BIOGRAPHY
Born in Quebec and raised in California, Ray Nayler has lived and worked abroad for nearly half his life in Russia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, and Kosovo. A Russian speaker, he has also learned Turkmen, Albanian, Azerbaijani Turkish, and Vietnamese. Ray is a Foreign Service Officer, and previously worked in international educational development, as well as serving in the Peace Corps in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. In Vietnam he was Environment, Science, Technology, and Health Officer at the U.S. consulate in Ho Chi Minh City. Beginning in September 2022, he will serve as the international advisor to the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
An experienced writer of short stories, poetry, and travelogues, Ray began publishing speculative fiction in 2015 in the pages of Asimov’s with the short story "Mutability" Since then, his critically acclaimed stories have seen print in Clarkesworld, Analog, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Lightspeed, and Nightmare, as well as in several Locus Recommended Reading lists and “Best of the Year” anthologies. His story "Winter Timeshare” from the January/February 2017 issue of Asimov's was collected by the late Gardner Dozois in The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction. His story "The Ocean Between the Leaves" from the July/August 2019 issue of Asimov's was selected for The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 5, edited by Neil Clarke, and his story "Father" from the July/August 2020 issue of Asimov's is in The Year's Best Science Fiction Volume 2, edited by Jonathan Strahan. Ray's short story "Yesterday's Wolf" won the Clarkesworld Reader's Choice Award for 2021.
Ray has published in many genres, from mainstream "literary" fiction to comics. His short stories across numerous genres have appeared in Ellery Queen, Crimewave, Hardboiled, Cemetery Dance, Deathrealm, Queen's Quarterly, and the Berkeley Fiction Review, among other journals. Ray is also a widely published poet, (sometimes publishing under his full name, Raynald Patrice Desmeules Nayler,) with work in the Atlanta Review, the Beloit Poetry Journal, Weave, Juked, Able Muse, Sentence, and many more.
Ray currently lives in Pristina, Kosovo with his wife Anna, their daughter Lydia, and two rescued cats – one Tajik, one American. Ray is represented by Seth Fishman at the Gernert Company. His literary debut The Mountain in the Sea released October 4, 2022 from MCD x FSG and is available for pre-order now.
Order The Mountain in the Sea from: IndieBound Amazon Barnes & Noble Target
Born in Quebec and raised in California, Ray Nayler has lived and worked abroad for nearly half his life in Russia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, and Kosovo. A Russian speaker, he has also learned Turkmen, Albanian, Azerbaijani Turkish, and Vietnamese. Ray is a Foreign Service Officer, and previously worked in international educational development, as well as serving in the Peace Corps in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. In Vietnam he was Environment, Science, Technology, and Health Officer at the U.S. consulate in Ho Chi Minh City. Beginning in September 2022, he will serve as the international advisor to the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
An experienced writer of short stories, poetry, and travelogues, Ray began publishing speculative fiction in 2015 in the pages of Asimov’s with the short story "Mutability" Since then, his critically acclaimed stories have seen print in Clarkesworld, Analog, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Lightspeed, and Nightmare, as well as in several Locus Recommended Reading lists and “Best of the Year” anthologies. His story "Winter Timeshare” from the January/February 2017 issue of Asimov's was collected by the late Gardner Dozois in The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction. His story "The Ocean Between the Leaves" from the July/August 2019 issue of Asimov's was selected for The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 5, edited by Neil Clarke, and his story "Father" from the July/August 2020 issue of Asimov's is in The Year's Best Science Fiction Volume 2, edited by Jonathan Strahan. Ray's short story "Yesterday's Wolf" won the Clarkesworld Reader's Choice Award for 2021.
Ray has published in many genres, from mainstream "literary" fiction to comics. His short stories across numerous genres have appeared in Ellery Queen, Crimewave, Hardboiled, Cemetery Dance, Deathrealm, Queen's Quarterly, and the Berkeley Fiction Review, among other journals. Ray is also a widely published poet, (sometimes publishing under his full name, Raynald Patrice Desmeules Nayler,) with work in the Atlanta Review, the Beloit Poetry Journal, Weave, Juked, Able Muse, Sentence, and many more.
