Lawrence Watt-Evans was bom and raised in eastern Massachusetts, the fourth of six children in a house full of books. Both parents were inveterate readers, and both enjoyed science fiction; he grew up reading anything handy, including a wide variety of speculative fiction. His first attempts at writing SF were made at the age of seven.
After surviving twelve years of public schooling, he followed in the footsteps of father and grandfather and attended Princeton University. Less successful than his ancestors, he left without a degree after two attempts.
Being qualified for no other enjoyable work-he had discovered working in ladder factories, supermarkets, or fast-food restaurants to be something less than enjoyable-he began trying to sell his writing between halves of his college career, with a notable lack of success. After his final departure from Princeton, however, he produced The Lure of the Basilisk, which sold readily, beginning his career as a full-time writer. Nightside City is his twelfth novel; of the twelve, six are science fiction and six are fantasy.
He married in 1977, has two children, and lives in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.