Neal Asher (www.nealasher.com) lives in Chelmsford, England. Since 2000 he has published six novels: Gridlinked, a kind of James Bond space opera, was published in the UK in 2001; The Skinner, in 2002; then Line of Polity, Cowl, Brass Man (a sequel to Gridlinked), and Voyage of the Sable Keech (a sequel to The Skinner). All but Cowl are set in the same future, the “runcible universe,” where matter transmitters called runcibles link the settled worlds. Other books out in 2006 include The Engineer ReConditioned and a novella, Prador Moon. His short fiction is appearing with some frequency in UK and U.S. magazines in recent years.
“Mason’s Rats” appeared in Asimov’s. It is short, biting, and to the point, and an interesting counterpoint to the Dozois story in this book. Farmer Mason discovers that his cats are missing and that the rats in his barn have become tool users and are carrying weapons.