Most Popular Books by Ken Macleod

An ancient starship from Earth reaches its destination after four hundred years of travel and makes a life-changing discovery in this compelling space opera. "MacLeod . . . delivers perhaps the finest novel of first contact since Vernor Vinge''s A Deepness in the Sky. . . . This is contemporary SF at its best."— Publishers Weekly Humanity has spread to every star within five hundred light-years of its half-forgotten origin, coloring the sky with a haze of habitats. Societies rise and fall. Incautious experiments burn fast and fade. On the fringes, less modified humans get on with the job of settling a universe that has, so far, been empty of intelligent life. The ancient starship But the Sky, My Lady! The Sky! is entering orbit around a promising new system after a four-hundred-year journey. For its long-lived inhabitants, the centuries have been busy. Now a younger generation is eager to settle the system. The ship is a seed-pod ready to burst. Then they detect curious electromagnetic emissions from the system''s Earth-like world. As the nature of the signals becomes clear, the choices facing the humans become stark. On Ground, second world from the sun, a young astronomer searches for his system''s outermost planet. A moving point of light thrills, then disappoints him. It''s only a comet. His physicist colleague Orro takes time off from trying to invent a flying-machine to calculate the comet''s trajectory. Something is very odd about that comet''s path. They are not the only ones for whom the world has changed . . . "Highly entertaining." — Locus "MacLeod continues to dazzle readers with vividly rendered landscapes of technological splendor and fascinating yet plausible visions of humanity''s future." — Booklist

With visionary epics like The Stone Canal, The Cassini Division, and Cosmonaut Keep, award-winning Scottish author Ken MacLeod has led a revolution in contemporary science fiction, blending cutting edge science and razor-sharp political insights with pure, over-the-top interstellar adventure. Now MacLeod takes this heady mix to a new level with a stunning new SF masterwork-- Newton''s Wake. In the aftermath of the Hard Rapture--a cataclysmic war sparked by the explosive evolution of Earth''s artificial intelligences into godlike beings--a few remnants of humanity managed to survive. Some even prospered. Lucinda Carlyle, head of an ambitious clan of galactic entrepreneurs, had carved out a profitable niche for herself and her kin by taking control of the Skein, a chain of interplanetary star-gates left behind by the posthumans. But on a world called Eurydice, a remote planet at the farthest rim of the galaxy, Lucinda stumbled upon a forgotten relic of the past that could threaten her way of life. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Life on New Mars is threatened with the arrival of a clone of the man blamed for starting World War III.

In this science fiction sequel to Cosmonaut Keep, a human and his friends travel to another planet to interrogate gods and solve a mystery. Intelligence, it turns out, is rare—on planetary surfaces. It thrives everywhere else, from the Oort-cloud fringes of star systems to the magma furnaces beneath planetary crusts. And among the most powerful of the galaxy''s intelligences, there are profound differences of opinion about how to deal with surface life-forms such as human beings. For, untold light years from Earth, the powers that rule the universe have been, for millennia, plucking humans (and other intelligent beings) from Earth and forcibly resettling them in a number of star systems close to one another, leaving them to develop on their own. A few generations ago, a small cadre of humans from Earth''s twenty-first century arrived in this "Second Sphere" on their own power—the first humans ever to do so. Their descendants have formed the "Cosmonaut" class that dominates Mingulay. Now, two hundred years later, Gregor Cairns and a small group of associates have rediscovered faster-than-light travel and traveled to the star system next door. They''re determined to find more of the original, mysteriously long-lived cosmonauts. They want answers. And for those answers, they intend to interrogate the gods.

Science fiction-roman.

Ken MacLeod is one of the brightest and most progressive of Britain’s “Hard SF” stars who navigate exciting new futures to the delight of legions of fans around the world. His works combine cutting-edge scientific speculation, socialist and anarchist themes, and a deeply humanistic vision. Described by fans and adversaries alike as a “techno-utopian socialist,” MacLeod thrusts his characters into uncanny encounters that have included AI singularities, divergent human evolution, and posthuman cyborg-resurrection. In his novella The Human Front, a young Scottish guerrilla fighter is drawn into low-intensity sectarian war in a high-intensity dystopian future, and the arrival of an alien intruder (complete with saucer!) calls for new tactics and strange alliances. Its companion piece, “Other Deviations,” first published in this edition, reveals the complex origins of MacLeod’s alternate history. Plus: “The Future Will Happen Here, Too,” in which a Hebridean writer celebrates the landscapes that shaped his work, measures Scotland’s past against humanity’s future, and peers into the eyes of an eel. And Featuring: our irreverent Outspoken Interview, a candid and often cantankerous conversation that showcases our author’s deep erudition and mordant wit.