Ray currently lives in Pristina, Kosovo with his wife Anna, their daughter Lydia, and two rescued cats – one Tajik, one American. Ray is represented by Seth Fishman at the Gernert Company. His literary debut The Mountain in the Sea released October 4, 2022 from MCD x FSG and is available for pre-order now.
Order The Mountain in the Sea from: IndieBound Amazon Barnes & Noble Target
BIBLIOGRAPHY
"The Death of Fire Station 10" in The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
"The Ocean Between the Leaves" in The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
"Delinquencies: Five Poems from the Sonnet Sequence Subrevisions" in Poetry Pacific May 2021
"The Ocean Between the Leaves" (reprint) in Lightspeed April 2021
"Sarcophagus" in Clarkesworld April 2021
"The Shadow of His Wings" in Analog March/April 2021
"Terra Rasa" by Anastasia Bookreyeva (as translator) in Clarkesworld, February 2021
"A Rocket for Dimitrios" in Asimov's January/February 2021 (read the prequel, "The Disintegration Loops" here)
"Evrim's Children" in Dark Matter Magazine January 2021
"The Ocean Between The Leaves" in The Year's Best Science Fiction, Volume 5
"Outside of Omaha" in Nightmare September 2020
"Fire in the Bone" in XB-1 (Czech language) September 2020
"The Swallows of the Storm" in Lightspeed July 2020
"Father" in Asimov's July/August 2020
"Eyes of the Forest" in XB-1 (Czech Language) August 2020
"The Ocean Between The Leaves" in The Year's Top Hard Science Fiction Stories June 2020
"Albedo Season" in Clarkesworld May 2020
"Eyes of the Forest" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction May/June 2020
"Return to the Red Castle" in Asimov's March/April 2020
"The Disintegration Loops" in Asimov's November/December 2019
"The Death of Fire Station 10" in Lightspeed October 2019 with an audio version here
"Beyond the High Altar" in Nightmare September 2019 with text and audio
"The Ocean Between the Leaves" (SF novelette) July/August 2019 issue of Asimov's, with an audio version for the Asimov's blog here
"Winter Timeshare" in Forever Magazine #53 June 2019
"Worlds to Live in: Atmosphere" blog for Asimov's
"Winter Timeshare" in The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction Gardner Dozois, ed.
"Fire in the Bone" (SF SS) in Clarkesworld January 2019 with an audio version here.
"Incident at San Juan Bautista" (SF SS) in Asimov's November/December 2018
"Winter Timeshare" in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Fifth Annual Collection ed: Gardner Dozois: July 2018
"Winter Timeshare" in The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018 ed: Rich Horton (Originally published in Asimov's, January 2017)
"Winter Timeshare" (SF SS) in Asimov's, January / February 2017
"Do Not Forget Me" (SF SS) in Asimov's March 2016
"Mutability" (SF SS) in The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016, Ed. Rich Horton 2016
Mutability (SF SS, Hungarian translation) in Galaktika 311 February 2016
"Mutability" (SF SS) in Asimov's June 2015
"In the Petrified Forest" in Cobalt December 2020
"The Ocean Between The Leaves" in The Year's Best Science Fiction, Volume 5
"Outside of Omaha" in Nightmare September 2020
"Architecture" (short story) in Queen's Review Fall 2020
"Analog" (poem) in California Quarterly Fall 2020
"Fire in the Bone" in XB-1 (Czech language) September 2020
"The Swallows of the Storm" in Lightspeed July 2020
"Father" in Asimov's July/August 2020
"Eyes of the Forest" in XB-1 (Czech Language) August 2020
"The Ocean Between The Leaves" in The Year's Top Hard Science Fiction Stories June 2020
"Albedo Season" in Clarkesworld May 2020
"Eyes of the Forest" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction May/June 2020
"Return to the Red Castle" in Asimov's March/April 2020
"The Disintegration Loops" in Asimov's November/December 2019
"The Death of Fire Station 10" in Lightspeed October 2019 with an audio version here
"Beyond the High Altar" in Nightmare September 2019 with text and audio
"The Drought Cycle" and "El Niño" in The Potomac Review Issue 65
"If I Were You" in Yemassee
"The Ocean Between the Leaves" (SF novelette) July/August 2019 issue of Asimov's, with an audio version for the Asimov's blog here
"Winter Timeshare" in Forever Magazine #53 June 2019
"Worlds to Live in: Atmosphere" blog for Asimov's
"Winter Timeshare" in The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction Gardner Dozois, ed.
