The Mimicking of Known Successes,

Micro-democracy and global information networks frame the political science fiction of The Centenal Cycle, a speculative novel series that begins with Infomocracy. Author Malka Older integrates deep expertise in sociology, governance, and international humanitarian response to craft imaginative narratives about global information management, institutional design, and political systems.

Career & Background

Malka Older is a writer, sociologist, and humanitarian aid worker who earned degrees from Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, and Sciences Po. Prior to establishing her literary career, she spent over eight years in international humanitarian aid and development, eventually serving as the 2015 Senior Fellow for Technology and Risk at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. She serves as the Executive Director of Global Voices, an international network of writers, editors, and translators providing community journalism while advocating for indigenous and minority languages, media literacy, digital rights, and online freedom of expression. Older is also a Faculty Associate at Arizona State University's School for the Future of Innovation in Society, where she teaches courses on predictive fictions and the humanitarian-development spectrum, hosts the Science Fiction Sparkle Salon, and acts as an Associate Researcher at the Centre de Sociologie des Organisations.

Writing Style & Themes

Older's fiction examines the structural mechanisms of governance, technology, institutional resilience, and social cohesion across complex future societies. In The Centenal Cycle—comprising Infomocracy, Null States, and State Tectonics—she analyzes micro-democracies driven by global search engines and data algorithms. Her shorter fiction, including the collection ...And Other Disasters and the standalone work Narrative Disorder, focuses on themes of identity, otherness, artificial intelligence, and human adaptation during crisis. In her Jupiter-based science-fiction mystery series starring investigator Mossa and academic Pleiti, Older combines traditional detective procedural elements with scholarly inquiry and romance, investigating societal structures on a terraformed gas giant.

Major Works

• Infomocracy — Published in 2016, this debut political thriller introduces a global order divided into ten-thousand-person centenals governed by information networks. Named among the best books of 2016 by Kirkus, The Washington Post, and Book Riot, the novel launched The Centenal Cycle, which received a Hugo Award nomination.
• Null States — The 2017 second book in The Centenal Cycle focuses on local governance challenges, political interference, and peripheral instability within the global micro-democratic system.
• State Tectonics — The 2018 concluding novel of The Centenal Cycle examines information vulnerability, system administration, and cybernetic infrastructure, winning the Prometheus Award in 2019.
• The Mimicking of Known Successes — Set on a platformed Jupiter, this 2023 novella follows investigator Mossa and scholar Pleiti solving a missing-persons case. Named to four best-of-2023 lists, it was a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Ignyte awards for Best Novella.
• The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles — This 2024 sequel continues Mossa and Pleiti's investigations into missing university scholars and institutional secrets on Jupiter, earning recognition as one of Esquire's best science-fiction books of 2024.
• The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses — Scheduled for publication in June 2025, this third installment in the Jupiter mystery series further develops the cases and personal relationship of Mossa and Pleiti.
• Narrative Disorder — A speculative story exploring information manipulation, individual memory, and cognitive framing within advanced technological environments.