Notable Guests, and Jeremy Brett, Curator, Science Fiction & Fantasy Research Collection, Texas A&M University Libraries, Cushing Memorial Library and Archives

During her birthday month, we are celebrating Fantasy and Science Fiction New York Times Bestselling author Martha Wells! Jeremy Brett, Curator of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Research Collection at the Texas A&M University Libraries/Cushing Memorial Library and Archives, will discuss Martha's work and her collection, housed in the Cushing Library. Notable literary guests will join in the celebration:

Kate Elliott (Locus Award-nominated author of Cold Magic, Court of Fives, and Unconquerable Sun)
Kevin Free (the voice of Murderbot in the audiobooks of The Murderbot Diaries)
Annalee Newitz (Hugo Award-winning author of Autonomous and The Future of Another Timeline)
Rebecca Roanhorse (Hugo- and Nebula Award winning author of Trail of Lightning, Black Sun, and Race to the Sun)
Sharon Shinn (Campbell Award-nominated author of The Shape-Changer's Wife, Summers at Castle Auburn, and the Samaria series)
John Wiswell (Nebula Award -winning author of “8-Bit Free Will” and “Open House on Haunted Hill”)

Friends and fans of Martha are invited to join, and to speak about what Martha and her work have meant to them!

This is a virtual talk. Please register, and a Zoom link will be sent to you 24 hours before the start of the event (registration closes 24 hours before the event). 

This event is free and open to the public. Inquiries: Dr. Marini, fmarini@library.tamu.edu

If you require an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), please contact Dr. Marini, fmarini@library.tamu.edu, to communicate your needs. Early notification is encouraged, and a request 5 workdays before the event you plan to attend will facilitate the provision of a reasonable accommodation.

About Martha Wells: Martha Wells ’86, native Texan and a graduate of Texas A&M University with a B.A. in Anthropology, has been a professional SF/F writer since her first fantasy novel, The Element of Fire, was published in 1993. Fire was a finalist for the 1993 Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Award and a runner-up for the 1994 Crawford Award. The French edition, Le feu primordial, was a 2003 Imaginales Award nominee. 

Her third novel The Death of the Necromancer was a 1998 Nebula Award Finalist and the French edition was a 2002 Imaginales Award nominee. Her novella All Systems Red, the first in her wildly popular New York Times- bestselling series The Murderbot Diaries, was a 2017 Philip K. Dick Award finalist, and won an ALA/YALSA Alex Award, a Hugo Award for Best Novella, a Nebula Award for Best Novella, and a Locus Award. Her beautiful and sweeping 5-novel fantasy series Books of the Raksura was a Hugo Finalist for Best Series. Artificial Condition: The Murderbot Diaries was a Nebula Award finalist, a Locus Award winner, and a Hugo Award winner. Exit Strategy: The Murderbot Diaries was a BSFA Finalist for Short Fiction. Network Effect was a 2021 Nebula Award Winner for Best Novel, and has been nominated for the 2021 Hugo Award for Best Novel. The Murderbot series as a whole has been nominated for the 2021 Hugo Award for Best Series. As a cap to this slew of awards, it should be noted that Martha is the first Aggie to have been nominated for, and won, a Hugo Award as a professional author.
Martha has also published three media tie-in novels: Stargate Atlantis: Reliquary, released in March 2006, and Stargate Atlantis: Entanglement in March 2007, and Star Wars: Razor's Edge in September 2013. She also wrote the Magic Story for the Dominaria expansion in 2018 for Magic: the Gathering. Her first young adult fantasy, Emilie and the Hollow World, was published in April 2013 by Strange Chemistry Books, and the sequel, Emilie and the Sky World in March 2014. 

In addition to her 18 novels and 6 novellas, Martha has had short stories published in Realms of Fantasy, Black Gate, Lone Star Stories, Stargate Magazine, Lightspeed Magazine, Wired Magazine, Uncanny Magazine, and in the anthologies Elemental, Tales of the Emerald Serpent, The Other Half of the Sky, Tales of the Emerald Serpent II: A Knight in the Silk Purse, Mech: Age of Steel, The Gods of Lovecraft, Take Us to a Better Place, and The Empire Strikes Back: From a Certain Point of View. She has essays in the non-fiction anthologies Farscape Forever, Mapping the World of Harry Potter, Chicks Unravel Time, The Kobold Guide to Magic, and The Writer's Book of Doubt. Her books have been published in twenty-two languages, and to immense critical and popular acclaim.

About Jeremy Brett: Jeremy Brett is an Associate Professor at Cushing Memorial Library & Archives, where he is both Processing Archivist and the Curator of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Research Collection. He has also worked at the University of Iowa, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the National Archives and Records Administration-Pacific Region, and the Wisconsin Historical Society. He received his MLS and his MA in History from the University of Maryland – College Park in 1999. His professional interests include science fiction, fan studies, and the intersection of libraries and social justice.