From Publishers Weekly
Best known for his Accelerando novels (Singularity Sky, etc.) of an ever-speedier techno-Singularity, British author Stross mixes high-tech with medieval trappings in this highly entertaining science fantasy in the "misplaced modern" mode. Reporter Miriam Beckstein, recently fired for exposing a money laundering scheme and threatened by the criminals involved, finds that staring at her mother's antique brooch can move her from contemporary America to a Viking-settled parallel universe, where she discovers her true heritage as a countess among the world-walking, goods-smuggling Clan. Struggling to master the mores and politics of her new family, Miriam discovers trust to be the rarest commodity in which they deal. Earl Roland, her new love, may be too loyal to her uncle, Duke Angbard, while Roland's intended, the Baroness Olga, is much more than a silly heiress waiting to be married off. Miriam schemes to update the Clan's ancient business and make herself invaluable to their interests, before one of the many assassins after her succeeds. Stross makes much of the incongruity of modern technology alongside old-fashioned costumes and customs, and many will be reminded of Roger Zelazny's Amber books, which had similar dizzying intrigues. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Bookmarks Magazine
British science fiction author Stross (Singularity Sky *** Jan/Feb 2004) has written “a solid page-turner and an uncommonly promising series launcher,” writes Michael Berry in the San Francisco Chronicle. Some readers, however, may be put off by the book’s lengthy backstory and a few of the smaller roles read “like stock characters from a historical romance” (Austin American-Statesman). Though Family Trade does not boast the most original premise, Stross pulls off the first of this series with wit and precision. The American Statesman’s Reisman speculates that this novel could be read as a critique of the fantasy genre, especially considering Gruinmarkt’s devastating lack of technological smarts. Miriam views this new world from a contemporary perspective, so there’s plenty to mock-that’s all part of the fun.Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.


From Booklist
A fantasy employing the familiar device of a character from our world being zapped into what may be loosely called Faerie, The Family Trade features investigative reporter Miriam Beckstein. Pursuing a matter that brings her death threats, she ends up having to use a locket left her by her mother, who was murdered when Miriam was an infant. Naturally, the locket transfers her to the kingdom of Gruinmarkt, where the six Families of the Clan vie for dominance, using methods that have a good deal in common with those of The Sopranos and Mario Puzo's Corleones. Miriam is no more willing, however, to be a passive victim in Gruinmarkt than she was in our world, and she sets out to uphold her part in the Families' feud in appropriate style. Stross' world building isn't quite as vivid as that of Piper or Zelazny, to which the book's publicity compares it, but in all ways this is a solid page-turner and an uncommonly promising series launcher. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Orson Scott Card
"It's simply a great adventure, full of danger, of plots within plots, of forbiddden love and political murder."


Review
"The Family Trade is one of those rare delights--a book that is fun, intelligenttly written, and which leaves a reader breathlessly wondering what will happen next."


Book Description
A bold fantasy in the tradition of Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber, The Merchant Princes is a sweeping new series from the hottest new writer in science fiction!

Miriam Beckstein is happy in her life. She's a successful reporter for a hi-tech magazine in Boston, making good money doing what she loves. When her researcher brings her iron-clad evidence of a money-laundering scheme, Miriam thinks she's found the story of the year. But when she takes it to her editor, she's fired on the spot and gets a death threat from the criminals she has uncovered.

Before the day is over, she's received a locket left by the mother she never knew-the mother who was murdered when she was an infant. Within is a knotwork pattern, which has a hypnotic effect on her. Before she knows it, she's transported herself to a parallel Earth, a world where knights on horseback chase their prey with automatic weapons, and where world-skipping assassins lurk just on the other side of reality - a world where her true family runs things.

The six families of the Clan rule the kingdom of Gruinmarkt from behind the scenes, a mixture of nobility and criminal conspirators whose power to walk between the worlds makes them rich in both. Braids of family loyalty and intermarriage provide a fragile guarantee of peace, but a recently-ended civil war has left the families shaken and suspicious.

Taken in by her mother's people, she becomes the star of the story of the century-as Cinderella without a fairy godmother. As her mother's heir, Miriam is hailed as the prodigal countess Helge Thorold-Hjorth, and feted and feasted. Caught up in schemes and plots centuries in the making, Miriam is surrounded by unlikely allies, forbidden loves, lethal contraband, and, most dangerous of all, her family. Her unexpected return will supercede the claims of other clan members to her mother's fortune and power, and whoever killed her mother will be happy to see her dead, too.

Behind all this lie deeper secrets still, which threaten everyone and everything she has ever known. Patterns of deception and interlocking lies, as intricate as the knotwork between the universes. But Miriam is no one's pawn, and is determined to conquer her new home on her own terms.

Blending the creativity and humor of Roger Zelazny, the adventure of H. Beam Piper and Philip Jose Farmer, and the rigor and scope of a science-fiction writer on the grandest scale, Charles Stross has set a new standard for fantasy epics.



