Chris Beckett (born 1955) is a British social worker, university lecturer, and science fiction author.
Paul Di Filippo reviewed The Holy Machine for Asimov's Science Fiction, calling it "One of the most accomplished novel debuts to attract my attention in some time...",[2] Michael Levy in StrangeHorizons called it "a beautifully written and deeply thoughtful tale about a would-be scientific utopia that has been bent sadly out of shape by both external and internal pressures.
]His latest novel, Dark Eden was called by Stuart Kelly, of The Guardian, "a superior piece of the theologically nuanced science fiction".
[5] While Valerie O'Riordan, in Bookmunch, called it "a science-fiction dystopian tale in the vein of Russell Hoban's Ridley Walker or Patrick Ness's YA trilogy, Chaos Walking – or, if we're to go classical and mainstream, maybe Lord of the Flies" and "a character study of unconscious political ambition".
It is written for students training in fields such as social work, healthcare and education; the book covers topics which are central to understanding people, whether they are clients, service users, patients or pupils.