The True Knowledge of Ken Macleod (Book Review‪)‬

Andrew M. Butler and Farah Mendlesohn, eds. The True Knowledge of Ken MacLeod. Reading, UK: The Science Fiction Foundation, 2003. Foundation Studies in Science Fiction, 3. 136 pp. [pounds sterling]20.00, cloth. Available in the U. S. from Pathway Book Services, 1-800-345-6665; pbs@pathwaybook.com. I first discovered Ken MacLeod's fiction in early 2000 when I was working on the syllabus for a science fiction course I'd been asked to teach as part of the University of Wisconsin in Scotland program that fall. If memory serves it was Farah Mendlesohn, one of the editors of the book I'm reviewing here, who suggested him. Although the course enrolled American students, it was supposed to have a Scottish orientation and, after Robert Louis Stevenson, Alasdair Gray, and Iain M. Banks I had come up empty so I was very grateful for the recommendation. The only work by MacLeod readily available in the U. S. at the time was his third novel, The Cassini Division, which I read and liked. I assigned it to my students who, despite devoting most of their time in Edinburgh to the bar scene and touring, actually seemed to enjoy the novel as well, though, being typical American college kids, they found most of the book's political content intensely incomprehensible. They also liked MacLeod, who visited us at Dalkeith House, where the UW program is housed, and gave a talk on his work carefully calibrated, I believe, to their level of sophistication.