Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 66 (click to see context) from:
* OutsideCOntextProblem: Everythign is happening against a backdrop where the previous timeline hopping civilization's homeworld was [[ApocalypseHow/ClassX crushed into a black hole.]]
to:
* OutsideCOntextProblem: Everythign OutsideContextProblem: Everything is happening against a backdrop where the previous timeline hopping civilization's homeworld was [[ApocalypseHow/ClassX crushed into a black hole.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* OutsideCOntextProblem: Everythign is happening against a backdrop where the previous timeline hopping civilization's homeworld was [[ApocalypseHow/ClassX crushed into a black hole.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** Rita is a lot more competent than anybody expected in a fight.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 41 (click to see context) from:
* GambitPileup: by the third book, there are at least five different factions all either shooting at each other or inches away from doing so. This is [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when Miriam, in the second book, asks whether there's anyone in her entourage ''not'' working for the secret service. Her maid Kara responds, [[CrowningMomentOfFunny "Not me!"]]
to:
* GambitPileup: by By the third book, there are at least five different factions all either shooting at each other or inches away from doing so. This is [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when Miriam, in the second book, asks whether there's anyone in her entourage ''not'' working for the secret service. Her maid Kara responds, [[CrowningMomentOfFunny "Not me!"]]
Changed line(s) 55,56 (click to see context) from:
* MedievalStasis: thoroughly explained and explored in Gruinmarkt, and the new guard of Clan members want to drag Gruinmarkt out of the middle ages. They are opposed by older clan members and the hereditary nobility, which causes the friction of the story.
* TheMenInBlack: the Family Trade Organization, which is set up somewhere around book three or four to investigate the world-hoppers and the threat they pose. [[spoiler:Mike Fleming discovers in Book Five that WARBUCKS is the one pulling the strings, and is using it to destroy the evidence that he was involved with the Clan before his reentrance into politics.]]
* TheMenInBlack: the Family Trade Organization, which is set up somewhere around book three or four to investigate the world-hoppers and the threat they pose. [[spoiler:Mike Fleming discovers in Book Five that WARBUCKS is the one pulling the strings, and is using it to destroy the evidence that he was involved with the Clan before his reentrance into politics.]]
to:
* MedievalStasis: thoroughly Thoroughly explained and explored in Gruinmarkt, and the new guard of Clan members want to drag Gruinmarkt out of the middle ages. They are opposed by older clan members and the hereditary nobility, which causes the friction of the story.
* TheMenInBlack:the The Family Trade Organization, which is set up somewhere around book three or four to investigate the world-hoppers and the threat they pose. [[spoiler:Mike Fleming discovers in Book Five that WARBUCKS is the one pulling the strings, and is using it to destroy the evidence that he was involved with the Clan before his reentrance into politics.]]
* TheMenInBlack:
Changed line(s) 65 (click to see context) from:
* PresidentEvil [[spoiler: Dick Cheney. No, [[BlatantLies no]] [[{{Anvilicious}} anvils being dropped]], [[BlatantLies really]]. [[NukeEm Bombs]], on the other hand....]]
to:
* PresidentEvil [[spoiler: Dick Cheney. No, [[BlatantLies no]] [[{{Anvilicious}} anvils being dropped]], [[BlatantLies really]]. [[NukeEm Bombs]], on the other hand....hand...]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 39 (click to see context) from:
* FeudingFamilies: there was even a civil war 30 years ago, and Miriam's return threatens to start it up again.
to:
* FeudingFamilies: there There was even a civil war 30 years ago, and Miriam's return threatens to start it up again.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 84 (click to see context) from:
* StupidEvil: Agent Gomez in ''Empire Games'' [[CommanderContrarian consistently suggests]] using nasty, brute-force black-bag techniques.
to:
* StupidEvil: Agent Gomez in ''Empire Games'' [[CommanderContrarian consistently suggests]] using nasty, brute-force black-bag techniques.techniques when dealing with Rita. She gets shut down each time because Colonel Smith knows that that's the ''wrong'' way to train a covert agent.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
* ActionGirl: Downplayed with Miriam, she can't take anyone down during a fight, but she sure shoots people who try to kill her and doesn't wait to be rescued.
** Brilliana and Olga, on the other hand, have no such limitations. In the Gruinmarkt, marksmanship is considered [[AcceptableFeminineGoalsAndTraits a womanly virtue]], one that both women had instilled into them by their conservative fathers.
** Brilliana and Olga, on the other hand, have no such limitations. In the Gruinmarkt, marksmanship is considered [[AcceptableFeminineGoalsAndTraits a womanly virtue]], one that both women had instilled into them by their conservative fathers.
Changed line(s) 10 (click to see context) from:
*** From Empire Games: TheManInTheHighCastle is known as 'The Grasshopper Lies Heavy'
to:
*** From Empire Games: TheManInTheHighCastle ''Empire Games'': ''Literature/TheManInTheHighCastle'' is known as 'The ''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy'Heavy''.
Deleted line(s) 13,14 (click to see context) :
* ActionGirl: Downplayed with Miriam, she can't take anyone down during a fight, but she sure shoots people who try to kill her and doesn't wait to be rescued.
** Brilliana and Olga, on the other hand, have no such limitations. In the Gruinmarkt, marksmanship is considered [[AcceptableFeminineGoalsAndTraits a womanly virtue]], one that both women had instilled into them by their conservative fathers.
** Brilliana and Olga, on the other hand, have no such limitations. In the Gruinmarkt, marksmanship is considered [[AcceptableFeminineGoalsAndTraits a womanly virtue]], one that both women had instilled into them by their conservative fathers.
Changed line(s) 16 (click to see context) from:
* ArrangedMarriage: Both Miriam and her mother. Neither were happy about it ''at all''.
to:
* ArrangedMarriage: ArrangedMarriage:
** Both Miriam and her mother. Neither were happy about it ''atall''.all''.
** Attempted and failed against Olga. In the Gruinmarkt, a man who rapes a woman can force her to marry him if he can pay her bride price, so a hired rapist is sent against Olga. [[spoiler: He's expected to fail; Olga is a deadly shot. The ''actual'' plan is to blame the rape-o-gram on Miriam, so that Olga will dispose of her, which would restart the Clan civil war.]]
