Dark State
Hugo Award-winning author Charlie Stross dives deep into the underbelly of paratime espionage, nuclear warfare, and state surveillance in his techno-thriller set in the Merchant Princes universe
Dark State ups the ante on already volatile situations laid out in the sleek techno-thriller Empire Games, the start to Charles Stross' fresh storyline in The Merchant Princes series.
In the near-future, two nuclear superpowers are about to collide across timelines. One is a hyper-police state; the other is in the midst of a technological revolution. And two women — a mother and her long-lost daughter — are about to find themselves on opposite sides of the confrontation.
In Commissioner Miriam Burgeson’s timeline, her top-level agents run a high-risk extraction of a major political player.
Meanwhile, Rita, newly-minted spy and the Commissioner's estranged daughter, must contend with a an activated sleeper cell that threatens unravel everything.
With a penchant for intricate world-building and an uncanny ability to realize alternate history and technological speculation, Stross' writing will captivate any reader who's a fan of high-tech thrillers, interdimensional political intrigue, and espionage.
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Charles Stross
Charles Stross doesn’t just write science fiction—he reverse-engineers the future. Whether unraveling the complexities of AI, economics, or cosmic horror, his stories feel less like speculative fiction and more like eerily plausible roadmaps to tomorrow. A former software developer and technical writer, Stross brings a hacker’s mindset to storytelling, dissecting the machinery of reality and exposing the glitches beneath.
Born in Leeds, England, Stross grew up surrounded by the last vestiges of the Industrial Age, a landscape that would later inform his fascination with systems—both human and technological. Before becoming a full-time author, he dabbled in everything from pharmacy to computer science, experiences that lend his work an uncanny level of authenticity. His early exposure to computing and online culture made him one of the first sci-fi writers to deeply explore the implications of a hyper-connected world, long before the tech boom turned cyberpunk into a reality.
Empire Games
Empire Games consists of three books — considered a complete series. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
Main series The Merchant Princes Universe
