Books By Ian Green - Author

Ian Green is a writer from Northern Scotland with a PhD in epigenetics.

His fiction has been widely broadcast and performed, including winning the BBC Radio 4 Opening Lines competition and winning the Futurebook Future Fiction Prize. His short fiction has been published by Londnr, Almond Press, OpenPen, Meanjin, Transportation Press, The Pigeonhole, No Alibi Press, Minor Lits, and more.

A letter from Ian on his new novel and first foray into science fiction, Extremophile;

I’m overjoyed to be working with the fantastic team at Head of Zeus for my debut science fiction novel. Extremophile is an action-packed thriller – in the stuttering decay of climate-collapse London, biohacker punks are hired by eco-terrorists to steal, murder, and maybe save the world. Is there hope left, and do they have the right to grab it? The book is a chance for me to bring to bear my background in genetic research and my love for the cyberpunk genre to create a complex tableau of future London, a city wracked by climate collapse and corporate interest. In this context I wanted to explore the nature of community and violence and music and how these tools come to bear in a crisis – our protagonists Charlie and Parker are punks at the edge of a crumbling society, desperately trying to find a path to hope and community.

The biohacking elements of the story grow from my adoration and frustration with the cyberpunk genre – as we focus more and more on how technology could alter our futures, we overlook the intricacy and complexity of the underlying biology, and how we now have the capacity to tinker and meddle with systems that are wonderfully arcane. With my background working in cancer epigenetics and my network of scientific peers, I delved deep into the obtuse corners of the nascent biohacking scene, from the febrile wealth of Silicon Valley hunting immortality to the bubbling underground of self-experimentation.

With the looming threat and reality of the changing climate an ever-present darkness on our horizon, writing Extremophile has been a cathartic exultation as I focus on humanity’s capacity to hope, to adapt, and to fight. The book touches on many dark places, where human life has little value and the forces of consumption seem utterly beyond reach – but there is hope, and there is a potential to find love and meaning through resistance. Combining punk sensibilities with biohacking horror and a breakneck plot, I can’t wait to pull the pin on this grenade and press it lovingly into your hands.