From a stunning new voice in hard science fiction comes the thrilling story of one woman’s quest to wrest truth from chaos, love from violence, and reality from illusion in a post-human universe of emergent AIs, genetic constructs, and illegal wetware...

Spin State

UN Peacekeeper Major Catherine Li has made thirty-seven faster-than-light jumps in her lifetime—and has probably forgotten more than most people remember. But that’s what backup hard drives are for. And Li should know; she’s been hacking her memory for fifteen years in order to pass as human. But no memory upgrade can prepare Li for what she finds on Compson’s World: a mining colony she once called home and to which she is sent after a botched raid puts her on the bad side of the powers that be. A dead physicist who just happens to be her cloned twin. A missing dataset that could change the interstellar balance of power and turn a cold war hot. And a mining “accident” that is starting to look more and more like murder...

Suddenly Li is chasing a killer in an alien world miles underground where everyone has a secret. And one wrong turn in streamspace, one misstep in the dark alleys of blackmarket tech and interstellar espionage, one risky hookup with an AI could literally blow her mind.

"Vivid, sexy, and sharply written...a nonstop, white-knuckle tour of quantum physics, artificial intelligence, and the human heart."—Nicola Griffith

"A spiky, detailed, convincing, compelling page-turner, and the science is good too. Chris Moriarty is a dangerous talent."—Stephen Baxter

"Action, mystery and drama, set against some of the most plausible speculative physics I’ve seen."—David Brin

"Highly atmospheric ... a hefty far-future exploration of AI, human cloning, class conflict and plain old-fashioned murder."—Publishers Weekly

Nominated for the 2003 Philip K. Dick Award, this "highly atmospheric debut" ("Publishers Weekly") from a stunning new voice in science fiction deftly mixes murder, politics, and cyber-romance.

Chris Moriarty was born in 1968 and has lived in the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia and Latin America. A resident of Utah since 1994, Chris has trained horses for cattle ranches and hunting operations, and worked as a ranch hand, backcountry guide, freelance editor and environmental lawyer.

From the Paperback edition.