easily create the new category of the Pre-Modern Era (PE).

Or if you wanted to have ancient alien visitors beating up some dinosaurs (or collecting samples for the eventual invention of Dinolition), you could have the Jurassic Era (JE). Whereas this would fall under the Olden Times era of the current Option #1.

While there is the con of readers having to be aware of the eras (though it would simple enough to lay out in the “other books by the FDO” page, I’m not sure how, under the current system, you would number a story that, for example, comes before the Rookie, but isn’t part of the Crypt – so something like one generation before Q on Micovi would be a GFL story, rather than a Crypt story, but would it be 4.0.1 or something, to indicate it occuring before the Rookie?

(And yes, I’m sure there’s other flaws, but it’s 6am, it’s the best I can do for now).