New Releases by Neal Asher

Neal Asher''s second suspenseful space opera returns to the Polity universe, and this time, the stakes are even higher. ". . . Balls-to-the-walls levels of exuberance and inventiveness . . ." —Locus Magazine on Dark Diamond FORGE A NEW FUTURE. OR BE CONSUMED BY THE PAST. Captain Blite and Agent Cormac thought they had defeated the malevolent AI Straeger. But Straeger’s mission to plunge the galaxy into a devastating war is far from over. With a twisted p-Prador army bred from the Spatterjay virus, Straeger sets his plans in motion. Meanwhile, in the war-struck world of Yossander’s Hold, Blite and Cormac are trapped in a maelstrom of betrayal and violence. They must fight their way through the chaos as they seek to repair Blite’s damaged ship. But their escape requires resources from the Bracken, and aboard that ship, a terrifying transformation is underway . . . Recognizing the threat posed by the p-Prador, the Prador Kingdom and the human Polity’s ruling AI form an uneasy alliance. But with Straeger’s plans unfolding and reality itself under threat, the galaxy is poised on the brink of destruction. Can Blite and Cormac survive the escalating war and the collapse of time itself?

‘Balls-to-the-walls levels of exuberance and inventiveness’ Locus Magazine on Dark Diamond FORGE A NEW FUTURE. OR BE CONSUMED BY THE PAST. Captain Blite and Agent Cormac thought they had defeated the malevolent AI Straeger. But Straeger’s mission to plunge the galaxy into a devastating war is far from over. With a twisted p-prador army bred from the Spatterjay virus, Straeger sets his plans in motion. Meanwhile, on the war-struck world of Yossander’s Hold, Blite and Cormac are trapped in a maelstrom of betrayal and violence. They must fight their way through the chaos as they seek to repair Blite’s damaged ship. But their escape requires resources from the Bracken, and aboard that ship, a terrifying transformation is underway . . . Recognizing the threat posed by the p-prador, the Prador Kingdom and the human Polity’s ruling AI form an uneasy alliance. But with Straeger’s plans unfolding and reality itself under threat, the galaxy is poised on the brink of destruction. Can Blite and Cormac survive the escalating war and the collapse of time itself? From Neal Asher, Dark Agent is the second entry in the Time's Shadow trilogy, following Dark Diamond. Set in Asher's expansive Polity universe, this is unmissable military space opera from a master of the genre. * * * Praise for the series ‘The stakes are high, the pacing relentless, and the scale immense . . . Asher delivers again’ – 5* Goodreads Review ‘Filled with action, suspense, and mind-wrenching twists. You’ll love it!’ – 5* Goodreads Review ‘What the cosmos really needs is more megalomaniac artificial intelligences, belligerent alien crustaceans, and protagonists who treat death like a minor inconvenience’ – 5* Goodreads Review

Doomed to die. And die again. Captain Blite knows that someone, or something, is trying to kill him. But a device he possesses, known only as the dark diamond, won''t let that happen. After surviving a series of catastrophic accidents and assassination attempts, Blite realizes that whenever he dies the dark diamond reverses time to a moment before his death. He must go through the traumatic experience again and again until he escapes. . Every encounter Blite survives generates a time flash which reveals potential futures. This extraordinary phenomenon attracts the attention of Polity agents and the crab-like p-Prador who wish to acquire this power for themselves. Hunted across space and time, Blite must uncover the true nature of the dark diamond before it causes his destruction . . . .

A collection of nine novelettes and stories from best-selling SF author Neal Asher (150,000 words of fiction between them), all written during lockdown and including four that are original to this volume. Some of these thrilling and inventive narratives are set during the latter days of Neal's Polity universe, while others explore what comes next. Contents: Lockdown Tales II: An Introduction Xenovore An Alien on Crete The Translator Skin Eels The Host Antique Battlefields Moral Biology Longevity Averaging

The seventeen stories that make up Volumes Two and Three of the Emmy(R) award-winning Netflix Original series Love, Death & Robots. Featuring best-selling authors and screenwriters from all over the globe, curated by filmmakers Tim Miller and David Fincher, and Supervising Director Jennifer Yuh Nelson. Stories by Neal Asher, Paolo Bacigalupi, J. G. Ballard, Alan Baxter, Justin Coates, Harlan Ellison, Joachim Heijndermans, Joe Lansdale, Rich Larson, Alberto Miego, Jeff Fowler & Tim Miller, John Scalzi, Bruce Sterling, Michael Swanwick.

