The Gabble - And Other Stories

Description

An extraordinary collection from a master of science fiction 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. 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.

Neal Asher divides his time between Essex and Crete, mostly at a keyboard and mentally light-years away. His full-length novels are as follows. First is the Agent Cormac series: Gridlinked, The Line of Polity, Brass Man, Polity Agent and Line War. Next comes the Spatterjay series: The Skinner, The Voyage of the Sable Keech and Orbus. Also set in the same world of the Polity are these standalone novels: Hilldiggers, Prador Moon, Shadow of the Scorpion and The Technician. The Transformation trilogy is also based in the Polity: Dark Intelligence, War Factory and Infinity Engine. Set in a dystopian future are: The Departure, Zero Point and Jupiter War, while Cowl takes us across time. The Warship is the second book in the Rise of the Jain series, following The Soldier, and is set in the Polity universe.

Asher serves up tales that are economical, crisp and frequently fiendishly clever. The stories featuring the gabbleducks, dangerous aliens who 'speak' in a nonsensical language, are particularly impressive. Neal Asher: the Lewis Carroll of space opera anyone? * BBC Focus * Fans of Asher's Polity future history will not be disappointed by his third collection . . . Asher delights in depicting the universe as a Hobbesian nightmare. He's superb at detailing, with macabre relish, the frailty of the flesh. * Guardian * The way his characters interact with the strange locations and technologies creates more than enough to keep the pages turning. If you've never sampled the delights of Asher's work then this rather entertaining collection would be a very good place to start. * SciFiNow * With this collection of thirteen marvellously inventive and action-packed short stories, Neal Asher takes us further into the manifold diversities of that amazing universe. * Fantasy Book Critic * The master of weird, wonderful and downright gruesome alien creature creations. Add this to the great way in which Neal can quickly draw you into a story and you've got a must have collection of some of the best science fiction out there . . . this is one of the better author specific collections I've read and that Neal is one of the must read authors in the science fiction genre. * Walker of Worlds *