A human diplomat creates an interstellar incident when he kills an alien diplomat in a most unusual way. To avoid war, Earth's government must find an equally unusual object: A type of sheep ("The Android's Dream"), used in the alien race's coronation ceremony.

To find the sheep, the government turns to Harry Creek, ex-cop, war hero and hacker extraordinaire, who with the help of Brian Javna, a childhood friend turned artificial intelligence, scours the earth looking for the rare creature. And they find it, in the unknowing form of Robin Baker, pet store owner, whose genes contain traces of the sheep DNA.

But there are others with plans for the sheep as well: Mercenaries employed by the military. Adherents of a secret religion based on the writings of a 21st century science fiction author. And alien races, eager to start a revolution on their home world and a war on Earth.

To keep our planet from being enslaved, Harry will have to pull off the greatest diplomatic coup in history, a grand gambit that will take him from the halls of power to the lava-strewn battlefields of alien worlds. There's only one chance to get it right, to save the life of Robin Baker -- and to protect the future of humanity.

约翰·斯卡尔齐

1969年生于美国加利福尼亚州，毕业于芝加哥大学哲学系。美国著名科幻小说作家，2010年曾当选为美国科幻奇幻作家协会（SFWA）主席。

约翰·斯卡尔齐从1998年开始在博客（whatever.scalzi.com）上写作。2005年，他在博客上连载的小说《垂暮之战》（OldMan’sWar）被美国著名幻想文学出版社TOR发现并得以出版，该作品还入围了当年雨果奖最佳长篇小说，他本人也因此获得2006年约翰·W.坎贝尔最佳新人奖。随后，约翰·斯卡尔齐出版的一系列科幻小说，都毫无例外地登上各大畅销书排行榜，并多次获得雨果奖、星云奖、轨迹奖等重要奖项。

其代表作主要有《幽灵舰队》（TheGhostBrigades）、《星际迷航：红衫》（RedShirts）、《生命之锁》（LockIn）和《安佐之梦》（TheAndroid’sDream）等。

此外，他还创作非虚构小说，撰写专栏文章，涉及的话题包括电影、天文学、电子游戏、金融等。目前他与妻子、女儿和自己的宠物一起住在美国俄亥俄州布拉德福德市。