Ray Nayler

Hugo and Locus Award winning author Ray Nayler was born in Quebec and raised in California. He lived and worked abroad for two decades in Russia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Balkans.

​Ray's Locus Award winning first novel was The Mountain in the Sea, which was also a finalist for the Nebula, the Arthur C. Clarke, and the Los Angeles Times' Ray Bradbury Awards.

Ray's novella The Tusks of Extinction won the 2025 Hugo Award, and was a Nebula and Locus Award finalist.

His third book, the cybernetic political thriller Where the Axe is Buried, was published in April of 2025.

His next book, Palaces of the Crow, was published on May 19, 2026.

​Ray most recently served as international advisor to the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and as visiting scholar at the George Washington University's Institute for International Science and Technology Policy.

Ray lives in Washington, DC with his wife Anna, their daughter Lydia, and two rescued cats.