This is an alphabetical list of science fiction writers connected to Scotland by birth, death or long-term residence.

A

Mea Allan Mea Allan (23 June 1909 – 29 August 1982), born Mary Eleanor Allan, was a journalist who worked for the ''Glasgow Herald''. She also wrote a novel, ''Change of Heart'' (1943), set in the future. In 1967 she was awarded the Leverhulme Research ...

* William Archer * Marion Arnott *

Kate Atkinson Kate Atkinson may refer to: * Kate Atkinson (actress) (born 1972), Australian actress * Kate Atkinson (writer) Kate Atkinson (born 20 December 1951) is an English writer of novels, plays and short stories. She is known for creating the Jac ...

* William Auld

B

* Allan Baillie *

David_Baillie_(comics) David Baillie is a writer and artist best known for creating the Vertigo comic series Red Thorn, and for writing stories for '' 2000 AD'' and ''Judge Dredd Megazine'' - for which he also once wrote a monthly column describing his life as a comics ...

Andrew Balfour Sir Andrew Balfour (21 March 1873 – 30 January 1931) was a Scottish Medical Officer who specialised in tropical medicine. Balfour spent twelve years in Khartoum, Sudan and was the Medical Officer of Health in the city. As well as writing m ...

* Iain Banks * Robert Barr * Eric Temple Bell * Margot Bennett *

Julie Bertagna Julie Bertagna (born 1962) is a Scottish people, Scottish author who has written real life and science fiction novels for children and young adults. Her books have been shortlisted for several literature awards, including the Carnegie Medal (li ...

Chris Boyce Joseph Christopher Boyce (1943 – 29 June 1999) was a Scottish science fiction author and fan. He worked in the Reference Library of the ''Glasgow Herald'' newspaper, and was there when he died suddenly. His fiction works include ''Catchworld' ...

Christopher Brookmyre Christopher Brookmyre (born 6 September 1968) is a Scottish novelist whose novels, generally in a crime or police procedural frame, mix comedy, politics, social comment and action with a strong narrative. He has been referred to as a Tartan No ...

* George MacKay Brown *

John Brunner John Brunner may refer to: * Sir John Brunner, 1st Baronet (1842–1919), British industrialist and Liberal Member of Parliament * John L. Brunner (1929–1980), Pennsylvania politician * Sir John Brunner, 2nd Baronet (1865–1929), British Libera ...

* Jonathan Burke *

Ron Butlin Ron Butlin (born 1949 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish poet and novelist who was Edinburgh Makar (Poet Laureate) from 2008 to 2014. Education Butlin was educated at the University of Edinburgh. He later became writer in residence in 1982 and 1984 a ...

C

* J Storer Clouston *

Michael Cobley Michael Cobley (born 10 October 1959) is a British science fiction and fantasy author from Glasgow. Life Michael Cobley was born in Leicester but moved to Glasgow at the age of seven. While studying engineering at the University of Strathclyde ...

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

* JJ Connington

D

* Florence Dixie *

Dougal Dixon Dougal Dixon (born 1 March 1947) is a Scottish geologist, palaeontologist, educator and author. Dixon has written well over a hundred books on geology and palaeontology, many of them for children, which have been credited with attracting many to ...

* Diane Duane – resident in Scotland for a period * Robert Ellis Dudgeon * Dave Duncan * Hal Duncan

E

Margaret Elphinstone Margaret Elphinstone (born 1948) is a Scottish author of novels, short stories and poetry. She is known especially for ''The Sea Road'', a re-telling of the Viking exploration of the North Atlantic. Biography Margaret Elphinstone was born in K ...

F

* Michel Faber – Dutch writer resident in Scotland; has used Scotland as a setting *

Matthew Fitt Matthew Fitt (born 1968) is a Scots poet and novelist. He was writer-in-residence at Greater Pollok in Glasgow, then National Scots Language Development Officer. He has translated several literary works into Scots. Early life Fitt was born in 19 ...

G

Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy (17 May 1933 – 16 July 2019) was a British author, known for biographies, including one of Alfred Kinsey, and books of social history on the British nanny and public school system. For his autobiography, ''Half an Arc ...

* Mark Gallacher *

Lewis Grassic Gibbon Lewis Grassic Gibbon was the pseudonym of James Leslie Mitchell (13 February 1901 – 7 February 1935), a Scottish writer. He was best known for ''A Scots Quair'', a trilogy set in the north-east of Scotland in the early 20th century, of which ...

* Gary Gibson * Richard Gordon *

Stuart Gordon Stuart Alan Gordon (August 11, 1947 – March 24, 2020) was an American filmmaker, theatre director, screenwriter, and playwright. Initially recognized for his provocative and frequently controversial work in experimental theatre, Gordon is perh ...

