Andy Weir (writer)
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Andrew Weir (; born June 16, 1972) is an American
novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...
. His 2011 novel '' The Martian'' was adapted into the 2015 film of the same name directed by
Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English film director and producer. He directs films in the Science fiction film, science fiction, Crime film, crime, and historical drama, historical epic genres, with an atmospheric and highly co ...
. He received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2016 and his 2021 novel '' Project Hail Mary'' was a finalist for the 2022
Hugo Award for Best Novel The Hugo Award for Best Novel is one of the Hugo Awards given each year by the World Science Fiction Society for science fiction or fantasy stories published in, or translated to, English during the previous calendar year. The novel award is ava ...
.


Early life

Weir was raised in
Milpitas, California Milpitas (Spanish for or little cornfields) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, part of Silicon Valley and the broader San Francisco Bay Area. Located on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, it is bordered by San Jose, California, S ...
. His father, John Weir, was a
physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
at Sandia National Laboratories, and his mother was an
electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
. He was an only child, and his parents divorced when he was eight. Weir grew up reading classic science fiction such as the works of Arthur C. Clarke and
Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov ( ;  – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...
. At the age of 15, he began working as a computer
programmer A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming. The professional titles Software development, ''software developer'' and Software engineering, ''software engineer' ...
for Sandia. After high school, Weir studied
computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
at the
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...
, although he did not graduate. He worked as a programmer for several software companies, including AOL, Palm, MobileIron, and
Blizzard A blizzard is a severe Winter storm, snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow th ...
, where he worked on the video game '' Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness''. Weir was fired from Blizzard in 1995 for poor performance, later complaining that the company's early structure did not provide adequate job training.


Writing

Weir began writing science fiction in his twenties and published work on his website for years. He authored a humor web comic, ''
Casey and Andy ''Casey and Andy'' (stylised as ''Casey & Andy'', or simply ''C&A'') is a webcomic series written and illustrated by Andy Weir. Following the adventures of two mad scientists (fictionalized versions of Weir himself and his best friend Casey Grim ...
'',Galactanet – The Creative Writings of Andy Weir
''Casey and Andy''
(webcomic)
featuring fictionalized "
mad scientist The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as "mad, bad and dangerous to know" or "insanity, insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabas ...
" versions of himself and his friends (such as writer Jennifer Brozek) from 2001 to 2008. He also briefly worked on another comic, '' Cheshire Crossing'' (bridging '' Alice in Wonderland'', '' Peter Pan'', '' The Wizard of Oz'', and ''
Mary Poppins Mary Poppins may refer to: * Mary Poppins (character), a nanny with magical powers * Mary Poppins (franchise), based on the fictional nanny ** Mary Poppins (book series), ''Mary Poppins'' (book series), the original 1934–1988 children's fanta ...
''), from 2006 to 2008. The attention these gained him has been attributed as later helping launch his writing career, following his failure to publish his first novel attempt, ''Theft of Pride''. His first work to gain significant attention was " The Egg", a 2009 short story that has been adapted into a number of YouTube videos, a one-act play, and is the overarching concept of '' Everybody'', the third album by American rapper
Logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...
. Weir wrote his first published novel, '' The Martian'', to be as scientifically accurate as possible, doing extensive research into
orbital mechanics Orbital mechanics or astrodynamics is the application of ballistics and celestial mechanics to rockets, satellites, and other spacecraft. The motion of these objects is usually calculated from Newton's laws of motion and the law of universal ...
, conditions on the planet
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
, the history of human spaceflight, and
botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
. Originally published as a free serial on his website, some readers requested he make it available on Amazon Kindle. First sold for 99 cents, the novel made it to the Kindle bestsellers list. Weir was then approached by a literary agent and sold the rights to Crown Publishing Group. The print version (slightly edited from the original) debuted at No. 12 on ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' bestseller list in 2014. ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' called it "the best pure sci-fi novel in years". It was adapted into a film in 2015 starring
Matt Damon Matthew Paige Damon ( ; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. He was ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars in 2007, and in 2010 was one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He has received va ...
and
Jessica Chastain Jessica Michelle Chastain (born March 24, 1977) is an American actress and producer. Known for primarily starring in projects with Feminism, feminist themes, she has received List of awards and nominations received by Jessica Chastain, various ...
. In 2015, Weir announced he was working on his second novel, provisionally titled ''Zhek'', which he described as "a more traditional sci-fi novel with aliens, telepathy, faster-than-light travel, etc." A fan-fiction story written by Weir, "Lacero", was published in the 2016 edition of '' Ready Player One'', making it canonical to the book's fictional universe. The work functions as a prequel to the main novel, focusing on the novel's antagonist Nolan Sorrento / IOI-655321.Galactanet – The Creative Writings of Andy Weir
"Lacero"
(short story fanfic)
Also in 2016, Weir released ''The Principles of Uncertainty'', a collection of short stories, on the website/app Tapas. After announcing that the ''Zhek'' project had been "back-burnered", Weir moved on to another hard sci-fi novel, ''
Artemis In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...
'', with a female protagonist, set on the
Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
in the 2080s–2090s. The thriller, published in 2017, follows Jazz, a 26-year-old woman constrained by her small town (which is also the only city on the Moon). In May 2017, 20th Century Fox and New Regency acquired the film rights to the book. On September 26, 2017, it was announced that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller had signed on to develop and direct a film based on the novel. In 2017, CBS picked up a pilot written by Weir titled ''Mission Control'', following a group of young NASA astronauts and scientists. In May of that year, Weir collaborated with webcomic artist Sarah Andersen to reillustrate '' Cheshire Crossing'' for Tapas, before publishing it as a stand-alone
graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...
in July 2019. In November 2019, a film adaptation of ''Cheshire Crossing'' was announced from Amblin Partners and
Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film Film production company, production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios (division), the Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company. The st ...
, to be produced by
Michael De Luca Michael De Luca (born August 13, 1965) is an American film studio executive, film producer and screenwriter. He is also the former president of production at both New Line Cinema and DreamWorks. De Luca has been nominated for three Academy Aw ...
and written by Erin Cressida Wilson. In May 2021, Weir's third novel, '' Project Hail Mary'', was released. It revolves around an astronaut, Ryland Grace, who wakes up from a coma on a strange spacecraft, afflicted with amnesia. It has received widespread positive reviews, winning the 2022 Audie Award for Audiobook of the Year and a nomination for the 2022
Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...
s for Best Novel, as well as achieving the #1 spot on the ''New York Times'' Audiobook Bestseller List. Ryan Gosling is slated to produce and star as Grace in a film adaption, with Lord and Miller directing the project.