** Both Miriam and her mother. Neither were happy about it ''at
** Attempted and failed against Olga. In the Gruinmarkt, a man who rapes a woman can force her to marry him if he can pay her bride price, so a hired rapist is sent against Olga. [[spoiler: He's expected to fail; Olga is a deadly shot. The ''actual'' plan is to blame the rape-o-gram on Miriam, so that Olga will dispose of her, which would restart the Clan civil war.]]
Changed line(s) 82 (click to see context) from:
* TeleportInterdiction - the antagonist in ''The Merchants' War'' strings ropes all over his castle to keep out the world-walkers.
to:
* TeleportInterdiction - StupidEvil: Agent Gomez in ''Empire Games'' [[CommanderContrarian consistently suggests]] using nasty, brute-force black-bag techniques.
* TeleportInterdiction:
** "Doppelgangering," or having control of a facility in the same space in both America and the Gruinmarkt to prevent unwanted world-walking, is Security 101 for the Clan. Given that the Clan's CivilWar nearly wiped them out, this is taken very seriously.
** The antagonist in ''The Merchants' War'' strings ropes all over his castle to keep out the world-walkers.
* TeleportInterdiction:
** "Doppelgangering," or having control of a facility in the same space in both America and the Gruinmarkt to prevent unwanted world-walking, is Security 101 for the Clan. Given that the Clan's CivilWar nearly wiped them out, this is taken very seriously.
** The antagonist in ''The Merchants' War'' strings ropes all over his castle to keep out the world-walkers.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* OppressiveStatesOfAmerica: After [[spoiler: the Clan renegades set off a nuke]], Homeland Security quickly turned into a surveillance state. It's still America, though; a transcript of a conversation in ''Empire Games'' mentions that outright black-bag work like was done in the earlier books is ''not'' done and is prosecuted.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* TimeSkip: Seventeen years between ''The Trade of Queens'' and ''Empire Games'', after [[spoiler: the destruction of the Gruinmark and the New British revolution]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
*** From Empire Games: TheManInTheHighCastle is known as 'The Grasshopper Lies Heavy'
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Empire Games is out.
Changed line(s) 3,4 (click to see context) from:
The series was originally planned as four very long books, but the publisher got cold feet about the length of the books and insisted [[ExecutiveMeddling they be broken up into multiple volumes]]. The six books published so far started out as the first two books of the original plan. Stross is currently writing the "next generation" sequels (''Empire Games'', ''Dark State'', and ''Invisible Sun''), scheduled for publication from January 2017-2019.
to:
The series was originally planned as four very long books, but the publisher got cold feet about the length of the books and insisted [[ExecutiveMeddling they be broken up into multiple volumes]]. The six books published so far started out as the first two books of the original plan. Stross is currently writing working on the "next generation" sequels (''Empire Games'', sequels: ''Empire Games'' was released in January 2017, and the follow-ups ''Dark State'', State'' and ''Invisible Sun''), Sun'' are scheduled for publication from January 2017-2019.
in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 13 (click to see context) from:
** Brilliana and Olga, on the other hand, have no such limitations.
to:
** Brilliana and Olga, on the other hand, have no such limitations. In the Gruinmarkt, marksmanship is considered [[AcceptableFeminineGoalsAndTraits a womanly virtue]], one that both women had instilled into them by their conservative fathers.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Factual correction to titles of "next generation" books; added publication schedule.
Changed line(s) 3,4 (click to see context) from:
The series was originally planned as four very long books, but the publisher got cold feet about the length of the books and insisted [[ExecutiveMeddling they be broken up into multiple volumes]]. The six books published so far started out as the first two books of the original plan. Stross is currently writing the "next generation" sequels (''Dark State'', ''Black Sky'', and ''Invisible Sun'').
to:
The series was originally planned as four very long books, but the publisher got cold feet about the length of the books and insisted [[ExecutiveMeddling they be broken up into multiple volumes]]. The six books published so far started out as the first two books of the original plan. Stross is currently writing the "next generation" sequels (''Dark (''Empire Games'', ''Dark State'', ''Black Sky'', and ''Invisible Sun'').
Sun''), scheduled for publication from January 2017-2019.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: New Britain has very advanced zeppelin technology in lieu of heavier-than-air flight.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 8 (click to see context) from:
* AlternateHistory: each AU has a place where they diverged from normal Earth.
to:
* AlternateHistory: each Each AU has a place where they diverged from normal Earth.
Changed line(s) 10 (click to see context) from:
* AlternateUniverse: and there isn't just one; by book five, a number of others have been documented.
to:
* AlternateUniverse: and And there isn't just one; by book five, a number of others have been documented.
Changed line(s) 18 (click to see context) from:
* BewareTheNiceOnes: they might be in the intelligence service, after all. Or Clan security. Or FTO, or a number of groups.
to:
* BewareTheNiceOnes: they They might be in the intelligence service, after all. Or Clan security. Or FTO, or a number of groups.
Changed line(s) 20 (click to see context) from:
* BigScrewedUpFamily: the entire series is the epitome of this trope.
to:
* BigScrewedUpFamily: the The entire series is the epitome of this trope.
Changed line(s) 22 (click to see context) from:
* ChangelingFantasy: deconstructed harshly. Miriam is secretly a noblewoman with magical powers from a medieval-type world, ''and it sucks''. Also in that [[spoiler: Miriam's "adopted mother" turns out to be her real mother.]]
to:
* ChangelingFantasy: deconstructed Deconstructed harshly. Miriam is secretly a noblewoman with magical powers from a medieval-type world, ''and it sucks''. Also in that [[spoiler: Miriam's "adopted mother" turns out to be her real mother.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 72 (click to see context) from:
** On a lighter note, Miriam's friend who happens to have some legal training usually has some words of wisdom, often a bit off kilter, which she prefaces with [[FearAndLoathingInLasVegas "As your attorney I advise you to..."]]
to:
** On a lighter note, Miriam's friend who happens to have some legal training usually has some words of wisdom, often a bit off kilter, which she prefaces with [[FearAndLoathingInLasVegas [[Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas "As your attorney I advise you to..."]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 26 (click to see context) from:
* ConvenientMiscarriage: somewhat subverted in that in some ways, it isn't all that convenient. Nice for [[spoiler: Miriam]] personally, not so much for politics.
to:
* ConvenientMiscarriage: somewhat subverted Downplayed in that in some ways, it isn't all that convenient. Nice for [[spoiler: Miriam]] personally, not so much for politics.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 12 (click to see context) from:
* ActionGirl: slightly subverted - Miriam can't take anyone down during a fight, but she sure shoots people who try to kill her and doesn't wait to be rescued.
