Richard K. Morgan is an English science fiction author. Born in London, and brought up in a village near Norwich, Morgan studied history at Queens' College, Cambridge. After graduating he started teaching English in order to travel the world. After fourteen years and a post at Strathclyde University, his first novel was published and he became a full-time writer. Morgan's books are generally set in a dystopian world. Morgan described his "takeaway" of one of his books as [s]ociety is, always has been and always will be a structure for the exploitation and oppression of the majority through... systems of political force dictated by an élite, enforced by thugs, uniformed or not, and upheld by a willful ignorance and stupidity on the part of the very majority whom the system oppresses. In 2002 Morgan's first novel Altered Carbon was published, combining elements of cyberpunk and hardboiled detective fiction and featuring the anti-hero Takeshi Kovacs. The film rights for the book sold for a reported figure of $1,000,000 to film producer Joel Silver, enabling Morgan to become a full-time writer. In 2003 the U.S. edition received the Philip K. Dick Award.
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