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Neal Asher | |
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| Born | (1961-02-04)4 February 1961 (age 64) Billericay,Essex, England |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | British |
| Period | 2000–present |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Website | |
| www | |
Neal Asher (born 4 February 1961) is an Englishscience fiction writer. He lives nearChelmsford.[1]
Both of Asher's parents are educators and science fiction fans.[2] Although he began writing speculative fiction in secondary school, he did not turn seriously to writing until he was 25. He worked as a machinist and machine programmer and as a gardener from 1979 to 1987. Asher identifiesThe Lord of the Rings,The Hobbit and other fantasy work includingRoger Zelazny'sThe Chronicles of Amber series as important early creative influences.[3]
Asher published his first short story in 1989. In 2000 he was offered a three-book contract byPan Macmillan,[2] and his first full-length novelGridlinked was published in 2001. This was the first in a series of novels made up ofGridlinked,The Line of Polity,Brass Man,Polity Agent, andLine War.
Asher is published by Tor, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, in the UK, and byTor Books in the United States.[4]
The majority of Asher's work is set in one future history, the "Polity" universe. It encompasses many classic science fiction tropes including world-rulingartificial intelligences,androids,hive minds andaliens. His novels are characterized by fast-paced action and violent encounters. While his work is frequently epic in scope and thus nominallyspace opera, its graphic and aggressive tone is more akin tocyberpunk. 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 aspost-cyberpunk.[5]
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In order of publication Agent Cormac series
Spatterjay series
Transformation series
Rise of the Jain
Standalone novels
| In internal chronological order[8]
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| Title | Year | First published | Reprinted/collected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Adaptogenic" | 1992 | Threads 2 | The Gabble and Other Stories (Tor, 2008) | |
| Mindgames: Fool's Mate | 1992 | Novella | ||
| The Parasite | 1996 | Novella | ||
| Mason's Rats | 1999 | Novella | ||
| Africa Zero | 2001 | Originally published as two novellas,Africa Zero andAfrica Plus One | ||
| "Snow in the Desert" | 2002 | Spectrum SF 8 | Year's Best SF 8 (2003) The Gabble and Other Stories (Tor, 2008) | |
| "Watch Crab" | 2003 | Rick Kleffel'sThe Agony Column | ||
| The Other Gun | 2013 | Asher, Neal (April–May 2013). "The other gun".Asimov's Science Fiction.37 (4&5):14–45. | Novella | |
| "Memories of Earth" | 2013 | Asher, Neal (October–November 2013). "Memories of Earth".Asimov's Science Fiction.37 (10–11):36–41. | An Owner story |
