Martha Wells | |
---|---|
![]() Wells at the 2018 Texas Book Festival | |
Born | Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. | September 1, 1964
Occupation | Writer |
Education | Texas A&M University (BA) |
Period | 1993–present |
Genre | Fantasy, science fiction |
Website | |
marthawells |
Martha Wells (born September 1, 1964) [1] is an American writer of speculative fiction. She has published a number of science fiction and fantasy novels, young adult novels, media tie-ins, short stories, and nonfiction essays on SF/F subjects; her novels have been translated into twelve languages. [2] Wells is praised for the complex, realistically detailed societies she creates; this is often credited to her academic background in anthropology. [3] [4]
She has won four Hugo Awards, two Nebula Awards and three Locus Awards for her science fiction series The Murderbot Diaries . Wells is also known for her fantasy series Ile-Rien and The Books of the Raksura.
Martha Wells was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and has a B.A. in Anthropology from Texas A&M University. [1] She lives in College Station, Texas, with her husband. She was involved in SF/F fandom in college and was chairman of AggieCon 17. [5] In May 2023, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. [6] [7]
As an aspiring writer Wells attended many local writing workshops and conventions, including the Turkey City Writer's Workshop taught by Bruce Sterling. [8] She has also taught writing workshops at ArmadilloCon, WorldCon, ApolloCon, and Writespace Houston, [9] and was the Special Workshop Guest at FenCon in 2018. [10]
Her first published novel, The Element of Fire (1993), was a finalist for that year's Compton Crook Award, and a runner-up for the 1994 Crawford Award. Her second novel, City of Bones (1995), received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and a black diamond review from Kirkus Reviews , and was on the 1995 Locus Recommended Reading List for fantasy. Her third novel, The Death of the Necromancer (1998), was nominated for a Nebula Award. [11] The Element of Fire and The Death of the Necromancer are stand-alone novels which take place in the country of Ile-Rien, which is also the setting for the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy: The Wizard Hunters (2003), The Ships of Air (2004), and The Gate of Gods (2005). Her fourth novel was a stand-alone fantasy, Wheel of the Infinite. In 2006, she released a revised edition of The Element of Fire. [12]
She has written media tie-ins, including:
Her fantasy short stories include "The Potter's Daughter" in the anthology Elemental (2006), which was selected to appear in The Year's Best Fantasy #7 (2007). [14] This story features one of the main characters from The Element of Fire. Three prequel short stories to the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy were published in Black Gate Magazine in 2007 [15] [16] and 2008. [17]
Wells' longest-running fantasy series is The Books of the Raksura, which included five novels and two short fiction collections published by Night Shade Books: The Cloud Roads (2011), The Serpent Sea (2012), The Siren Depths (2012), Stories of the Raksura Vol 1: The Falling World & The Tale of Indigo and Cloud (2014), Stories of the Raksura Vol 2: The Dead City & The Dark Earth Below (2015), The Edge of Worlds (2016), and The Harbors of the Sun (2017). The series was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Series in 2018, [18] and The Edge of Worlds was reviewed in The New York Times . [19]
Wells has written two young adult fantasy novels, Emilie and the Hollow World and Emilie and the Sky World, published by Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry in 2013 and 2014. [20]
Wells was toastmaster of the World Fantasy Convention in 2017, [21] where she delivered a speech called "Unbury the Future" [22] about marginalized creators in the history of science fiction and fantasy, movies, and other media, and the deliberate suppression of the existence of those creators. The speech was well-received and generated a great deal of discussion. [23]
During 2018, Wells was the leader of the story team and lead writer for the new Dominaria expansion of the card game Magic: The Gathering . [24]
In May 2018, her Murderbot Diaries novella All Systems Red was number 8 on The New York Times Bestseller List for Audio. [25] The book won the 2017 Nebula Award for Best Novella, [26] the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novella, [27] the 2018 Locus Award for Best Novella, [28] and the American Library Association's Alex Award, [29] and was nominated for the 2017 Philip K. Dick Award. [30] It was followed by the sequel novellas Artificial Condition (2018), Rogue Protocol (2018), and Exit Strategy (2018); [31] a short story, "Compulsory" (2018); [32] and a full novel sequel, Network Effect (2020), which made The New York Times Bestseller List for Novel. [33] On April 26, 2021, Tor.com publishing announced that they had signed a deal with Wells for six books, including three more in The Murderbot Diaries. [34] [35]
In September 2022, Tor Books shared the cover of Witch King , the latest novel by Wells that was released on May 30, 2023. [36] Tor describes the book as a story "of power and friendship, of trust and betrayal, and of the families we choose." [37]
Year | Work | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2002 | The Death of the Necromancer (French edition) | Prix Imaginales Award | Foreign Novel | Shortlisted | |
2004 | The Element of Fire (French edition) | Foreign Novel | Shortlisted | ||
2020 | Sistemas críticos (translated by Carla Bataller Estruch) | Premio Ignotus | Foreign Short Story | Won | [61] |
Young-adult fantasy
Science fiction series: