Lone Star Planet

About the book

Stephen Silk's frank writing about interstellar policy earns him an assignment to New Texas, where the previous ambassador has been killed. The planet's inhabitants combine frontier manners with a legal attitude toward public officials that makes ordinary diplomatic protections uncertain. Silk must understand that political culture while addressing the Solar League's strategic interests and an approaching alien threat. His own government's motives are not necessarily as straightforward as his official instructions suggest. Piper and McGuire turn the encounter into a satirical adventure involving investigation, negotiation, and competing interpretations of law. The central difficulty is practical as well as philosophical: before Silk can persuade New Texas to cooperate, he must discover how to act effectively in a society that distrusts authority.

• Diplomacy
• Political accountability
• Frontier independence

Why read it

Read it for political satire built around a diplomat trying to survive the implications of an unfamiliar constitution.

English text