In a balkanized future of dizzying possibilities, mercenaries contend with guns as smart as they are, nuclear deterrence is a commodity traded on the open market, teenagers deal in "theologically correct" software for fundamentalists, and anarchists have colonized a planet circling another star. Against this background, men and women struggle for a better future against the betrayals that went before. Death is sometimes the end, and sometimes something altogether different…

This volume comprises The Star Fraction and The Stone Canal.

“Should make those who've been crying that British SF can't work for an American audience think twice. This is strong stuff, full of ideas and yet with a hard-driving plot, and readers whose taste extends beyond good-guys/bad-guys adventure stories ought to love it.” —Asimov’s SF on The Stone Canal

“Science fiction's freshest new writer…MacLeod is a fiercely intelligent, prodigously well-read author who manages to fill his books with big issues without weighing them down.” —Salon

“As much fun as these books provide, it's that fierceness, that seriousness of purpose, that powers their engines and makes me want to read on.” —Locus