Ken MacLeod

2025-10-30T06:25:24Z

2A0D:6FC2:626F:F700:FDC8:C48:A4AE:72DB: /* Personal life */

{{short description|Scottish science fiction writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}{{Other people}}
{{Lead too short|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Ken MacLeod
| image = Ken McLeod 2005.JPG
| imagesize = 270px
| caption = Addressing the [[63rd World Science Fiction Convention]], [[Glasgow]], August 2005
| birth_name = Kenneth Macrae MacLeod
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1954|08|02|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Stornoway]], [[Ross and Cromarty]], Scotland
| death_date =
| occupation = Writer
| nationality = Scottish
| awards = [[BSFA Award]], [[Prometheus Award]]
| period =
| genre = [[Science fiction]]
| signature =
| website = {{URL|kenmacleod.blogspot.com}}
| language = English
| alma_mater = [[University of Glasgow]] (BS)
| children = 2
}}
[[File:Ken & Carol MacLeod, Boskone 43, 2006.jpg|thumb|Ken and Carol MacLeod at Boskone 43, 2006]]
'''Kenneth Macrae MacLeod''' (born 2 August 1954) is a Scottish [[science fiction]] writer. His novels ''The Sky Road'' and ''[[The Night Sessions]]'' won the [[BSFA Award for Best Novel|BSFA Award]]. MacLeod's novels have been nominated for the [[Arthur C. Clarke Award|Arthur C. Clarke]], [[Hugo Award for Best Novel|Hugo]], [[Nebula Award for Best Novel|Nebula]], [[Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel|Locus]], and [[John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel|Campbell Memorial]] awards for best novel on multiple occasions. In 2024 MacLeod was one of the Guests of Honour at the [[82nd World Science Fiction Convention]] in Glasgow.<ref>[https://glasgow2024.org/]</ref>

A [[Technological utopianism|techno-utopianist]], MacLeod makes frequent use of [[Libertarian socialism|libertarian socialist]] themes in his work; he is a three-time winner of the libertarian [[Prometheus Award]]. He sits on the advisory board of the [[Edinburgh Science#Edinburgh Science Festival|Edinburgh Science Festival]].

== Biography ==
MacLeod was born in [[Stornoway]], Scotland, in 1954.<ref name="sfsite">{{cite web |last=Raven |first=Paul |date=February 2007 |title=The New British Catastrophe |url=http://www.sfsite.com/02b/km242.htm |access-date=20 March 2012 |publisher=The SF Site}}</ref> He graduated from [[University of Glasgow]] with a degree in [[zoology]] in 1976, and he worked as a [[Programmer|computer programmer]] and wrote a master's thesis on [[biomechanics]].<ref name="KenBiog">{{cite web |title=Ken MacLeod's official page at Orbit Books |url=http://www.orbitbooks.co.uk/orbit/macleod-ken.asp?TAG=&CID=orbit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051217181001/http://www.orbitbooks.co.uk/orbit/macleod-ken.asp |archive-date=17 December 2005 |access-date=20 March 2012 |publisher=Orbitbooks.co.uk}}</ref> He was a [[Trotskyism|Trotskyist]] activist during the 1970s and early 1980s.<ref name="Walker">{{cite magazine |last=Walker |first=Jesse |author-link=Jesse Walker |date=November 2000 |title=Anarchies, States, and Utopias |url=http://reason.com/archives/2000/11/01/anarchies-states-and-utopias |access-date=20 March 2012 |magazine=Reason Magazine}}</ref> MacLeod is opposed to [[Scottish independence]].<ref>{{cite web |last=MacLeod |first=Ken |date=19 December 2012 |title=Never knowingly understated |url=http://kenmacleod.blogspot.ie/2012/12/never-knowingly-understated.html |access-date=27 February 2014 |website=The Early Days of A Better Nation |quote=Of the 27, I counted 15 who would give a definite Yes to independence. Only two of the others – [[Jenni Calder]] and myself – give a definite No.}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Married with two children,<ref name="sfsite" /> MacLeod lived in [[South Queensferry]] near [[Edinburgh]], before moving to [[Gourock]] (on the [[Firth of Clyde]]) in June 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://kenmacleod.blogspot.com/2018/03/other-good-news.html |first=Ken|last=MacLeod|title=Other Good News |website=The Early Days of a Better Nation |date=4 March 2018}}</ref> His wife died in August 2024.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kenmacleod.blogspot.com/2024/08/carol-ann-macleod-11-february-1952-to.html |first=Ken|last=MacLeod|title= Carol Ann MacLeod, 11 February 1952 to 16 August 2024 |website=The Early Days of a Better Nation |date=4 March 2018}}</ref>

