Wil McCarthy

Wil McCarthy (born September 16, 1966) is an American science fiction novelist, president and co-founder of RavenBrick (a solar technology company),^[1] and the science columnist for Syfy. He currently resides in Colorado.^[2] Rich Man's Sky won the 2022 Prometheus Award. Beggar's Sky is a finalist for the 2025 Prometheus Award.

Wil McCarthy
Born	(1966-09-16) September 16, 1966 (age 58) Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	President, RavenBrick LLC
Language	English
Nationality	American
Genre	Science fiction
Subject	Science and technology
Notable awards	Prometheus Award
Website
wilmccarthy.com

Wil McCarthy popularized the concept of programmable matter, which he calls wellstone.

Bibliography

Novels

• Flies from the amber. 1995.
• Murder in the solid state. 1996.
• Bloom (1998) ISBN 0-345-40857-8
• Antediluvian (2019) ISBN 978-1481484312^[a]

Aggressor Six

1. Aggressor Six (1994) ISBN 0-451-45405-7
2. The Fall of Sirius (1996) ISBN 0-451-45485-5

The Queendom of Sol

Further information: The Queendom of Sol

1. The Collapsium (2000) ISBN 0-345-40856-X^[b]
2. The Wellstone (2003) ISBN 0-553-58446-4
3. Lost in Transmission (2004) ISBN 0-553-58447-2
4. To Crush the Moon. 2005.^[b]

Rich Man's Sky

1. Rich Man's Sky (2021) ISBN 9781982125295^[c]
2. Poor Man's Sky (2023) ISBN 9781982192341
3. Beggar's Sky (2024) ISBN 9781982193188

Short fiction

Stories^[d]

Title	Year	First published	Reprinted/collected	Notes
Wyatt Earp 2.0	2016	McCarthy, Wil (January–February 2016). "Wyatt Earp 2.0". Analog Science Fiction and Fact. 136 (1&2): 8–41.		Novella

• "Amerikano Hiaika", Aboriginal Science Fiction, May/June 1991.
• "Dirtyside Down", Universe 3, 1994.
• "The Dream of Houses", Analog, November 1995.^[e]
• "The Dream of Castles", Analog, April 1997.
• "The Dream of Nations", Analog, October 1998.^[e]
• "Once Upon a Matter Crushed", Science Fiction Age, May 1999.^[e][f][g]
• "No Job Too Small", Aboriginal Science Fiction, Spring 2001.
• "Pavement Birds", Analog, July/August 2002.
• "He Died that Day, in Thirty Years", Once Upon a Galaxy, 2002
• "Garbage Day", Analog, December 2002.^[h]

Non-fiction

• "Programmable Matter" (AKA "Programmable Matter: A Retrospective"), Nature, October 6, 2000. doi:10.1038/35036656.
• "Ultimate Alchemy", Wired 9.10, October 2001
• Hacking Matter (2003), ISBN 0-465-04428-X
• "This Looks Like a Job for...Superatoms", IEEE Spectrum, August 2005

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Notes

1. "Antediluvian", Publishers Weekly (book review), October 2019
2. Nebula Award nominee.
3. "Rich Man's Sky", Publishers Weekly (book review), April 2021
4. Short stories unless otherwise noted.
5. Appeared on the Locus recommended reading list.
6. Theodore Sturgeon Award Nominee.
7. Became the first portion of The Collapsium.
8. Became part of The Wellstone.

Other media

Radio plays

• I Love Bees, writer^[3][4]

Radio appearances

• Coast to Coast AM, "Programmable Matter", April 18, 2003^[5]
• Coast to Coast AM, "Quantum Dots", April 26, 2004^[6]