This high-octane adventure is set in the same world as Neal Asher''s acclaimed Polity universe. It''s a thrilling, fast-paced standalone novel, perfect for fans of Alastair Reynolds and Stephen Baxter. Created to die–determined to live . . . Jack Four–one of twenty human clones–has been created to be sold. His purchasers are the alien prador and they only want him for their experimentation program. But there is something different about Jack. No clone should possess the knowledge that’s been loaded into his mind. And no normal citizen of humanity’s Polity worlds would have this information. The prador’s king has been mutated by the Spatterjay virus into a creature even more monstrous than the prador themselves. And his children, the King’s Guard, have undergone similar changes. They were infected by the virus during the last humans-versus-prador war, now lapsed into an uneasy truce. But the prador are always looking for new weapons – and their experimentation program might give them the edge they seek. Suzeal trades human slaves out of the Stratogaster Space Station, re-engineering them to serve the prador. She thinks the rewards are worth the risks, but all that is about to change. The Station was once a zoo, containing monsters from across known space. All the monsters now dwell on the planet below, but they aren’t as contained as they seem. And a vengeful clone may be the worst danger of all. ‘Neal Asher’s books are like an adrenaline shot targeted directly for the brain’ John Scalzi, author of the Old Man’s War series ''Magnificently awesome. Then Asher turns it up to eleven'' Peter F. Hamilton, author of Salvation and others, on Asher''s The Soldier

In The Human, the final book in Neal Asher’s epic Rise of the Jain trilogy, an entire galaxy hangs in the balance as the ancient and powerful Jain threat emerges anew . . . A Jain warship has risen from the depths of space, emerging with a deadly grudge and a wealth of ancient yet lethal technology. It is determined to hunt down the alien Client, and will annihilate all those who stand in its way. So Orlandine must prepare humanity’s defense. Both humanity and the Prador thought their ancient foe—the Jain—had perished in a past age. And they resolve to destroy these outliers at any cost. Orlandine wants the Client’s inside knowledge to act, but the Client has her own agenda. Earth Central therefore looks to the Prador for alliance, after the Jain destroy their fleet. However, not everyone is happy with this, and some will do anything to shatter this fragile coalition. As the Jain warship makes its way across the galaxy, it seems unstoppable. Human and Prador forces alike struggle to withstand its devastating weaponry. Orlandine’s life work is to neutralize Jain technology, so if she can''t triumph, no one can. But will she become what she’s vowed to destroy?

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.

Einstein said: "I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticksand stones."Turns out he was wrong...WORLD WAR FOUR: A Science Fiction Anthology features twenty explosive short stories from authors all aroundthe galaxy including a brand new exclusive novelette from internationally acclaimed scifi author Neal Asher.

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.

Thorvald Spear's only goal was to get his revenge on the rogue artificial intelligence, Penny Royal. The AI apparently left him to die and killed thousands of his comrades in the process. But things aren't as clear-cut as they seem. Can he truly rely on his own version of events? And has Penny Royal been meddling with his memories and his very identity? The alien prador Sverl also has to find Penny Royal, to make some sense of his own transformation. Is he turning into the thing his kind most loath - a curious hybrid incorporating human and AI elements. Meanwhile, the prador Cvorn plans to use Sverl's changing biology for his own ends. If he can prove that humanity's Polity alliance meddled with a prador, using one of its artificial intelligences, it could mean war. And there is nothing Cvorn would like more than another chance to battle with the Polity - however high the cost. As Spear and Sverl hunt Penny Royal, all roads seem to lead to a long-missing War Factory station. Penny Royal seems set on returning to the factory that produced its twisted intelligence. And the AI's enemies will follow it to the bitter end. Their very sanity and a possible war, depend on it.

