The Trade of Queens

Charles Stross is the author of the bestselling Merchant Princes series, the Laundry series, and several stand-alone novels including "Glasshouse," "Accelerando," and "Saturn's Children." Born in Leeds, England, in 1964, Stross studied in London and Bradford, earning degrees in pharmacy and computer science. Over the next decade and a half he worked as a pharmacist, a technical writer, a software engineer, and eventually as a prolific journalist covering the IT industry. His short fiction began attracting wide attention in the late 1990s; his first novel, "Singularity Sky," appeared in 2003. He has subsequently won the Hugo Award twice. He lives with his wife in Edinburgh, Scotland, in a flat that is slightly older than the state of Texas.

Praise for the novels of The Merchant Princes:

"[These books] are, first and foremost, great fun."--Paul Krugman, "New York Times" bestselling author of "The Great Unraveling""If imagination is the key to success for a writer, Charles Stross has it in spades." "--The Times" (London)"A good deal of fun. Fans of this series should find this conclusion satisfying and chilling."--"RT Book Reviews" on "Trade of Queens""Stross effectively builds tension as the clock ticks down toward a hopeless confrontation between the Clan and its superpower opponent. . . The conclusion brings events in these three universes together successfully. . . This all makes for a more than satisfactory close to [the] series.""--Strange Horizons""The world-building in this series is simply superb, in other words--it is engaging, crystal-clear and disturbingly real. . . . "The Merchants' War" is fast-paced and engrossing and will leave readers ravenous for the next installment.""--SciFi Weekly""These books are immense fun, a sort of 21st-century version of the solid, thought-out costume sword-and-spaceship fiction that provided the enduring spine of science fiction entertainment .""--Locus" on "The Hidden Family"