Ken MacLeod

(born August 1954 - ) - Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, now in West Lothian

Following the US publication of Ken MacLeod's Fall Revolution series, online magazine salon.com joked that MacLeod was a "Trotskyite libertarian cyberpunk". But more than a joke, this is a good description of his early science fiction novels.

Born in Stornoway, Ken MacLeod is perhaps Scotland's most political of authors. He studied Zoology at Glasgow University, during which time he became politically active. He has been a member of the International Marxist Group, the Communist Party of Great Britain, and other left-wing organisations, and his politics are prominent in his novels.

His first series of novels, the Fall Revolution series (starting with The Star Fraction), mix socialism, high technology and humour. The Engines of Light trilogy feels more like a traditional 'space opera'. Learning the World, is less political but demonstrates his keen ability to create alien worlds which are both believable and different; The Execution Channel is a near-future novel of politics and lies.

Ken MacLeod is regularly shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke and Hugo awards, the most prestigious science fiction awards.

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Cosmonaut Keep - Paperback
After the conquest of Europe, the Russians quit stalling. Their troops reached the Atlantic, their cosmonauts reached the asteroids. Now the stars await them. Something else got there first.
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£6.79
Dark Light - Paperback
With its human crew aboard, the Bright Star reaches Croatan. It is a world light years from Earth, but one whose inhabitants originate from our distant past. This is the Second Sphere, the new home of mankind - and species long forgotten.
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The Execution Channel - Paperback
As the European bloc and the US play games of brinkmanship which bring them closer to war, Britain finds itself on the political fence. Recent policy binds it to the US but history and geography tend it towards Europe. A decision one way or another is becoming imperative. Unfortunately for Britain, not everyone is prepared to wait.
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Intrusion - Hardback
Imagine a near-future city, say London, where medical science has advanced beyond our own and a single-dose pill has been developed that, taken when pregnant, eradicates many common genetic defects from an unborn child. Hope Morrison is expecting her second child and refuses to take The Fix, as the pill is known.
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Learning The World: A Novel Of First Contact - Paperback
Reminding us that the universe is stranger than we imagine, this is a novel of exploration, discovery and Mankind's destiny amongst the stars.
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The Night Sessions - Hardback
The first Enlightenment separated church from state - now the second Enlightenment has separated religion from politics. In this enlightened age there's no persecution. But the millions who still believe and worship are a marginal and mistrusted minority - and now someone is killing them.
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The Restoration Game - Hardback
There is no such place as Krassnia. Lucy Stone should know - she was born there. In that tiny, troubled region of the former Soviet Union, revolution is brewing. Its organisers need a safe place to meet, and where better than the virtual spaces of an online game?
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The Restoration Game - Paperback
There is no such place as Krassnia. Lucy Stone should know - she was born there. In that tiny, troubled region of the former Soviet Union, revolution is brewing. Its organisers need a safe place to meet, and where better than the virtual spaces of an online game?
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The Stone Canal - Paperback
Jonathan Wilde is dead. His memory is immortal. The man who walks into Ship City remembers all of Wilde's life & death. That 21st-century anarchist agitator took some of his secrets to his grave, & beyond. Everything comes together at the Stone Canal.