(FYI, the announcement for this sampler mistakenly says that my excerpt is from 2006′s Infoquake. Rest assured, the 45 pages in the Pyr sampler are indeed from MultiReal.)

Also included in the sampler are excerpts from Joe Abercrombie‘s Before They Are Hanged (sequel to the acclaimed The Blade Itself); Kay Kenyon‘s A World Too Near (sequel to the equally acclaimed Bright of the Sky); Theodore Judson‘s The Martian General’s Daughter; Robert Silverberg‘s classic Son of Man; and two from Mike Resnick, Stalking the Unicorn and Stalking the Vampire.

But first, a few words about the excerpt from MultiReal.

What you’re reading in this sampler is the entire first section of the book, titled “Lessons Learned.” Three of these chapters are written from the point of view of a new character, Magan Kai Lee, the lieutenant executive of the Defense and Wellness Council. (Actually, he’s not entirely a new character. If you re-read Infoquake, you’ll notice that he makes a cameo appearance in chapter 5, though he’s not mentioned by name.) One chapter is a 40-year-old flashback written from Margaret Surina’s point of view. Only one chapter of this excerpt features Natch, the trilogy’s protagonist and central character. Jara, the series’ secondary protagonist, isn’t even mentioned in these five chapters, even though she plays a major part in MultiReal.

I always knew it was going to be difficult to create a suitable excerpt for this book. As I’ve written before, the middle book of a trilogy is an enormous challenge. I’ve made it doubly so by creating such a complicated backstory for the universe. Pity the poor opening chapters of MultiReal, because I’ve saddled them with all of these duties:

1. Re-introducing the important background concepts in the story (multi, bio/logic programming, creeds, L-PRACGs, MultiReal)
2. Re-introducing the important bits of background history (the Autonomous Revolt, the death of Marcus Surina)
3. Re-introducing the main characters (Natch, Horvil, and Jara) as well as the secondary characters (Len Borda, Margaret Surina, Benyamin, Merri, Serr Vigal, Quell, the Patel Brothers, and Brone)
4. Introducing several new characters (Magan Kai Lee, Papizon, Rey Gonerev, Ridgello, and Khann Frejohr)
5. Summarizing the important bits that happened in Infoquake
6. Setting up the conflicts for the rest of MultiReal
7. Engaging the reader so they’re interested in reading more (or buying the book in the first place)

I concluded that it’s nearly impossible to cover all of this ground without turning the opening chapters into one big, fat gelatinous glob of exposition. So when you finally do get your grubby hands on MultiReal (have I mentioned that it’s available for pre-order on Amazon?), you’ll find that Appendix A is a rather detailed summary of Infoquake. It will be interesting to see if that summary is enough for those who haven’t read Infoquake to still enjoy MultiReal. At the very least, I hope it will jostle the memories of those who did read the first book, but have forgotten some of its details.

One last thing to note: for those who haven’t read Infoquake, there will be spoilers in this five-chapter sample of MultiReal. But I wouldn’t worry too much about it. I don’t think there’s anything in the first few chapters of book 2 that would spoil your experience of book 1. (And if you’re that concerned — well, you could always go ahead and start reading the first seven chapters of Infoquake instead.)

Go. Read. Enjoy. Buy. Discuss.