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Paul McAuley at Worldcon 2005 in Glasgow

Paul McAuley (born April 23, 1955), a British botanist, award-winning author, and self-described science junkie.

By training a biologist, UK science fiction author McAuley writes mostly hard science fiction, dealing with themes such as biotechnology, alternate history/alternate reality, and space travel.

McAuley started out writing far-future space opera with 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 filled with all the latest SF ideas: nanotechnology, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, personality downloads, virtual reality. The Confluence trilogy, set in an even more distant future (about ten million years ahead), is one of a number of novels to use Frank J. Tipler's Omega Point Theory as part of its machinery. In the middle of this, he published Pasquale's Angel, set in an alternate Italian Renaissance and featuring Niccolò Machiavegli (Machiavelli) and Leonardo da Vinci in prominent roles.

McAuley has also used biotech and nanotech 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. 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).

Also known as Paul J. McAuley.

• Four Hundred Billion Stars
  • Four Hundred Billion Stars. London: Gollancz, 1988. ISBN 0-575-04260-5
  • 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
• Red Dust. London: Gollancz, 1993. ISBN 0-575-05488-3
• Pasquale's Angel. London: Gollancz, 1994. ISBN 0-575-05489-1
• Fairyland. London: Gollancz, 1995. ISBN 0-575-06070-0
• 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
• The Secret of Life. London: Voyager, 2001. ISBN 0-00-225904-4
• Whole Wide World. London: Voyager, 2002. ISBN 0-00-225903-6
• White Devils. London: Simon & Schuster, 2004. ISBN 0-7432-3885-0
• Mind's Eye. London: Simon & Schuster, 2005. ISBN 0-7432-3887-7
• Players. London: Simon & Schuster, 2007. ISBN 0-7432-7617-5
• Cowboy Angels. London: Gollancz, 2007. ISBN 978-0-575-07934-7

• 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)

• King of the Hill. London: Gollancz, 1988. ISBN 0-575-05001-2
• The Invisible Country. London: Gollancz, 1988. ISBN 0-575-06072-7
• Little Machines. Harrogate: PS Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1-902880-94-3

See also: "Gene Wars" (1991)

• 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
• Interview on Actusf