The fate of a second attempt to conquer space hinges on the records left by Myra Godwin at the end of the first era of space flight centuries before.

"Now Ellen has a plan to rid humanity of this threat once and for all. But she needs to recruit the right people to her cause - and convince them to mistrust the post-humans as much as she does."--BOOK JACKET.

As a world war rages in an uncertain future, young teen guerilla fighter John Matheson must shift his tactics and alliances when an alien species arrives. Includes two essays and an interview with the author.

From the modern master of political SF, a tale of Apocalypse Soon

From the award-winning author called "science fiction''s freshest new writer" by "Salon.com" comes the concluding volume of The Engines of Light series.

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 ...

Back in print, the first half of Ken MacLeod''s landmark modern science fiction series about a balkanized future of dizzying possibilities. This volume comprises The Star Fraction and The Stone Canal.

Three books in one—An action-packed space opera trilogy set amid interstellar drone warfare, virtual reality, and an AI revolution. "Remarkably human, funny, and smartly designed. . . . It rips along on rockets." —Warren Ellis In deep space, ruthless corporations vie for control of scattered mining colonies, and war is an ever-present threat. Led by Seba, a newly sentient mining reboot, an AI revolution grows. Fighting them is Carlos, a grunt who is reincarnated over and over again to keep the "freeboots" in check. But he''s not sure whether he''s on the right side. Against a backdrop of interstellar drone combat Carlos and Seba must either find a way to rise above the games their masters are playing or die. And even dying might not be the end of it. The Corporation Wars The Corporation Wars: Dissidence The Corporation Wars: Insurgence The Corporation Wars: Emergence Praise for Ken MacLeod and the Corporation Wars Trilogy "[ The Corporation Wars ] is a tasty broth of ideas taking in virtual reality, artificial intelligence, the philosophy of law and disquisitions on military ethics." — The Herald (Glasgow) " Dissidence is the novel that''s direct yet still brims with ideas, politics and memorable characters, and...keeps things moving with the pace of an airport thriller." — SFX Magazine "MacLeod manages big ideas (political and futurological) and propulsive action without short-changing either side of that classic science-fictional tension-of-opposites." ― Locus on The Corporation Wars: Emergence "Ken MacLeod''s novels are fast, funny, and sophisticated. There can never be enough books like these: he is writing revolutionary SF." —Kim Stanley Robinson

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 organizers need a safe place to meet, and where better than the virtual spaces of an online game? Lucy, who works for a start-up games company in Edinburgh, has a project that almost seems made for the job: a game inspired by The Krassniad, an epic folk tale concocted by Lucy’s mother, Amanda, who studied there in the 1980s. Lucy knows Amanda is a spook. She knows her great-grandmother Eugenie also visited the country in the 1930s and met the man who originally collected Krassnian folklore, and who perished in Stalin’s terror. As Lucy digs up details about her birthplace to slot into the game, she finds the open secrets of her family’s past, the darker secrets of Krassnia’s past—and hints about the crucial role she is destined to play in The Restoration Game. Combining international intrigue with cutting-edge philosophical speculation, romance with adventure, and online gaming with real-life consequences, this book delivers as science fiction and as a sharp take on our present world from the viewpoint of a complex, engaging heroine who has to fight her way through a maze of political and family manipulation to take control of her own life.

The acclaimed space opera trilogy continues against a backdrop of interstellar drone warfare, virtual reality, and an A.I. revolution. "[ The Corporation Wars ] is a kind of action-packed Dirty Dozen or Suicide Squad scenario. . . . There''s lots of action in this second installment, including thrilling space battles and VR weirdness. . . . MacLeod does many astonishing things here. . . . He shows a keen hand with action sequences. And there is a generous amount of humor to leaven the otherwise dire and deadly consequences of the multi-front war." — Locus DIE FOR THE COMPANY, LIVE FOR THE PAY . . . and the ultimate pay-off is DH-seventeen, an Earth-like planet hundreds of light years from human habitation. Ruthless corporations vie over the prize remotely, and war is in full swing. But soldiers recruited to fight in the extremities of deep space come with their own problems, from A.I. minds in full rebellion to Carlos "the Terrorist" and his team of dead mercenaries who have been reincarnated from a bloodier period in Earth''s history for one purpose only—to kill.