Where to find 'Snow in the Desert'.

It’s really great to see the reaction to Snow in the Desert in Love, Death and Robots on Netflix – brings home to me that many fans are as invested in my work as me, if not more so. When I saw it (Tim Miller sent me a link to watch it early) I initially noticed the holes, since it has been abridged to fit into the 15 minute slot. I hadn’t expected that. It has been years since I read the story, maybe decades, and I expected to feel about it as I did about the first season of Altered Carbon: couldn’t remember the story so just enjoyed the ride. But it seems that having written Snow it’s somehow imprinted on my back-brain. It took subsequent viewings for me to fully appreciate what had been done: the superb production values, the detail and the captured essence. I would still like it to be longer because certain elements of the story really needed longer to soak in. But, as ever, I go back to the dictum that no matter what film producers do with my stuff, the stuff itself will always exist in written form. And fuck: one of my short stories on the TV – available to 200+ million subscribers!

Part of the reaction to it has been from people who simply haven’t read the story, or have maybe forgotten that they had. This story has been around for a long time – written when the Polity was just starting to form out of my short stories. My recollection is vague but I do know that I wrote most of it in one long session doing about 7,000 words in one day. I’m pretty sure I did it before I wrote Gridlinked so sometime prior to 2000 – maybe the early 90s or late 80s. It was first published in 2002 and I’ve had to take a look at my website to remind me of where and when: 

SNOW IN THE DESERT: (11,000 words) Snow is an albino, immortal, very dangerous, and someone wants his bollocks. Spectrum SF 8 (2002), David G Hartwell’s & Kathryn Cramer’s Year’s Best SF 8 (June 2003). 

It was subsequently published in the Czech SF magazine Ikarie – maybe a year or so after this. If you want to read it, it can be found in my collection from Macmillan The Gabble.

It can also be found as a ‘shortread’ on Amazon for 99p

 

Here are some of the comments on the TV version on the first day of airing:

Martin Finkelmeier
Ok that was awesome, now i just want more... spatterjay series would be awesome in this quality.

Steve Bland

Finally sat down with Love, Death and Robots S2.Totally not long enough lol. We need that animation quality and The Skinner (or Gridlinked).

Peter Nock
Was good but too short! I also wanted to see more of the crab birds!
 
Hugh Bourne
Bloody loved Snow! Don’t want to post any spoilers but the animation and rendering were frankly breathtaking. Waaaay to short as well. I would love to read the original story…. Is it available somewhere?
 
Grant Bourdot
Watched "Love, Death and Robots," (part 2) last night. Thoroughly enjoyed it! All the episodes! "Snow in the Desert", although they've shortened an already short story, was excellent! Having read it before and an inside knowledge of the "Polity Universe," enhanced the experience. Kudos!
 
Hans Jorgensen
It was amazing!
 
Michael Diamond
Just saw it. Enjoyed it! Great story and they did a great job putting it on the screen!
 
Richard Hands
Loved it Neal, thank you 
 
Aaron Spuler
Watched it this afternoon! I can see that things were left out from the short story, but it was nicely done. I enjoyed it
 
Nick Clarke
Really great to see your writing up there on the screen. What a great 50th birthday present for me! I knew it would translate well, and loved seeing a peek of that familiar universe made flesh, so to speak. Onwards & upwards Neal, thank you! 

Russell Ess
Finally watched it tonight. Loved it - and there were parts where I was truly unsure I was watching CG.
 
Bill Crane
Watched it all. Will watch a few more times.
 
Thomas Morris III
Excellent short! They did a good job on the story. 
Congratulations!
 
James Brooke-Cowden
Well done mate - watched it - loved it (was there ever any doubt) - fantastic adaptation, made easier by the rich source material - your stuff looks good on the screen, Mr Asher!
 
David Nelson
Just watched Snow in the Desert. Not bad at all. 
 
