Walter Jon Williams was born in Minnesota, and now lives in New Mexico. He is the author of thirty-one novels and three collections of short fiction.

His first novel to attract serious public attention was Hardwired (1986), described by Roger Zelazny as "a tough, sleek juggernaut of a story, punctuated by strobe-light movements, coursing to the wail of jets and the twang of steel guitars." In 2001 he won a Nebula Award for his novelette, “Daddy’s World,” and won again in 2005 for “The Green Leopard Plague.”

His latest work is Deep State, a near-future thriller set in the world of alternate reality gaming.

Walter has also written for the screen and for television, and has worked in the gaming field. He was a writer for the alternate reality game Last Call Poker, and has scripted the recent mega-hit Spore.