Ian Roderick MacLeod (born 6 August 1956) is a British science fiction and fantasy writer.
He studied law and worked as a civil servant before going freelance in early 1990s soon after he started publishing stories, attracting critical praise and awards.
He is the author of seven novels, including The Light Ages and The House of Storms, which are set in an alternate universe nineteenth century England, where aether, a substance that can be controlled by the mind, has ossified English society into guilds and has retarded technological progress.
His other novels and short stories feature a mixture of fantastic, historical, and futuristic elements, combined with a concern for character and vividly descriptive writing.
[4] His shorter fiction has been collected in Voyages by Starlight, Breathmoss and Other Exhalations, Past Magic, Journeys, Frost on Glass and Ragged Maps.