Showing results by author "Asher" in All Categories

Playing the part of my sister’s maid of honor is easy even if she’s marrying my ex. But playing nice with the best man? An impossible task given our history. Sure, Luke Darling may be suspiciously kind, incredibly handsome, and stubborn to a fault, but regardless of how hard he tries to make me see otherwise, I’m not interested. It’s on me to remind him that he’s my ex-boyfriend’s best friend. And the one I’m secretly starting to wish I met first.

It all started when I took a chance on love and made a move on the older guy I’ve been obsessed with for years. I experienced something so humiliating, I’m desperate to bleach it from my brain forever. I’ve spent every day since pretending it didn’t happen. That it didn’t matter. That it didn’t hurt. Rocco Monroe came to live with my family when he was eighteen. His bedroom was across from mine. We were friends. He became the son my father never had.

Outlink station Miranda has been destroyed by a nanomycelium, and the very nature of this sabotage suggests that the alien bioconstruct Dragon - a creature as untrustworthy as it is gigantic - is somehow involved. Sent out on a titanic Polity dreadnought, the Occam Razor, agent Cormac must investigate the disaster.

If I ever caught on fire, Dahlia Muñoz would fan the flames with a smile. So, when she returns to Lake Wisteria, I fully intend to avoid the interior designer. At least until my meddling mother exploits my saviour complex. The faster I help Dahlia find her creative spark, the sooner she will leave town. But while I was busy getting rid of Dahlia, I overlooked one potential issue. What happens if I want her to stay?

One seeks judgment, another faces damnation and one man will have his revenge.... Thorvald Spear is losing his mind as he drowns in dark memories that aren't his own. Penny Royal, rogue artificial intelligence, has linked Spear with the stored personalities of those it's murdered. And whether the AI seeks redemption or has some more sinister motive, Spear needs to destroy it. He feels the anger of the dead and shares their pain.

My soul is shattered. Sure, I know my body will heal. I understand the science of healing - it’s my profession. But the ache in my heart and fear in my head? I’m not sure I’ll ever get over that. Losing your unborn child at the hands of your abusive husband will do that to you. I’ve been trained to fear those who are supposed to love - conditioned to watch my every move and word so as not to suffer the consequences. For me, healing might never be a possibility. Or I didn’t think so until Tony Carpino fixated himself in my life.

The Polity Collective stretches from Earth Central into the unfathomable reaches of the galactic void. But when the Polity finally encounters alien life in the form of massive, hostile, crablike carnivores known as the Prador, there can only be one outcome - total warfare. Chaos reigns as, caught unawares, the Polity struggles to regain its foothold and transition itself into a military society. Starships clash, planets fall and space stations are overrun.

Ottanger always believed his mutation to be chance or perhaps the actions of fate. Or even the result of pollution on a hellish overpopulated Earth, ruled by a totalitarian Committee and its ruthless Inspectorate. But, when Ottanger is captured, tortured and made the subject of a strange experiment by the Inspectorate, he discovers otherwise - his mutation allows him to walk between alternate worlds. When Ottanger is thrown from his timeline from the far future, he meets the Fenris – humanity’s future form.

In outer space you can never feel sure that your adversary is altogether human. The runcible buffers on Samarkand have been mysteriously sabotaged, killing many thousands and destroying a terraforming project. Agent Cormac must reach it by ship to begin an investigation. But Cormac has incurred the wrath of a vicious psychopath called Pelter, who is prepared to follow him across the galaxy with a terrifying android in tow.

Neal Asher has firmly established himself as one of the leading British writers of science fiction. Most of his stories are set in a galactic future-scape called The Polity, and with The Gabble - and Other Stories, a collection of marvellously inventive and action-packed short stories, he takes us further into the manifold diversities of that amazing universe.

There’s nothing like getting caught in the middle of an FBI raid to change your life.... That’s what happens to Gabrielle Carpino. Just when she forced herself to move on with life after tragedy touched her family, she finds herself thrown into a tailspin so swift, she can’t find her bearings. 