"Fire in the Bone" (SF SS) in Clarkesworld January 2019 with an audio version here.
"Aphrodisias" (poem) in Silk Road Review issue 20.
"Torques / Double Shifts at the KFC" (poetry) in Atlanta Review Fall / Winter 2018
"Incident at San Juan Bautista" (SF SS) in Asimov's November/December 2018
"Winter Timeshare" in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Fifth Annual Collection ed: Gardner Dozois: July 2018
"Winter Timeshare" in The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018 ed: Rich Horton (Originally published in Asimov's, January 2017)
"A Threnody for Hazan" (SF Novelette) in Asimov's March/April 2018
"A Strange Feeling in a Parking Lot / The Tree" (poem) in Crab Creek Review 2018
"I ran way but some, by choice, remain . . ." (poem) in Potomac Review 2018
"Photo Submitted as Evidence of Relationship" (graphic poem) in Driftwood Press 2017
"Kyzyl-Orda" (poem) in Badlands Literary Journal, January 2017
"Winter Timeshare" (SF SS) in Asimov's, January / February 2017
"August, Ashgabat" (poem) in Mud Season Review Spring 2016
"Do Not Forget Me" (SF SS) in Asimov's March 2016
"Mutability" (SF SS) in The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016, Ed. Rich Horton 2016
"Beehive, Birdbath, Gas Station Flowers" (poem) in Minetta Review Fall 2015
"The Cigarette Machine" (graphic SS) in Pinball #5 2016
"To the Savages" in Antiphon #12 2016
Mutability (SF SS, Hungarian translation) in Galaktika 311 February 2016
"Mutability" (SF SS) in Asimov's June 2015
Two Suburban Sonnets (poem) in The Collapsar
Suburban Triptych (poem) in Juked Number 11
Letters to Cities in the Fall (prose poem) in Sentence: A Journal of Prose Poetics Issue 10
"Casting" (poem) in Weave Magazine Issue 11
"Confluence," "Varangian," "The Wooden Sword," "My Uncle's Grand Tour," "Wakhan (Narasimha)" (poems) in Elohi Gadugi
Three Suburban Sonnets (poems) in Clapboard House Journal
Three Suburban Sonnets (poems) (Eclectica Magazine April/May 2013)
Streptomyces (poem) (PiF Magazine December 2012)
A Fat Girl in Paris (poem) (PiF Magazine December 2012)
Custer Shoots His Horse (poem) (PiF Magazine November 2012)
Three Suburban Sonnets (poems) (Able Muse Volume 15)
"Old School" (poem) (Beloit Poetry Review, Summer 2013)
"Never have a town named after you" (poem) (Phantom Limb, Summer 2013)
Present in the Past (poem) (Shadow Road Quarterly, Fall 2013)
The Idiot Birds (SS) (nthposition.com) 2009
"Catch" (noir SS) in Crimewave 7: The Last Sunset 2003
"Cutting Wood, Carrying Water" (noir SS) in Crimewave 4: Mood Indigo 2002
"Because I Could Not Stop For Death" (noir SS) in Cemetery Dance #38, 2002
"The Bat House" (noir SS) in Ellery Queen April 2002
American Graveyards (detective novella) TTA Press 2001
"Population Zero"(noir SS) in Blue Murder 20, 2001
"Sleepwalking" (noir SS) in Blue Murder 18, 2001
"Saturday Night Special" (noir SS) in Ellery Queen February 2001
"The Ride" (noir SS) in The Edge: Tales of Suspense #5, 1999
"The Watchman" (SS) in Berkeley Fiction Review 18, 1998
"The Ropes of the Lasso Inn" (horror SS) Deathrealm Winter 1996/1997
"Waiting" (SS) Lines in the Sand 1996
"The Death of Fire Station 10" in The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
"The Ocean Between the Leaves" in The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
"Delinquencies: Five Poems from the Sonnet Sequence Subrevisions" in Poetry Pacific May 2021
"The Ocean Between the Leaves" (reprint) in Lightspeed April 2021
"Sarcophagus" in Clarkesworld April 2021
"The Shadow of His Wings" in Analog March/April 2021
