Books

_Shadow of the Scorpion_, Neal Asher

Gritty future ultraviolence, with nasty aliens (biology is destiny for the Prador) and full-range-of-human-complexity AIs.

Plus, the secret origin story of ace Polity agent Ian Cormac!

I like this stuff, but I don't pretend it's great literature. Asher's default level of tension and violence is about the same as the climactic bits of Iain Banks, and he doesn't turn it down very often. Some dynamics (in the musical sense) would be welcome.

Books

_Shadow of the Scorpion_, Neal Asher

Gritty future ultraviolence, with nasty aliens (biology is destiny for the Prador) and full-range-of-human-complexity AIs.

Plus, the secret origin story of ace Polity agent Ian Cormac!

I like this stuff, but I don't pretend it's great literature. Asher's default level of tension and violence is about the same as the climactic bits of Iain Banks, and he doesn't turn it down very often. Some dynamics (in the musical sense) would be welcome.

Author inquiry

Marc Matz wrote _Nocturne for a Dangerous Man_, a pretty good future SF noir thriller published by Tor in 1999. ISFDB shows a couple of previous short stories.

Did he give up? Die? Find something more lucrative?

He does not appear to be the Cambridge (MA) art dealer, although that wouldn't be an awful stretch given the topics of the novel.

Author inquiry

Marc Matz wrote _Nocturne for a Dangerous Man_, a pretty good future SF noir thriller published by Tor in 1999. ISFDB shows a couple of previous short stories.

Did he give up? Die? Find something more lucrative?

He does not appear to be the Cambridge (MA) art dealer, although that wouldn't be an awful stretch given the topics of the novel.