Paul J McAuley Books in Order

Astronomer Dorothy Yoshida is summoned from exile to investigate a planet reshaped by vanished aliens. As dormant cities awaken and local creatures change, her unwanted telepathic abilities may provide the only way to understand the stirring intelligence.

On Elysium, privileged colonists hoard Earth's technology and dominate remote settlements. University employee Richard Florey and outsider Miguel Lucas become unlikely allies in a revolution that threatens the ruling city and may awaken the planet's indigenous inhabitants.

A mysterious star approaches the Solar System from the galactic core, drawing rival human factions into competing schemes. Telepath Dorothy Yoshida becomes involved in the response, carrying alien knowledge that could prove crucial to understanding the threat.

Eight science fiction stories gather McAuley’s early shorter work, including tales of exiles, ogres, and temporary kings. The collection brings together The King of the Hill, Transcendence, and stories exploring distant worlds beyond his longer novels.

Six centuries after Chinese colonists settled Mars, failing terraforming systems leave its people facing hunger and unrest. Agricultural technician Wei Lee encounters an anarchist pilot and becomes entangled in a revolutionary struggle across the troubled planet.

In a Renaissance Florence transformed by Leonardo da Vinci's engineering, young painter Pasquale helps journalist Machiavelli investigate a murder. Their inquiries draw them into a conspiracy amid political instability, religious unrest, and the ambitions surrounding the city's technological power.

Biohacker Alex Sharkey makes a precarious living producing illicit biological innovations. Working with the brilliant young Milena, he helps transform engineered laborers into a new species whose independence threatens to take their creators' plans in unexpected directions.

Nine stories examine people living with the wonders and dangers of biotechnology. Their settings range from an industrialized Renaissance Venice, where a grieving physician encounters extraordinary possibilities, to future societies transformed by their own creations.

Raised in Aeolis after being discovered as an infant, Yama sets out to learn his origins. His unusual ability to awaken ancient machinery makes him a dangerous anomaly among Confluence's many peoples and their inherited religious traditions.

As Yama searches for the truth about his ancestry, his power over Confluence's machines attracts frightened authorities and hopeful followers. Civil war between traditionalists and Heretics threatens to turn his quest for identity into a struggle for control.

Held captive as Confluence's civil war deepens, Yama faces attempts to turn his extraordinary abilities into a weapon. To reclaim himself, he must confront the mysteries of his origins and the ancient powers behind his artificial world.

After Earth's victory over the outer colonies, historian Fredo Graves travels to Dione to write about rebel Marisa Bassi. His assignment draws him into occupation politics, where personal loyalties and the continuing wounds of war complicate official history.

A strange Pacific fungus and reports of a Martian discovery raise urgent questions about life's origins. Scientist Mariella Anders joins a NASA mission to Mars amid corporate competition and environmental upheaval, unsure whose accounts she can trust.

In a London dominated by computerized surveillance, a sidelined police officer investigates Sophie Booth's murder after it is broadcast online. Anonymous messages and links to powerful interests turn a computer crime inquiry into a dangerous challenge to the system.

Sent to investigate an atrocity in the Congo, Nick Hyde's forensic team is attacked by pale, apelike creatures. As he searches for answers, corporate denials and evidence of genetic experimentation threaten to bury the truth behind the killings.

For Alfie Flowers, disturbing London graffiti triggers memories linked to a childhood accident and his father's disappearance. His search for the artist leads into a network of secret groups, ancient symbols, and experiments with the human mind.

America's discovery of gates to alternate histories has created opportunities for intervention and empire. Former operative Adam Stone is recalled when an old colleague begins killing across parallel worlds, drawing him into a conspiracy surrounding the gates.

Rookie Portland detective Summer Ziegler investigates a teenager's death while another mutilated body turns up in Nevada. The cases lead toward an online roleplaying world and a powerful software entrepreneur, complicating the hunt for a killer.

Earth's authoritarian powers confront genetically inventive settlements on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. As Outer ambitions expand beyond their established habitats, espionage, military preparations, and competing visions of humanity threaten an already fragile peace between the two societies.

