"This is a very smart, very funny book" - Locus

"Enthralling and subversive" - SF Commentary

"An excellent piece of future-gazing" - Amazon Reviewer

A Dutch Cold War is in full swing. The US is a shadow of its former self - its infrastructure is failing, and nomadic tribes roam freely among the states, living by no rules but their own.

Oscar Valpariso - always impeccably dressed - is only half human, but he's master political strategist to potentially the next president. If he can straighten out his love life, gain control of a high-tech scientific facility, and solve a worldwide crisis that only he's noticed, America should be ripe for the taking . . .

Prizes

Winner of Arthur C. Clarke Award 2000 (UK),Short-listed for John W Campbell Award 1999 (UK)

Bruce Sterling burst onto the SF scene with the birth of Cyberpunk and co-authored THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE with his colleague William Gibson. His biggest UK success was with THE HACKER CRACKDOWN. He lives in Austin, Texas.