Paul J. McAuley

Paul McAuley at Worldcon 2005 in Glasgow

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, 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.^[1] 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.^[2] Fairyland won the 1996 Arthur C. Clarke Award^[3] and the 1997 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best SF Novel.^[4] "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

• McAuley, Paul (1988). Four hundred billion stars. London: Gollancz.  [Philip K. Dick Award winner, 1988]^[2]
• Secret Harmonies (vt US Of the Fall). London: Gollancz, 1989. ISBN 0-575-04580-9
• Eternal Light. London: Gollancz, 1991. ISBN 0-575-04931-6 — BSFA Award nominee, 1991^[5] and Clarke Award nominee, 1992^[6]

The Confluence Series

• Child of the River. London: Gollancz, 1997. ISBN 0-575-06427-7
• Ancients of Days. London: Gollancz, 1998. ISBN 0-575-06428-5
• Shrine of Stars. London: Gollancz, 1999. ISBN 0-575-06429-3
• Confluence - The Trilogy. London: Gollancz, 2014. ISBN 0-575-11942-X^[7]

The Quiet War series

• The Quiet War: London, Gollancz, 2008. ISBN 978-0-575-07933-5 — Clarke Award nominee, 2009^[8]
• Gardens of the Sun. London: Gollancz, 2009. ISBN 978-0-575-07937-3
• In the Mouth of the Whale. London: Gollancz, 2012. ISBN 978-0-575-10073-2
• Evening's Empires: London, Gollancz, 2013. ISBN 978-0-575-10079-4^[9]
• 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 duology

• Something Coming Through: London, Gollancz, 2015.^[10]
• Into Everywhere. London: Gollancz, 2016.^[10]

Other novels

• Red Dust. London: Gollancz, 1993. ISBN 0-575-05488-3
• Pasquale's Angel. London: Gollancz, 1994. ISBN 0-575-05489-1 — Clarke and British Fantasy Awards nominee, 1995^[11]
• Fairyland. London: Gollancz, 1995. ISBN 0-575-06070-0 — BSFA Award nominee, 1995;^[11] Clarke Award winner, 1996;^[3] Campbell Award winner, 1997^[4]
• The Secret of Life. London: Voyager, 2001. ISBN 0-00-225904-4 — BSFA Award nominee, 2001;^[12] Clarke Award nominee, 2002^[13]
• Whole Wide World. London: Voyager, 2002. ISBN 0-00-225903-6
• White Devils. London: Simon & Schuster, 2004. ISBN 0-7432-3885-0 — Campbell Award nominee, 2005^[14]
• Mind's Eye. London: Simon & Schuster, 2005. ISBN 0-7432-3887-7 — Campbell Award nominee, 2006^[15]
• Players. London: Simon & Schuster, 2007. ISBN 0-7432-7617-5
• Cowboy Angels: London: Gollancz, 2007. ISBN 978-0-575-07934-2
• Austral: London: Gollancz, 2017. ISBN 978-1473217317

Novellas

• Making History. Harrogate: PS Publishing, 2000. ISBN 1-902880-08-0
• The Eye of the Tyger. Tolworth, Surrey: Telos Publishing, 2003. ISBN 1-903889-24-3 (a Doctor Who novella)

Collections

• King of the Hill. London: Gollancz, 1988. ISBN 0-575-05001-2
  • 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. ISBN 0-575-06072-7 — Philip K. Dick Award nominee, 1998^[16]
  • "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. ISBN 1-902880-94-3
  • 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.^[17][18]
  • 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

• "Antarctica starts here". Asimov's Science Fiction. 36 (10&11): 48–56. Oct–Nov 2012. 
• "A Brief Guide To Other Histories"
• "Edna Sharrow"
• "Inheritance"
• "Planet of Fear" (2015) in Old Venus (anthology)^[19]
• "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.^[20]

Critical studies and reviews of McAuley's work

• Spinrad, Norman (Apr–May 2013). "Doors to anywhere". On Books. Asimov's Science Fiction. 37 (4&5): 183–191. CS1 maint: Date format (link) Reviews Cowboy angels.

References

External links

• Paul J. McAuley's official site
• Infinity Plus profile of Paul J. McAuley
• Profile of Paul McAuley by Michael Swanwick
• Paul J. McAuley at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Review, The Secret of Life
• Review, The Book of Confluence trilogy
• Review, Whole Wide World
• Review, Confluence - trilogy omnibus
• Interview on Actusf
• Complete list of sci-fi award wins and nominations by novel
• Story 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