Clarkesworld is a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning science fiction and fantasy magazine. Each month we bring you a mix of fiction (new and classic works), articles, interviews and art. Our August 2015 issue (#107) contains: Original Fiction by Martin Shoemaker ("Today I am Paul"), J.B. Park ("It Was Educational"), Han Song ("Security Check"), and Emily Devenport ("The Servant"). Reprints by Peter M. Ball ("Dying Young") and Neal Asher ("Softly Spoke the Gabbleduck"). Non-fiction by Mark Cole ("Fans Are Slans": A Study in Campbellian Influence), a group interview on writing for video games, an Another Word column by Emily Devenport, and an editorial by Neil Clarke.

The Complete Owner Trilogy by Neal Asher, including The Departure, Zero Point, and Jupiter War. The Departure: Visible in the night sky the Argus Station, its twin smelting plants like glowing eyes, looks down on nightmare Earth. From Argus the Committee keep an oppressive control: citizens are watched by cams systems and political officers, it''s a world inhabited by shepherds, reader guns, razor birds and the brutal Inspectorate with its white tiled cells and pain inducers. Soon the Committee will have the power to edit human minds, but not yet, twelve billion human being need to die before Earth can be stabilized, but by turning large portions of Earth into concentration camps this is achievable, especially when the Argus satellite laser network comes fully online . . . This is the world Alan Saul wakes to in his crate on the conveyor to the Calais incinerator. How he got there he does not know, but he does remember the pain and the face of his interrogator. Informed by Janus, through the hardware implanted in his skull, about the world as it is now Saul is determined to destroy it, just as soon as he has found out who he was, and killed his interrogator . . . Zero Point: Earth’s Zero Asset citizens no longer face extermination from orbit. Thanks to Alan Saul, the Committee’s network of control is a smoking ruin and its robotic enforcers lie dormant. But power abhors a vacuum and, scrambling from the wreckage, comes the ruthless Serene Galahad. She must act while the last vestiges of Committee infrastructure remain intact – and she has the means to ensure command is hers. On Mars, Var Delex fights for the survival of Antares Base, while the Argus Space Station hurls towards the red planet. And she knows whomever, or whatever, trashed Earth is still aboard. Var must save the base, while also dealing with the first signs of rebellion. And aboard Argus Station, Alan Saul’s mind has expanded into the local computer network. In the process, he uncovers the ghastly experiments of the Humanoid Unit Development, the possibility of eternal life, and a madman who may hold the keys to interstellar flight. But Earth’s agents are closer than Saul thinks, and the killing will soon begin. Jupiter War: Alan Saul is now part-human and part-machine, and our solar system isn''t big enough to hold him. He craves the stars, but can''t leave yet. His sister Var is trapped on Mars, on the wrong side of a rebellion, and Saul''s human side won''t let her die. He must leave Argus Station to stage a dangerous rescue -- but mutiny is brewing onboard, as Saul''s robots make his crew feel increasingly redundant. Serene Galahad will do anything to prevent Saul''s escape. Earth’s ruthless dictator hides her crimes from a cowed populace as she readies new warships for pursuit. She aims to crush her enemy in a terrifying display of interstellar violence. Meanwhile, The Scourge limps back to earth, its crew slaughtered, its mission to annihilate Saul a disaster. There are survivors, but while one seeks Galahad''s death, Clay Ruger will negotiate for his life. Events build to a climax as Ruger holds humanity’s greatest prize -- seeds to rebuild a dying Earth. This stolen gene-bank data will come at a price, but what will Galahad pay for humanity’s future?

