Paul J. McAuley

Paul J. McAuley (born 23 April 1955) is a British botanist and science fiction author. A biologist by training, McAuley writes mostly hard science fiction. His novels dealing with themes such as biotechnology, alternative history/alternative reality, and space travel.

McAuley began with far-future space opera '' Four Hundred Billion Stars'', its sequel ''Eternal Light'', and the planetary-colony adventure '' Of the Fall''. ''Red Dust'', set on a far-future Mars colonized by the Chinese, is a planetary romance featuring many emerging technologies and SF motifs: nanotechnology, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, personality downloads, virtual reality. The Confluence series, set in an even more distant future (about ten million years from now), is one of a number of novels to use Frank J. Tipler's Omega Point Theory (that the universe seems to be evolving toward a maximum degree of complexity and consciousness) as one of its themes.
About the same time, he published ''Pasquale's Angel'', set in an alternative Italian Renaissance and featuring Niccolò Machiavegli ( Machiavelli) and Leonardo da Vinci as major characters.

McAuley has also used biotechnology and nanotechnology themes in near-future settings: ''Fairyland'' describes a dystopian, war-torn Europe where genetically engineered "dolls" are used as disposable slaves. Since 2001 he has produced several SF-based techno-thrillers such as ''The Secret of Life'', ''Whole Wide World'', and ''White Devils''.

''Four Hundred Billion Stars'', his first novel, won the Philip K. Dick Award in 1988. ''Fairyland'' won the 1996 Arthur C. Clarke Award and the 1997 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best SF Novel. " The Temptation of Dr. Stein", won the British Fantasy Award. ''Pasquale's Angel'' won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History (Long Form).

Bibliography

Novels

Four Hundred Billion Stars Series

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* ''Secret Harmonies''. London: Gollancz, 1989. . (Published in the United States as ''Of the Fall'')
* ''Eternal Light''. London: Gollancz, 1991. — ''BSFA Award nominee'', 1991 and ''Clarke Award nominee, 1992''

The Confluence Series

* ''Child of the River''. London: Gollancz, 1997.
* ''Ancients of Days''. London: Gollancz, 1998.
* ''Shrine of Stars''. London: Gollancz, 1999.
* ''Confluence - The Trilogy''. London: Gollancz, 2014.

The Quiet War series

* ''The Quiet War'': London, Gollancz, 2008. — Clarke Award nominee, 2009
* ''Gardens of the Sun''. London: Gollancz, 2009.
* ''In the Mouth of the Whale''. London: Gollancz, 2012.
* ''Evening's Empires'': London, Gollancz, 2013.
* ''Stories from the Quiet War'' (2011), a collection of five stories:
** "Making History", first published in 2000
** "Incomers", first published in 2008
** "Second Skin", first published in 1997 in Asimov's
** "Reef", first published in 2000
** "Karyl’s War", first published in this collection

The Jackaroo series

* '' Something Coming Through'': London, Gollancz, 2015.
* '' Into Everywhere''. London: Gollancz, 2016.
* ''Dust'' (short story) (2006)
* ''Winning Peace'' (short story) (2007)
* ''City of the Dead'' (short story) (2008)
* ''Adventure'' (short story) (2008)
* ''Crimes and Glory'' (short story) (2009)
* ''The Choice'' (short story) (2011)
* ''Bruce Springsteen'' (short story) (2012)
* ''The Man'' (short story) (2012)
* ''Something Happened Here, But We're Not Quite Sure What It Was'' (short story) (2016)

Other novels

* ''Red Dust''. London: Gollancz, 1993.
* ''Pasquale's Angel''. London: Gollancz, 1994. — Clarke and British Fantasy Awards nominee, 1995, Sidewise Award winner
* ''Fairyland''. London: Gollancz, 1995. — BSFA Award nominee, 1995; Clarke Award winner, 1996; Campbell Award winner, 1997
* ''The Secret of Life''. London: Voyager, 2001. — BSFA Award nominee, 2001; Clarke Award nominee, 2002
* ''Whole Wide World''. London: Voyager, 2002.
* ''White Devils''. London: Simon & Schuster, 2004. — Campbell Award nominee, 2005
* ''Mind's Eye''. London: Simon & Schuster, 2005. — Campbell Award nominee, 2006
* ''Players''. London: Simon & Schuster, 2007.
* ''Cowboy Angels''. London: Gollancz, 2007.
* ''Austral'': London: Gollancz, 2017.
* ''War of the Maps''. London: Gollancz, 2020.
* ''Beyond the Burn Line''. London: Gollancz, 2022.

Novellas

* ''Making History''. Harrogate: PS Publishing, 2000.
* ''The Eye of the Tyger''. Tolworth, Surrey: Telos Publishing, 2003. (a ''Doctor Who'' novella)

Collections

* ''King of the Hill''. London: Gollancz, 1988.
** The King of the Hill
** Karl and the Ogre
** Transcendence
** The Temporary King
** Exiles
** Little Ilya and Spider and Box
** The Airs of Earth
** The Heirs of Earth
* ''The Invisible Country''. London: Gollancz, 1996. — Philip K. Dick Award nominee, 1998
** "Gene Wars" (1991)
** Prison Dreams
** "Recording Angel" (1995)
** Dr Luther's Assistant
** "The Temptation of Dr. Stein" (1996) — set in the same timeline than ''Pasquale's Angel'' (1994)
** Children of the Revolution
** The True History of Doctor Pretorius
** Slaves
* ''Little Machines''. Harrogate: PS Publishing, 2005.
** The Two Dicks
** Residuals
** 17
** All Tomorrow's Parties
** Interstitial
** How we Lost the Moon
** Under Mars
** Danger: Hard Hack Area
** The Madness of Crowds
** The Secret of My Success
** The Proxy
** I Spy
** The Rift
** Alien TV
** Before the Flood
** A Very British History
** Cross Roads Blues
* ''A Very British History''. Harrogate: PS Publishing, 2013.
** Little Ilya and Spider and Box
** The Temporary King
** Cross Road Blues
** Gene Wars
** Prison Dreams
** Children of the Revolution
** Recording Angel
** Second Skin
** All Tomorrow's Parties
** 17
** Sea Change, With Monsters
** How We Lost the Moon, A True Story by Frank W. Allen
** A Very British History
** The Two Dicks
** Meat
** Rocket Boy
** The Thought War
** City of the Dead
** Little Lost Robot
** Shadow Life
** The Choice

Short Stories

*
* "A Brief Guide To Other Histories"
* "Edna Sharrow"
* "Inheritance"
* "Planet of Fear" (2015) in '' Old Venus'' (anthology)
* "Rocket Boy"
* Set in the Jackaroo universe:
** "Winning Peace" (2016), in the collection ''Galactic Empires'' by Neil Clarke.
** "Something Happened Here, But We’re Not Quite Sure What It Was" (2016), published as a freebie on Tor.com.

Critical studies and reviews of McAuley's work

* Reviews ''Cowboy Angels''.

References

External links

Paul J. McAuley's official site




by Michael Swanwick
*
Review, ''The Secret of Life''Review, ''Whole Wide World''Review, ''Confluence - trilogy omnibus''Interview on ActusfComplete list of sci-fi award wins and nominations by novelStory Behind Quiet War (How I wrote the Quiet War novels and stories) - Online Essay at ''Upcoming4.me''Story behind Confluence by Paul McAuley - Collaborating With Myself - Online Essay at ''Upcoming4.me''

{{DEFAULTSORT:McAuley, Paul J.
1955 births
British alternative history writers
British biologists
British botanists
British science fiction writers
Sidewise Award winners
Living people
British male novelists