The Stone Canal - Ken MacLeod

A riveting tale. (334 words)
by Brett Bligh - written on 20/08/00, updated on 22/08/00 (Very useful, 10 readings)
Rating:

Deftly combining a serious discussion of political ideologies with many science fictional ideas this, Ken Macleod’s second novel published in 1996, is certainly worth a look. The book is, for the most part, split into two narratives told in alternating chapters. The first centres around both a man, Wilde, waking up many years in the future on the planet of New Mars to be confronted with a Human Equivalent machine, and an android, Dee Model, who has escaped from her owner and seeks sanctuary with an idealistic group known as the Abolitionists. The second begins in the 1970s at Glasgow University and features a group of students (one of whom is Wilde), hanging ...

The Star Fraction - Ken Macleod

The Star Fraction (299 words)
by B0nfire - written on 23/06/00, updated on 23/06/00 (Very useful, 10 readings)
Rating:

The first novel by Ken Macleod, this is a book firmly set in the seemingly resurrected cyberpunk mould, albeit with a contemporary spin. The main character is Moh Kohn, mercenary with a political heart, who lives in a socialist area that was once London. Quite a bit happens over the course of the book, but suffice to say that it involves AIs and revolutions. When I first read this book around a year ago, I was pretty confused by a lot of it. This is because to get the most out of it you need to have a good understanding of Communist theory and history. Twelve months (and a couple of reads of Marx's 'The Communist Manifesto') later, I feel I'm in a ...