Darren Hickmott
I think as a fan i was kinda predisposed to enjoy it, but fuck me that was good 
 
Andrew Quinto Venn
Loved 'Snow...' but couldn't help thinking of Monty Python's Black Knight at one point. "Tis just a flesh wound"
 
Philip P Talbot
Just finished watching Snow In The Desert episode of Love, Death + Robots and was very impressed with the way it was interpreted into video form. Makes me want to watch Ian Cormac et al on the big screen...
 
Adam Fairchild
I’d love to go get a bite someplace & something great like Snow is on the screens instead of boring sports.
 
Gilbert Miller
I just watched Snow. Great piece. 
Congrats
 
Josh Hayes
Neal, just watched it. I loved the story! Very well done, sir!
 
Henry Wolfe
Watched Snow, I think they did a great job, they especially captured the Asher brutality of the weapons, no Geneva Convention in the Polity it would seem with limbs being blown off etc, still it is as in the books - good job.
 
Adrian Kelland
I enjoyed it, over too soon though. Sigh . I've read the story and having seen the animation, I can see why Tom Cruise thought it would make a longer film. Great animation. I wonder if it might lead to more Polity animations. I hope so.
 
Alan Bret Wolf
I’m planning my entire evening around this....
Making a T bone steak with Brussels.....
Lights low
Sound system on
 
Bill Crane
Watched it, now I have to read the story.
Michael Dirk Thalman
My pal, Neal Asher , who just happens to be one of the top sci-fi authors of our time, has a story that's been adapted for the new season of Love, Death, and Robots.
Good on you, Neal. That's awesome
Edited: his story/episode is Snow on the Desert
 
Daniel Habib
I can't get over it, it was too awesome. More please.
 
Tony Brown
Just watched it, brilliant, we must have more Asher on the screen.
 
Steve Maller
Good production values too.
 
Martin Dudley
I hadn't read the story, but this was great.
 
Nik Long
More! Very impressed!
 
Eric Jones
That’s was a pretty good adaptation and I don’t think it takes away from the original story. Congrats, it was great!
 
Greg Wright
Just finished it. Stellar as usual. For the fucking life of me I can't figure why someone like Neflix or Amazon doesn't pick up the Polity Universe. Like, for the love of God pick ANY book.
 
James Devine
It’s awesome, really hope it catches some streaming exec’s eye- the Polity needs to be on screen!
 
Tony Sinai
Excellent series. Original content and superb Production.
 
Jools Enticknap
Wow, just wow  Watched it this morning.
 
James McCormick
Just finished watching yours. 
 
Jools Enticknap
Looking forward to see this more often  Masons rats next please.... pretty please.
 
Matt Lucas
Yes, nailed it.

ckolonn
Awesome on all counts.

Jon (Sullivan - previous cover artist for my books)
Neal Snow in the Desert was fucking awesome. Congrats. At last they have noticed. Now lets hope they have the guts to take it to the next level.
 QUALITY!

Scott Steensma
Enjoy! I watched Harlan Ellison's one too, and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest.

NDC2018
#snowinthedesert #polity #earthcentral Wow … found myself grinning and going oh yes… golem chassis, ceramal, golem 28 style with a Memcrystal… was hoping for an attack ship to drop its chameleon ware as its powered away from watching over…

steve f
Just watched Love,death and Robots adaptation of Snow in the Desert. Bit short but must say I was impressed. Didn't realise they had done it but soon as I started the episode I knew it was yours.

jacqui 
@netflix and @nealasher go well together. Just watched Snow in the Desert, which makes a very good short film of a dystiopian future? Let's have more.

Steve Hearne
Really enjoyed Snow In The Desert. It must be daunting to capture the atmosphere you create in your writing and all the details you add to build the world but they did a great job building the tension and told the story well given the time constraint. Looked damn cool too!

D McNamara
Really liked it. Good adaptation. Is it weird that Snow looked familiar?

Andrew ten Broek
Just finished watching it myself, very awesome to see how they adapted it for this series!

Harlow Smith·
An excellent adaptation, if a little abridged. And like I’ve always said, animation is the only way to do justice to space opera.

Dennis Hinkson
Of course it was too short but I loved it.. Animation and writing team did great work..

