The Clan Corporate

The Clan Corporate is the third book of Charles Stross' alternate history, science fiction series The Merchant Princes. It is the first part of the series' second story.

Plot

In this installment, Miriam Beckstein spends most of her time in the first parallel world, a virtual prisoner. She has ruffled enough feathers and stirred up enough trouble that her uncle, the clan's head of security, keeps her well isolated, and unable to travel unchaperoned. At one point in the story, she manages to escape surveillance for a short time, but she quickly gets herself back in trouble, and her activities are strongly circumscribed thereafter.

There's a subplot involving Mike Fleming, a cop who dated Miriam a couple of times. Mike has been pulled into a government task force that is investigating the clan's activities and plans with the help of a member of the clan's security apparatus who turned his back on the clan at the end of book two. There are occasional references to the moral and security implications of holding him prisoner outside the criminal justice system, but they are not explored in any depth.

Awards

Along with the first two novels of the series, The Clan Corporate won the 2006 Sidewise Award for Alternate History.^[1]

Notes

References

• Green, Roland. "The Clan Corporate." Booklist 102.17 (May 2006): 77.
• "The Clan Corporate: Book Three of the Merchant Princes." Publishers Weekly 253.12 (20 Mar. 2006): 41-41.