Neal Asher is a science fiction writer, known for his future history, set in the fictional "Polity" universe. Asher began writing speculative fiction in secondary school, and started writing seriously when he was 25. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a machinist, machine programmer, and gardener. Asher's his first novel, "Gridlinked," was published in 2001. He has published more than 25 novels.