Earth's alliance occupies the defeated Outer settlements, exploiting their scientific knowledge while suppressing their freedoms. Geneticist Sri Hong-Owen and diplomat Loc Ifrahim navigate the victors' internal rivalries as democratic ideas begin unsettling the great families ruling Earth.

A small-town sheriff on a distant planet becomes caught in a dispute over a mysterious biological discovery. Among the remnants of vanished civilizations, questions of ownership turn dangerous as she confronts the artifact’s deadly possibilities.

Seventeen stories revisit alien invasions, monsters, and alternate histories through lives disrupted by extraordinary forces. A damaged hero faces another invasion, Philip K. Dick confronts a political conspiracy, and a book dealer encounters dangerous online rivals.

Five stories explore the conflict between Earth and the outer colonies, from occupation and uneasy reconciliation to espionage and scientific discovery. A spy's kidnapping mission and a newly found vacuum ecosystem complicate humanity's future across the Solar System.

In 1832 London, Mr Carlyle meets engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel at a séance and investigates strange events surrounding the stalled Thames Tunnel. His search pits him against a cunning necromancer and an ancient curse threatening the city.

Around Fomalhaut, rival branches of humanity struggle against increasingly powerful posthuman enemies. A Child from the past, a worker near a vast space station, and a troubled Librarian become entangled in forces threatening the system's future.

Stranded on an asteroid with a semi-intelligent spacesuit, Hari has lost his ship and family to attackers. Determined to recover his stolen home, the inexperienced survivor ventures into a dangerous society where he cannot easily trust anyone.

This collection follows life after Earth's brief war against the colonies of Jupiter and Saturn. Longer stories and short snapshots explore the conflict's aftermath and the subsequent expansion of exploration and settlement throughout the Solar System.

Paul McAuley examines Terry Gilliam's dystopian film, tracing its production and critical reception while analyzing its retro-futuristic imagery. The study considers the narrative's coincidences and allusions, its relationship to other dystopias, and its satire of unchecked state power.

More than thirty speculative fiction writers describe how their books came into being in this essay collection. Contributors including Paul McAuley, Neal Asher, and Ellen Ullman discuss the writing and editing processes behind their work.

The Jackaroo offer humanity new worlds filled with alien remnants. In London, Chloe Millar encounters children affected by ancient technology, while policeman Vic Gayle investigates an off-world murder linked to competing gangs and a contested excavation site.

Two strangers become infected with copies of powerful alien code amid humanity's exploitation of the Jackaroo's gift worlds. Seeking answers, they enter a conflict involving a policeman and a preserved scientist's brain, with consequences stretching across centuries.

Human settlers on an Earthlike planet face the possibility of contact with alien cultures. Political tensions and xenophobia complicate their response, particularly because the organization leading the initiative carries a history of harm the colonists cannot ignore.

Genetically adapted to a warming Antarctica, Austral Morales Ferrado kidnaps a teenage girl in hopes of escaping her troubled life. Before collecting a ransom, she must cross a hostile landscape and evade criminals pursuing their own plans for the hostage.

On an immense artificial world, a peacekeeper abandons his post to pursue a criminal protected by the government. His hunt leads toward a war zone as a spreading threat transforms plants and animals into dangerous killers.

Richard Florey and Miguel Lucas are drawn into unrest on Elysium, where the founding colonists monopolize advanced technology. As revolution threatens their rule over outlying settlements, the planet's seemingly peaceful indigenous inhabitants may become a force neither side understands.

Long after humanity's extinction, Pilgrim Saltmire continues his late teacher's investigation of mysterious visitors and flying craft. Seeking evidence beyond his people's accepted history, he risks his standing and safety among remote communities and a dangerous cult.

Wildlife ranger Marc Winters seeks refuge from his sister’s disastrous cult, until a burglary and police visit unsettle his past. A revived movement of collective dreamers believes he holds information essential to healing their damaged world.