==Writing==
MacLeod belongs to a group of British science fiction writers who specialise in [[hard science fiction]] and [[space opera]]. His contemporaries include [[Neal Asher]], [[Stephen Baxter (author)|Stephen Baxter]], [[Iain M. Banks]], [[Peter F. Hamilton]], [[Paul J. McAuley]], [[Alastair Reynolds]], [[Adam Roberts (British writer)|Adam Roberts]], [[Charles Stross]], [[Richard K. Morgan]], and [[Liz Williams]].

MacLeod's [[science fiction]] novels often explore [[Socialism|socialist]], [[Communism|communist]], and [[Anarchism|anarchist]] political ideas, especially [[Trotskyism]] and [[anarcho-capitalism]] (or extreme economic [[libertarianism]]).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lifeboat Foundation Bios: Ken MacLeod, M.Phil.|url=https://lifeboat.com/ex/bios.ken.macleod|access-date=2020-07-30|website=lifeboat.com}}</ref> Technical themes encompass [[technological singularity|singularities]], divergent human [[cultural evolution]], and [[Transhumanism|post-human]] [[cyborg]]-[[resurrection]]. MacLeod's general outlook can be best described as [[Technological utopianism|techno-utopian]] socialist, though unlike a majority of techno-utopians, he has expressed great scepticism over the possibility and especially the desirability of [[computational theory of mind|strong AI]].<ref name="ZoneInterview">{{cite web |title=SF Zone interview with MacLeod |url=http://www.zone-sf.com/kenmacleod.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051024053307/http://www.zone-sf.com/kenmacleod.html |archive-date=24 October 2005 |access-date=20 March 2012 |publisher=Zone-sf.com}}</ref><ref name="TrueKnowledge">{{cite book |title=The True Knowledge Of Ken MacLeod |publisher=SF Foundation |year=2003 |isbn=0-903007-02-9 |editor1-last=Butler |editor1-first=Andrew M. |editor2-last=Mendlesohn |editor2-first=Farah}}</ref>

MacLeod is known for frequent in-jokes and puns on the intersection between socialist ideologies and computer programming, as well as other fields. For example, his chapter titles such as "Trusted Third Parties" or "Revolutionary Platform" usually have double (or multiple) meanings. A fictional future programmers union is called "Information Workers of the World Wide Web", or the ''Webblies'', a reference to the real [[Industrial Workers of the World]] union, who are nicknamed the ''Wobblies''. The Webblies concept formed a central part of the novel ''[[For the Win]]'' by [[Cory Doctorow]], and MacLeod is acknowledged as coining the term.<ref>{{cite book | title=For the Win | author=Cory Doctorow | year=2010 | url=https://archive.org/details/forwin00cory | publisher=HarperVoyager | isbn=978-0765322166 }} MacLeod is thanked in the Acknowledgements section: "Many thanks to Ken MacLeod for letting me use IWWWW and 'Webbly.'"</ref> Doctorow and [[Charles Stross]] also used one of MacLeod's references to the singularity—as "the rapture for nerds"—as the title for their collaborative novel ''Rapture of the Nerds'' (although MacLeod denies coining the phrase<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://aeon.co/essays/communism-failed-what-about-the-ideal-of-global-humanity|title=Communism failed. What about the ideal of global humanity? – Ken MacLeod {{!}} Aeon Essays|work=Aeon|access-date=2018-08-18|language=en}}</ref>). There are also many references to or puns on zoology and palaeontology. For example, in the novel ''The Stone Canal'', the title of the book and many of its described places are named after anatomical features of marine invertebrates such as [[Sea star|starfish]].