to:
* ActionGirl: slightly subverted - Miriam Downplayed with Miriam, she can't take anyone down during a fight, but she sure shoots people who try to kill her and doesn't wait to be rescued.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** This was ''vastly'' toned down in the 2012 editions. [[spoiler:Cheney gets named a half-dozen times in volume 2, with almost three dozen namings in volume three.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
New information from Charlie Stross\'s blog
Changed line(s) 1,4 (click to see context) from:
A {{Fantasy}} series by Creator/CharlesStross, about a journalist named Miriam Beckstein who finds an AlternateUniverse stuck in MedievalStasis where her long-lost family are powerful traders who can travel between dimensions. There are six books so far: ''The Family Trade'' (2004), ''The Hidden Family'' (2005), ''The Clan Corporate'' (2006), ''The Merchants' War'' (2007), ''The Revolution Business'' (2009), and ''The Trade of Queens'' (2010). A new edition is in preparation that combines them into three volumes (''The Bloodline Feud'', ''The Traders War'', and ''The Revolution Trade''), with some minor changes to the text.
The series was originally planned as four very long books, but the publisher got cold feet about the length of the books and insisted [[ExecutiveMeddling they be broken up into multiple volumes]]. The six books published so far started out as the first two books of the original plan. Stross revealed in his blog that he plans to start work on the "next generation" sequels soon.
The series was originally planned as four very long books, but the publisher got cold feet about the length of the books and insisted [[ExecutiveMeddling they be broken up into multiple volumes]]. The six books published so far started out as the first two books of the original plan. Stross revealed in his blog that he plans to start work on the "next generation" sequels soon.
to:
A {{Fantasy}} series by Creator/CharlesStross, about a journalist named Miriam Beckstein who finds an AlternateUniverse stuck in MedievalStasis where her long-lost family are powerful traders who can travel between dimensions. There are six books so far: ''The Family Trade'' (2004), ''The Hidden Family'' (2005), ''The Clan Corporate'' (2006), ''The Merchants' War'' (2007), ''The Revolution Business'' (2009), and ''The Trade of Queens'' (2010). A They are now available in a new edition is in preparation that combines them into three volumes (''The Bloodline Feud'', ''The Traders War'', and ''The Revolution Trade''), with some minor changes to the text.
The series was originally planned as four very long books, but the publisher got cold feet about the length of the books and insisted [[ExecutiveMeddling they be broken up into multiple volumes]]. The six books published so far started out as the first two books of the original plan. Strossrevealed in his blog that he plans to start work on is currently writing the "next generation" sequels soon.
(''Dark State'', ''Black Sky'', and ''Invisible Sun'').
The series was originally planned as four very long books, but the publisher got cold feet about the length of the books and insisted [[ExecutiveMeddling they be broken up into multiple volumes]]. The six books published so far started out as the first two books of the original plan. Stross
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** Angbard is often referred to as the [[Music/DavidBowie Thin White Duke]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 9 (click to see context) from:
** [[spoiler:Miriam's Earth is also slightly alternate, as revealed in Book 5. Chemical Ali killed Saddam Hussein before the Iraq War even began and Paris Hilton's funeral is dominating the news.]]
to:
** [[spoiler:Miriam's Earth is also slightly alternate, as revealed in Book 5. Chemical Ali killed Saddam Hussein before the Iraq War even began and Paris Hilton's funeral is dominating the news. Also Robert Bork is Chief Justice of the SCOTUS, and there was apparently an incident of nuclear terrorism in Italy in the 1970s. ]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Changed line(s) 3,4 (click to see context) from:
The series was originally planned as four very long books, but the publisher got cold feet about the length of the books and insisted [[ExecutiveMeddling they be broken up into multiple volumes]]. The six books published so far started out as the first two books of the original plan. Stross recently revealed in his blog that he plans to start work on the "next generation" sequels soon.
to:
The series was originally planned as four very long books, but the publisher got cold feet about the length of the books and insisted [[ExecutiveMeddling they be broken up into multiple volumes]]. The six books published so far started out as the first two books of the original plan. Stross recently revealed in his blog that he plans to start work on the "next generation" sequels soon.
Changed line(s) 7 (click to see context) from:
* ActionMom: Miriam's adopted mom [[spoiler:and real mother]] has a shotgun hidden in her wheelchair. Seriously.
to:
* ActionMom: Miriam's adopted mom [[spoiler:and real mother]] has a shotgun hidden in her wheelchair. Seriously.
Deleted line(s) 17 (click to see context) :
* BadassNormal: Miriam's friend Paulette, everyone in Clan Security, Mike Fleming.
Changed line(s) 39,40 (click to see context) from:
* GambitPileup: by the third book, there are at least five different factions all either shooting at each other or inches away from doing so.
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when Miriam, in the second book, asks whether there's anyone in her entourage ''not'' working for the secret service. Her maid Kara responds, [[CrowningMomentOfFunny "Not me!"]]
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when Miriam, in the second book, asks whether there's anyone in her entourage ''not'' working for the secret service. Her maid Kara responds, [[CrowningMomentOfFunny "Not me!"]]
to:
* GambitPileup: by the third book, there are at least five different factions all either shooting at each other or inches away from doing so.
**so. This is [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when Miriam, in the second book, asks whether there's anyone in her entourage ''not'' working for the secret service. Her maid Kara responds, [[CrowningMomentOfFunny "Not me!"]]me!"]]
* GambitRoulette: [[spoiler: Iris has been running the whole plot from behind the scenes.]]
**
* GambitRoulette: [[spoiler: Iris has been running the whole plot from behind the scenes.]]
Changed line(s) 83,85 (click to see context) from:
* XanatosRoulette: [[spoiler: Iris has been running the whole plot from behind the scenes.]]
* XanatosSpeedChess: Massive multiplayer edition.
** Seriously, almost all of the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters many]] characters get caught up knee-deep in intrigue and hatch their own elaborate plans. Predictably, everything starts going to hell very fast, and that's [[FromBadToWorse just the beginning]]...
* XanatosSpeedChess: Massive multiplayer edition.
