Neal Asher

In Neal Asher's The Technician, the Theocracy has been dead for twenty years, and the Polity rules on Masada – but it is an order that the rebels of the Tidy Squad cannot accept, and the iconic Jeremiah Tombs is top of their hitlist.Its secrets could mean our survival . . .On the savage planet of Masada, one of the native aliens is spreading terror through the human population. It creates sculptures from its victims’ remains, earning it its nickname: the Technician. And only Jeremiah Tombs has survived an encounter. This sent him mad, but he may have learned something key to humanity’s survival – if he lives to remember it. Jeremiah was a member of a brutal regime, now deposed, and a radical sect still wants its revenge. The Technician buried something in Jeremiah’s mind about the alien Atheter, an entire race that committed suicide. However, in seeking to understand their disappearance, we may somehow be attracting the same fate. And to unlock Jeremiah’s secrets, Polity operatives must keep him alive.

Neal Asher is on top form in Cowl, his fast-paced space opera.Cowl was a human.Now he's the nightmare you never imagined . . .In the far-future, the Heliothane Dominion triumphed after a bitter war. But some enemies escaped into the past, to wreak havoc across time. The worst is Cowl – originally human, until artificially-forced evolution made him something else entirely.Polly is unprepared for her involvement with Nandru Jurgens. He’s a Taskforce soldier, now hunted by killers. Nor can Polly resist the alien 'tor' she’s compelled to attach to her arm. But when she’s dragged through time, she learns fast. Tack has a tor fragment embedded in his wrist – a bloody reminder of Heliothane’s government. As their vat-grown assassin, he’s no stranger to violence. But the extent of this mission is different.Meanwhile, a beast hunts its targets through time’s alternate dimensions. This is Cowl's pet tor – and it’s eager to feed.

&b>Neal Asher ramps up the action in this second book in his Rise of the Jain trilogy. Expect epic conflicts in space, extraordinary aliens and impossible choices . . . &/b>

From the mind of Neal Asher, world-renown author of more than 20 books and nominee for both the Philip K. Dick and the British Fantasy Society awards, comes a new action-filled science fiction Polity epic. The Polity itself may be at risk in this final novel of Neal Asher's classic Spatterjay trilogy, following The Skinner and The Voyage of the Sable Keech, now reissued in mass market. Orbus--an Old Captain hooper and one of the oldest inhabitants of the deadly and remote waterworld Spatterjay--is traveling to the Graveyard, a planetary wasteland in the vast no-man's-land between the Polity and the Prador Kingdom. Heading in the same direction is the prador Vrell. Mutated by the Spatterjay virus into something powerful and dangerous, Vrell has seized control of a massive dreadnought ship, intent on exacting vengeance on those who tried to have him killed. Meeting him there will be the King of the Prador, looking to finish the job. Everything points to a climatic confrontation in the Graveyard, as deeper truths about the Spatterjay virus will be revealed, and an ancient menace to civilization itself will reappear . . .

One of The Verge's 10 New Science Fiction and Fantasy Books to Check Out The dangers of ancient technology loom over the Polity in the sequel to The Soldier, Neal Asher's latest action-packed space opera series. The haiman Orlandine, charged with safeguarding lethal Jain tech swirling inside an accretion disc located in the distant reaches of space, has weaponized a black hole to eliminate the threat. But others are suspicious of her motives, and both the Polity AIs and the leaders of the alien prador kingdom dispatch fleets of warships in anticipation of conflict. As the black hole continues to eat its way through the planets in the accretion disc, making its way towards a dead sun, it becomes clear the disc has been hiding a larger secret. Nefarious forces with ulterior motives have manipulated Orlandine into deploying the black hole, triggering a series of larger events that will uncover a danger far older than even the Polity itself. From British science fiction writer Neal Asher, The War Ship picks up right where its predecessor, The Soldier, left off, showcasing Asher's unique take on cutting-edge and fast-paced science fiction.