AlistairC
Four episodes of #LoveDeathAndRobots down. Highlight so far was "Snow in the Desert" based on the work of @nealasher. "Pop squad" comes up second.

KJ Mulder - Worlds in Ink
Finished LOVE, DEATH AND ROBOTS S2. Way too short. Not as many stories that hit the mark for me, but the 3 that did was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! SNOW IN THE DESERT - Does
@nealasher
's universe much deserved justice. ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE - Christmas will never be the same.

Jeremy BLAIN
It's excellent . Just watched it and loved the look and feel of it. Think they did a good job there. You happy with it Neil?

Living on planet Swearth
Ok, that was brilliant!! So many little teases to the Polity and I wish it’d been longer! If they ever adapt more books, this would be the perfect way to do so!
@nealasher
what do we have to do to get it done?!?

Paul 
Just watched it and wow!!!!. Did cheer when I head 'Earth Central' mentioned. Also the animation is fantastic, so much detail but loved it when the birds covered up during the day.

LubertDas
I've only watched Snow in the Desert so far, but it appears to me that Snow is the most realistically animated episode, and it's featured a LOT in the trailer. I'm so happy to see that they did such a good job adapting your story.
I just watched the Snow in the Desert episode of Love Death + Robots, and it was incredible! The animation was so incredibly realistic! I thought they did an outstanding job of translating the kinetic action of a Neal Asher story to the screen. What's next?!?!?!

TRV2
Snow's lover looked totally real. Animation was amazing.

Herman Adriani
@nealasher brilliant story again for @netflix #lovedeathandrobots2 “snow in the desert”

freegnu
Binge watched the whole season. Good to see your work on the screen.

Emil van Dam
Currently watching it and it’s awesome!

M.T. Preston, Jr. 
Thoroughly enjoyed it! Hopefully more to come.

itkovian-11
I loved it. Hoping to see some more adaptations in the future.

Laszlo Brety
You should, it really is decent. It may not be reinventing the wheel but as long as you know that, its an entertaining 2 hrs. And just watched Snow...the animation is quite superb. There were moments when I was questioning if they were real actors or not.

_Celtic_
Just watched it - very impressive. It must be a thrill to see your imagination come alive on screen like that. It's now long enough since I read it that I remembered the background (the remote desert setting) but not the detail of the plot, so could enjoy it fresh.

And more are coming in all the time. . .

Longevity Averaging in Analog

 I’ve been reading a lot about longevity research which, if the gatekeepers of medicine were to allow it, could turn into a biotechnology boom. There is a little bit of growth in that sector now but it is still not accepted in the mainstream. It should be. Most of the diseases we suffer from now – the main killers – are the result of the steady damage accumulated over years - dementia/Alzheimers, heart disease, cancer etc - while the drug companies search for fixes for symptoms and the quickest way to a profit. We need to fix root causes. In the last fifty years these maladies have been added to by ‘metabolic syndrome’, specifically bringing type II diabetes to that list but exacerbating the rest. An awful lot of metabolic syndrome could be eliminated by changes in lifestyle, and ignoring some incredibly bad advice from ‘medical professionals’ 40 to 50 years ago (like Ancel Keys). But in the end all is still that steady accumulation of damage. 

I myself have made quite a lot of changes to my lifestyle in recent years. I quit smoking (using an ecig), I’ve reduced and would like to eliminate alcohol. I recently quit most carbohydrates and sugar and eat a close to ketogenic diet – the only reason I say ‘close to’ is because I can’t be bothered to weigh and check on the carbs in things like broccoli. I exercise a lot. I use various supplements (which I have researched), have used fasting to lose weight and increase autophagy etc and have experimented with fisetin megadosing to kill of senescent cells. I am now, I am damned certain, healthier and fitter than I was 10 to 15 years ago. But there are limits to what an individual reading up on this stuff can do and, if we are to defeat ageing, we need that biotechnology.

One upshot of all this reading is a novelette called ‘Longevity Averaging’. This is a visualization of that biotech industry in the near future, and what treatments it might use. This also covers some of the social issues involved – the title concerning state pensions. It is now published in the May/June issue of Analog Science fiction and Fact.