[1][2] He is the former chairman of Schrödinger, Inc.[2][3] A New York native and the son of two Holocaust survivors, Ardai told NPR in a May 2008 interview that the stories his parents told him as a child "were the most grim and frightening that you can imagine" and gave him the impression "there was a darker circle around a very small bit of light," something that enabled him to relate to his own characters' sufferings.

"[8] Sometime in the early 1990s, Shaw tasked Ardai and Jeff Bezos with coming up with potential online business ideas.

Ardai has also edited numerous short story collections such as The Return of the Black Widowers, Great Tales of Madness and the Macabre, and Futurecrime.

[14] In 1994, Ardai's short story "Nobody Wins," published in 1993 by Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, received a Shamus nomination for Best P.I.

[16] His second novel, Songs of Innocence, was called "an instant classic" by The Washington Post,[17] selected as one of the best books of the year by Publishers Weekly,[18] and won the 2008 Shamus Award.

[23] In 2010, Ardai began working as a writer and producer on the SyFy television series Haven,[24] inspired by the Hard Case Crime novel The Colorado Kid by Stephen King.

The book, which is drawn by Ang Hor Kheng, and features covers by Bill Sienkiewicz, Robert McGinnis, and Adam Hughes, centers upon weapons smuggler Joanna Tan, who after helping a convict escape prison, is chosen by the U.S. government to track him down and return him.

[13] The four-issue miniseries was conceived by Ardai when he conceived of Hard Case Crime Comics five years prior,[30] and he has likened Gun Honey to other espionage action thrillers that influenced it, such as James Bond,[31] as well as action/adventure stories featuring female protagonists, such as Modesty Blaise, Alias, Kill Bill,[30] and Barbarella.