The Polity is under attack from a ''melded'' AI entity with control of the lethal Jain technology, yet the attack seems to have no coherence. When one of Erebus''s wormships kills millions on the world of Klurhammon, a high-tech agricultural world of no real tactical significance, agent Ian Cormac is sent to investigate, though he is secretly struggling to control a new ability no human being should possess . . . and beginning to question the motives of his AI masters. Further attacks and seemingly indiscriminate slaughter ensue, but only serve to bring some of the most dangerous individuals in the Polity into the war. Mr Crane, the indefatigable brass killing machine sets out for vengeance, while Orlandine, a vastly-augmented haiman who herself controls Jain technology, seeks a weapon of appalling power and finds allies from an ancient war. Meanwhile Mika, scientist and Dragon expert, is again kidnapped by that unfathomable alien entity and dragged into the heart of things: to wake the makers of Jain technology from their five-million-year slumber. But Erebus’s attacks are not so indiscriminate, after all, and could very well herald the end of the Polity itself . . .

Neal Asher takes on first contact, Polity style. This original novel recounts the first contact between the aggressive Prador aliens, and the Polity Collective as it is forced to retool its society to a war footing. The overwhelming brute force of the Prador dreadnaughts causes several worlds and space stations to be overrun. Prador Moon follows the initial Polity defeats, to the first draws, and culminates in what might be the first Polity victory, told from the point of view of two unlikely heroes. For the first time in the US in eBook format.

Visible in the night sky the Argus Station, its twin smelting plants like glowing eyes, looks down on nightmare Earth. From Argus the Committee keep an oppressive control: citizens are watched by cams systems and political officers, it''s a world inhabited by shepherds, reader guns, razor birds and the brutal Inspectorate with its white tiled cells and pain inducers. Soon the Committee will have the power to edit human minds, but not yet, twelve billion human being need to die before Earth can be stabilized, but by turning large portions of Earth into concentration camps this is achievable, especially when the Argus satellite laser network comes fully online . . . This is the world Alan Saul wakes to in his crate on the conveyor to the Calais incinerator. How he got there he does not know, but he does remember the pain and the face of his interrogator. Informed by Janus, through the hardware implanted in his skull, about the world as it is now Saul is determined to destroy it, just as soon as he has found out who he was, and killed his interrogator . . .

Ein Krieg zwischen den Menschen und einer blutrünstigen Spezies Ein Agent, der nicht weiß, wo er herkommt Und eine Kriegsdrohne, die die Form eines Skorpions besitzt Ian Cormac ist Agent der Earth Central Security. Er soll dabei helfen, die Ordnung auf den Planeten wiederherzustellen, die durch den Krieg gegen die außeridrischen Prador verwüstet wurden. Dabei stellt er fest: Die Prador sind noch so barbarisch wie eh und je. Doch der brutalste Feind lauert dort, wo Cormac ihn nicht vermutet. In den eigenen Reihen.

Now featured as part of the Love Death + Robots series on Netflix Snow in the Desert is compelling, brutal and lingers long after the final word: the perfect introduction to Neal Asher’s Polity universe fiction. In the parched, arid wastes of this far-flung Polity world, Snow is being hunted. With a prize on his head and his life in danger, trust is a luxury he can’t afford. Hirald, pale and deadly in the blistering heat, is an ambiguous presence. But who is she? What does she want from him? Mankind has sought Snow’s secret for thousands of years, and blood will flow in the desert before it’s revealed. Neal Asher is the author of many full-length novels, including Jack Four, The Soldier, Dark Intelligence, The Departure, The Skinner and Gridlinked.

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.

Das Polis-Kollektiv verkörpert den Gipfel der raumfahrenden Zivilisationen. Geprägt durch die Wissenschaft, reicht sein Einfluss von Earth Central bis in die unergründlichen Fernen der galaktischen Leere. Doch eines Tages trifft die Polis auf ausserirdisches Leben, in Gestalt feindseliger krabbenähnlicher Karnivoren, die als die Prador bekannt werden. Und diese Entdeckung kann nur einen Ausgang zeitigen - totalen Krieg.In epischem Massstab und mit unerbittlicher Action bietet Prador Mond vernichtende Schlachten. Es ist Ashers erschreckendster Ausflug in das Polis-Universum - eine brillante Space Opera!