==Books about MacLeod==
The [[Science Fiction Foundation]] have published an analysis of MacLeod's work titled ''The True Knowledge Of Ken MacLeod'', edited by [[Andrew M. Butler]] and [[Farah Mendlesohn]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The True Knowledge of Ken MacLeod {{!}} The Science Fiction Foundation |url=http://www.sf-foundation.org/publications/criticalworks/kenmacleod.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008042656/http://www.sf-foundation.org/publications/criticalworks/kenmacleod.html |archive-date=2018-10-08 |access-date=2025-07-30 |website=www.sf-foundation.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The true knowledge of Ken MacLeod |date=2003 |publisher=Science Fiction Foundation |isbn=978-0-903007-02-3 |editor-last=Butler |editor-first=Andrew M. |series=Foundation studies in science fiction |location=Reading |editor-last2=Mendlesohn |editor-first2=Farah}}</ref> In addition to critical essays, it contains material by MacLeod himself, including his introduction to the German edition of Iain M. Banks' novel ''[[Consider Phlebas]]''.

==Bibliography==

===Series===
* '''Fall Revolution series'''
*# ''[[The Star Fraction]]'' (1995; US paperback {{ISBN|0-7653-0156-3}}) – [[Prometheus Award]] winner, 1996; Clarke Award nominee, 1996<ref name="worldswithoutend.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1996 |title=1996 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award|publisher=Worlds Without End |access-date=11 June 2010}}</ref>
*# ''[[The Stone Canal]]'' (1996; US paperback {{ISBN|0-8125-6864-8}}) – Prometheus Award winner, 1998; BSFA nominee, 1996<ref name="worldswithoutend.com"/>
*# ''[[The Cassini Division]]'' (1998; US paperback {{ISBN|0-312-87044-2}}) – BSFA nominee, 1998;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1998 |title=1998 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award|publisher=Worlds Without End |access-date=11 June 2010}}</ref> Clarke, and Nebula Awards nominee, 1999<ref name="worldswithoutend1999">{{cite web|url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1999 |title=1999 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award|publisher=Worlds Without End |access-date=11 June 2010}}</ref>
*# ''[[The Sky Road]]'' (1999; US paperback {{ISBN|0-8125-7759-0}}) BSFA Award winner, 1999;<ref name="worldswithoutend1999"/> Hugo Award nominee, 2001<ref name="worldswithoutend2001">{{cite web|url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=2001 |title=2001 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award|publisher=Worlds Without End |access-date=11 June 2010}}</ref> – represents an 'alternate future' to the second two books, as its events diverge sharply due to a choice made differently by one of the protagonists in the middle of ''The Stone Canal''<ref>"The Falling Rate of Profit, Red Hordes and Green Slime: What the Fall Revolution Books Are About" – ''[[Nova Express (fanzine)|Nova Express]]'', Volume 6, Spring/Summer 2001, pp 19–21</ref>
** This series is also available in two volumes:
**# ''Fractions: The First Half of the Fall Revolution'' (2009; US paperback {{ISBN|0-7653-2068-1}})
**# ''Divisions: The Second Half of the Fall Revolution'' (2009; US paperback {{ISBN|0-7653-2119-X}})
* '''Engines of Light Trilogy'''
*# ''[[Cosmonaut Keep]]'' (2000; US paperback {{ISBN|0-7653-4073-9}}) – Clarke Award nominee, 2001;<ref name="worldswithoutend2001"/> Hugo Award nominee, 2002<ref name="worldswithoutend2002">{{cite web|url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=2002 |title=2002 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award|publisher=Worlds Without End |access-date=11 June 2010}}</ref> Begins the series with a [[First contact (science fiction)|first contact]] story in a speculative mid-21st century where a resurgently [[Socialism|socialist]] [[Soviet Union|USSR]] (incorporating the [[European Union]]) is once again in opposition with the [[Capitalism|capitalist]] United States, then diverges into a story told on the other side of the galaxy of Earth-descended colonists trying to establish trade and relations within an interstellar empire of several species who travel from world to world at the [[speed of light]].
*# ''[[Dark Light (MacLeod novel)|Dark Light]]'' (2001; US paperback {{ISBN|0-7653-4496-3}}) – Campbell Award nominee, 2002<ref name="worldswithoutend2002"/>
*# ''[[Engine City (novel)|Engine City]]'' (2002; US paperback {{ISBN|0-7653-4421-1}})
* '''The Corporation Wars'''<ref>{{cite web|last1=MacLeod|first1=Ken|title=The Shape Of Things To Come|url=https://kenmacleod.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-shape-of-things-to-come-books.html|website=The Early Days of a Better Nation|access-date=28 April 2016}}</ref>
*# ''[[Dissidence (novel)|Dissidence]]'' (2016)
*# ''Insurgence'' (2016)
*# ''Emergence'' (2017)
* '''Lightspeed Trilogy'''<ref>{{cite web|last1=MacLeod|first1=Ken|title=Beyond the Hallowed Sky|url=https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/ken-macleod/beyond-the-hallowed-sky.htm|website=Fantastic Fiction|access-date=8 June 2020}}</ref>
*# ''[[Beyond the Hallowed Sky]]'' (2021; Orbit {{ISBN|9780356514796}})
*# ''[[Beyond the Reach of Earth]]'' (2023; Orbit {{ISBN|9780356514819}})
*# ''[[Beyond the Light Horizon]]'' (2024; Orbit {{ISBN|9780356514826}})