** Seriously, almost all of the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters many]] characters get caught up knee-deep in intrigue and hatch their own elaborate plans. Predictably, everything starts going to hell very fast, and that's [[FromBadToWorse just the beginning]]...
to:
** Seriously, almost
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 45 (click to see context) from:
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: we meet Erasmus suffering from tuberculosis, convinced that he'll soon die. Subverted in that Miriam's antibiotics ultimately save his life.
to:
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: we We meet Erasmus suffering from tuberculosis, convinced that he'll soon die. Subverted in that Miriam's antibiotics ultimately save his life.
Changed line(s) 48 (click to see context) from:
* LaResistance The Levelers in New Britain. [[spoiler:It starts sliding down the slippery slope towards TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized after a fashion, though Erasmus is fully aware of the possibility and determined not to let it happen.]]
to:
* LaResistance LaResistance: The Levelers in New Britain. [[spoiler:It starts sliding down the slippery slope towards TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized after a fashion, though Erasmus is fully aware of the possibility and determined not to let it happen.]]
* SecretPolice:
** Clan Security. A morally-ambiguous version, as the boss, Duke Angbard, is ultimately a good man who's trying to maintain a very messed-up system and protect the Clan from another civil war.
** New Britain's inspectors are essentially this trope, protecting the state from its own citizens.
** [[spoiler: Erasmus Burgeson sees that the New British revolution is about to try to set one up. He steps on it as quickly as he can.]]
** Clan Security. A morally-ambiguous version, as the boss, Duke Angbard, is ultimately a good man who's trying to maintain a very messed-up system and protect the Clan from another civil war.
** New Britain's inspectors are essentially this trope, protecting the state from its own citizens.
** [[spoiler: Erasmus Burgeson sees that the New British revolution is about to try to set one up. He steps on it as quickly as he can.]]
Changed line(s) 74 (click to see context) from:
* SteamPunk: New Britain has elements of this, with zeppelins and trains being bigger and more important than they are now in real life, but cars and planes never took off.
to:
* SteamPunk: New Britain has elements of this, with zeppelins and trains being bigger and more important than they are now in real life, but cars and planes never took off. off and cars are just becoming popular.
Changed line(s) 79 (click to see context) from:
* XanatosRoulette [[spoiler: Iris has been running the whole plot from behind the scenes.]]
to:
* XanatosRoulette XanatosRoulette: [[spoiler: Iris has been running the whole plot from behind the scenes.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 9 (click to see context) from:
** [[spoiler:Miriam's Earth is also slightly alternate, as revealed in Book 5. Chemical Ali killed Saddam Hussein before the Iraq War even began.]]
to:
** [[spoiler:Miriam's Earth is also slightly alternate, as revealed in Book 5. Chemical Ali killed Saddam Hussein before the Iraq War even began.began and Paris Hilton's funeral is dominating the news.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 53 (click to see context) from:
* MenInBlack: the Family Trade Organization, which is set up somewhere around book three or four to investigate the world-hoppers and the threat they pose. [[spoiler:Mike Fleming discovers in Book Five that WARBUCKS is the one pulling the strings, and is using it to destroy the evidence that he was involved with the Clan before his reentrance into politics.]]
to:
* MenInBlack: TheMenInBlack: the Family Trade Organization, which is set up somewhere around book three or four to investigate the world-hoppers and the threat they pose. [[spoiler:Mike Fleming discovers in Book Five that WARBUCKS is the one pulling the strings, and is using it to destroy the evidence that he was involved with the Clan before his reentrance into politics.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Right. Parentheses gone.
Changed line(s) 7,10 (click to see context) from:
* ActionMom (Miriam's "adopted mom" has a shotgun hidden in her wheelchair. Seriously.)
* AlternateHistory (each AU has a place where they diverged from normal Earth)
** Miriam's Earth is also slightly alternate, as revealed in Book 5. Chemical Ali killed Saddam Hussein before the Iraq War even began.
* AlternateUniverse (and there isn't just one)
* AlternateHistory (each AU has a place where they diverged from normal Earth)
** Miriam's Earth is also slightly alternate, as revealed in Book 5. Chemical Ali killed Saddam Hussein before the Iraq War even began.
* AlternateUniverse (and there isn't just one)
to:
* ActionMom (Miriam's "adopted mom" ActionMom: Miriam's adopted mom [[spoiler:and real mother]] has a shotgun hidden in her wheelchair. Seriously.)
Seriously.
*AlternateHistory (each AlternateHistory: each AU has a place where they diverged from normal Earth)
Earth.
**Miriam's [[spoiler:Miriam's Earth is also slightly alternate, as revealed in Book 5. Chemical Ali killed Saddam Hussein before the Iraq War even began.
began.]]
*AlternateUniverse (and AlternateUniverse: and there isn't just one)one; by book five, a number of others have been documented.
*
**
*
Changed line(s) 12 (click to see context) from:
* ActionGirl (slightly subverted - Miriam can't take anyone down during a fight, but she sure shoots people who try to kill her and doesn't wait to be rescued)
to:
* ActionGirl (slightly ActionGirl: slightly subverted - Miriam can't take anyone down during a fight, but she sure shoots people who try to kill her and doesn't wait to be rescued)rescued.
Changed line(s) 15,20 (click to see context) from:
* ArrangedMarriage (Both Miriam and her mother. Neither were happy about it ''at all''.)
* BadassNormal (Miriam's friend Paulette, everyone in Clan Security, Mike Fleming)
* BallroomBlitz ([[spoiler:Miriam's betrothal to Creon]])
* BewareTheNiceOnes (They might actually be intelligence service!)
* BigDamnHeroes (Brilliana and the rest of TheCavalry show up JustInTime to save Miriams and Erasmus's ass at the ticket office stand-off in Book 5.)
* BigScrewedUpFamily (the entire series is the epitome of this trope)
* BadassNormal (Miriam's friend Paulette, everyone in Clan Security, Mike Fleming)
* BallroomBlitz ([[spoiler:Miriam's betrothal to Creon]])
* BewareTheNiceOnes (They might actually be intelligence service!)
* BigDamnHeroes (Brilliana and the rest of TheCavalry show up JustInTime to save Miriams and Erasmus's ass at the ticket office stand-off in Book 5.)
* BigScrewedUpFamily (the entire series is the epitome of this trope)
to:
* ArrangedMarriage (Both ArrangedMarriage: Both Miriam and her mother. Neither were happy about it ''at all''.)
all''.