Old enemies meet on new worlds in The Line of Polity, the second novel in Neal Asher''s popular Agent Cormac series. At the frontiers of human-occupied space, the Miranda space station has been utterly destroyed. Earth Central assigns Agent Ian Cormac to discover the truth, because the alien bioconstruct Dragon seems the most likely culprit. Meanwhile, rebellion is brewing on Masada. The planet’s people are enslaved on the surface, living in fear of their overlords in orbit, who punish transgressions with laser strikes. Leaving their compounds also means death, as monstrous predators roam the toxic wilderness. Civil war looms, while a rebel biophysicist brings lethal Jain technology to this world. Agent Cormac must find out what connects these events, if he is to avert catastrophe. The Line of Polity is followed by Brass Man, the third title in the Agent Cormac series.

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

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.

An extraordinary collection from the architect of the Polity universe, Neal Asher''s The Gabble - And Other Short Stories reveals a universe of unbridled imagination, and each one is a delight in itself. Much of Neal Asher’s fiction is set in the galactic civilization he calls the Polity, an alliance of human-populated worlds. And in this collection of thirteen marvellously inventive and action-packed short stories, Asher is on top form. You can expect conflicted humans, fiendishly clever plot twists, extraordinary technologies and so much more. The discerning reader can also savour tales of alien poisons, the walking dead, the Sea of Death, and the putrefactor symbiont. No one does weird, wonderful and downright gruesome aliens better than Neal Asher, so prepare to visit his favourites. Sample the lifestyles of creatures such as the gabbleduck and the hooder, as Asher takes you on a wild ride into his vividly-imagined futures.

Im All öffnet sich ein Portal, aus dem Besucher dringen ═ 800 Jahre aus der Zukunft. Sie haben den Auftrag, einen außerirdischen │Erschaffer╩ zurück in die Heimatzivilisation zu bringen. Das Zeittor wird geschlossen, sobald die Besucher hindurch sind, und in eine Sonne geworfen. Was niemand ahnt: Noch etwas ist durch das Portal gelangt. Und ehe Agent Cormac weiß, wie ihm geschieht, schwebt er in größter Gefahr ...

Human beings have considerable freedom in Polity Space, a mostly civilized place, but enormously powerful AIs make all the important decisions. Three monstrous creatures threaten the Polity: Dragon, a gigantic being of unknown origin; Skellor, an evil, once human scientist transformed by the nanotechnology of the extinct Jain race; and Mr. Crane, the monstrous killing machine who does Skellor''s bidding.

This time-travel novel for the 21st century is a violent thrill ride that will leave readers breathless. During a bitter war, some of the enemy have escaped into the distant past, positioned to wreak havoc across time and undo their defeat.

Im vierten Jahrtausend herrscht das Heliothan-Dominium uneingeschränkt über das Sonnensystem. Einer seiner Feinde ist Cowl, der einen künstlich erzwungenen Entwicklungssprung in der menschlichen Evolution verkörpert - und bösartiger ist als jedes prähistorische Ungeheuer. Cowls Haustier, das Torusbiest, wächst zu gewaltiger Größe und Gefährlichkeit heran und verstreut seine Schuppen auf Geheiß des Meisters - Schuppen, die ihrerseits organische Zeitmaschinen sind, dazu konstruiert, Menschenproben aus allen Zeiten zu sammeln und zu Cowl zu bringen. Dann kann das Ungeheuer fressen ...

Spatterjay : une planète recouverte par les océans et grouillant créatures marines hostiles. Sur l'un de ses rares îlots vit l'Ecorcheur, une entité monstrueuse semant la terreur parmi les pêcheurs qui sillonnent ses eaux. Des pêcheurs qui, bien décidés à détruire cette abomination une fois pour toutes, unissent leurs forces... Ainsi débute une cour poursuite planétaire, une traque dans laquelle seront embarqués trois personnages pour le moins curieux : Erlin, une scientifique à la recherche d'un capitaine immortel, Keech, un flic ressuscité après 700 ans dans le but de retrouver un criminel, et Janer, en mission pour les Frelons, espèce terrestre ayant développé une intelligence communautaire. Mais ce qui les attend sur les traces de l'Ecorcheur, est bien plus qu'une aventure d'une rare violence. Car Spatterjay, aux confins de galaxie, loin du couvert des lois gouvernementales du Polity, réserve d'autres surprises...