Neal Asher

Neal Asher
Occupation	Novelist
Nationality	British
Period	2000-Present
Genre	Science fiction
Website
http://freespace.virgin.net/n.asher/

Neal Asher (born 1961 in Billericay, Essex, England) is an English science fiction writer. His parents both are educators and science fiction fans. Although he began writing Science Fiction and Fantasy in high school, Asher did not turn seriously to writing till he was 25. He worked as a machinist and machine programmer from 1979 to 1987 and as a gardener from 1979 to 1987. He published his first short story in 1989. His novel, Gridlinked was published in 2001, the first in a series of novels made up of Gridlinked, The Line of Polity, Brass Man, Polity Agent, and The Line War.

Asher's novels, with one exception, and most of his short fiction, are all set within one future history, known as the "Polity" universe. The Polity encompasses many classic science fiction tropes including world-ruling artificial intelligences, androids, hive minds, aliens and time travel. His novels are characterized by fast paced action and violent encounters. While his work is frequently epic in scope and thus nominally space opera, its graphic and aggressive tone is more akin to cyberpunk. When combined with the way that Asher's main characters are usually acting to preserve social order or improve their society (rather than disrupt a society they are estranged from), these influences could place his work in the subgenre known as postcyberpunk.

He is published by Tor, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, in the UK. He is published by Tor Books in the United States.

Works

Polity universe

In order of publication

Agent Cormac series

1. Gridlinked (2001)
2. The Line of Polity (2003)
3. Brass Man (2005)
4. Polity Agent (2006)
5. The Line War (2008)

Spatterjay series

1. The Skinner (2002)
2. The Voyage of the Sable Keech (2006)
3. Orbus (2009)

Polity series

1. Prador Moon (2006)
2. Hilldiggers (2007)
3. Shadow of the Scorpion (2008)

In internal chronological order

1. Prador Moon
2. The Shadow of the Scorpion
3. Gridlinked
4. The Line of Polity
5. Brass Man
6. Polity Agent
7. Line War
8. The Skinner
9. The Voyage of the Sable Keech
10. Orbus
11. Hilldiggers

Novellas

• The Parasite (1996)
• Mason's Rats (1999)
• Africa Zero (2001), originally as two novellas: Africa Zero and Africa Plus One
• Mindgames: Fool's Mate (1992)

Short story collections

• The Engineer (1998) - Containing novella of the same title, and short stories.
• Runcible Tales (1999)
• The Engineer ReConditioned (2006) - Reprint of The Engineer with three additional stories.
• The Gabble: And Other Stories (2008) - short story collection

Short stories

• Adaptogenic (1994)
• Watch Crab (2003)

Other

• Cowl (2004), Philip K. Dick Award nominee

Awards

• British Fantasy Society Award nomination, 1999, for stories "Sucker" and "Mason's Rats III";
• SF Review Best Book designation, 2002, for The Skinner.

External links

• Neal Asher's personal website
• Neal Asher's blog
• Neal Asher at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Neal Asher's online fiction at Free Speculative Fiction Online
• Infinity Plus profile
• The ZONE interview

References

• Neal Asher page at Authortrek. Online March 25, 2008.
• Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. Document Number: H1000162683. Online. March 25, 2008.