AnnaLinden Weller | |
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| Born | (1985-04-19)April 19, 1985 (age 39) New York City, U.S. |
| Pen name | Arkady Martine |
| Occupation | author, historian |
| Education | |
| Genre | Speculative fiction |
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AnnaLinden Weller, better known under herpen nameArkady Martine (born April 19, 1985[1]), is an American author ofscience fiction literature. Her first novelsA Memory Called Empire (2019) andA Desolation Called Peace (2021), which form theTeixcalaan series, each won theHugo Award for Best Novel.
Weller was born and grew up inNew York City.[1] Her parents areclassical musicians ofRussian Jewish heritage: her mother is a professor ofviolin atJuilliard and her father played for the orchestra of theMetropolitan Opera;[1] she has described herself as an "assimilated American Jew"[2][3] and noted that, in the 1930s, Jews who moved to the United States from Europe "were basically playing classical music and inventing the Anglophone discipline of science fiction at the same time".[1]
She lives inSanta Fe, New Mexico with her wife, authorVivian Shaw.[1]
Weller obtained aBachelor of Arts in religious studies at theUniversity of Chicago in 2007, aMaster of Studies in classical Armenian studies at theUniversity of Oxford in 2013, and aPh.D. in medieval Byzantine, global, and comparative history atRutgers University in 2014.[1] Her dissertation was titled "Imagining Pre-Modern Empire: Byzantine Imperial Agents Outside the Metropole". She was a visiting assistant professor of history atSt. Thomas University from 2014–15 and a postdoctoral researcher atUppsala University from 2015–17. She has published writings on the topic ofByzantine andmedieval Armenian history.[4]
As Arkady Martine, Weller has been publishing science fiction since 2012.[1][5]
Martine's first novel,A Memory Called Empire, published in 2019, is the beginning of herTeixcalaan series.[1] It is set in a future where the Teixcalaanli empire governs most of human space, and is about to absorb Lsel (apparently from Armenian "lsel" translating to "listen"), an independent miningstation. Lsel ambassador Mahit Dzmare is sent to the imperial capital to prevent this, and finds herself embroiled in the empire's succession crisis. Martine said that the book was in many respects a fictional version of her postdoctoral research on Byzantine imperialism on the frontier to Armenia in the 11th century, particularly the annexation of theKingdom of Ani.[2]
InThe Verge, Andrew Liptak praised the novel as a "brilliant blend ofcyberpunk,space opera, and political thriller", highlighting Martine's characterization andworldbuilding.[6] InLocus, Russell Letson appreciated the novel's "absorbing and sometimes challenging blend of intrigue andanthropological imagination", as well as its sense of humor.[7]Publishers Weekly andKirkus Reviews both gave the novel a starred review, noting the facility with which Martine brought the worlds of her "gorgeously crafted diplomaticspace opera" to life,[8] and comparing Martine's novel to the works ofAnn Leckie andYoon Ha Lee.[9]
The second installment of theTeixcalaan series,A Desolation Called Peace was first published in 2021. It picks up several months after the events ofEmpire. Mahit is back on Lsel station, Three Seagrass is promoted-but-bored on Teixcalaan, and the new emperor is on the throne. Mahit is trying to process all of the events of the previous book when she is quickly thrown into a series of political intrigues that forces her to leave the station with Three Seagrass, who shows up on Lsel Station to take Mahit to an outlying area of space to try to communicate with a species of incomprehensible aliens and avert a war of total destruction. Back on Teixcalaan, political schemes are brewing, and the very young heir to the throne is in the middle of them.[10]
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