*BadassNormal (Miriam's TheAtoner: [[spoiler:Miriam's mother, after Case Blue comes to pass; she poisons her own mother and seriously considers staying in Gruinmarkt when the USAF retaliates with nuclear carpet bombing. Her Clan bodyguard thinks otherwise, and drags her to New Britain just in time.]]
* BadassNormal: Miriam's friend Paulette, everyone in Clan Security, MikeFleming)
Fleming.
* BallroomBlitz([[spoiler:Miriam's [[spoiler:Miriam's betrothal to Creon]])
Creon.]]
*BewareTheNiceOnes (They BewareTheNiceOnes: they might actually be in the intelligence service!)
service, after all. Or Clan security. Or FTO, or a number of groups.
*BigDamnHeroes (Brilliana BigDamnHeroes: Brilliana and the rest of TheCavalry show up JustInTime to save Miriams and Erasmus's ass at the ticket office stand-off in Book 5.)
5.
*BigScrewedUpFamily (the BigScrewedUpFamily: the entire series is the epitome of this trope)trope.
*
* BadassNormal: Miriam's friend Paulette, everyone in Clan Security, Mike
* BallroomBlitz
*
*
*
Changed line(s) 22,23 (click to see context) from:
* ChangelingFantasy (deconstructed harshly: Miriam is secretly a noblewoman with magical powers from a medieval-type world, ''and it sucks''. Also in that [[spoiler: Miriam's "adopted mother" turns out to be her real mother.]])
* TheChessmaster [[spoiler: (Patricia Thorold-Hjorth)]]
* TheChessmaster [[spoiler: (Patricia Thorold-Hjorth)]]
to:
* ChangelingFantasy (deconstructed harshly: ChangelingFantasy: deconstructed harshly. Miriam is secretly a noblewoman with magical powers from a medieval-type world, ''and it sucks''. Also in that [[spoiler: Miriam's "adopted mother" turns out to be her real mother.]])
]]
*TheChessmaster TheChessmaster: [[spoiler: (Patricia Thorold-Hjorth)]]Patricia Thorold-Hjorth, Iris, Angbard, and a whole lot of others.]]
*
Changed line(s) 27,29 (click to see context) from:
* DeliberateValuesDissonance (the people of the Gruinmarkt and New Britain don't ''think'' like modern Americans, and Miriam really doesn't like having to play by Gruinmarkt rules)
* TheDitz (Olga is set up as this in the first book, but it's really a case of ObfuscatingStupidity. Kara, on the other hand, is a straight example.)
* TheDon (Duke Angbard fits the role)
* TheDitz (Olga is set up as this in the first book, but it's really a case of ObfuscatingStupidity. Kara, on the other hand, is a straight example.)
* TheDon (Duke Angbard fits the role)
to:
* DeliberateValuesDissonance (the DeliberateValuesDissonance: the people of the Gruinmarkt and New Britain don't ''think'' like modern Americans, and Miriam really doesn't like having to play by Gruinmarkt rules)
rules.
*TheDitz (Olga TheDitz: Olga is set up as this in the first book, but it's really a case of ObfuscatingStupidity. Kara, on the other hand, is a straight example.)
example.
*TheDon (Duke TheDon: Duke Angbard fits the role)role.
*
*
Changed line(s) 31,33 (click to see context) from:
* [[spoiler: TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt (The Gruinmarkt gets carpet-bombed with hydrogen bombs at the end of Book 6, and it's implied that the result is a global nuclear winter for the rest of that version of Earth)]]
* EvilChancellor (Matthias, [[spoiler: WARBUCKS]])
* EvilMatriarch (Miriam's grandmother)
* EvilChancellor (Matthias, [[spoiler: WARBUCKS]])
* EvilMatriarch (Miriam's grandmother)
to:
* [[spoiler: TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt (The TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Gruinmarkt gets carpet-bombed with hydrogen bombs at the end of Book 6, and it's implied that the result is a global nuclear winter for the rest of that version of Earth)]]
Earth.]]
*EvilChancellor (Matthias, EvilChancellor: Matthias, [[spoiler: WARBUCKS]])
WARBUCKS.]]
*EvilMatriarch (Miriam's grandmother)EvilMatriarch: Miriam's grandmother
*
*
Changed line(s) 35,37 (click to see context) from:
* ExternalCombustion (Played straight with [[spoiler:Mike Fleming]] in Book 5. [[spoiler:He survives because the bomb is wired to the doors, not the ignition, and explodes before he gets too close to the car.]]
* FeudingFamilies (there was even a civil war 30 years ago, and Miriam's return threatens to start it up again)
* GambitPileup (By the third book, there are at least five different factions all either shooting at each other or inches away from doing so.)
* FeudingFamilies (there was even a civil war 30 years ago, and Miriam's return threatens to start it up again)
* GambitPileup (By the third book, there are at least five different factions all either shooting at each other or inches away from doing so.)
to:
* ExternalCombustion (Played ExternalCombustion: Played straight with [[spoiler:Mike Fleming]] in Book 5. [[spoiler:He survives because the bomb is wired to the doors, not the ignition, and explodes before he gets too close to the car.]]
*FeudingFamilies (there FeudingFamilies: there was even a civil war 30 years ago, and Miriam's return threatens to start it up again)
again.
*GambitPileup (By FullCircleRevolution: explored and discussed by Erasmus, after he read the history books delivered by Miriam--particularly the histories of the French and Russian revolutions in Miriam's modern-day world. [[spoiler:When the revolution does come about in Erasmus's world, Erasmus himself tries his best to clamp down on the security services to make sure that no analogue of Dzerzhinsky or Himmler comes to power. He nearly fails but for the intervention of the newly-fled Clan, which had its own bone to pick with the security directorate.]]
* GambitPileup: by the third book, there are at least five different factions all either shooting at each other or inches away from doing so.)
*
*
* GambitPileup: by the third book, there are at least five different factions all either shooting at each other or inches away from doing so.
Changed line(s) 40 (click to see context) from:
* GivingRadioToTheRomans: How Miriam gets rich in New Britain.
to:
* GivingRadioToTheRomans: How Miriam gets rich in New Britain. [[spoiler:By the end, with the Clan chased out of Gruinmarkt and resettled in New Britain, Miriam has decided--with the consensus of the leadership in general--that technology brokering will be how they'll support themselves.]]
