Ray Nayler
American and Canadian writer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ray Nayler is a Hugo and Locus Award-winning American and Canadian writer.[1] His works engage with ecology, systems theory, and questions of consciousness and intelligence, including animal and artificial intelligence.[2][3][4]
Ray Nayler | |
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| Born | |
| Education | University of California, Santa Cruz (BA) SOAS University of London (MA) |
| Website | www |
Career
Nayler's debut novel, The Mountain in the Sea, focuses on the discovery of a society of intelligent octopuses off the coast of Vietnam, and was the winner of the 2023 Locus Award for Best First Novel as well as being a finalist for the Nebula Award and the Los Angeles Times Ray Bradbury Award. It was declared one of the best Science Fiction novels of all time by Esquire.[5][6][7][8][9][10]
Ray Nayler's second book, the novella The Tusks of Extinction, centers on the de-extinction of the woolly mammoth and was published in 2024. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novella and was a finalist for the Nebula Award and the Locus Award[11][12][13][14][15]
His third book, a "near-future thriller" titled Where the Axe Is Buried, was released on April 1, 2025 and tells the story of a rebellion against the status quo in a near future dominated by AI and authoritarian regimes.[16] His fourth book, Palaces of the Crow, is a speculative novel of the recent past, in which four young teens caught between the Nazis and the Red Army survive winter in the woods with the help of a flock of highly intelligent crows. It will be published May 19, 2026. [17]
Nayler previously served in the Peace Corps and as a US Foreign Service officer, working in Russia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Balkans.[18] He was Press Attaché at the United States Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, and Environment, Science, Technology, and Health Officer at the U.S. consulate in Ho Chi Minh City.[19][20] He was international advisor for the Marine Protected Areas Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and was a visiting scholar and diplomat in residence at George Washington University's Institute of International Science and Technology Policy and Space Policy Institute. [21][22]
Bibliography
Novels
- The Mountain in the Sea (2022)
- The Tusks of Extinction (2024) - winner of 2025 Hugo Award for Best Novella[23]
- Where the Axe Is Buried (2025)
- Palaces of the Crow (2026)
Short stories
| Year | Title[a] | First published | Reprinted/collected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | "Mutability" | Nayler, Ray (June 2015). "Mutability". Asimov's Science Fiction. 39 (6): 48–57. | ||
| 2016 | "Do Not Forget Me" | Nayler, Ray (March 2016). "Do Not Forget Me". Asimov's Science Fiction. 40 (3): 60–69. | ||
| 2019 | "Fire in the Bone" | Nayler, Ray (January 2019). "Fire in the Bone". Clarkesworld. Issue 148 | Direct link | |
| "Beyond the High Altar" | Nayler, Ray (September 2019). "Beyond the High Altar". Nightmare. Issue 84 | Direct link | ||
| "The Death of Fire Station 10" | Nayler, Ray (October 2019). "The Death of Fire Station 10". Lightspeed. Issue 113 | Direct link | ||
| 2020 | "Albedo Season" | Nayler, Ray (May 2020). "Albedo Season". Clarkesworld. Issue 164 | Direct link | |
| "The Swallows of the Storm" | Nayler, Ray (July 2020). "The Swallows of the Storm". Lightspeed. Issue 122 | Direct link | ||
| "Outside of Omaha" | Nayler, Ray (September 2020). "Outside of Omaha". Nightmare. Issue 96 | Direct link | ||
| 2021 | "Sarcophagus" | Nayler, Ray (April 2021). "Sarcophagus". Clarkesworld. Issue 175 | Direct link | |
| "Yesterday's Wolf" | Nayler, Ray (September 2021). "Yesterday's Wolf". Clarkesworld. Issue 180 | Direct link | ||
| 2022 | "The Summer Castle" | Nayler, Ray (February 2022). "The Summer Castle". Nightmare. Issue 113 | Direct link | |
| "Rain of Days" | Nayler, Ray (March 2022). "Rain of Days". Clarkesworld. Issue 186 | Direct link | ||
| 2023 | "The Job at the End of the World" | Nayler, Ray (August 30, 2023). "The Job at the End of the World: A Tor.com Original" Tor.com | Google Play Books | |
Bibliography notes
- Short stories unless otherwise noted.