Martha Wells
Martha Wells (born September 1, 1964) is an American writer who creates science fiction and fantasy. She has written novels, young adult books, short stories, media tie-ins, and nonfiction essays. Her work has been translated into twelve languages. Wells is praised for building detailed, believable worlds, a skill she uses in part from her anthropology studies.
She was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and earned a BA in Anthropology from Texas A&M University. She lives in College Station, Texas with her husband. Wells was active in science fiction and fantasy fandom in college and chaired AggieCon 17. In May 2023, she announced she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Wells’ first published novel was The Element of Fire (1993), a stand-alone story set in the Ile-Rien world. Her second novel, City of Bones (1995), received strong reviews, and The Death of the Necromancer (1998) was Nebula-nominated. The Element of Fire and The Death of the Necromancer are set in Ile-Rien, which also hosts the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy: The Wizard Hunters (2003), The Ships of Air (2004), and The Gate of Gods (2005). She published Wheel of the Infinite as another stand-alone fantasy, and in 2006 released a revised edition of The Element of Fire.
Wells has written media tie-ins and several fantasy short stories. Her story “The Potter’s Daughter” appears in Elemental (2006) and was selected for The Year’s Best Fantasy #7 (2007). Three Ile-Rien prequel stories appeared in Black Gate Magazine (2007–2008).
Her longest-running fantasy series is The Books of the Raksura, including The Cloud Roads (2011), The Serpent Sea (2012), The Siren Depths (2012), and two short fiction collections, Stories of the Raksura Vol. 1 (2014) and Vol. 2 (2015), followed by 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, and The Edge of Worlds was reviewed in The New York Times.
Wells has also written two young adult fantasy novels, Emilie and the Hollow World and Emilie and the Sky World (2013–2014). She was the toastmaster of the World Fantasy Convention in 2017, where she spoke about marginalized creators in science fiction and fantasy.
In 2018, Wells led the story team for the Dominaria expansion of Magic: The Gathering. Her Murderbot Diaries began with All Systems Red (2017), which won the Nebula Award for Best Novella (2017) and the Hugo Award for Best Novella (2018), along with the Locus Award and the American Library Association’s Alex Award. It also appeared on The New York Times’ bestseller list for audio. The series continued with Artificial Condition (2018), Rogue Protocol (2018), and Exit Strategy (2018); a short story, “Compulsory” (2018); and the full novel Network Effect (2020), which made The New York Times’ Bestseller List for novels. In 2021, Tor.com announced a six-book deal with Wells, including three more Murderbot novels.
In 2022, Tor Books released Witch King, the latest in her works at that time, with its story focusing on power, friendship, trust, and betrayal; its sequel, Queen Demon, followed in 2025.
Wells’ work is known for its rich world-building, action-packed plots, and characters who feel real. She has contributed to both adult and young adult fantasy and science fiction, shaping popular series and inspiring readers around the world.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 20:44 (CET).