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: we meet Erasmus suffering from tuberculosis, convinced that he'll soon die. Subverted in that Miriam's antibiotics ultimately save his life.
Changed line(s) 44,45 (click to see context) from:
* KissingCousins (because the dimension-hopping is genetically recessive, the family is ''braided'' - people have to marry other clan members in order to ensure the children inherit it, but to avoid inbreeding, those family members can't be too closely related. There are a lot of second-cousin or first-cousin-once-removed marriages)
* LaResistance (The Levelers in New Britain. [[spoiler:It starts sliding down the slippery slope towards TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized after a fashion.]]
* LaResistance (The Levelers in New Britain. [[spoiler:It starts sliding down the slippery slope towards TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized after a fashion.]]
to:
* KissingCousins (because KissingCousins: because the dimension-hopping is genetically recessive, the family is ''braided'' - people have to marry other clan members in order to ensure the children inherit it, but to avoid inbreeding, those family members can't be too closely related. There are a lot of second-cousin or first-cousin-once-removed marriages)
marriages.
* LaResistance(The The Levelers in New Britain. [[spoiler:It starts sliding down the slippery slope towards TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized after a fashion.fashion, though Erasmus is fully aware of the possibility and determined not to let it happen.]]
* LaResistance
Changed line(s) 47 (click to see context) from:
* MadDoctor ([[spoiler:Dr. ven Hjalmar]] - not actually mad, but definitely completely unethical and outright creepy)
to:
* MadDoctor ([[spoiler:Dr. MadDoctor: [[spoiler:Dr. ven Hjalmar]] - not Hjalmar]]--not actually mad, but definitely completely unethical and outright creepy)creepy.
Changed line(s) 49 (click to see context) from:
* MightyWhitey (Miriam tries this, but her plans get repeatedly derailed because she gets caught in everyone else's byplay.)
to:
* MightyWhitey (Miriam MedievalStasis: thoroughly explained and explored in Gruinmarkt, and the new guard of Clan members want to drag Gruinmarkt out of the middle ages. They are opposed by older clan members and the hereditary nobility, which causes the friction of the story.
* MenInBlack: the Family Trade Organization, which is set up somewhere around book three or four to investigate the world-hoppers and the threat they pose. [[spoiler:Mike Fleming discovers in Book Five that WARBUCKS is the one pulling the strings, and is using it to destroy the evidence that he was involved with the Clan before his reentrance into politics.]]
* MightyWhitey: Miriam tries this, but her plans get repeatedly derailed because she gets caught in everyone else's byplay.)
* MenInBlack: the Family Trade Organization, which is set up somewhere around book three or four to investigate the world-hoppers and the threat they pose. [[spoiler:Mike Fleming discovers in Book Five that WARBUCKS is the one pulling the strings, and is using it to destroy the evidence that he was involved with the Clan before his reentrance into politics.]]
* MightyWhitey: Miriam tries this, but her plans get repeatedly derailed because she gets caught in everyone else's byplay.
Changed line(s) 52 (click to see context) from:
* [[spoiler: NukeEm (WARBUCKS uses a nuke against the Clan, but it misses and [[DroppedABridgeOnHim drops a bridge]] [[BigDamnVillains on the Clan's enemies]] instead.)]]
to:
* [[spoiler: NukeEm (WARBUCKS NukeEm: WARBUCKS uses a nuke against the Clan, but it misses and [[DroppedABridgeOnHim drops a bridge]] [[BigDamnVillains on the Clan's enemies]] instead.)]]]]
Changed line(s) 54 (click to see context) from:
* ObfuscatingStupidity (Olga tends to play the DumbBlonde stereotype in social situations)
to:
* ObfuscatingStupidity (Olga ObfuscatingStupidity: Olga tends to play the DumbBlonde stereotype in social situations)situations. She's actually a frighteningly competent soldier, and fills in for [[spoiler:Angbard]] when the latter suffers a stroke.
Changed line(s) 56 (click to see context) from:
* PresidentEvil [[spoiler: (Dick Cheney. No, [[BlatantLies no]] [[{{Anvilicious}} anvils being dropped]], [[BlatantLies really]]. [[NukeEm Bombs]], on the other hand....)]]
to:
* PresidentEvil [[spoiler: (Dick Dick Cheney. No, [[BlatantLies no]] [[{{Anvilicious}} anvils being dropped]], [[BlatantLies really]]. [[NukeEm Bombs]], on the other hand....)]]]]
Changed line(s) 58,60 (click to see context) from:
* ProperlyParanoid (A repeated motif is various characters being very careful when opening doors or entering houses - a wise decision, given the amount of booby traps in the series so far...)
* RunOrDie (after Plan Blue goes through, the progressive faction of the Clan realizes they have a very limited amount of time to get the hell out of Dodge.)
* [[HeKnowsTooMuch SheKnowsTooMuch]] (Miriam is a journalist and tends to dig, which gets her in serious trouble on more than one occasion)
* RunOrDie (after Plan Blue goes through, the progressive faction of the Clan realizes they have a very limited amount of time to get the hell out of Dodge.)
* [[HeKnowsTooMuch SheKnowsTooMuch]] (Miriam is a journalist and tends to dig, which gets her in serious trouble on more than one occasion)
to:
* ProperlyParanoid (A ProperlyParanoid: a repeated motif is various characters being very careful when opening doors or entering houses - a wise decision, given the amount of booby traps in the series so far...)
far.
*RunOrDie (after RunOrDie: after Plan Blue goes through, the progressive faction of the Clan realizes they have a very limited amount of time to get the hell out of Dodge.)
Dodge.
* [[HeKnowsTooMuchSheKnowsTooMuch]] (Miriam She Knows Too Much]]: Miriam is a journalist and tends to dig, which gets her in serious trouble on more than one occasion)occasion.
*
* [[HeKnowsTooMuch
Changed line(s) 65 (click to see context) from:
* {{Squee}} (Executed and named hilariously in The Merchants' War. ("''[=SQUUEEEEEEEE!=]''"))
to:
* {{Squee}} (Executed Executed and named hilariously in The Merchants' War. ("''[=SQUUEEEEEEEE!=]''"))("''[=SQUUEEEEEEEE!=]''")
Changed line(s) 68 (click to see context) from:
* SpannerInTheWorks (Miriam's very existence knocks several conspiracies out of the water, and then she brings her reform plan into play)
to:
* SpannerInTheWorks (Miriam's SpannerInTheWorks: Miriam's very existence knocks several conspiracies out of the water, and then she brings her reform plan into play)play.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Deleted line(s) 36,37 (click to see context) :
* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop (There's nothing wrong with a little responsible use of drugs; not just alcohol, but marijuana and crystal meth.)
