Publisher Description

In the twenty-first century man created the Eschaton, a sentient artificial intelligence. It pushed Earth through the greatest technological evolution ever known, while warning that time travel is forbidden, and transgressors will be eliminated.Distant descendants of this ultra high-tech Earth live in parochial simplicity on the far-flung worlds of the New Republic. Their way of life is threatened by the arrival of an alien information plague known as the Festival. As forbidden technologies are literally dropped from the sky, suppressed political factions descend into revolutionary turmoil. A battle fleet is sent from Earth to destroy the Festival, but Spaceship engineer Martin Springfield and U.N. diplomat Rachel Mansour have been assigned rather different tasks. Their orders are to diffuse the crisis or to sabotage the New Republic's war-fleet, whatever the cost, before the Eschaton takes hostile action on a galactic scale.

Notes

Major science fiction debut from a British writer, destined to become a major force in SF. Space opera stemming from the invention of a sentient artificial intelligence.

Author Biography

Charles Stross was born in Leeds, England, in 1964. He has worked as a pharmacist, software engineer and freelance journalist, but now writes full time.

Review

Breathtaking ... a real contender for "space opera of the year" - LOCUSStross is an author who anyone interested in SF should read and relish - SFXDarkly funny and crackling with high-bandwidth ideas - PAUL McAULEYWhere Charles Stross goes today, the rest of science fiction will follow tomorrow - Gardner Dozois

Promotional

* Widespread ad campaign in the genre press highlighting the new book. * Review and feature coverage in the genre press * Featured on and in the e-zine

Long Description

In the twenty-first century man created the Eschaton, a sentient artificial intelligence. It pushed Earth through the greatest technological evolution ever known, while warning that time travel is forbidden, and transgressors will be eliminated.Distant descendants of this ultra high-tech Earth live in parochial simplicity on the far-flung worlds of the New Republic. Their way of life is threatened by the arrival of an alien information plague known as the Festival. As forbidden technologies are literally dropped from the sky, suppressed political factions descend into revolutionary turmoil. A battle fleet is sent from Earth to destroy the Festival, but Spaceship engineer Martin Springfield and U.N. diplomat Rachel Mansour have been assigned rather different tasks. Their orders are to diffuse the crisis or to sabotage the New Republic's war-fleet, whatever the cost, before the Eschaton takes hostile action on a galactic scale.

Review Quote

Where Charles Stross goes today, the rest of science fiction will follow tomorrow

Promotional "Headline"

A major SF debut from a British writer who will stand alongside Banks, Hamilton and Reynolds.

Description for Sales People

A dazzling SF debut - widescreen space opera at its best.

Details