About the Author
Charles Stross is a full-time writer who was born in Leeds, England in 1964. He studied in London and Bradford, gaining degrees in pharmacy and computer science, and has worked in a variety of jobs, including pharmacist, technical writer, software engineer and freelance journalist. After gaining considerable attention with his short fiction, his first novel, Singularity Sky was published in 2003. He lives with his wife in Edinburgh, Scotland in a flat that is slightly older than the state of Texas.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Scottish author Charles Stross' newest release is a dramatic departure from acclaimed hardcore science fiction thrillers like his Hugo Award￯﾿ﾽnominated Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise. The Family Trade is a fantasy about parallel realities and a powerful clan in charge of an "interuniversal import/export" business.

The novel's first few sentences are guaranteed to captivate readers: "Ten and a half hours before a mounted knight with a machine gun tried to kill her, tech journalist Miriam Beckstein lost her job. Before the day was out, her pink slip would set in train a chain of events that would topple governments, trigger civil wars, and kill thousands." After Beckstein is unceremoniously fired for uncovering a billion-dollar money-laundering scheme that involved her magazine's parent company, she seeks counsel from her foster mother. Instead of advice, however, her adoptive mom gives her an old locket that used to belong to her biological mother -- one of the few possessions her mother had on her when she was found brutally murdered when Miriam was only a baby. The intricate knotwork on the locket hypnotizes Miriam and mysteriously transports her to an alternate Earth where she is no longer a journalist but an elder member of a corrupt family reminiscent of Mario Puzo's Corleone clan.

Comparable to Harry Turtledove's Crosstime Traffic sequence and Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber, The Family Trade is intriguing, to say the least. Equal parts entrepreneurial adventure, organized crime thriller, and world-hopping fantasy, this novel brings new meaning to "limited liability company." Paul Goat Allen

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Miriam Beckstein is happy in her life. She's a successful reporter for a hi-tech magazine in Boston, making good money doing what she loves. When her researcher brings her iron-clad evidence of a money-laundering scheme, Miriam thinks she's found the story of the year. But when she takes it to her editor, she's fired on the spot and gets a death threat from the criminals she has uncovered." "Before the day is over, she's received a locket left by the mother she never knew - the mother who was murdered when she was an infant. Within is a knotwork pattern, which has a hypnotic effect on her. Before she knows it, she's transported herself to a parallel Earth, a world where knights on horseback chase their prey with automatic weapons, and where world-skipping assassins lurk just on the other side of reality - a world where her true family runs things." "The six families of the Clan rule the kingdom of Gruinmarkt from behind the scenes, a mixture of nobility and criminal conspirators whose power to walk between the worlds makes them rich in both. Braids of family loyalty and intermarriage provide a fragile guarantee of peace, but a recently-ended civil war has left the families shaken and suspicious." "Taken in by her mother's people, she becomes the star of the story of the century - a Cinderella without a fairy godmother. As her mother's heir, Miriam is hailed as the prodigal countess Helge Thorold-Hjorth, and feted and feasted. Caught up in schemes and plots centuries in the making, Miriam is surrounded by unlikely allies, forbidden loves, lethal contraband, and, most dangerous of all, her family. Her unexpected return will supercede the claims of other clan members to her mother's fortune and power, and whoever killed her mother will be happy to see her dead, too." Behind all this lie deeper secrets still, which threaten everyone and everything she has ever known. Patterns of deception and interlocking lies, as intricate as the knotwork between the universes. B

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Best known for his Accelerando novels (Singularity Sky, etc.) of an ever-speedier techno-Singularity, British author Stross mixes high-tech with medieval trappings in this highly entertaining science fantasy in the "misplaced modern" mode. Reporter Miriam Beckstein, recently fired for exposing a money laundering scheme and threatened by the criminals involved, finds that staring at her mother's antique brooch can move her from contemporary America to a Viking-settled parallel universe, where she discovers her true heritage as a countess among the world-walking, goods-smuggling Clan. Struggling to master the mores and politics of her new family, Miriam discovers trust to be the rarest commodity in which they deal. Earl Roland, her new love, may be too loyal to her uncle, Duke Angbard, while Roland's intended, the Baroness Olga, is much more than a silly heiress waiting to be married off. Miriam schemes to update the Clan's ancient business and make herself invaluable to their interests, before one of the many assassins after her succeeds. Stross makes much of the incongruity of modern technology alongside old-fashioned costumes and customs, and many will be reminded of Roger Zelazny's Amber books, which had similar dizzying intrigues. Agent, Caitlin Blaisdell. (Dec. 8) Forecast: Fans of Stross's faster-paced, higher-tech SF may be put off by the more traditional storytelling, but he stands to gain many new readers, especially among the Regency romance set. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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