Ian McDonald

Ian McDonald is a British science fiction and fantasy writer living in Belfast. He is the author of the Luna series.

His books include themes of nanotechnology, postcyberpunk settings, and the impact of rapid social and technological change on non-Western societies.

## Early Life

Ian McDonald was born in 1960, in Manchester, to a Scottish father and Irish mother. He moved to Belfast when he was five and has lived there ever since. He lived through the whole of the 'Troubles' (1968–1999), and his sensibility has been permanently shaped by coming to understand Northern Ireland as a post-colonial society imposed on an older culture.

## Career

McDonald sold his first story to a local Belfast magazine when he was 22, and in 1987 became a full-time writer. He has also worked in TV consultancy within Northern Ireland, contributing scripts to the Northern Irish Sesame Workshop production of *Sesame Tree*.

McDonald's debut novel was *Desolation Road* (1988), which takes place on a far future Mars in a town that develops around an oasis in the terraformed Martian desert. He published a sequel, *Ares Express*, in 2001.

Published between 1995 and 2000, the novels *Chaga* (US title *Evolution's Shore*) and *Kirinya*, with the novella *Tendeléo's Story*, form the 'Chaga Saga', which chronicles the effects of an alien flora introduced to Earth, and also analyses the AIDS crisis in Africa. The protagonist is Ulster journalist Gaby McAslin, whose outsider's eye both observes the African landscape and sees what the "UN quarantine zone" is doing to Kenya and Kenyans. Gaby's story, with that of her daughter, continues in *Kirinya*. *Tendeléo's Story* is seen through the eyes of a young Kenyan girl who escapes to the UK, only to be deported back to Kenya as an unwanted alien.

> The image of the unstoppable wave of transformation was nicked from [1982 *Star Trek* movie] *The Wrath of Khan*: it's the Genesis device, slowed down, and once I had that, it became a rich source of metaphors: for colonialism, new technology, globalisation, change, death. If the Chaga is colonialism, it's a unique kind that allows the people of the poor South to use and transform it to meet their needs and empower themselves: it's a symbiosis.
>
>

McDonald's *River of Gods* (2004) is set in mid-21st-century India; it won the BSFA award, and was nominated for a Hugo Award and a Clarke Award. *Brasyl* (2007) is set in the 18th and 21st centuries in Lusophone South America; it won the BSFA award, and was nominated for a Hugo Award and the Warwick Prize for Writing. McDonald began his *Everness* series of young adult fiction novels in 2011 with *Planesrunner*. He said in a 2014 interview, "I didn't want to get stuck doing the same SF books over and over, successful though they may be. I didn't want to keep writing books about the developing economy of the year—India, Brazil. I could feel myself getting trapped in that." He has written two *Everness* sequels, *Be My Enemy* (2012), and *Empress of the Sun* (2014).

McDonald published *Luna: New Moon*, the first volume of a proposed science fiction duology, in 2015. It explores the dangerous intrigue that surrounds the five powerful families who control industry on the Moon. McDonald said of the novel in August 2014, "I’m still writing about developing economies, it’s just that this one happens to be on the Moon." Before critics called the novel "*Game of Thrones* in space", McDonald himself dubbed it "*Game of Domes*" and "*Dallas* in space". *Luna* was optioned for development as a television series before its release. The sequel, *Luna: Wolf Moon*, was released in March 2017. A third novel, *Luna: Moon Rising*, was released in March 2019. McDonald previously published the novelette "The Fifth Dragon", a prequel to *Luna* in the same setting, in the 2014 anthology *Reach for Infinity*.

McDonald's *Time Was*, a time travel romance novella about two men, was released in April 2018.

## Publications

#### *Desolation Road* series

* *Desolation Road* (1988)
* *Ares Express* (2001)

#### *Chaga* saga

* *Chaga* (1995, US: Evolution's Shore)
* *Kirinya* (1997)

#### *India in 2047*

* *River of Gods* (2004)
* *Cyberabad Days* (2009) (collection)

#### *Everness* series

* *Planesrunner* (2011)
* *Be My Enemy* (2012)
* *Empress of the Sun* (2014)

#### *Luna* series

* *Luna: New Moon* (2015)
* *Luna: Wolf Moon* (2017)
* *Luna: Moon Rising* (2019)
* *The Menace from Farside* (2019) (novella)

#### Other novels, novellas, and short stories

* *Empire Dreams* (1988) (short stories)
* *Out on Blue Six* (1989)
* *King of Morning, Queen of Day* (1991)
* *Hearts, Hands and Voices* (1992, US: The Broken Land)
* *Speaking in Tongues* (1992) (short stories)
* *Kling Klang Klatch* (1992) (graphic novel, illustrated by David Lyttleton)
* *Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone* (1994)
* *Necroville* (1994, US: Terminal Cafe)
* *Sacrifice of Fools* (1996)
* *Tendeleo's Story* (2000)
* *The Djinn's Wife* (2006)
* *Brasyl* (2007)
* *The Dervish House* (2010)
* *Time Was* (2018)

## Awards

### Won

* Locus Award – First Novel (1989): *Desolation Road*
* Philip K. Dick Award – Best Collection (1991): *King of Morning, Queen of Day*
* British Science Fiction Association Award – Best Short Fiction (1992): *Innocents*
* Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis (1999): *Sacrifice of Fools*
* Theodore Sturgeon Award (2001): *Tendeléo's Story*
* British Science Fiction Association Award – Best Novel (2004): *River of Gods*
* Hugo Award for Best Novelette (2007): *The Djinn's Wife*
* British Science Fiction Association Award – Best Novel (2007): *Brasyl*
* John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (2011): *The Dervish House*
* British Science Fiction Association Award – Best Novel (2011): *The Dervish House*
* Gaylactic Spectrum Award – Best Novel (2016): *Luna: New Moon*

### Nominations

* Nebula Award for Best Novelette (1989): *Unfinished Portrait of the King of Pain by Van Gogh*
* Arthur C. Clarke Award – Best Novel (1990): *Desolation Road*
* *Locus* Fantasy Award (1992): *King of Morning, Queen of Day*
* Arthur C. Clarke Award – Best Novel (1993): *Hearts, Hands, and Voices*
* British Science Fiction Award (1992): *Hearts, Hands, and Voices*
* World Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction (1994) : *Some Strange Desire*
* Philip K. Dick Award (1994) : *Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone*
* British Science Fiction Association Award – Best Novel (1994) : *Necroville*
* British Science Fiction Association Award – Best Novel (1995): *Chaga*
* The John W. Campbell Memorial Award (1996): *Chaga*
* Arthur C. Clarke Award – Best Novel (2005): *River of Gods*
* Hugo Award – Best Novel (2005): *River of Gods*
* Hugo Award – Best Novel (2008): *Brasyl*
* Warwick Prize for Writing (2008/9) and reached prize longlist announced in November 2008: *Brasyl*
* The John W. Campbell Memorial Award (2008): *Brasyl*
* *Locus* SF Award (2008): *Brasyl*
* Nebula Award (2008): *Brasyl*
* Hugo Award – Best Novel (2011): *The Dervish House*
* *Locus* Award – Best Science Fiction Novel (2011): *The Dervish House*
* Arthur C. Clarke Award – Best Novel (2011): *The Dervish House*
* British Science Fiction Association Award – Best Novel (2015): *Luna: New Moon*
* Philip K. Dick Award (2018): *Time Was*
* *Locus* Award – Best Science Fiction Novel (2018): *Luna: Wolf Moon*
* *Locus* Award – Best Science Fiction Novel (2020): *Luna: Moon Rising*