"Terra Rasa" by Anastasia Bookreyeva (as translator) in Clarkesworld, February 2021
"A Rocket for Dimitrios" in Asimov's January/February 2021 (read the prequel, "The Disintegration Loops" here)
"Evrim's Children" in Dark Matter Magazine January 2021
"The Ocean Between The Leaves" in The Year's Best Science Fiction, Volume 5
"Outside of Omaha" in Nightmare September 2020
"Fire in the Bone" in XB-1 (Czech language) September 2020
"The Swallows of the Storm" in Lightspeed July 2020
"Father" in Asimov's July/August 2020
"Eyes of the Forest" in XB-1 (Czech Language) August 2020
"The Ocean Between The Leaves" in The Year's Top Hard Science Fiction Stories June 2020
"Albedo Season" in Clarkesworld May 2020
"Eyes of the Forest" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction May/June 2020
"Return to the Red Castle" in Asimov's March/April 2020
"The Disintegration Loops" in Asimov's November/December 2019
"The Death of Fire Station 10" in Lightspeed October 2019 with an audio version here
"Beyond the High Altar" in Nightmare September 2019 with text and audio
"The Ocean Between the Leaves" (SF novelette) July/August 2019 issue of Asimov's, with an audio version for the Asimov's blog here
"Winter Timeshare" in Forever Magazine #53 June 2019
"Worlds to Live in: Atmosphere" blog for Asimov's
"Winter Timeshare" in The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction Gardner Dozois, ed.
"Fire in the Bone" (SF SS) in Clarkesworld January 2019 with an audio version here.
"Incident at San Juan Bautista" (SF SS) in Asimov's November/December 2018
"Winter Timeshare" in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Fifth Annual Collection ed: Gardner Dozois: July 2018
"Winter Timeshare" in The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018 ed: Rich Horton (Originally published in Asimov's, January 2017)
"Winter Timeshare" (SF SS) in Asimov's, January / February 2017
"Do Not Forget Me" (SF SS) in Asimov's March 2016
"Mutability" (SF SS) in The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016, Ed. Rich Horton 2016
Mutability (SF SS, Hungarian translation) in Galaktika 311 February 2016
"Mutability" (SF SS) in Asimov's June 2015
"In the Petrified Forest" in Cobalt December 2020
"The Ocean Between The Leaves" in The Year's Best Science Fiction, Volume 5
"Outside of Omaha" in Nightmare September 2020
"Architecture" (short story) in Queen's Review Fall 2020
"Analog" (poem) in California Quarterly Fall 2020
"Fire in the Bone" in XB-1 (Czech language) September 2020
"The Swallows of the Storm" in Lightspeed July 2020
"Father" in Asimov's July/August 2020
"Eyes of the Forest" in XB-1 (Czech Language) August 2020
"The Ocean Between The Leaves" in The Year's Top Hard Science Fiction Stories June 2020
"Albedo Season" in Clarkesworld May 2020
"Eyes of the Forest" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction May/June 2020
"Return to the Red Castle" in Asimov's March/April 2020
"The Disintegration Loops" in Asimov's November/December 2019
"The Death of Fire Station 10" in Lightspeed October 2019 with an audio version here
"Beyond the High Altar" in Nightmare September 2019 with text and audio
"The Drought Cycle" and "El Niño" in The Potomac Review Issue 65
"If I Were You" in Yemassee
"The Ocean Between the Leaves" (SF novelette) July/August 2019 issue of Asimov's, with an audio version for the Asimov's blog here
"Winter Timeshare" in Forever Magazine #53 June 2019
"Worlds to Live in: Atmosphere" blog for Asimov's
"Winter Timeshare" in The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction Gardner Dozois, ed.
