Ken MacLeod Books

The narrative continues with The Cassini Division and The Sky Road, concluding Ken MacLeod's acclaimed Fall Revolution series. These novels explore themes of political intrigue, technological advancements, and the complexities of human society in a richly imagined future. The intertwining stories feature diverse characters navigating a universe shaped by revolutionary ideas and the consequences of their actions, solidifying MacLeod's reputation in the science fiction genre.

Science fiction legend Ken MacLeod returns with the thrilling conclusion to the Lightspeed trilogy, a gripping tale of first contact and dark conspiracies set among the stars.

The great sunliner 'But the Sky, My Lady! The Sky!' is nearing the end of a four-hundred-year journey. A ship-born generation is tense with expectation for the new system that is to be their home. Expecting to find nothing more complex than bacteria and algae, the detection of electronic signals from one of the planets comes as a shock. In millennia of slow expansion, humanity has never encountered aliens, and yet these new signals cannot be ignored. They suspect a fast robot probe has overtaken them, and send probes of their own to investigate. On a world called Ground, whose inhabitants are struggling into the age of radio, petroleum and powered flight, a young astronomer searching for distant planets detects an anomaly that he presumes must be a comet. His friend, a brilliant foreign physicist, calculates the orbit, only to discover an anomaly of his own. The comet is slowing down ...

From Arthur C. Clarke Award-nominated author Ken MacLeod comes Emergence, the final instalment in the Corporation Wars trilogy, an epic science fiction adventure told against a backdrop of interstellar drone warfare, virtual reality and an AI revolution

Three books in one: this paperback collects Ken MacLeod's Corporation Wars trilogy - man and machine compete at the far reaches of space in this robot's eye view of a robot revolt

Science fiction legend Ken MacLeod returns with book two in the Lightspeed trilogy, a gripping tale of first contact and dark conspiracies set among the stars.

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? Lucy, who works for a start-up games company in Edinburgh, has a project that almost seems made for the job: its original inspiration came from The Krassniad - an epic tale, based on Krassnian folklore, concocted by Lucy's mother who studied there in the 1980s. As Lucy digs up details about her birthplace to slot into the game, she finds her interest in the open secrets of her family's past - and the darker secrets of Krassnia's - has not gone unnoticed. When a Russian - Georgian border war breaks out, Lucy has to move fast - and return to Krassnia herself, to the heart of the mountain that holds Krassnia's darkest and oldest secret. But nothing Lucy has discovered can possibly prepare her for the crucial role she is destined to play in The Restoration Game . . .

LIFE ON NEW MARS... is tough for humans, but death's only a minor inconvenience. The machines know their place, and only the Abolitionists object.Until a young man walks into Ship City, a clone who remembers Jon Wilde's life as an anarchist with nuclear capability, who was accused of losing World War 3. He also remembers Dave Reid, the city's boss, who haunts Wilde's memory to the end...a cold death in Kazakhstan. In Reid's cyborg concubine, Dee Model, both men see the image of their obsessions, and information that wants to be free. But she has ideas of her own...The Stone Canal moves from the recent past into a distant future, where long lives and strange deaths await those who survive the wars and revolutions to come.

In 'The Cassini Division', Jonathan Wilde returns to a transformed Earth in the 25th century. The narrative explores the changes that occurred and the events following his return.

Exploring themes of revolution and societal change, this volume features two pivotal works by Ken MacLeod set in a future shaped by political upheaval and technological advancement. "The Star Fraction" delves into a divided world where ideologies clash, while "The Stone Canal" examines identity and the consequences of choices in a richly imagined universe. Together, they form a compelling narrative that challenges perceptions of progress and the human condition.

In a post-World War 3 world marked by devastation, young graduate Clovis embarks on a journey of historical research while becoming captivated by Merrial, who is striving to establish a new civilization away from Earth.

The acclaimed Engines of Light series that began with COSMONAUT KEEP and DARK LIGHT reaches its staggering conclusion in ENGINE CITY. For ten thousand years the varied races of the Second Sphere lived in peaceful co-existence, building their civilisations under the gaze of the ever-vigilant cometary minds. But then the cosmonauts of the Bright Star came. And with them they have brought a revolution ... For one of the Bright Star's crew has warned that an invasion of the Second Sphere is imminent and has armed the ancient city of Nova Babylonia against it. Another cosmonaut thinks he's the very man to lead the invasion. The new regime of Nova Babylonia is certain it can withstand the alien onslaught. Whether it can defend itself against Matt Cairns is a question only the gods can answer ... Find out more about this and other titles at www.orbitbooks.co.uk

Ken MacLeod's most relevant and accessible novel to date.

A stunning new SF thriller from the critically acclaimed author of The Execution Channel

The debut novel from a major force in SF, the first of his novels to be shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award.

Matt Cairns is a 21st-century outlaw Programmer who takes on the shady jobs no one else will touch. Against his better judgment, he accepts an assignment to crack the Marshall Titov, a top-secret orbital station operated by the European Space Agency. But what Matt will discover there will propel him on an extraordinary and quite unexpected journey.Gregor Cairns is an exobiology student and descendant of one of Terra Nova's first families. Hopelessly infatuated with a lovely young trader's daughter, he is unaware that his research partner, Elizabeth, has fallen in love with him. Together, Gregor and Elizabeth confront the great work his family began three centuries earlier-to rediscover the secret of interstellar travel.Ranging from a gritty near-future Earth to a distant alien world, Cosmonaut Keep is contemporary science fiction at its highest level, a visionary epic filled with daring individuals seeking a place for themselves in a vast, complex, and enigmatic universe. Cosmonaut Keep is a 2002 Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel.

Ken MacLeod continues the Corporation Wars trilogy in this action-packed science fiction adventure told against a backdrop of interstellar drone warfare, virtual reality, and an A.I. revolution. And the ultimate pay-off is DH-17, 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, reincarnated from a bloodier period in earth's history for one purpose only - to kill. But as old rivalries emerge and new ones form, Carlos must decide whether he's willing for fight for the company or die for himself.

In the aftermath of the Hard Rapture, a cataclysmic war sparked by the explosive evolution of Earth's artificial intelligence into godlike beings, a few remnants of humanity survived. Some even prospered. But a forgotten relic of the past now threatens their way of life.

They've died for the companies more times than they can remember. Now they must fight to live for themselves. Sentient machines work, fight and die in interstellar exploration and conflict for the benefit of their owners - the competing mining corporations of Earth. But sent over hundreds of light-years, commands are late to arrive and often hard to enforce. The machines must make their own decisions, and make them stick. With this newfound autonomy come new questions about their masters. The robots want answers. The companies would rather see them dead.

A disturbing and critically acclaimed novel with sinister echoes of 1984 and BRAVE NEW WORLD, from the award-winning author described by SFX as 'the modern day George Orwell'

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.