Ross MacKenzie

About Author

Award-winning author Ross MacKenzie introduces his gripping science-fiction novel, Rusthead.

Ross has been writing stories since he was seven years old, when he created an illustrated short story about a hungry crocodile named Crunchy Colin in a smuggled school jotter. His children's novel The Nowhere Emporium won the Blue Peter Best Story Award and the Scottish Children's Book Award.

Ross now splits his time between writing, his day job as a graphic designer, and his wife, daughters and cocker spaniel, with whom he lives near Glasgow.

Interview

August 2026

Ross MacKenzie introduces his page-turning science fiction adventure, Rusthead

Award-winning author of the Nowhere Emporium Ross MacKenzie joins ReadingZone to talk about his first science fiction adventure, Rusthead, exploring the possibilities - and dangers - of AI, set within an epic space quest.

More about Rusthead: Imagine a planet filled with scrap . . . Kol and Scully, two 'Rustheads', live and work in the scrapheaps of the planet Rust, until the day the ground falls away beneath them, and a new adventure begins - with a sentient spaceship, a girl with silver hair, and a quest that will take them to the other side of the galaxy . . . Read a chapter from Rusthead.

A Creative Challenge from Ross MacKenzie:

My challenge to you is to imagine your very own robot creation. There are no limits. So... what would your robot be? What would it do? Would it be friendly? Evil? Gigantic? Tiny? Could it talk? What would it look like? Does it have a humanoid appearance or is it completely alien? Maybe you could write a fact-file, or illustrate it!

Q&A with Ross Mackenzie: Inspiration, space adventures and AI

"I love the idea that there is more to reality than we care to see. And I love searching
in those hidden places for tales worth telling."

1. Hello Ross, we're looking forward to hearing more about Rusthead, your new book. Can you start by telling us what kinds of stories you enjoy writing?

Hello! I love all sorts of stories. But I suppose I'm mostly drawn to reading - and writing - stories that take place in the quiet, unnoticed corners of our world. I love the idea that there is more to reality than we care to see. And I love searching in those hidden places for tales worth telling.

2. What happens in your new book, Rusthead?

Rusthead is centred around two best mates - Kol and Sully - who begin working as "Rustheads", scavenging for anything useful on the great scrap piles of the planet Rust. After a cave-in, they're trapped deep under the scrap and discover a long-hidden, dormant ship. But it doesn't stay asleep for long. Oh, and there is someone else hiding on board who may have a very dangerous mission to complete!

3. You're known for your magical fantasy adventures like Nowhere Emporium and The Colour of Hope, so what brought you into writing science fiction?

I have always loved science fiction, and learning about the Universe. I grew up with the Star Wars movies, and we watched a lot of Star Trek and other sci-fi tv shows in our house. So I suppose it's been swirling around in my imagination since I was very young. But I'd never had a sci-fi idea that excited me enough to write it until Rusthead came along.

4. What inspired this story about a dead-end planet, a spaceship that can think, and a galaxy at war?

A lot of my books begin with a single picture in my head. I am a very visual person; I can see the action unfolding like a movie in my mind when I write. In the case of Rusthead, I saw these endless scarp fields so clearly. Huge mountains of twisted, rusted metal covering an entire planet. And two tiny figures scaling that scrap. And I just had to know what this place was and who these people were. The rest of the idea just grew from there.

5. How did you approach creating the world of Rusthead, its people and of course, the spaceship Rose? Was the world-building challenging?

With Rusthead it was easy. There are some ideas where you really have to dig deep to uncover the world. But others - and this has happened to me a few times - seem like they've been waiting for you. Every time I asked myself a question about the world of Rusthead, the answer was right there. As a writer that's really exciting, because it stops feeling like you're making something up and more like you're discovering something.

6. What is a 'Rusthead' and who are the main characters at the heart of the novel?

A Rusthead is someone who works as a scavenger on the huge, dangerous scrap fields on the planet Rust. Rustheads look for objects that can be repurposed, or repaired, or sold. It's a dangerous job. They work long shifts in terrible, oppressive heat. And there are dangers in the scrap. Not many Rustheads make it to retirement, let's put it that way.

Kol and Sully are two orphans from different planets conquered by the Reaper Empire. They've become best friends through the hardships of Rusthead life. They love a bit of banter. Kol is the more adventurous of the two, while Sully is more reserved. He'd rather stay in his quarters reading a good book than head out on an adventure!

7. Will Rusthead raise questions for your readers?

I'm always of the mind that a reader should take from a book exactly what they need or want to at the time. If someone reads Rusthead and it makes them think about AI and where we're headed, then great. Equally, if it makes them think, 'man, I'd love to have an adventure through the cosmos like that', then that's great too. As long as they enjoy the story, I'm happy!

8. At a time when we're still learning how far we can control AI, Rusthead provides something of a cautionary tale. Do recent developments in AI worry you?

I'm not worried about AI in terms of being frightened machines will rise up and take over the world. Not at all. Where I do have some concern is that there is a danger we allow ourselves to hand off our creativity to computers.

I think anyone who creates, whether that's books or movies or paintings or a hundred other things, is very wary that AI could become a substitute if we allow it. But even then, I don't think AI will ever be able to replicate that spark of individuality that humans put into our creations. Call it soul if you like. Nothing can replace that.

9. Are you planning to write more science fiction? Do you have more books on the go currently?

I'm sure another sci-fi story will come to the surface and demand that I tell it at some point - and I'll be delighted if that happens. I love to write in my little office space at home with a cup of coffee - usually during the day when the kids are at school and the house is quiet. I do sometimes like to write in coffee shops too. The smell of the coffee and the buzz of those places inspires me.

Currently, I'm writing a new story set in the universe of my Nowhere Emporium books. And I have another couple of ideas that I hope will become books too!

10. If you could head off into space on the spaceship Rose - would you?

I would love that! I am a bit of a geek when it comes to learning about the Universe. It's such an unimaginably vast place, and there are things out there far stranger and more wondrous than anything I could dream up. It would be fantastic to go and visit some of those wonders.

Ross MacKenzie's School Visits: I offer school visits, either in person or online. I can tailor to individual schools' requirements, but generally the visit will comprise a talk, reading, Q&A, and a group imaginative/storytelling exercise.

About Author

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