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This is an astonishing collection of stories.
Before I read Neal Asher, I thought that there was very little that you could
do to reinvigorate the short story, but Asher manages to do this with the
greatest of ease. 'The Engineer' contains some of the best SF that I have
ever read, far surpassing my first expectations. For I have read Asher
before...
As an editorial assistant for Story Cellar, I always found Neal Asher's
work to be very distinctive. He put a lot of imagination and style into
his work, and so he stood out from the majority of the entrants. Neal
Asher is a name which crops up everywhere, consistently winning or being highly
placed in competitions. Like everyone, he has his bad days, but
fortunately for us these are very few. His is a name to be bargained
with, a player from the lower divisions who deserves to play in the premier
league. Neal Asher is one of the reason's for Genre's existence: to bring
talented writers some of the recognition which they deserve.
In 'The Engineer', Neal's talent is allowed to run free, without being
restricted by prohibitive word limits. To say that Neal should be read
far wider is a truism, although he has had quite a few prominent reviews.
For instance, 'The Engineer' has always been highly rated by SFX magazine, even
making it into their Christmas recommendations one year.
'The Engineer' is the main story of the collection, although running at
90 pages, it is more like a novella. One of the great things that I like
about Neal's work is that it is very economical. There is no padding
anywhere. Other young writers in this field are often stretched by having
to spread their tales over the space of 70,000 words or more. The
engineer of the title is the last surviving member of an alien race
called the Jain whose hegemony had been in the sphere of genetics.
Various human factions battle over the discovery, to take advantage of its
knowledge and technology for their own ends. But how far have the Jain
already influenced the development of humanity?
Asher writes a more immediate and terrifying sea yarn in 'Jable Sharks'
(previously published in Story Cellar). Artificial Intelligence and
networks are just ordinary phenomena in the gruesome house of Asher, with the
most fantastic part of his writing being the evocation of some of the most
frightening creatures and ecosystems imaginable, including the giant
leeches in 'Spatterjay'. These are tales which head straight for the pit
of your stomach, whilst subtly toying with your brain stem.
Kevin Patrick Mahoney. Authortrek Rating:9/10.
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Visit our Neal Asher page,
for a Neal Asher biography, Neal Asher bibliography, Neal Asher short
stories, and interviews |
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