Martin L. Shoemaker is a programmer who writes on the side… or maybe it’s the other way around. He told stories to imaginary friends and learned to type on his brother's manual typewriter even though he couldn't reach the keys. (He types with the keyboard in his lap still today.) He couldn't imagine any career but writing fiction... until his algebra teacher said, "This is a program. You should write one of these."

Fast forward 30 years of programming, writing, and teaching. He was named an MVP by Microsoft for his work with the developer community. He is an avid role-playing gamemaster, but that didn't satisfy his storytelling urge. He wrote, but he never submitted until his brother-in-law read a chapter and said, "That's not a chapter. That's a story. Send it in." It won second place in the Baen Memorial Writing Contest and earned him lunch with Buzz Aldrin. Programming never did that!

Martin hasn't stopped writing (or programming) since. His work has appeared in Analog, Galaxy's Edge, Digital Science Fiction, and select service garages worldwide. His novella "Murder on the Aldrin Express" was reprinted in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-First Annual Collection and in Year's Top Short SF Novels 4. Learn more at http://Shoemaker.Space.

As an author, Martin has sold stories to the following markets:

"Not Close Enough", in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, May 2013.

"Murder on the Aldrin Express", in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, September 2013.

"Brigas Nunca Mais", in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, March 2015.

"Il Gran Cavallo", in Galaxy's Edge #5, November 2013.

"Pallbearers", in Galaxy's Edge #7, March 2014.

"Murder on the Aldrin Express", in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-First Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois.

"Murder on the Aldrin Express", in The Year's Top Short SF Novels 4.

"The Night We Flushed the Old Town" in Therefore I Am: Digital Science Fiction Volume 2.

"Father-Daughter Outing", the cover story for Heir Apparent: Digital Science Fiction Volume 4.

"Gruff Riders" in The Gruff Variations: Writing for Charity Anthology, Vol. 1

His writing has also won the following awards:

Writers of the Future, Quarter 1, 2011: Finalist, "The Mother Anthony"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 2, 2011: Honorable Mention, "Father-Daughter Outing"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 3, 2011: Honorable Mention, "Scramble"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 4, 2011: Semi-Finalist, "A Most Auspicious Star"

The 2012 Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest: Second Place, "Scramble"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 1, 2012: Finalist, "One Last Chore for Grandpa"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 2, 2012: Honorable Mention, "Incoming"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 3, 2012: Honorable Mention, "Fog Traffic"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 4, 2012: Honorable Mention, "Mama's Little Angel"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 1, 2013: Honorable Mention, "The Books of Cheswick"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 2, 2013: Honorable Mention, "Killing Buddy"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 3, 2013: Honorable Mention, "In Its Shadow"

Writers of the Future, Quarter 1, 2014: THIRD PLACE, "Unrefined"

In addition, he has self-published seven stories and a collection, and has more in the works.

A Runelords Retrospective: David Farland's Signature Series Twenty Years Later