===Other work===
* ''[[Newton's Wake: A Space Opera]]'' (2004; US paperback edition {{ISBN|0-7653-4422-X}}) – BSFA nominee, 2004;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=2004 |title=2004 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award | WWEnd |publisher=Worldswithoutend.com |access-date=11 June 2010}}</ref> Campbell Award nominee, 2005<ref name="worldswithoutend2005">{{cite web|url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=2005 |title=2005 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award|publisher=Worlds Without End |access-date=11 June 2010}}</ref>
* ''[[Learning the World]]: A Novel of First Contact'' (2005; UK hardback edition {{ISBN|1-84149-343-0}}) [[Prometheus Award]] winner 2006; Hugo, Locus SF, Campbell and Clarke Awards nominee, 2006;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=2006 |title=2006 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award|publisher=Worlds Without End |access-date=11 June 2010}}</ref> BSFA nominee, 2005<ref name="worldswithoutend2005"/>
* "[[The Highway Men (MacLeod novel)|The Highway Men]]" (2006; UK edition, {{ISBN|1-905207-06-9}})
* ''[[The Execution Channel]]'' (2007; UK hardback edition {{ISBN|978-1841493480}}) – BSFA Award nominee, 2007;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=2007 |title=2007 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award | WWEnd |publisher=Worldswithoutend.com |access-date=11 June 2010}}</ref> Campbell, and Clarke Awards nominee, 2008<ref name="worldswithoutend3">{{cite web|url=http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=2008 |title=2008 Award Winners & Nominees | Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Award|publisher=Worlds Without End |access-date=11 June 2010}}</ref>
* ''[[The Night Sessions]]'' (2008; UK hardback edition {{ISBN|978-1841496511}}) – Winner Best Novel 2008 BSFA<ref name="worldswithoutend3"/>
* ''[[The Restoration Game]]'' (2010). According to the author, "In ''The Restoration Game'' I revisited the fall of the Soviet Union, with a narrator who is at first a piece in a game played by others, and works her way up to becoming to some extent a player, but – as we see when we pull back at the end – is still part of a larger game."<ref name=LARB>{{cite web|url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/interview/turbulent-years-ahead-interview-ken-macleod|title=Turbulent Years Ahead: An Interview with Ken MacLeod|work=[[Los Angeles Review of Books]]|date=24 February 2014|first=Jerome|last=Winter}}</ref>
* ''[[Intrusion (novel)|Intrusion]]'' (2012): "an Orwellian surveillance society installs sensors on pregnant women to prevent smoking or drinking; and these women also have to take a eugenic 'fix' to eliminate genetic anomalies."<ref name=LARB/>
* ''[[Descent (2014 novel)|Descent]]'' (2014):<ref name="descent">{{cite web|url=http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/ken-macleod-descent-cover-art |title=Ken MacLeod - Descent |publisher=Upcoming4.me |access-date=18 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202102112/http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/ken-macleod-descent-cover-art |archive-date= 2 February 2014 }}</ref> "My genre model for Descent was bloke-lit – that's basically first-person, self-serving, rueful confessional by a youngish man looking back on youthful stupidities... ... Descent is about flying saucers, hidden races, and [[Antonio Gramsci]]'s concept of [[passive revolution]], all set in a tale of Scottish middle class family life in and after the Great Depression of the 21st Century. Almost mainstream fiction, really."<ref name=LARB/>