** Even/especially if you're pregnant!
** Even/especially if you're pregnant!
Deleted line(s) 48 (click to see context) :
* LesYay (Miriam and Brilliana get plenty of subtext. Brilliana even kisses Miriam at one point, though that's ''probably'' not intended to come off as sexual.)
Deleted line(s) 51 (click to see context) :
* MagnificentBastard (Miriam's uncle and [[spoiler:the king's spymaster]])
Added DiffLines:
* NeverWasThisUniverse: For the first couple books, the world Miriam grew up in could have been RealLife, the same world the reader is in, like numerous fantasy series that just happen to have a {{Masquerade}}. Eventually, though, there are offhand references to recent history playing out slightly differently.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 1,4 (click to see context) from:
A {{Fantasy}} series by Creator/CharlesStross, about a journalist named Miriam Beckstein who finds an AlternateUniverse stuck in MedievalStasis where her long-lost family are powerful traders who can travel between dimensions. There are six books so far: ''The Family Trade'' (2004), ''The Hidden Family'' (2005), ''The Clan Corporate'' (2006), ''The Merchants' War'' (2007), ''The Revolution Business'' (2009), and ''The Trade of Queens'' (2010).
The series was originally planned as four very long books, but the publisher got cold feet about the length of the books and insisted [[ExecutiveMeddling they be broken up into multiple volumes]]. The six books published so far started out as the first two books of the original plan; the sequels [[WordOfGod may or may not eventually be written]].
The series was originally planned as four very long books, but the publisher got cold feet about the length of the books and insisted [[ExecutiveMeddling they be broken up into multiple volumes]]. The six books published so far started out as the first two books of the original plan; the sequels [[WordOfGod may or may not eventually be written]].
to:
A {{Fantasy}} series by Creator/CharlesStross, about a journalist named Miriam Beckstein who finds an AlternateUniverse stuck in MedievalStasis where her long-lost family are powerful traders who can travel between dimensions. There are six books so far: ''The Family Trade'' (2004), ''The Hidden Family'' (2005), ''The Clan Corporate'' (2006), ''The Merchants' War'' (2007), ''The Revolution Business'' (2009), and ''The Trade of Queens'' (2010). \n\n A new edition is in preparation that combines them into three volumes (''The Bloodline Feud'', ''The Traders War'', and ''The Revolution Trade''), with some minor changes to the text.
The series was originally planned as four very long books, but the publisher got cold feet about the length of the books and insisted [[ExecutiveMeddling they be broken up into multiple volumes]]. The six books published so far started out as the first two books of the originalplan; plan. Stross recently revealed in his blog that he plans to start work on the "next generation" sequels [[WordOfGod may or may not eventually be written]].
soon.
The series was originally planned as four very long books, but the publisher got cold feet about the length of the books and insisted [[ExecutiveMeddling they be broken up into multiple volumes]]. The six books published so far started out as the first two books of the original
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
moved to namespace
Added DiffLines:
A {{Fantasy}} series by Creator/CharlesStross, about a journalist named Miriam Beckstein who finds an AlternateUniverse stuck in MedievalStasis where her long-lost family are powerful traders who can travel between dimensions. There are six books so far: ''The Family Trade'' (2004), ''The Hidden Family'' (2005), ''The Clan Corporate'' (2006), ''The Merchants' War'' (2007), ''The Revolution Business'' (2009), and ''The Trade of Queens'' (2010).
The series was originally planned as four very long books, but the publisher got cold feet about the length of the books and insisted [[ExecutiveMeddling they be broken up into multiple volumes]]. The six books published so far started out as the first two books of the original plan; the sequels [[WordOfGod may or may not eventually be written]].
----
!! This series provides examples of:
* ActionMom (Miriam's "adopted mom" has a shotgun hidden in her wheelchair. Seriously.)
* AlternateHistory (each AU has a place where they diverged from normal Earth)
** Miriam's Earth is also slightly alternate, as revealed in Book 5. Chemical Ali killed Saddam Hussein before the Iraq War even began.
* AlternateUniverse (and there isn't just one)
** It's worth noting that the series is quite a brutal {{Deconstruction}} of the usual "Alternate Universe" setting. The logistical and geopolitical consequences are explored quite thoroughly.
* ActionGirl (slightly subverted - Miriam can't take anyone down during a fight, but she sure shoots people who try to kill her and doesn't wait to be rescued)
** Brilliana and Olga, on the other hand, have no such limitations.
* AnyoneCanDie: Just saying.
* ArrangedMarriage (Both Miriam and her mother. Neither were happy about it ''at all''.)
* BadassNormal (Miriam's friend Paulette, everyone in Clan Security, Mike Fleming)
* BallroomBlitz ([[spoiler:Miriam's betrothal to Creon]])
* BewareTheNiceOnes (They might actually be intelligence service!)
* BigDamnHeroes (Brilliana and the rest of TheCavalry show up JustInTime to save Miriams and Erasmus's ass at the ticket office stand-off in Book 5.)
* BigScrewedUpFamily (the entire series is the epitome of this trope)
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Families, having a medieval mentality, genuinely do not understand that [[spoiler: if they detonate multiple nukes in Washington, D.C., what's left of the U.S. government]] will ''not'' open negotiations with them, but rather declare apocalyptic vendetta.
* ChangelingFantasy (deconstructed harshly: Miriam is secretly a noblewoman with magical powers from a medieval-type world, ''and it sucks''. Also in that [[spoiler: Miriam's "adopted mother" turns out to be her real mother.]])
* TheChessmaster [[spoiler: (Patricia Thorold-Hjorth)]]
* ConspiracyRedemption [[spoiler: By the end of Book 5, the Clan's leadership is mostly in sane hands, and Iris has maneuvered Miriam onto the throne, so now the good guys can defend the Gruinmarkt against invasion.]]
** [[spoiler: Book 6 has the old bad guys come out of the woodwork for one last ride and get cut down completely. It also has Erasmus Burgeson ''begin'' to clean up his own world's revolution.]]
