In the twenty-fifth century, humankind has spread throughout the galaxy, monitored by the watchful eye of the U.N. While divisions in race, religion, and class still exist, advances in technology have redefined life itself. Now, assuming one can afford the expensive procedure, a person’s consciousness can be stored in a cortical stack at the base of the brain and easily downloaded into a new body (or “sleeve”) making death nothing more than a minor blip on a screen.

Ex-U.N. envoy Takeshi Kovacs has been killed before, but his last death was particularly painful. Dispatched one hundred eighty light-years from home, re-sleeved into a body in Bay City (formerly San Francisco, now with a rusted, dilapidated Golden Gate Bridge), Kovacs is thrown into the dark heart of a shady, far-reaching conspiracy that is vicious even by the standards of a society that treats “existence” as something that can be bought and sold. For Kovacs, the shell that blew a hole in his chest was only the beginning. . . .

From the Trade Paperback edition.

英国新一代科幻作家的代表，毕业于剑桥大学，主修历史，之后周游世界，从事英语教学工作。2002年《副本》出版以后成为专职作家。

作为科幻作家，理查德·摩根对未来的看法十分悲观。这种观念也许来自他对历史的研究。在一次采访中，他明确表示：“人类社会现在是、过去是，将来也必然是以压迫、剥削大众为目的的存在。”

这种思想让他的科幻小说呈现出鲜明的反乌托邦色彩，《副本》就是其中的典型。

《副本》是他的科瓦奇系列的第一部。阴郁的色调、飞快的节奏，加上坚实的未来科技内核，让这部作品具有强烈的赛伯朋克风格；从结构布局上看，又与美国30 年代硬汉派侦探小说十分相似。文风极有硬汉派侦探小说大师雷蒙德·钱德勒的神韵--坚硬冷峻，时有隽语，显示出批判的锋芒。