From Star Trek to Star Wars, from Dune to Foundation, science fiction has a rich history of exploring the idea of vast intergalactic societies, and the challenges facing those living in or trying to manage such societies. The stories in Federations will continue that tradition. What are the social/religious/environmental/technological implications of living in such a vast society? What happens when expansionist tendencies on a galactic scale come into conflict with the indigenous peoples of other planets, of other races? And what of the issue of communicating across such distances, or the problems caused by relativistic travel? These are just some of the questions and issues that the stories in Federations will take on.

Anderson and Beason are both physicists, which gives their latest plenty of scientific authenticity. So if you know the difference between Feynman diagrams and scattering matrices and don't mind two-dimensional characters, this should be your superconducting cup of tea. Nobel-nominated physicist Georg Dumenco is blasted with radiation while working on a project at Fermilab?the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois. What appears to be an accident is, of course, not and Dumenco's beautiful, tempestuous doctor, Trish LeCroix, recruits her former lover, Craig Kreident, crack FBI agent and Scientific American subscriber?and protagonist of Virtual Destruction and Fallout?to investigate before Dumenco succumbs. Intrigues from India, radiation sickness, a few gunshots, and a love triangle point up the importance difference between nuanced complexity and confusing complications.