MP 6 -The Trade of Queens

The TRADE of QUEENS

Book SIX or The Merchant Princes

CHARLES STROSS

TOR

A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK

New York

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events

portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination

or are used fictitiously.

THE TRADE OF QUEENS: BOOK SIX OF THE MERCHANT PRINCES

Copyright © 2010 by Charles Stross

All rights reserved.

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

www.tor-forge.com

Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, EEC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Stross, Charles.

The trade of queens / Charles Stross. — 1st ed.

p. cm. — (Merchant princes; bk. 6)

Book six of The merchant princes.

"A Tom Doherty Associates book."

ISBN 978-0-7653-1673-8

1. Clans—Fiction. 2. Nuclear weapons—Fiction. 3. Washington (D.C.)—Fiction. 4. Boston (Mass.)—Fiction. I. Title.

PR6119.T79T73 2010

823'.92—dc22

2009040696

First Edition: March 2010

Printed in the United States of America

0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To peace activists,

everywhere