"A powerhouse cocktail of lurid violence, evocative world-building and typically grotesque monsters."--SFX The fast-paced adventures on the remote planet Spatterjay, a dangerous waterworld filled with lethal biology, continue in the sequel to The Skinner. Sable Keech, a reification previously deceased for more than seven hundred years, is now a walking dead man, resurrected under mysterious circumstances that may have a lot to do with the virus native to the exotic but deadly remote ocean world Spatterjay. As word of his adventures (The Skinner) continue to spread, the planet has become a pilgrimage site for other reifs hoping to meet similar fates. The allure of the virus--which promises something close to immortality, even if it comes at terrible biological cost--has brought other beings to the off-Polity world as well. An ancient hive mind may be after the poison "sprine" crucial to the virus's immortality. Deep in the ocean, a vicious alien prador has awakened from a long, virus-induced coma. And Sniper, an AI assigned as the planet's warden, finally receives his new drone shell. It's better than his old one, with powerful engines, more lethal weapons, and thicker armour. He's going to need them.

Discover action, intrigue and mind-bending science in Hilldiggers, a gripping science fiction novel from Neal Asher where four siblings holding the keys to unthinkable power.Two planets, bound by the same solar system, were once locked in war. Then a cosmic super-string overflowing with alien technology - or life - was discovered. For safety, it was stored within a maximum-security space station.Sometime later, a female scientist from the station became pregnant and gave birth to quadruplets. But she inexplicably committed suicide by walking directly out into space.When war finally ends, one planet is devastated. It has been decimated by the other planet's hilldigger weaponry, so named as their blasts are capable of transforming landscapes into mountains.As the remnants of their society rebuild, the quadruplets, adults now, begin their ascension to power. One of them has his sights set on claiming the hilldiggers and their power for himself. But with what consequences for humanity?Set in the aftermath of Neal Asher's Spatterjay trilogy, Hilldiggers is an action-packed science fiction story.

Seamlessly blending space opera, hard science fiction and cyberpunk, Neal Asher's Shadow of the Scorpion is a gripping prequel to the compelling Agent Cormac series.Following the devastation of the human-prador war, Ian Cormac is employed by the Earth Central Security. Yet he is haunted by childhood memories of a sinister scorpion-shaped war drone and the burden of losses he doesn’t remember.Tasked with restoring order on worlds ravaged by alien warfare, his cold capacity for violence soon makes him one of Earth's top agents. But chilling discoveries propel Cormac onto a path of revenge and revenge, where he'll have to use all his hard-won skills just to stay alive.

Prador Moon is one of Neal Asher’s most explosive excursions into the Polity universe – a vivid, visceral, brilliantly intense space opera that you won’t forget.It takes one encounter to turn peace into war . . . The worlds of the Polity stretch from Earth Central into the unfathomable reaches of the galactic void. And when humanity finally encounters alien life – in the form of massive, hostile carnivores known as the Prador – there can only be one outcome. Total warfare. Chaos reigns as, caught unawares, the Polity struggles to regain control. It must try and remake itself into a military society as starships clash, planets fall and space stations are overrun. But for Jebel Krong and Moria Salem, trapped at the centre of the action, this war is far more than a clash of cultures or technology versus brute force. This war is personal.Prador Moon is a standalone prequel to the dramatic events in Neal Asher's Spatterjay novels.

From the mind of Neal Asher, world-renown author of more than 20 books and nominee for both the Philip K. Dick and the British Fantasy Society awards, comes a new action-filled science fiction Polity epic. Three visitors arrive on one of the most unique (and deadly) worlds science fiction has ever seen, in the start of a classic Polity series from Neal Asher. Welcome to Spatterjay . . . where sudden death is the normal way of life. On the remote planet Spatterjay arrive three travelers: Janer, acting as the eyes of a hornet Hive mind; Erlin, a xenobiologist searching for an ancient sea captain; and Sable Keech, who himself has been dead for 700 years. On this ocean world, visitors are rare, and the native hoopers--humans infected with a local virus that renders them nearly invincible, though at monstrous cost--patrol the open seas, risking the voracious appetites of the planet's deadly wildlife. Somewhere out there is Spatterjay Hoop, the last member of a band of pirates, whose many years spent on the planet have transformed him into a grotesque monster. And a vicious alien prador is about to pay Spatterjay a visit as well, intent on extermination. As the visitors' paths converge, major hell is about to erupt in a chaotic waterscape where minor hell is already a remorseless fact of everyday life . . . and death.

