Neal Asher was born 1961 in Billericay, Essex, the son of a school teacher and a lecturer in applied mathematics who were also SF aficionados.
Prior to 2000 the Asher had stories accepted by British small press SF and fantasy magazines but post 2000 his writing career took flight. Pan Macmillan offered him a three-book contract and have now published many more UK, America, Russia, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Japan Czechoslovakia and Romania. The majority of his novels are 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 and aliens.
"I have numerous favourite themes in my books so I’ll start off with the most obvious ones. Upgrading I think is a constant and important one. My characters are variously boosted – their muscles made more dense and powerful and bones strengthened to take the load – enhanced with joint torque motors and other technological additions, even given entirely knew Golem bodies. The Old Captains are physically enhanced by the Spatterjay virus to the point where they’re practically indestructible and as strong as bulldozers. Cormac, with his gridlink is an obvious example of mental upgrading, as are subsidiary characters with their various styles of aug. Then, of course, when you get to Alan Saul, you have a human mind amalgamated with an AI copy of itself and able to expand into, and utilize and control, computer networks."
Latest Book
Doomed to die. And die again.
Dark Diamond is the first in a high-octane space opera trilogy, Time’s Shadow. From Neal Asher, creator of the Polity universe.
‘Infinitely entertaining’ – Locus Magazine
Somebody is trying to kill Captain Blite, but each attempt ends in unexpected failure. All Blite knows is that a black diamond – left to him by the dark AI Penny Royal – is the cause of his unlikely survival.
Each failed attempt on Blite’s life generates temporal anomalies, drawing the scrutiny of the ruthless Mobius AI Straeger, who craves the power and possibilities the diamond holds. But they also draw the attention of the legendary Polity agent Ian Cormac, whose skills and destructive reputation may make him Blite’s only hope. Caught in the crossfire of galactic forces, Blite must uncover the true nature of the dark diamond before it causes his destruction . . .
Praise for Neal Asher
‘Neal Asher’s books are like an adrenaline shot targeted directly for the brain’ – John Scalzi, author of Old Man’s War
‘Non-stop action and unimaginable stakes’ – Yoon Ha Lee on The Soldier
‘Imaginative, energetic and insane’ – SFX on Brass Man