"Fire in the Bone" (SF SS) in Clarkesworld January 2019 with an audio version here.
"Aphrodisias" (poem) in Silk Road Review issue 20.
"Torques / Double Shifts at the KFC" (poetry) in Atlanta Review Fall / Winter 2018
"Incident at San Juan Bautista" (SF SS) in Asimov's November/December 2018
"Winter Timeshare" in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Fifth Annual Collection ed: Gardner Dozois: July 2018
"Winter Timeshare" in The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018 ed: Rich Horton (Originally published in Asimov's, January 2017)
"A Threnody for Hazan" (SF Novelette) in Asimov's March/April 2018
"A Strange Feeling in a Parking Lot / The Tree" (poem) in Crab Creek Review 2018
"I ran way but some, by choice, remain . . ." (poem) in Potomac Review 2018
"Photo Submitted as Evidence of Relationship" (graphic poem) in Driftwood Press 2017
"Kyzyl-Orda" (poem) in Badlands Literary Journal, January 2017
"Winter Timeshare" (SF SS) in Asimov's, January / February 2017
"August, Ashgabat" (poem) in Mud Season Review Spring 2016
"Do Not Forget Me" (SF SS) in Asimov's March 2016
"Mutability" (SF SS) in The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016, Ed. Rich Horton 2016
"Beehive, Birdbath, Gas Station Flowers" (poem) in Minetta Review Fall 2015
"The Cigarette Machine" (graphic SS) in Pinball #5 2016
"To the Savages" in Antiphon #12 2016
Mutability (SF SS, Hungarian translation) in Galaktika 311 February 2016
"Mutability" (SF SS) in Asimov's June 2015
Two Suburban Sonnets (poem) in The Collapsar
Suburban Triptych (poem) in Juked Number 11
Letters to Cities in the Fall (prose poem) in Sentence: A Journal of Prose Poetics Issue 10
"Casting" (poem) in Weave Magazine Issue 11
"Confluence," "Varangian," "The Wooden Sword," "My Uncle's Grand Tour," "Wakhan (Narasimha)" (poems) in Elohi Gadugi
Three Suburban Sonnets (poems) in Clapboard House Journal
Three Suburban Sonnets (poems) (Eclectica Magazine April/May 2013)
Streptomyces (poem) (PiF Magazine December 2012)
A Fat Girl in Paris (poem) (PiF Magazine December 2012)
Custer Shoots His Horse (poem) (PiF Magazine November 2012)
Three Suburban Sonnets (poems) (Able Muse Volume 15)
"Old School" (poem) (Beloit Poetry Review, Summer 2013)
"Never have a town named after you" (poem) (Phantom Limb, Summer 2013)
Present in the Past (poem) (Shadow Road Quarterly, Fall 2013)
The Idiot Birds (SS) (nthposition.com) 2009
"Catch" (noir SS) in Crimewave 7: The Last Sunset 2003
"Cutting Wood, Carrying Water" (noir SS) in Crimewave 4: Mood Indigo 2002
"Because I Could Not Stop For Death" (noir SS) in Cemetery Dance #38, 2002
"The Bat House" (noir SS) in Ellery Queen April 2002
American Graveyards (detective novella) TTA Press 2001
"Population Zero"(noir SS) in Blue Murder 20, 2001
"Sleepwalking" (noir SS) in Blue Murder 18, 2001
"Saturday Night Special" (noir SS) in Ellery Queen February 2001
"The Ride" (noir SS) in The Edge: Tales of Suspense #5, 1999
"The Watchman" (SS) in Berkeley Fiction Review 18, 1998
"The Ropes of the Lasso Inn" (horror SS) Deathrealm Winter 1996/1997
"Waiting" (SS) Lines in the Sand 1996