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Author Martha Wells at the 2018 Texas Book Festival in Austin, Texas.

Martha Wells (1964 - ?)[1] is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy acclaimed for the highly regarded sci-fi series The Murderbot Diaries, in which she has written nine episodes since 2017. In 2023, she was praised by the New York Times book review for the stand-alone fantasy novel Witch King.

Wells has also written the fantasy series Ile-Rien and The Books of the Raksura.

Wells has won four Hugo Awards (fan-selected), two Nebula Awards (writer-selected), and three Locus Awards. Her novels have been translated into twelve languages.[2] She has been praised for the complex, realistically detailed societies she creates; this is often credited to her academic background in anthropology.[3][4]

Life

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]

Career

As an aspiring writer Wells attended many local writing workshops and conventions, including the Turkey City Writer's Workshop taught by Bruce Sterling.[7] She has also taught writing workshops at ArmadilloCon, WorldCon, ApolloCon, and Writespace Houston,[8] and was the Special Workshop Guest at FenCon in 2018.[9]

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 William 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.[10] 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.[11]

She has written media tie-ins, including Reliquary and Entanglement set in the Stargate Atlantis universe, "Archaeology 101", a short story based on Stargate SG-1 for issue No. 8 (Jan/Feb 2006) of the official Stargate Magazine, and a Star Wars novel, Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge.[12]

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).[13] 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[14][15] and 2008.[16]

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,[17] and The Edge of Worlds was reviewed in The New York Times.[18]

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.[19]

Wells was toastmaster of the World Fantasy Convention in 2017,[20] where she delivered a speech called "Unbury the Future"[21] 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.[22]

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.[23]

In May 2018, her Murderbot Diaries novella All Systems Red was number 8 on The New York Times Bestseller List for Audio.[24] The book won the 2017 Nebula Award for Best Novella,[25] the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novella,[26] the 2018 Locus Award for Best Novella,[27] and the American Library Association's Alex Award,[28] and was nominated for the 2017 Philip K. Dick Award.[29] It was followed by the sequel novellas Artificial Condition (2018), Rogue Protocol (2018), and Exit Strategy (2018);[30] a short story, "Compulsory" (2018);[31] and a full novel sequel, Network Effect (2020), which made The New York Times Bestseller List for Novel.[32] On April 26, 2021, Tor.com publishing announced that they had signed a deal with Wells for six books, including three more Murderbot Diaries.[33][34]

In September 2022, Tor Book shared the cover of Witch King, the latest novel by Wells that was released on May 30, 2023.[35] Tor describes the book as a story "of power and friendship, of trust and betrayal, and of the families we choose."[36]

Awards and nominations

Year Work Award Category Result Template:Abbr
1994 The Element of Fire Compton Crook Award Template:Nom
Crawford Award Template:Nom
1998 The Death of the Necromancer Nebula Award Best Novel Template:Nom [37]
2002 The Death of the Necromancer (French edition) Imaginales Award Template:Nom
2004 The Element of Fire (French edition) Template:Nom
2018 The Books of the Raksura Hugo Award Best Series Template:Nom [38]
The Murderbot Diaries: All Systems Red Alex Award Template:Won [39]
Hugo Award Best Novella Template:Won [26]
Locus Award Best Novella Template:Won [27]
Nebula Award Best Novella Template:Won [25]
Philip K. Dick Award Template:Nom [40]
Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award Best SF Novel Template:Nom
2019 The Murderbot Diaries: Exit Strategy BSFA Award Best Shorter Fiction Template:Nom [41]
The Murderbot Diaries: Artificial Condition Hugo Award Best Novella[42] Template:Won [43]
Locus Award Best Novella[44][45] Template:Won [44]
Nebula Award Best Novella Template:Nom [46]
2021 The Murderbot Diaries: Network Effect Hugo Award Best Novel Template:Won [47]
Locus Award Best Science Fiction Novel Template:Won [48]
Nebula Award Best Novel Template:Won [49]
The Murderbot Diaries Hugo Award Best Series Template:Won [47]
2023 Witch King Dragon Awards Best Fantasy Novel Template:Won [50]
  • Nomination for Journal d’un AssaSynth, tomes 1 à 4 (translated by Mathilde Montier) in the 2020 Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire awards in the Nouvelle étrangère category[51]
  • Nominations for Tagebuch eines Killerbots (The Murderbot Diaries Omnibus) for Best Foreign Novel published in German and for translator Frank Böhmert for Best Translation in the 2020 Kurd Laßwitz Preis[52]
  • Finalist for The Murderbot Diaries, Books 1–4 (translated by Naoya Nakahara) in the Seiun Award in the Best Translated Novel category[53]
  • Winner for Sistemas críticos (translated by Carla Bataller Estruch) in the Ignotus Award in the Best Foreign Short Story category[54]
  • Winner for Journal d’un AssaSynth, tomes 1 à 4 (translated by Mathilde Montier) in the 2020 Prix Bob Morane in the Romans étrangers category[55]
  • Locus Recommended List in 1994 for The Element of Fire
  • Locus Recommended List in 1995 for City of Bones
  • Martha Wells declined a Nebula finalist slot in the Best Novella category for Fugitive Telemetry in the 2021 Nebula Awards,[56] giving the reason that The Murderbot Diaries had already won two Nebulas (for Best Novella and Best Novel) and that the spot would be of more benefit to another writer. Due to a three-way tie for sixth place, declining allowed two additional novellas a spot on the 2021 ballot.[57] Wells also declined a Hugo Nomination for Fugitive Telemetry that year. [58]
  • Network Effect (translated by Frank Böhmert) was a finalist for the Kurd Laßwitz Preis 2022 for Best SF in German translation.[59]
  • Finalist for Network Effect (translated by Naoya Nakahara) for the Seiun Award in the international longform category[60]
  • On October 19, 2022, she was made a member of the Texas Literary Hall of Fame[61]