Their enemy seems unbeatable. But humanity is indomitable.... A Jain warship has risen from a prison five million years old, wielding a hoard of lethal technology. Its goal is to catch their old enemy, the Client, and it will destroy all who stand in its path.Humanity and the prador thought their mutual nemesis – the bane of so many races – was long extinct. But the Jain are back and Orlandine must prepare humanity’s defence. She needs the Client’s knowledge to counter this ancient threat. But is the enemy of your enemy a friend?

Ian Cormac was raised to adulthood during the end of the war between the human Polity and the vicious arthropoid race the Prador. In Neal Asher's Shadow of the Scorpion, Cormac is haunted by childhood memories of a sinister scorpion-shaped war drone and the burden of losses he doesn't remember. In the years following the war, he signs up with Earth Central Security and is sent out to help either restore or simply maintain order on worlds devastated by Prador bombardment.

One day, I was chugging along at life as a wedding planner. The next, I’m a confidential informant and fake engaged to the grumpiest DEA agent on earth. Hit the brakes. Let’s back up. You know those sappy made-for-TV movies where the leading lady gets the unsuspecting knock on the door and is the beneficiary of a massive inheritance? That’s me. I’m that heroine. My name is Goldie Carter, and inheriting The Pink—one of the most historic and grandest estates in Miami—would be a dream come true for any gal, but especially me.

Long ago, the Cyberat left Earth to co-evolve with machines. Now, led by the powerful dictator Castron, the Old Guard believe that machines should replace the physical body. But these beliefs are upended with the arrival of the human Polity and their presence ignites rebellion. Piper was raised as a weapon against the Cyberat, implanted with secretive hardware. When his parents are captured by the Old Guard, the Polity offer him unexpected aid. Piper knows the Polity want more from him, but at what cost? The rebellion also attracts the deadly prador, placing an entire world in peril.

The Heliothane Dominion is triumphant in the solar system after a bitter war with their Umbrathane progenitors. But some of the enemy have escaped into the past, intent on wreaking havoc across time. The worst of these is Cowl, an artificially forced advance in human evolution but one who is no longer human. Polly, desperate to obtain funds to support her habits, is unprepared for her involvement with Nandru Jurgens, a Taskforce soldier, and the killers pursuing him.

Thorvald Spear wakes in hospital, where he finds he's been brought back from the dead. What's more, he died in a human vs. alien war which ended a whole century ago. But when he relives his traumatic final moments, he finds the spark to keep on living. That spark is vengeance. Trapped and desperate on a world surrounded by alien Prador forces, Spear had seen a rescue ship arriving. But instead of providing backup, Penny Royal, the AI within the destroyer, turned rogue. It annihilated friendly forces in a frenzy of destruction, and years later it's still free.

In Neal Asher's Hilldiggers, during a war between two planets in the same solar system - each occupied by adapted humans - what is thought to be a cosmic superstring is discovered. After being cut, this object collapses into four cylindrical pieces, each about the size of a tube train. Each is densely packed with either alien technology or some kind of life. They are placed for safety in three ozark cylinders of a massively secure space station.

My name is Vinna, and I've been keeping a lot of secrets. You would too if you'd experienced some of the weird shit I have: red-eyed monsters chasing me, markings on my body appearing out of nowhere, a strange power that crackles colorfully over my skin from time to time, and don't get me started on the weapons I can conjure up almost out of nowhere.

Ursula has lived twice the normal human lifespan, courtesy of the latest technology. But now she’s struggling to find excitement and purpose, so signs up to the Polity’s military. She excels in weapons development, and progresses rapidly up the ranks. But after botching a powerful new ammunition test, she’s dismissed from service. Hunting for a simpler, more meaningful existence, the ex-soldier heads for the stars. And after founding a colony on the hostile planet of Threpsis, Ursula finally feels alive.