Martha Wells (born September 1, 1964)[1] is an American writer ofspeculative 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 inanthropology.[3][4]
As an aspiring writer Wells attended many local writing workshops and conventions, including theTurkey City Writer's Workshop taught by Bruce Sterling.[8] She has also taught writing workshops atArmadilloCon,WorldCon,ApolloCon, and Writespace Houston,[9] and was the Special Workshop Guest atFenCon in 2018.[10]
Her first published novel,The Element of Fire (1993), was a finalist for that year'sCompton Crook Award, and a runner-up for the 1994Crawford Award. Her second novel,City of Bones (1995), received a starred review fromPublishers Weekly and a black diamond review fromKirkus Reviews, and was on the 1995Locus Recommended Reading List for fantasy. Her third novel,The Death of the Necromancer (1998), was nominated for aNebula Award.[11]The Element of Fire andThe Death of the Necromancer are stand-alone novels which take place in the country ofIle-Rien, which is also the setting for theFall of Ile-Rien trilogy:The Wizard Hunters (2003),The Ships of Air (2004), andThe Gate of Gods (2005). Her fourth novel was a stand-alone fantasy,Wheel of the Infinite. In 2006, she released a revised edition ofThe Element of Fire.[12]
"Archaeology 101", a short story based onStargate SG-1 for issue No. 8 (Jan/Feb 2006) of the officialStargate Magazine
Star Wars novel,Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge.[13]
Her fantasy short stories include "The Potter's Daughter" in the anthologyElemental (2006), which was selected to appear inThe Year's Best Fantasy #7 (2007).[14] This story features one of the main characters fromThe Element of Fire. Three prequel short stories to theFall of Ile-Rien trilogy were published inBlack Gate Magazine in 2007[15][16] and 2008.[17]
Wells' longest-running fantasy series isThe Books of the Raksura, which included five novels and two short fiction collections published byNight 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), andThe Harbors of the Sun (2017). The series was nominated for theHugo Award for Best Series in 2018,[18] andThe Edge of Worlds was reviewed inThe New York Times.[19]
Wells has written two young adult fantasy novels,Emilie and the Hollow World andEmilie and the Sky World, published by Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry in 2013 and 2014.[20]
Wells was toastmaster of theWorld 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 newDominaria expansion of the card gameMagic: The Gathering.[24]
In September 2022,Tor Books shared the cover ofWitch 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] Its sequel,Queen Demon, was released on October 7, 2025.[38]
Locus Recommended List in 1994 forThe Element of Fire
Locus Recommended List in 1995 forCity of Bones
Martha Wells declined a Nebula finalist slot in the Novella category forFugitive Telemetry in the 2021 Nebula Awards,[56] giving the reason thatThe Murderbot Diaries had already won two Nebulas (for Novella and 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 forFugitive Telemetry that year.[58]
Martha Wells declined a Nebula finalist slot and a Hugo finalist slot in the Novel category forSystem Collapse in 2024[59][60]
On October 19, 2022, she was made a member of the Texas Literary Hall of Fame[61]
Nomination forJournal d’un AssaSynth, tomes 1 à 4 (translated by Mathilde Montier) in the 2020Grand prix de l'Imaginaire awards in theNouvelle étrangère category[63]
Nominations forTagebuch eines Killerbots (The Murderbot Diaries Omnibus) for Foreign Novel published in German and for translator Frank Böhmert for Translation in the 2020Kurd Laßwitz Award[64]
Winner forJournal d’un AssaSynth, volumes 1–4 (translated by Mathilde Montier) in the 2020Prix Bob Morane in theRomans étrangers category[65]
Finalist forThe Murderbot Diaries, Books 1–4 (translated by Naoya Nakahara) in theSeiun Award in the Translated Novel category[66]
Network Effect (translated by Frank Böhmert) was a finalist for theKurd Laßwitz Award 2022 for SF in German translation.[67]
Finalist forNetwork Effect (translated by Naoya Nakahara) for theSeiun Award in the international longform category[68]
Between Worlds: the Collected Cineth and Ile-Rien Stories (2015,ISBN0-520-20600-2):
"The Potter’s Daughter" - a prequel to the novel The Element of Fire (2006 short story,Elemental: the Tsunami Relief AnthologyISBN0-7653-1562-9,The Year's Best Fantasy #7ISBN978-1-892391-50-6)
"Reflections" - the Giliead and Ilias stories, prequels to the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy (2007,Black Gate Magazine)
"Night at the Opera" - a Nicholas and Reynard story original to this collection, set before The Death of the Necromancer (also inPodCastle Episode 400)
