Neal Asher - The Skinner - Prador

[Keyoke]

Ok, so, can someone give me a brief description of the Padora. I'm reading the Skinner, and enjoying it, but, I can visualize the Padora.. I imangine them as giant walking lobsters.

Keyoke

 

[Ouroboros]

If you mean the Prador, then they do seem to essentially be giant crabs. Albeit often in armoured suits, exo-skeletons and with huge weapons.

Adolescents, under the pheromonal control of an older Prador, have more legs which mature Prador lose.

If you read on to 'The voyage of Sable Keech' then there are more in-depth descriptions.

 

[Keyoke]

Yah, I just picked it up actually. THough, not done with the Skinner yet..

So far the book is good.. enjoying it, nice to find a other scifi series to get invovled in.

Thanks for the desc/confirmation..

Keyoke

 

[suciul]

Yah, I just picked it up actually. THough, not done with the Skinner yet..

So far the book is good.. enjoying it, nice to find a other scifi series to get invovled in.

Thanks for the desc/confirmation..

Keyoke

If you like N. Asher, check out Prador Moon which tells the start of the war, and then the Ian Cormack series - starts with a book to be published in May which happens after Prador Moon, and ends with a book to be published in April which happens several hundred years before The Skinner, but the original debut Gridlinked is also a good place to start -

The Voyage of Sable Keech was good, but it's a repeat of The Skinner in many ways and feels like a middle book, while the Cormack books advance more the action.

 

[chitman13]

The cover for Prador Moon has pretty much what I imagined a Prador to look like, although this one isn't your standard run of the mill Prador (you've got to read it to find out why).

 

[Ouroboros]

I'm looking forward to the release of 'Shadow of the scorpion', but if I were going to read the Ian Cormac novels for the first time I think it'd still be wiser to read them in the published order, even if it is set earlier than 'Gridlinked' in chronological terms.

 

[suciul]

The cover for Prador Moon has pretty much what I imagined a Prador to look like, although this one isn't your standard run of the mill Prador (you've got to read it to find out why).

That's a super cool cover; I have the original US edition with the moon/asteroids cover, but this one is way cooler...

 

[nealasher]

I use that picture as my desktop background. They've done a damned good job with the covers at Macmillan.

In my mind, the Prador are a combination of crabs (fiddler crabs) and those close shots you sometimes get of spiders, since they possess a visual turret with a collection of eyes scattered across it.

 

[RimWorlder]

Lol, fiddler crabs.

I used to live in Florida and was always amused by them. The male's mating claws were often waved in unison and I sometimes thought I could hear Wagner playing in the background...

My wife used to do their voices 'hey baby, check it out. BIG claw. Come over here baby. Check out my hole...'

The really funny thing about them was how cross they'd look if you managed to fool them. Once they sensed your vibrations on the sand, they'd all head for the nearest burrow. If you waited long enough, they'd come back out and be really pissed when they saw they weren't alone.

 

[beedle]

Can anyone reccomend which order to read Asher's books in? They sound worth a look.
Thanks

 

[nealasher]

There's a 'Where to Start' thread on this site here:

http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14523

 

[Wetware]

The cover for Prador Moon has pretty much what I imagined a Prador to look like, although this one isn't your standard run of the mill Prador (you've got to read it to find out why).

You know, I have to say that the general accepted description of Prador is nothing like how I visualized them from the start.

I see them as a bit more lobsterlike then crablike, even though horseshoe crabs are mentioned a few times. The older ones that have lost their Claws I envision as being more like California clawless Rock Lobsters. I normally hate Aliens in my Sci Fi but I actually do enjoy the Prador. They were well developed and I didnt see them as pale copy on human culture.


Neal Asher does a sort of Marvel/DC pantheon of physical strength and mental capabilities in his Polity Novels that I really enjoy.
I found it fascinating to see where he placed the Prador in the heirarchy of strengths. So I wanted to see where the Prador fit into the polity Universe in terms of ruthlessness and physical prowess and mental strength, probalby because of my obsessive compulsive nature to categorize which is indulged in his books.
He has a pecking order of ability in his books that I find fun.
Like in old comic books where when I was a kid I wanted mashups of the The Hulk versus The Thing or Spiderman to see who was stronger and more adept. I am not trivializing this, I think it is a fun device in a book series. It is a page turner.

I mean that from The Skinner onward there is this arms race of physical strength/ intellect going on from standard human to Hooper to Prador to the various Golems, and the same for intellect from drone to ECS.

I can't help but enjoy this type of heriarchy and categorization and comparison in books.

 

[nealasher]

Ah, it goes even further in The Voyage of the Sable Keech and the latest one I'm working on - Orbus. Old Captains are humans who have been infected with the Spatterjay virus for centuries, so are very tough and difficult to kill. But what about Prador infected with the same virus? What about them undergoing Skinner-like mutations? And finally, what if the virus is not a natural product of evolution but something manufactured, if partially, for the purpose of producing a particular kind of being?

 

[chitman13]

I like the sounds of Orbus more and more Neal

 

[cervantor]

Well I just posted my review of Neal's latest "Line War" HERE, which also includes a bonus Q&A. Here's an excerpt from the review:

"Still, for all my complaints “Line War” remains a highly engaging, smart and fulfilling close to the Ian Cormac series and is strongly recommended to Neal Asher fans. Even readers new to the author should be able to enjoy the novel since Neal does a solid job of explaining past events—after all I’ve only read “Gridlinked” and “Brass Man” from the series myself—but to get the fullest experience it would probably be better to read the other Polity novels first. In the end, “Line War” may have some issues, but it’s still some of the best science fiction being produced today by one of the most talented—and underappreciated—authors in the genre, and it’s never too late to discover for yourself all the marvelous wonders & horrors that the Polity universe has to offer…"

As far as the interview, besides all of the new Asher books coming out and the ones he's working on, the biggest news is something he only hinted at: contributing to a new Heavy Metal movie! There's an article HERE that talks about who all might be involved, and if it's legit, and if this is what Neal was hinting towards, then I think it's pretty awesome

 

[Hobbit]

There's a nice review in the new SFX, too, (not out in the shops yet) from Jon Courtenay Grimwood, no less.

Though IMO it starts badly by calling Neal the 'M&S of SF' (can't see that one on a cover!) he does finish by saying that this is Neal's best.

Pretty good recommendation!

Mark / Hobbit

 

[nealasher]

Hah! I read that then ten minutes later a friend of my wife's phones up to tell her about an excellent review in SFX. Anyway, I've emailed Mr Grimwood to see which copy of SFX it's in, but perhaps someone can tell me here too?

Regarding the film stuff. I'm keeping quiet about that until given permission to start shouting, at which point you'll have to be living under a rock in the Gobi not to have heard.

 

[Hobbit]

It's in issue 169 (May 2008), Neal.

Has Iron Man on the cover. Page 116. Did I mention 5 stars?

I'll send you something by email.

Mark / Hobbit

 

[nealasher]

Review received and thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you very much Hobbit. Sets me up nicely for signing copies of the same book tomorrow.

All the best!

 

[cervantor]

There's a nice review in the new SFX, too, (not out in the shops yet) from Jon Courtenay Grimwood, no less.

Though IMO it starts badly by calling Neal the 'M&S of SF' (can't see that one on a cover!) he does finish by saying that this is Neal's best.

Pretty good recommendation!

Mark / Hobbit

Thanks for the heads up! I'd like to read that review