InterstellarNet: New Order

Good fences, said the poet, make good neighbors -- and interstellar distances made very good fences. Or so we thought.... Earth and its interstellar neighbors have been in radio contact for a century and a half. A vigorous commerce in intellectual property has accelerated technical progress for all the species involved. Ideas, riding on radio waves, routinely cross interstellar space -- almost like neighbors chatting over the interstellar back fence. But there is a way over, or under, or around, almost any fence. Sooner or later, when we least expect it, the neighbors, friendly or otherwise, are going to pay a call....InterstellarNet: New Order chronicles the startling events of Second Contact, upfront and personal, as humanity discovers that meeting aliens face to face is very different -- and a lot more dangerous -- than sending and receiving messages."Edward Lerner takes us from a first SETI detection to full scale interstellar net economics, with thrills along the way. No one had thought through what a working interstellar net would be like. Lerner has the professional heft to make sense of it, tell a story, and make us care. Good stuff, told in clear, quick prose. A groundbreaking job!"-- Gregory Benford, author of Timescape (on InterstellarNet" Origins)