Ken MacLeod
Ken MacLeod was born in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis. He has an Honours and Masters degree in biological subjects and worked for some years in the IT industry.
Since 1997 Ken has been a full-time writer. In 2009 he was writer-in-residence at the ESRC Genomics Policy and Research Forum at Edinburgh University.
Ken is the author of 13 novels, from 'The star fraction'(1995) to 'Intrusion' (2012), and many articles and short stories. His novels and stories have received three BSFA awards and three Prometheus Awards. Several have been short-listed for the Arthur C Clarke Award and the Hugo Award. Ken's blog is 'The early days of a better nation'.
Science fiction author Ken MacLeod talks about the inspiration and ideas behind his writing.
You can also read a transcript of this video.
Author highlights in National Library of Scotland collections
The star fraction
The first of Ken MacLeod's novels to be shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke award.
In a turbulent 21st century, Britain is ruled by an absentee Hanoverian royal family and controlled by US / UN technology cops. Security mercenary Mohn Kohn, Janis Taine, a scientist on the run from the US / UN and Jordan Brown, a teenage refugee from a religious fundamentalist cult, become caught up in a series of events controlled by a rogue computer program that could change the world.
Night sessions
A bishop is dead. As Detective Inspector Adam Ferguson picks through the rubble of the tiny church, he discovers that it was deliberately bombed. That it's a terrorist act is soon beyond doubt. It's been a long time since anyone saw anything like this. Terrorism is history … After the Middle East wars and the rising sea levels — after Armageddon and the Flood — came the Great Rejection. The first Enlightenment separated church from state. 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. Now someone is killing them. At first, suspicion falls on atheists more militant than the secular authorities. But when the target list expands to include the godless, it becomes evident that something very old has risen from the ashes. Old and very, very dangerous.