"Asher is a modern master of sci-fi." --Starburst magazine The thrilling saga of Agent Cormac continues as a rogue alien technology begins its devastating spread through the worlds of the Polity. . . From eight hundred years in the future, a runcible gate is opened into the Polity, allowing a ragged tide of refugees through as they attempt to take the alien "Maker" back to its home civilization. But the gate itself is rapidly shut down and dumped into a nearby sun--something alien is pursuing them. From the refugees, Agent Ian Cormac learns that the Maker civilization has been destroyed by a virus: the Jain technology. This, of course, raises questions: Why was Dragon, a massive bioconstruct of the Makers, really sent to the Polity? Why did a Jain node suddenly end up in the hands of someone who could do the most damage with it? And all the while, an entity called the Legate is distributing pernicious Jain nodes . . . and a renegade attack ship, The King of Hearts, has encountered something very nasty outside the Polity itself. Night Shade Books is proud to reissue Neal Asher's Agent Cormac series, a fast-moving, edge-of-your-seat science fiction adventure from one of today's most exciting SF talents.

Set in a lethal waterworld where sudden death is a way of life, The Skinner is the first novel in the far-future Spatterjay series by Neal Asher.The savage ocean planet of Spatterjay draws visitors with very different agendas. Erlin is immortal and seeks a reason to keep living. Janer hosts a hive mind, which paid him to find this planet. And Keech is an agent of Earth who’s been dead for seven hundred years – but still hunts a notorious criminal.On Spatterjay’s vast waterscapes, only the Old Captains risk the native life forms and their voracious appetites. However, they are now barely human. And somewhere out there Keech’s target – the Skinner – runs wild. Keech pursues the Skinner for atrocities committed in a centuries-past war, fought with the alien Prador. But one of these Prador is fast approaching Spatterjay to exterminate witnesses to his own war crimes. And he won’t spare its visitors.Continue the science fiction adventure with The Voyage of Sable Keech and Orbus.

The Voyage of the Sable Keech returns to Neal Asher's water-bound world of Spatterjay, teeming with bizarre characters and gruesome monsters.Taylor Bloc is a walking dead man, determined to live again. He also wants adulation, power and control – and will do anything to get them. Of Bloc’s kind, Sable Keech alone has achieved resurrection. So Bloc will retrace Keech’s journey across Spatterjay’s wild seas, with his crew of killers, to grasp his secret.Erlin wanted solitude to understand her eternal life, until an attack prompts her own strange journey. And Janer returns, with forbidden weaponry. He must stop an agent controlled by a hive mind with a death fixation. But a wider crisis will overshadow personal missions. In the deeps, an alien Prador is stirring, horribly transformed by Spatterjay’s immortality virus. And an enemy ship would destroy the planet to keep this secret.Continue the science fiction adventure series with Orbus, or start at the beginning with The Skinner.

Orbus continues the adventure of Captain Orbus in Neal Asher's high-octane, science fiction Spatterjay series.A cold war is turning white hot.Old Captain Orbus commandeered a ship to flee Spatterjay, desperate to escape the violent planet. Orbus’s alien enemy, the Prador Vrell, is also moving on. The Spatterjay virus mutated him into something even more dangerous. And he’s hunting the Prador King himself – who sought to kill him, to bury the secret of their similar transformations.Orbus and Vrell clash in the Graveyard, a lawless zone where the Prador have seized a key space station. Official action by humanity or Prador would end peace, as a centuries-long cold war simmers. So Earth commands Orbus to destroy the station, even as the King recruits a monster to exterminate Vrell. But their actions will awaken an intelligence that annihilated civilizations, as it stirs after five million years . . .

Neal Asher has created a no-holds barred action adventure set in space, where lethal alien technology threatens two civilizations. But rather than uniting them, this threat is leading them to an epic confrontation â?? and perhaps war.

"Neal Asher's books are like an adrenaline shot targeted directly for the brain."--New York Times bestselling author John Scalzi Humanity, artificial intelligences, and monstrous aliens clash over control of deadly technology in this explosive beginning to Neal Asher's newest Polity series. In a far corner of space, on the very borders between humanity's Polity worlds and the kingdom of the vicious crab-like prador, is an immediate threat to all sentient life: an accretion disc, a solar system designed by the long-dead Jain race and swarming with living technology powerful enough to destroy entire civilizations. Neither the Polity or the prador want the other in full control of the disc, so they've placed an impartial third party in charge of the weapons platform guarding the technology from escaping into the galaxy: Orlandine, a part-human, part-AI haiman. She's assisted by Dragon, a mysterious, spaceship-sized alien entity who has long been suspicious of Jain technology and who suspects the disc is a trap lying-in-wait. Meanwhile, the android Angel is planning an attack on the Polity, and is searching for a terrible weapon to carry out his plans--a Jain super-soldier. But what exactly the super-soldier is, and what it could be used for if it fell into the wrong hands, will bring Angel and Orlandine's missions to a head in a way that could forever change the balance of power in the Polity universe. In The Soldier, British science fiction writer Neal Asher kicks off another Polity-based trilogy in signature fashion, concocting a mind-melting plot filled with far-future technology, lethal weaponry, and bizarre alien creations.

