Andy Weir ( ; born June 16, 1972) is an American novelist. His 2011 novel The Martian was adapted into the 2015 film of the same name. He received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2016. His 2021 novel Project Hail Mary was a finalist for the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and was adapted into the 2026 film of the same name.
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Early life
Andy Weir was born in Davis, California, and grew up in Livermore, California. His father, John Weir, was a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and his mother was an electrical engineer. He was an only child, and his parents divorced when he was 8. Weir grew up reading classic science fiction such as the works of Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov. He attended Livermore High School. At the age of 15, he began working as a computer programmer for Sandia National Laboratories.
After high school, Weir studied computer science at the University of California, San Diego, although he did not graduate.
Career
Weir worked as a programmer for several software companies, including AOL, Palm, MobileIron, and Blizzard, where he worked on the video game Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness. Weir was fired from Blizzard in 1995 for poor performance. He later complained that the company's early structure did not provide adequate job training.
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, featuring fictionalized "mad scientist" 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), 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 and a one-act play, and is the overarching concept of 2017's Everybody, the third album by American rapper Logic.
Weir wrote his first published novel, The Martian, to be as scientifically accurate as possible, doing extensive research into orbital mechanics, conditions on the planet Mars, the history of human spaceflight, and botany. 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 bestseller list in 2014. The Wall Street Journal called it "the best pure sci-fi novel in years". It was adapted into a film in 2015 starring Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain.
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. Also in 2016, Weir released The Principles of Uncertainty, a collection of short stories, on the website/app Tapas.
Personal life
In 2015, he lived in Mountain View, California, in a rented two-bedroom apartment. Due to his fear of flying, he never visited the set of the film adaptation of The Martian in Budapest, which is where most of the interior scenes set on Mars were shot. In 2015, with the help of therapy and medication, he flew to Houston to visit the Johnson Space Center and to San Diego to attend San Diego Comic-Con.
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 described himself as agnostic and his political views as fiscally conservative and socially liberal in 2012. He has mentioned having aphantasia.
Works
Weir's original website lists his works, with free versions of many of his short stories.
Novels
Theft of Pride (web version 2000)
The Martian (web version 2011; Random House 2014) ISBN 978-0804139021
"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 (Random House 2017) ISBN 978-0553448122
Project Hail Mary (Random House 2021) ISBN 978-0593135204
Serial novels and long stories
Bonnie MacKenzie: The Life Story of a Mermaid
Moriarty (Holmesian fan fiction)
The Romana Chronicles/The Xoloans (Doctor Who 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 2016
Comics and graphic novels
Casey and Andy (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) ISBN 978-0399582073
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 (in German), an interview with Weir and his tips for surviving on Mars, published as a booklet