* Alan Grant * John Grant * Alasdair Gray * Stephen Greenhorn * Neil M Gunn *

Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie Kenneth Sylvan Launfal Guthrie (1871-1940), philosopher and writer, was a grandson of feminist Frances Wright and brother of William Norman Guthrie, a Scottish-born Episcopalian priest who issued a series of translations of ancient philosophical w ...

H

* JBS Haldane *

Owen Hall Owen Hall (10 April 1853 – 9 April 1907) was the principal pen name of the Irish-born theatre writer, racing correspondent, theatre critic and solicitor, James "Jimmy" Davis, when writing for the stage. After his successive careers in law ...

* Peter Hamilton * Ronald Hingley

J

* William James * Richard Jobson

K

Chris Kelso Chris Kelso (born 22 March 1988, Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland) is a British Fantasy Award-nominated writer, illustrator, and anthologist from Scotland. Kelso has also been printed frequently in magazines such as Interzone, Black Static, ...

James Kennaway James Peeble Ewing Kennaway (5 June 1928 – 21 December 1968) was a Scottish novelist and screenwriter. He was born in Auchterarder in Perthshire and attended Glenalmond College. Biography Born to a middle class family in Auchterarder, his f ...

Cam Kennedy Campbell ("Cam") Kennedy is a Scottish comics artist. He is best known for his work on '' 2000 AD'', especially the flagship titles ''Judge Dredd'' and ''Rogue Trooper''. Biography Following work in commercial art in his hometown of Glasgow, ...

* Philip Kerr *

William King William King may refer to: Arts *Willie King (1943–2009), American blues guitarist and singer *William King (author) (born 1959), British science fiction author and game designer, also known as Bill King *William King (artist) (1925–2015), Ame ...

L

Archibald Lamont Archibald Lamont (21 October 1907 – 16 March 1985) was a Scottish geologist, palaeontologist, Scottish Nationalist writer, poet and politician. He named the trilobite genus '' Wallacia'' after William Wallace. Life Born on 21 October 1907 a ...

Alan W. Lear Alan William Lear (October 26, 1953 – December 26, 2008) was a Scottish writer of science fiction and horror, whose credits included the 1984 BBC Radio 4 play '' Why Not Take All of Me?'' History Lear wrote four plays for the Audio Visuals se ...

* David Lindsay *

Eric Linklater Eric Robert Russell Linklater CBE (8 March 1899 – 7 November 1974) was a Welsh-born Scottish poet, fiction writer, military historian, and travel writer. For ''The Wind on the Moon'', a children's fantasy novel, he won the 1944 Carnegie Meda ...

Duncan Lunan Duncan Alasdair Lunan, born October 1945, is a Scottish people, Scottish author with emphasis on astronomy, spaceflight and science fiction, undertaking a wide range of writing and speaking on those and other topics as a researcher, tutor, critic, ...

M

* Stuart MacBride *

Hugh MacColl Hugh MacColl (before April 1885 spelled as Hugh McColl; 1831–1909) was a Scottish mathematician, logician and novelist. Life MacColl was the youngest son of a poor Highland family that was at least partly Gaelic-speaking. Hugh's father died w ...

J. T. McIntosh James Murdoch MacGregor (14 February 1925 – 22 July 2008National Library of ScotlandSpecial and Named Printed Collections in the National Library of Scotland ''J.T. McINTOSH COLLECTION'') was a Scottish journalist and author best known for wri ...

(James Murdoch MacGregor) *

F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre Fergus (also Feargus) Gwynplaine MacIntyre (1948 – 25 June 2010),

* Compton Mackenzie * Alistair MacLean * Ken MacLeod * Graham McNeill *

Angus MacVicar Angus MacVicar (28 October 1908, Argyll – 31 October 2001, Campbeltown, Argyll and Bute) was a Scottish author with a wide-ranging output. His greatest successes came in three separate genres: crime thrillers, juvenile science fiction, and a ...

Donald Malcolm Donald Malcolm (1930–2013) was a Scottish author of science fiction and fact who was active as a writer from the mid-1950s until the mid-1970s. Some of his nonfiction was written under the pen name Roy Malcolm. Career Malcolm's work was publi ...

Colin Manlove Colin Nicholas Manlove (4 May 1942 in Falkirk – 1 June 2020) was a literary critic with a particular interest in fantasy. ''Modern Fantasy: Five Studies'' (1975, published as by C. N. Manlove), which considers at length works by Charles King ...

* Bruce Marshall * Troy Kennedy Martin *

David I. Masson David Irvine Masson (6 November 1915 – 27 February 2007) was a British science-fiction writer and librarian. Biography Born in Edinburgh, Masson came from a distinguished family of academics and thinkers. His father, Sir Irvine Masson, was a ...

Robert Duncan Milne Robert Duncan Milne (7 June 1844–15 December 1899) was a late-19th century San Francisco science fiction writer whose work was published primarily in newspapers of the time, and the magazine ''The Argonaut''. Milne was rediscovered by Sa ...

