Secret Harmonies

Overview: Paul McAuley is a former research scientist at Oxford University and UCLA,and a former lecturer in botany at St. Andrews University. This is his debutthriller and marks the arrival of a major British talent in this field. Heis available for interview and comment, particularly in regard to thedangers of biotechnology and the interface of profit and science. The planet Elysium seems like a paradise, but revolution is brewing among the colonists from Earth. This is the second novel from the author of "Four Hundred Billion Stars", which was the first British novel to win the prestigious Philip K. Dick Award for science fiction in the USA. The planet Elysium is long settled, but troubles lay underneath the seeming paradise. Citizens of the Port of Plenty have benefited from new technology, but settlers across the planet are left to fend for themselves.