The Collapsing Empire

Book excerpt: *2018 LOCUS AWARD WINNER OF BEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL* *2018 HUGO AWARD FINALIST FOR BEST NOVEL* “John Scalzi is the most entertaining, accessible writer working in SF today.” —Joe Hill, author of The Fireman The first novel of a new space-opera sequence set in an all-new universe by the Hugo Award-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Redshirts and Old Man's War Our universe is ruled by physics. Faster than light travel is impossible—until the discovery of The Flow, an extradimensional field available at certain points in space-time, which can take us to other planets around other stars. Riding The Flow, humanity spreads to innumerable other worlds. Earth is forgotten. A new empire arises, the Interdependency, based on the doctrine that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It’s a hedge against interstellar war—and, for the empire’s rulers, a system of control. The Flow is eternal—but it’s not static. Just as a river changes course, The Flow changes as well. In rare cases, entire worlds have been cut off from the rest of humanity. When it’s discovered that the entire Flow is moving, possibly separating all human worlds from one another forever, three individuals—a scientist, a starship captain, and the emperox of the Interdependency—must race against time to discover what, if anything, can be salvaged from an interstellar empire on the brink of collapse. "Fans of Game of Thrones and Dune will enjoy this bawdy, brutal, and brilliant political adventure" —Booklist on The Collapsing Empire "Political plotting, plenty of snark, puzzle-solving, and a healthy dose of action...Scalzi continues to be almost insufferably good at his brand of fun but think-y sci-fi adventure." —Kirkus Reviews on The Collapsing Empire “Scalzi is one of the slickest writers that SF has ever produced.” —The Wall Street Journal on The Human Division The Interdependency Series 1. The Collapsing Empire 2. The Consuming Fire At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.