Personal life

According to Weir, he grew up in Milpitas, California, where he attended Rancho Milpitas Junior High School and Milpitas High School. In 2015, he lived in
Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, the population was 82,376 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Mountain V ...
, in a rented two-bedroom apartment. Since he has a
fear of flying Fear of flying is the fear of being on an aircraft, such as an airplane or helicopter, while it is in flight. It is also referred to as flying anxiety, flying phobia, flight phobia, aviophobia, aerophobia, or pteromerhanophobia (although aero ...
, he never visited the set of the film adaptation of ''The Martian'' in
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
, where most of the scenes set on
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
were shot at Korda Studios. In 2015, with the help of therapy and medication, he was able to fly to Houston to visit the Johnson Space Center and to San Diego to attend
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...
. Weir is married to Ashley Weir, whom he met while he was in Los Angeles to pitch a TV series. They have one son, born in 2021. Weir has said that he is agnostic, and has described his political views as fiscally conservative and socially liberal.


Works

Weir's original website lists his works, with free versions of many of his short stories.Galactanet – The Creative Writings of Andy Weir
Creative Writings of Andy Weir
(list)


Novels

* ''Theft of Pride'' (web version 2000) * '' The Martian'' (web version 2011;
Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
2014) ** ''Diary of an AssCan'' (2015), free short story prequel to ''The Martian'' ** ''The Martian: Lost Sols'' (2024), free short story in celebration of the 10th anniversary of ''The Martian'' * ''
Artemis In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...
'' (Random House 2017) * '' Project Hail Mary'' (Random House 2021)


Serial novels and long stories

*''Detectives'' (1986)Galactanet – The Creative Writings of Andy Weir
Detectives
(short story)
*''Bonnie MacKenzie: The Life Story of a Mermaid'' *''Moriarty'' ( Holmesian
Fan fiction Fan fiction or fanfiction, also known as fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF, is fiction typically written in an amateur capacity by fans as a form of fan labor, unauthorized by, but based on, an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted ...
) *''The Romana Chronicles''/''The Xoloans'' (''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
'' fan fiction) *''Randomize'' ('' Amazon Original Stories: Forward collection'')


Short stories

* ''Principles of Uncertainty'' (collection of flash fiction, Tapas e-book 2016). Includes the following stories: ** "Access" ** "Annie's Day" ** "Antihypoxiant" ** "Meeting Sarah" ** "The Midtown Butcher" ** "The Chef" ** " The Egg" (short story/audiobook) 2009 ** "The Real Deal" ** "Yuri Gagarin Saves the Galaxy" * "Bored World" * "Twarrior" * "Rat" * "Randomize" (part of the "Forward" collection) * "Lacero", prequel to '' Ready Player One'' ( Ernest Cline, ed.),
Subterranean Press Subterranean Press is a small press publisher in Burton, Michigan. Subterranean is best known for publishing genre fiction, primarily Horror fiction, horror, suspense and dark mystery, fantasy, and science fiction. In addition to publishing novel ...
2016


Comics and graphic novels

* ''
Casey and Andy ''Casey and Andy'' (stylised as ''Casey & Andy'', or simply ''C&A'') is a webcomic series written and illustrated by Andy Weir. Following the adventures of two mad scientists (fictionalized versions of Weir himself and his best friend Casey Grim ...
'' (2001–2008), a webcomic written and drawn by Weir * '' Cheshire Crossing'' (independent web version 2006–2008 with art by Weir; Tapas web version 2017–2019 and Random House 2019 with art by Sarah Andersen)


Audio

* '' James Moriarty, Consulting Criminal'' (Audible Studios 2017) * ''The Egg and Other Stories'' (Audible Studios 2017)


Sourcebooks

* '' GURPS Casey and Andy'' (artwork by Weir; written by David Morgan-Mar based on Weir's webcomic; Steve Jackson Games 2005)


Other works

* ''Der Mars Survival Guide'' , an interview with Weir and his tips for surviving on Mars, published as a booklet


Awards


Notes


References


External links

*
Original site with the Creative Works of Andy Weir

Science & Film interview with Weir
about '' The Martian'' * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weir, Andy 1972 births Living people People from Davis, California American science fiction writers American male novelists 21st-century American novelists American agnostics John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer winners Sandia National Laboratories people 21st-century American male writers Novelists from California Andy Weir