Paul J. McAuley (www.omegacom.demon.co.uk) lives in London, England. He often writes hard SF, one of the group (along with Stephen Baxter, Peter Hamilton, Iain M. Banks, and others) responsible for the hard SF/space opera renaissance of the 1990s. He has three collections of short fiction—The King of the Hill and Other Stories, The Invisible Country, and Little Machines. In 2001, he published two new novels—The Secret of Life, a hard SF near-future thriller, and Whole Wide World, a novel of high-tech intrigue; in 2004, White Devils, and in 2005, Mind’s Eye, both SF thrillers. It is evident that in his novel writing he has moved away from space opera, which characterized his early books.
“Rats of the System” was published in Constellations. It is classic McAuley, good fun hard SF space opera: romance, and a battle with aliens.