Max Barry is an Australian who pretended to sell high-end computer systems for Hewlett-Packard while secretly writing his first novel, Syrup. In fact, he still has the laptop he wrote it on because HP forgot to ask for it back, but keep that to yourself.

He put an extra X in his name for Syrup because it seemed like a funny joke about marketing, failing to realize everyone would assume he was a pretentious asshole. He was born March 18, 1973 and lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he writes full-time, the advantage being that he can do it while wearing only boxer shorts.

Biography provided by the author, November 2002