News and Stuff

[Neal Asher]

Sci-Fi-London Interview

Sci-Fi-London Interview

Well, there's a video interview with me up on the Sci-Fi-London site now, which will later be added to the list of interview on their .tv site. I haven't yet watched it myself but Caroline tells me it's OK - not too many ums and ers.

SCI-FI-LONDON was lucky enough to meet Neal Asher at his Essex home to talk about his latest book, The Gabble & Other Stories, about writing and about 15 years of the Polity universe, David Fincher, Heavy Metal and the internet as a distraction from real work.

Now, I really really must get out of Christmas mode and do some of that real work.

 

[biodroid]

So Neal, by Heavy Metal do you mean the music? Not many writers like metal music, the only author I have heard of who likes metal to an extent is Stephen King.

 

[Neal Asher]

This is the 'Heavy Metal' being referred to: David Fincher's 'Heavy Metal' remake a no-go at Paramount | Showbiz News and Scoop | Studio and Network Dish | EW.com

 

[biodroid]

I thought it was something like that

 

[Neal Asher]

Art Competition

I’m noticing that scattering amidst the followers of this blog there’s quite a few artists so, bearing that in mind, do any of you guys or any others drifting through here fancy having a go at doing some pictures? Specifically I’m looking for scenes, characters, drones, monsters or anything else you can think of from my fiction. I’ve yet to see, for example, a depiction of a gabbleduck that matches up to what I see in my head. Here you can see two attempts at that, one the cover of The Gabble and the other from the front page of the Asimov’s that first published Alien Archaeology. Perhaps you’d like to do something from The Skinner, maybe a heirodont, ocean or land, maybe a glister or one of the varieties of whelks like the frog whelks here. Plenty of other things that can be attempted, maybe a sand hog from Brass Man with Anderson mounted up, or Mr Crane himself. There’s the spaceships too, like the Ogygian, the Jerusalem or the Cable Hogue. I leave that decision entirely up to you…


The pictures that turn up I'll display here with any links the artist wants and the three pictures (by separate artists) I judge best will each receive a free copy of Orbus when it comes out next September. If anyone comes up with that picture I'm seeking of a gabbleduck by then, that'll be worth a copy of Orbus plus copies of the rest of the Macmillan backlist of my books. My contact details can be found in 'Contacts' on my Virgin website.

 

[Althain's Warden]

Hi Neal,
I'm usually more of a fantasy reader than a sci fi but i have read some good reveiws of your work and am going to have a dabble. My question really though is based around your activity in this forum, were you a member here before you were published or did you sign up here as a contact point between you and your readers? Either way i think it's a great thing for an author to do, so well done you !
Will post somewhere in here once i've read some of your work and have a clue as to what i'm talking about

 

[Neal Asher]

Hi Althain's Warden,
I got my own thread on here, as a contact point for my readers, a couple of years ago though I'd been posting on here before then. I was taken on by my publisher Macmillan round about the time I set up my first website in 1999, and I don't think I even knew what a message board was back then.

If you're a fantasy reader, you might like to start with The Skinner, which slants more in that direction.

The Skinner

 

[biodroid]

I think it's great that you can communicate with your fans on this level Neal!

 

[Althain's Warden]

Thanks Neal i think i'll do just that I've soo many books to read lol just got a job lot on ebay of ten David Gemmel books as well as god knows how many others. That said even if it takes me a while i will get round to trying out your work ! I'm finding this more of a problem since joining this forum, every time i look around for 10 mins i'm finding several new authors worth looking into ! There aren't enough hours in the day damn it !
Just a couple of side questions Neal if you get chance to answer them-
Is the source of your ideas related at all to any RPG games, or is it purely driven by what 'pops' into your head so to speak?
And also how demanding do you find it to meet your publishers requests/ demands ? Indeed how hard was it to get published in the first place?!
I 'm one of many legions of fans of sf & f that dream of being published one day and wonder in my more realistic moments just how hard it would be to get there.

 

[Neal Asher]

Okay, a little while ago I finished The Departure, wrote a couple of synopses and some blurbs for it, then sent it off to Macmillan. Good response from the commissioning editor (bloody marvelous). Here’s one of the blurbs for you:

Like Wellsian war machines the shepherds stride into riots to grab up the ringleaders and drag them off to Inspectorate HQ for adjustment, unless they are in shredding mode, in which case their captives visit community digesters, or rather whatever of them has not been washed down the street drains.

Pain inducers are used for adjustment, and soon the Committee will have the power to edit human minds, but not yet, twelve billion human beings 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…

Alan Saul has taken a different route to disposal, waking as he does inside a crate on the conveyor into the Calais incinerator. How he got there he does not know, but he does remember the pain and the face of his interrogator. Janus speaks to Saul through the hardware implanted in his skull, sketching the nightmare world for him. And Saul decides to bring it all crashing down…


Not sure if this is what will be appearing on the back of the book, but it gives you a taste of what it’s all about.

The Skinner

 

[Neal Asher]

I'm now a twitterer @nealasher for my sins.

 

[Rodders]

I don't do twitter, but in think that it's incredible that you come here. I haven't read any of your books yet, but i will have in a few weeks.

 

[Sparrow]

Neal, do you ever plan to incorporate your sentiments on AGW in your sf work?


I think science fiction needs a real shot in the arm, and your just what the doctor ordered.

 

[Neal Asher]

Hey Sparrow, I'd like to, but getting too political is a form of authorial suicide. I deliver a few heavy hints about my stand on certain matters, but try not to let them get in the way of my real job: to entertain and tell a story.

 

[Neal Asher]

I thought this might be an appropriate place to announce a new art competition for this year. Check out:

The Skinner: ART COMPETITION 2010

 

[Nigel D]

So What up next Neal ?? enjoyed Orbus and thankfully i found a book shop thats posts to Australia for free so i can keep the Hard covers coming got a nice little collection now though could never find one of Line War

 

[Neal Asher]

Nigel, the publisher screwed up on Line War and not enough hardbacks were published. You should be able to get a paperback though. Good place to order through is The Book Depository (is that what you use -- free shipping?).

Next The Technician, set on the planet Masada (from The Line of Polity). You'll find more about his on my blog.

 

[Nigel D]

Yes a serious foul up from the publisher indeed, though i suspect half of them ended up in your loft i have got the paperback though and enjoyed reading the 5 books all together having waited years for each one to come out , i then managed to get Gridlinked and the Skinner Hardbacks from the good old USA and you signed my copy of Sable Keech at Forbidden Planet when i was working in London ..
All my friends now get there books from the Depository as Hardbacks are about $56(£30) here in OZ..

Humn Masada happy your not going to dump the polity, though it must be hard not to tie yourself in knots...

keep them coming(faster)
Nigel

 

[Neal Asher]

I wish some had ended up in my loft. On that occasion they loused on the author copies too so rather than ten I ended up with about five or six 1st ed hardbacks. Incidentally I'm selling off some of that loft stuff on my blog.