One of the more important books in Asher's Polity milieu . . . a solid entry in the series and a damn good SF novel."-- SFF World On a remote planet, with mysterious forces swirling around him, Agent Ian Cormac returns to face a threat that could endanger the entirety of the Polity. The outlink station of Miranda has been destroyed. Nobody knows why, but all the signs point to Dragon, a gigantic bioconstructed entity. Agent Cormac is sent to investigate. In his quest for the truth, Cormac navigates through the deadly world of Masada--a planet with no breathable air and full of monstrous predatory creatures, including the weird and terrible gabbleducks. All the while, on that dangerous world, a long-term rebellion from its slave population bubbles, nearly ready to boil over, kept in check only by an arsenal of powerful laser arrays controlled by an elite group called the Theocracy. And roaming the planet at the same time is the mysterious rogue biophysicist Skellor, who possesses something so powerful that Polity AIs will stop at nothing to acquire it. But just how powerful is it? And how does everything connect? Only Agent Cormac can find out . . . Night Shade Books is proud to reissue Neal Asher's Agent Cormac series, a fast-moving, edge-of-your-seat science fiction adventure from one of today's most exciting SF talents.

Here is the first-ever Polity novel, which kicks off the fast-paced science fiction adventures of far-future James Bond-esque Agent Ian Cormac--from Neal Asher, author of more than 20 books and nominee for both the Philip K. Dick and the British Fantasy Society awards.. Ian Cormac is a legendary Earth Central Security agent, the James Bond of a wealthy future where "runcibles" allow interstellar travel in an eye blink throughout the settled worlds of the Polity. Unfortunately, Cormac is nearly burnt out, "gridlinked" to the AI net so long that his humanity has begun to drain away. He has to take the cold-turkey cure and shake his addiction to having his brain on the net. Now, he must learn to do without, just as he's sent to investigate a unique runcible disaster that's wiped out the entire human colony on planet Samarkand in a thirty-megaton explosion. Unfortunately, Cormac has also incurred the wrath of a vicious psychopath called Arian Pelter, who now follows him across the galaxy with a terrifying psychotic killer android in tow. And all the while, deep beneath Samarkand's surface lurk buried mysteries, fiercely guarded. . . . Night Shade Books is proud to reissue Neal Asher's Agent Cormac series, a fast-moving, edge-of-your-seat science fiction adventure from one of today's most exciting SF talents.

Line War is the fifth and final novel in Neal Asher's action-packed Agent Cormac series.Their worlds are ending . . . The human Polity worlds are under attack from Erebus, a renegade AI. And it’s now merged with lethal Jain technology, and isn’t afraid to use it. When Erebus kills millions, on a world of no apparent significance, Agent Ian Cormac is sent to investigate. He’s also secretly struggling with an ability no human should possess – and starts questioning the motives of his AI masters.Further indiscriminate attacks attract the Polity’s most dangerous individuals. Mr Crane, a brass killing machine, seeks vengeance. Orlandine, part AI and part human, hunts a weapon of appalling power. And Dragon plans to wake the makers of Jain technology from their ancient slumber. But can Erebus be stopped – or is this the end for the Polity?

Polity Agent is the fourth novel in Neal Asher's popular Agent Cormac series.There's danger without and within.Refugees arrive in the Polity from eight hundred years in Agent Cormac’s future. And once they are through, the gate they use is dumped into the sun, as something dangerous and non-human is in pursuit. Cormac soon learns that the Maker civilization they have come from has been destroyed – by alien Jain technology.Orlandine, an augmented human, is studying this lethal tech in Cormac’s timeline. She may manage to harness its power, or it might destroy her. Meanwhile, Cormac is desperate to stamp down on this same technology, but someone or something is spreading it. And just outside humanity’s Polity worlds, something very nasty indeed might just be pulling their strings.Polity Agent is followed by Line War in the action-packed Agent Cormac series