William Minto William Minto (10 October 18451 March 1893) was a Scottish academic, critic, editor, journalist and novelist. Life Minto was born at Nether Auchintoul, near Alford, Aberdeenshire. He was son of James Minto, a farmer, and his wife Barbara Copl ...

Naomi Mitchison Naomi Mary Margaret Mitchison, Baroness Mitchison (; 1 November 1897 – 11 January 1999) was a Scottish novelist and poet. Often called a doyenne of Scottish literature, she wrote over 90 books of historical and science fiction, travel writin ...

* Steven Moffat * Dan Morgan * Grant Morrison * Peter Morwood – resident in Scotland for a while

N

* Bill Napier *

Ian Niall Ian Niall (7 November 1916 – 24 June 2002), born John Kincaid McNeillie, was a writer from Galloway, Scotland. He wrote works under both these names. He was born in Old Kilpatrick, to parents from the Machars in South West Scotland. He moved b ...

(John McNeillie) * Joseph Shield Nicholson *

Hume Nisbet James Hume Nisbet (8 August 1849 – 4 June 1923) was a Scottish-born novelist and artist. Many of his thrillers are set in Australia. Youth Nisbet was born in Stirling, Scotland and received special artistic training, and was educated under the R ...

Lisanne Norman Lisanne Norman (born 15 February 1951 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such ...

O

* Margaret Oliphant *

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

– English writer of Scottish extraction; wrote '' Nineteen Eighty-Four'' while living in

Isle of Jura Jura ( ; gd, Diùra; sco, Jura) is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, adjacent to and northeast of Islay. With an area of , and 196 inhabitants recorded in the 2011 census, Jura is more sparsely populated than Islay, and is one of t ...

Walter Owen Walter Owen (1884–1953) was a Scottish people, Scottish translator transplanted to the Argentina, Argentine Pampas. His career is an example of how the translator can open up a key aspect of a culture to readers in another language. Born in G ...

P

* James Peddie * David Pringle

Q

* Frank Quitely

R

Hannu Rajaniemi Hannu Rajaniemi (born 9 March 1978) is a Finnish American author of science fiction and fantasy, who writes in both English and Finnish. He lives in Oakland, California, and was a founding director of a commercial research organisation ThinkTan ...

– Finnish writer; long-term resident in Scotland * Gordon Rennie *

Terence Roberts Terence Roberts (born 1959/1960) is the current mayor of Anderson, South Carolina, the county seat of Anderson County, South Carolina. Serving since July 1, 2006, he is the first African-American mayor of the city. Biography Terence Roberts was ...

(Ivan T. Sanderson) *

Michael Scott Rohan Michael Scott Rohan (22 January 1951 – 12 August 2018) was a Scottish fantasy and science fiction author and writer on opera. He had a number of short stories published before his first books, the science fiction novel '' Run to the Stars'' ...

* Archie Roy *

Brian Ruckley Brian Ruckley is a Scottish fantasy author and comic book writer. He is the author of The Godless World trilogy: '' Winterbirth'', '' Bloodheir'', and '' Fall of Thanes''. He'd go on to become principal writer of the current ''Transformers: G ...

S

* Ivan T. Sanderson (Terence Roberts) *

Graham Seton Lieutenant-Colonel Graham Seton Hutchison (20 January 1890 – 3 April 1946)Harold Bloom, ''J. R. R. Tolkien's The lord of the rings'', Infobase Publishing, 2008, p. 38 was a British First World War army officer, military theorist, author of bot ...

* Michael Shea * Catherine Helen Spence *

Gordon Stables William Gordon Stables (21 May 1840 – 10 May 1910) was a Scottish-born medical doctor in the Royal Navy and a prolific author of adventure fiction, primarily for boys. Life and works William Gordon Stables was born in Aberchirder, in ...

* Robert Louis Stevenson * Charles Stross * Martin Swayne

T

* John Taine (Eric Temple Bell) *

Ismar Thiusen John MacNie (1844 – 31 October 1909), also known by his pen name Ismar Thiusen under which he wrote the novel ''The Diothas'' , was an educator and science fiction writer. Born in Scotland in 1844, he came to America in 1867 where he first o ...

(John MacNie) *

Ruthven Todd Ruthven Campbell Todd (pronounced 'riven') (14 June 1914 – 11 October 1978) was a Scottish poet, artist and novelist, best known as an editor of the works of William Blake, and expert on his printing techniques. During the 1940s he also wrote d ...

U

* Thomas Urquhart

W

* David Walker * Irvine Welsh * Gordon Williams

Y

* Jane Yolen – American writer; long-term resident of Scotland

References

Footnotes

Online resources

Books from Scotland, Scottish Science fiction

SF Encyclopedia
{{Scottish literature Science fiction

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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See also

References

Footnotes

Online resources