===Short fiction===
* "[[The Web: Cydonia]]" (1998; UK paperback edition, {{ISBN|1-85881-640-8}}; part of the young adult fiction series ''[[The Web (series)|The Web]]''. Collected in ''[[Giant Lizards from Another Star]]'')
* "The Light Company" (1998) (quoting Ken MacLeod's blog: ''"The Light Company'' doesn't exist - the title was a provisional one, for purposes of a book contract, which I think got onto the publisher's list of forthcoming books and then took on a life of its own in the wild." - Ken, on Thursday, October 14, 2010 7:34:00 am)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Early Days of a Better Nation |url=https://kenmacleod.blogspot.com/2010/10/pyr-to-publish-restoration-game-next.html |access-date=2023-04-27 |website=kenmacleod.blogspot.com}}</ref>
* "[[The Human Front]]" (2002; winner of Short-form [[Sidewise Award for Alternate History]] 2002; collected in ''Giant Lizards from Another Star'')
* "The Highway Men" (2006)
* "[[Who's Afraid of Wolf 359?]]" (''[[The New Space Opera]]'', 2007; nominated for [[Hugo Award for Best Short Story]])
* "Ms Found on a Hard Drive" ([[Glorifying Terrorism]], 2007)
* "Earth Hour" (2011)
* "'The Entire Immense Superstructure': An Installation" (''[[Reach for Infinity]]'', 2014)<ref name="Tor Infinity">{{cite web |url=http://www.tor.com/2014/06/12/book-review-anthology-reach-for-infinity-jonathan-strahan/ |title=Step into the Stars: ''Reach for Infinity'', ed. Jonathan Strahan |work=[[Tor.com]] |first=Niall |last=Alexander |date=12 June 2014 |access-date=13 December 2015}}</ref>

===Collections===
* ''Poems & Polemics'' (2001; Rune Press: Minneapolis, MN) Chapbook of non-fiction and poetry.
* ''[[Giant Lizards From Another Star]]'' (2006; US trade hardcover {{ISBN|1-886778-62-0}}) Collected fiction and nonfiction.
* ''[[A Jura for Julia]]'' (2024; UK hardcover, {{ISBN|978-1-914953-83-5}}) Collected fiction.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* [http://kenmacleod.blogspot.com Ken MacLeod's Weblog]
* [http://us.macmillan.com/author/kenmacleod Ken MacLeod's page at Macmillan.com]
* {{isfdb name|id=Ken_MacLeod}}
* [http://www.humangenreproject.com/ The Human Genre Project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171231212031/http://www.humangenreproject.com/ |date=31 December 2017 }}, a collection of works on genetic themes, collated and maintained by MacLeod
* [https://www.freesfonline.net/authors/Ken_MacLeod.html Free MacLeod stories online] at [[Free Speculative Fiction Online]]

===Interviews===
* [http://www.sffworld.com/interview/177p0.html Interview with Ken Macleod] at [http://www.sffworld.com SFFWorld.com]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051024053307/http://www.zone-sf.com/kenmacleod.html SF Zone interview with MacLeod]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090206222215/http://www.scifidimensions.com/main/2008/07/14/the-scifidimensions-podcast-11/ Interview on the SciFiDimensions Podcast]
* [http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/28758?in=00:00&out=41:50 Science Saturday: Galactic Princesses Edition] [[Bloggingheads]] dialog with [[Annalee Newitz]]

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140325013701/http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/the-story-behind-descent-by-ken-macleod The story behind Descent - Online Essay by Ken MacLeod]

{{s-start}}
{{s-bef|before=[[James White (author)|James White]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[European Science Fiction Society|ESFS]] award for Best Author|years=2000}}
{{s-aft|after= [[Valerio Evangelisti]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macleod, Ken}}
[[Category:1954 births]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow]]
[[Category:Left-libertarians]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:British alternative history writers]]
[[Category:People from Stornoway]]
[[Category:Scottish bloggers]]
[[Category:Scottish science fiction writers]]
[[Category:Scottish socialists]]
[[Category:Sidewise Award winners]]
[[Category:Scottish Trotskyists]]
[[Category:Scottish libertarians]]
[[Category:British transhumanists]]
[[Category:Scottish male novelists]]

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Ken MacLeod