Dancing With Bears

Michael Swanwick-The Hugo, Nebula, and

World Fantasy award- winning author of Stations

of the Tide-delivers a stunning "Postutopian"

novel of swashbuckling adventure, dangerous

women, and genocidal AIs.

Dancing with Bears follows the adventures of

notorious con men Darger and Surplus: They've lied

and cheated their way onto the caravan that is delivering

a priceless gift from the Caliph of Baghdad to

the Duke of Muscovy. The only thing harder than

the journey to Muscovy is their arrival in Muscovy.

An audience with the duke seems impossible to

obtain, and Darger and Surplus quickly become

entangled in a morass of deceit and revolution.

The only thing more dangerous than the

convoluted political web surrounding Darger and

Surplus is the gift itself, the Pearls of Byzantium,

and Zoësophia, the governess sworn to protect

their virtue.

This steampunk-esque adventure explores

the great game of espionage and empire building,

from the point of view of the world's most accomplished

con men, Darger and Surplus.