Neal Asher

• Name — Neal Asher • Born — 4 February 1961 • Birthplace — Billericay, Essex, England • Occupation — Novelist • Period — 2000–present • Genre — Science fiction • Website — http: www.nealasher.co.uk

Both of Asher's parents are educators and science fiction fans. 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 identifies The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and other fantasy work including Roger Zelazny's The Chronicles of Amber series as important early creative influences. Asher published his first short story in 1989. In 2000 he was offered a three-book contract by Pan Macmillan, and his first full-length novel Gridlinked was published in 2001. This was the first in a series of novels made up of Gridlinked, The Line of Polity, Brass Man, Polity Agent, and Line War. Asher is published by Tor, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, in the UK, and by Tor Books in the United States. The majority of Asher's work is set in one future history, the "Polity" universe. It encompasses many classic science fiction tropes including world-ruling artificial intelligences, androids, hive minds and aliens. 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 post-cyberpunk.

In order of publication Agent Cormac series # • The Line of Polity (2003) • Brass Man (2005) • Polity Agent (2006) • Line War (2008) Spatterjay series • The Skinner (2002) • The Voyage of the Sable Keech (2006) • Orbus (2009) Transformation series • Dark Intelligence (2015) • War Factory (2016) • Infinity Engine (2017) Rise of the Jain • The Soldier (May 2018) • The Warship (May 2019) • The Human (April 2020) Time's Shadow • Dark Diamond (2025) • Dark Agent (2026) • Dark Horizon (2027) Standalone novels • Prador Moon (2006) • Hilldiggers (2007) • Shadow of the Scorpion (Prequel to Gridlinked, 2008) • The Technician (2010) • Jack Four (2021) • The Bosch (2022) • Weaponized (2022) • War Bodies (2023) • Jenny Trapdoor (2023) In internal chronological order • Weaponized (2300 CE) • Prador Moon (2310 CE) • Shadow of the Scorpion (2339 CE) • Gridlinked (2434 CE) • The Line of Polity (2437 CE) • Brass Man (2441 CE) • Polity Agent (2443 CE) • Line War (2444 CE) • The Technician (2457 CE) • Dark Intelligence (circa 2500 CE) • War Factory (circa 2500 CE) • Infinity Engine (circa 2500 CE) • The Soldier (circa 2750 CE) • The Warship (circa 2750 CE) • The Human (circa 2750 CE) • The Skinner (3056 CE) • The Voyage of the Sable Keech (3078 CE) • Orbus (3079 CE) • Jack Four • Hilldiggers (3230 CE)

• The Departure (2011) • Zero Point (2012) • Jupiter War (2013) • World Walkers (2024)

• Mindgames: Fool's Mate (1992) • The Parasite (1996) • Cowl (2004), Philip K. Dick Award nominee

• 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. Adopted as Episode №7 (Season 3) of Love, Death & Robots • Africa Zero — 2001 — Originally published as two novellas, Africa Zero and Africa 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's The Agony Column • The Other Gun — 2013 — Novella • "Memories of Earth" — 2013 — An Owner story

Neal Asher is recorded with the occupation science fiction writer. Recorded with the occupation short story writer. Recorded as a citizen of United Kingdom.

• The Engineer (1998) – Contains the novella of the same name and six stories. • The Engineer • "Snairls" • "Spatterjay" • "Jable Sharks" • "The Thrake" • "Proctors" • "The Owner" • Runcible Tales (1999) • "Always with You" (Polity Universe) (1996) • "Blue Holes" (Polity Universe) • "Dragon in the Flower" (Polity Universe) (1994) • "The Gire & the Bibrat" (Polity Universe) • "Walking John & Bird" (Polity Universe) • The Engineer ReConditioned (2006) – Reprint of The Engineer with three additional stories. • The Engineer • "Snairls" • "Spatterjay" • "Jable Sharks" • "The Thrake" • "Proctors" • "The Owner" • "The Tor-Beast's Prison" • "Tiger Tiger" • "The Gurnard" • The Gabble: And Other Stories (2008) • "Softly Spoke the Gabbleduck" (Cormac/Gabbleduck) • "Putrefactors" (Spatterjay) • "Garp and Geronamid" (Spatterjay) • "The Sea of Death" (n/a) • "Alien Archaeology" (Cormac/Gabbleduck) • "Acephalous Dreams" (Polity) • "Snow in the Desert" (n/a) • "Choudapt" (n/a) • "Adaptogenic" (Spatterjay) • "The Gabble" (Cormac/Gabbleduck) • Africa Zero (2005) – Contains three novellas. • Africa Zero • The Army of God • The Sauraman • Owning the Future: Short Stories (2018) • "Memories of Earth" (from Asimov's Science Fiction October/November 2013) • "Shell Game" (from The New Space Opera 2 2009) • "The Rhine's World Incident" (from Subterfuge 2008 and In Space No One Can Hear You Scream 2013) • "Owner Space" (from Galactic Empires anthology 2008) • "Strood" (from Asimov's Science Fiction December 2004 and Year's Best SF 10 2005) • "The Other Gun" (from Asimov's Science Fiction April/May 2013) • "Bioship" (from Solaris Book of New Science Fiction 2007) • "Scar Tissue" • "The Veteran" • Lockdown Tales (2020) • Lockdown Tales: An introduction • "The Relict" • "Monitor Logan" • "Bad Boy" • "Plenty" • "Dr. Whip" • "Raising Moloch" • Lockdown Tales II (2023) • Lockdown Tales II: An introduction • "Xenovore" • "An Alien on Crete" • "The Translator" • "Skin" • "Eels" • "The Host" • "Antique Battlefields" • "Moral Biology" • "Longevity Averaging" • Fantastical (2023)