May, Peter
Entry updated 12 October 2026. Tagged: Author.
(1951-2026) Scottish journalist, screenwriter and author, active from around 1970; resident in France from around 2000. During the first twenty-five years of his career as a screenwriter, he was involved in something like 1,000 television productions, all seemingly nonfantastic. He began to publish fiction with The Reporter (1978), which he serialized for the BBC; most of his later novels were crime thrillers, including the China Thrillers beginning with The Firemaker (1999), the Enzo Files beginning with Dry Bones (2006) and the Lewis Trilogy beginning with The Blackhouse (2011) [these series not listed below].
May is of sf interest for Lockdown (2020), set in a very Near Future London savagely devastated by a Pandemic; and for A Winter Grave (2023), set in a near future Scotland complexly affected by Climate Change, with global warming responsible for changing the path of the Gulf Stream, Glasgow's streets having become navigable canals, and snow in the Highlands again. Scotland has rejoined the European Community after finally winning independence, and the land is in some ways thriving. The murder plot at the heart of A Winter Grave is plausibly dependent on the changing nature of the new world. [JC]
Peter May
born Glasgow, Scotland: 20 December 1951
died France: 25 September 2026
works (very highly selected)
- Lockdown (London: Quercus Publishing, 2020) [pb/Head Design]
- A Winter Grave (London: Quercus Publishing/riverrun, 2023) [hb/uncredited]
links
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