Attribution

Some content on this page may previously have appeared on Wikipedia.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Martha Wells: Unburied Future (August 13, 2018).
  2. ↑ Martha Wells – Bibliography.
  3. ↑ Shaun Farrell interviews Martha Wells for Far Sector SFFH March 2006.
  4. ↑ ActuSF Interview with Martha Wells.
  5. ↑ AggieCon XVII Program exerpt. (en-US).
  6. ↑ Lots of Travel, plus Cancer. (en-US).
  7. ↑ Re:Fiction (September 19, 2017). Interview with Martha Wells.
  8. ↑ Writers' Family Reunion.
  9. ↑ FenCon XV – September 21–23, 2018.
  10. ↑ The Locus Index to SF Awards Index. Locus.
  11. ↑ The Element of Fire by Martha Wells.
  12. ↑ Media Tie-ins.
  13. ↑ (2007) Year's best fantasy 7, 1st. San Francisco: Tachyon Publications. ISBN 9781892391506. OCLC 153153135. 
  14. ↑ "Table of Contents". Black Gate (10).
  15. ↑ "Table of Contents". Black Gate (11).
  16. ↑ "Table of Contents". Black Gate (12).
  17. ↑ Press Release: WorldCon 76 Announces 2018 Hugo Award Finalists.
  18. ↑ Jemisin, N. K. (April 19, 2016). Otherworldy: The Latest in Science Fiction and Fantasy. The New York Times.
  19. ↑ Young Adult Fantasy by Martha Wells.
  20. ↑ World Fantasy 2017 – An annual gathering and reunion of professionals, collectors, and others interested in the field of light and dark fantasy art and literature..
  21. ↑ 'Unbury the Future': Martha Wells' Full Speech from the 2017 World Fantasy Awards (November 7, 2017).
  22. ↑ World Fantasy Con 2017: A Mixed Montage.
  23. ↑ Scifi Author Martha Wells Is Bringing Magic: The Gathering Back to Where It All Began, io9.
  24. ↑ Audio Fiction Books Bestsellers. The New York Times (May 1, 2018).
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 All Systems Red. Nebula Awards.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 2018 Hugo Awards. Hugo Awards (March 15, 2018).
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 2018 Locus Awards Winners. Locus (June 23, 2018).
  28. ↑ American Library Association announces 2018 youth media award winners. American Library Association (February 12, 2018).
  29. ↑ Philip K. Dick Award Nominees Announced. Philip K. Dick Award (January 11, 2018).
  30. ↑ Ghosts, Robots, and Monsters: A Round-up of New Sci-Fi and Fantasy. The New York Times (November 30, 2018).
  31. ↑ The Future of Work: 'Compulsory' by Martha Wells in Wired (magazine), December 17, 2018
  32. ↑ Harris, Lee (March 11, 2019). Murderbot Will Return in...Network Effect.
  33. ↑ Templeton, Molly (April 26, 2021). 'Tordotcom Publishing Acquires Six Martha Wells Books—Including Three Murderbot Diaries'.
  34. ↑ Pedersen, Erik (2021-04-25). How 'Murderbot Diaries' author Martha Wells overcame a career in crisis to create the killer series (en-US).
  35. ↑ Brown, Alex (2023-05-31). A Lavish, Crunchy Fantasy: Witch King by Martha Wells.
  36. ↑ Tor.com (2022-09-21). Revealing Witch King, Murderbot Author Martha Wells’ New Epic Fantasy (en-US).
  37. ↑ 1998 Nebula Awards.
  38. ↑ 2018 Hugo and Campbell Award Finalists. Locus (March 31, 2018).
  39. ↑ American Library Association announces 2018 youth media award winners, American Library Association, 2018-02-19. (in en)
  40. ↑ Philip K. Dick Award Nominees Announced.
  41. ↑ Awards Shortlist.
  42. ↑ 2019 Hugo Result - Rogue Protocol and Exit Strategy also made the preliminary shortlist but Wells declined the nominations.
  43. ↑ 2019 Hugo Award Finalists Announced (April 2, 2019).
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 2019 Locus Awards Winners. Locus (June 29, 2019).
  45. ↑ Rogue Protocol was also shortlisted for the award.
  46. ↑ Announcing the 2018 Nebula Award Finalists (February 20, 2019).
  47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 Martha Wells Awards. Science Fiction Awards Database. Locus Science Fiction Foundation.
  48. ↑ 2021 Locus Awards Winners. Locus (June 26, 2021).
  49. ↑ SFWA Announces the 56th Annual Nebula Award® Winners (en-US) (2021-06-05).
  50. ↑ 2023 Dragon Awards.
  51. ↑ Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire 2020.
  52. ↑ 2020 Kurd Laßwitz Preis.
  53. ↑ 2020 Seiun Awards Nominees. Locus (May 7, 2020).
  54. ↑ Ignotus 2020 Awards for the best Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror in Spain. File770 (November 16, 2020).
  55. ↑ Prix Bob Morane 2020. File770 (September 2020).
  56. ↑ SFWA Announces Nebula Award Finalists (March 8, 2022).
  57. ↑ The Nebula Nomination Decline.
  58. ↑ 2022 Hugo, Lodestar and Astounding Awards.
  59. ↑ Kurd Laßwitz Preis 2022 Finalists (March 20, 2022).
  60. ↑ 2022 Seiun Award Nominees. File770 (May 15, 2022).
  61. ↑ Texas Literary Hall of Fame. TCU Library (October 19, 2022).
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