* ConvenientMiscarriage: somewhat subverted in that in some ways, it isn't all that convenient. Nice for [[spoiler: Miriam]] personally, not so much for politics.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance (the people of the Gruinmarkt and New Britain don't ''think'' like modern Americans, and Miriam really doesn't like having to play by Gruinmarkt rules)
* TheDitz (Olga is set up as this in the first book, but it's really a case of ObfuscatingStupidity. Kara, on the other hand, is a straight example.)
* TheDon (Duke Angbard fits the role)
* DoomMagnet: Dear innocent bystanders, stay the hell out of range of Miriam (or the other plot lines for that matter) if you want to live. "Within range" means [[spoiler: "on the same world."]]
* [[spoiler: TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt (The Gruinmarkt gets carpet-bombed with hydrogen bombs at the end of Book 6, and it's implied that the result is a global nuclear winter for the rest of that version of Earth)]]
* EvilChancellor (Matthias, [[spoiler: WARBUCKS]])
* EvilMatriarch (Miriam's grandmother)
* TheEvilPrince: Prince Egon aka "The Pervert".
* ExternalCombustion (Played straight with [[spoiler:Mike Fleming]] in Book 5. [[spoiler:He survives because the bomb is wired to the doors, not the ignition, and explodes before he gets too close to the car.]]
* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop (There's nothing wrong with a little responsible use of drugs; not just alcohol, but marijuana and crystal meth.)
** Even/especially if you're pregnant!
* FeudingFamilies (there was even a civil war 30 years ago, and Miriam's return threatens to start it up again)
* GambitPileup (By the third book, there are at least five different factions all either shooting at each other or inches away from doing so.)
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when Miriam, in the second book, asks whether there's anyone in her entourage ''not'' working for the secret service. Her maid Kara responds, [[CrowningMomentOfFunny "Not me!"]]
* GenreShift: It starts out exhibiting more fantasy tropes (noble families in MedievalStasis; magical-seeming phenomena mediated through a Celtic-knotwork–style sigil), but by the midpoint the series is clearly economic and military science fiction. This is in part the result of ExecutiveMeddling: one publisher already had an option on Stross's next SF novel, so he started this series as fantasy in order to be able to get it published by another company.
* GivingRadioToTheRomans: How Miriam gets rich in New Britain.
* [[spoiler: GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion, though Miriam considers it.]]
** This trope is [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig Zagged]]. They consider it, and ultimately everyone agrees to support if that's what she wants, which is surprising in the socially conservative culture of the Gruinmarkt. That's justified by both an inversion of PoliticallyCorrectHistory - people actually do understand the value of that kind of thing, because in that kind of culture it can prevent blood feuds and DeathByChildbirth - and a possible BatmanGambit. [[spoiler: In the end Miriam decides to keep it for political reasons. But then she has a ConvenientMiscarriage, so it wouldn't matter. And then the Gruinmarkt is [[NukeEm destroyed]], so she wouldn't need her claim to power in their political structure anyway.]]
* InvisiblePresident—sort of. Although George Bush and Dick Cheney appear as characters on-page occasionally, their ''names'' are never used (except for on one page near the very end of Book 6 [[spoiler:after both characters are dead]]), even though names of other public figures, such as Ashcroft and Scalia, are used more or less freely. The text, and all the other characters (even those for whom it makes no sense to do so), refer to the president and vice president by their supposed CIA code names, BOY WONDER and WARBUCKS.
* KissingCousins (because the dimension-hopping is genetically recessive, the family is ''braided'' - people have to marry other clan members in order to ensure the children inherit it, but to avoid inbreeding, those family members can't be too closely related. There are a lot of second-cousin or first-cousin-once-removed marriages)
* LaResistance (The Levelers in New Britain. [[spoiler:It starts sliding down the slippery slope towards TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized after a fashion.]]
* LesYay (Miriam and Brilliana get plenty of subtext. Brilliana even kisses Miriam at one point, though that's ''probably'' not intended to come off as sexual.)
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters
* MadDoctor ([[spoiler:Dr. ven Hjalmar]] - not actually mad, but definitely completely unethical and outright creepy)
* MagnificentBastard (Miriam's uncle and [[spoiler:the king's spymaster]])
* MedicalRapeAndImpregnate: [[spoiler: Dr. ven Hjalmar does this to Miriam with her fiance's sperm.]]
* MightyWhitey (Miriam tries this, but her plans get repeatedly derailed because she gets caught in everyone else's byplay.)
* MisappliedPhlebotinum: A minor version is played straight at first, and a major part of the plot is ending that. The Clan has the ability to teleport between worlds, and they ''are'' using it to get rich by smuggling drugs past international boundaries and selling high-tech innovations to a low-tech setting. However, the system used at the start of the story is limited to what individuals can carry and it's unsafe to make trips more than once or twice a day, putting a sharp limit on the weight and volume of their interdimensional cargo. And trade is risky for cultural reasons (such as illegality) in both worlds. After Miriam throws a SpannerInTheWorks, people begin experimenting and work out ways to increase the amount carried, and she suggests that GivingRadioToTheRomans would be a much higher-profit enterprise, given starter capital and a government that enforces patents.
* [[spoiler: NukeEm (WARBUCKS uses a nuke against the Clan, but it misses and [[DroppedABridgeOnHim drops a bridge]] [[BigDamnVillains on the Clan's enemies]] instead.)]]
** [[spoiler: KINGPIN orders the nuclear murder of every living thing in an alternate-world New England.]]
* ObfuscatingStupidity (Olga tends to play the DumbBlonde stereotype in social situations)
** [[BlatantLies Brilliana's just an ordinary serving girl.]] [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial She's not a wannabe marine turned secret police for the Clan, no sir.]]
* PresidentEvil [[spoiler: (Dick Cheney. No, [[BlatantLies no]] [[{{Anvilicious}} anvils being dropped]], [[BlatantLies really]]. [[NukeEm Bombs]], on the other hand....)]]
** [[spoiler: Donald Rumsfeld]] turns out to be [[FromBadToWorse even worse]].
* ProperlyParanoid (A repeated motif is various characters being very careful when opening doors or entering houses - a wise decision, given the amount of booby traps in the series so far...)
* RunOrDie (after Plan Blue goes through, the progressive faction of the Clan realizes they have a very limited amount of time to get the hell out of Dodge.)
* [[HeKnowsTooMuch SheKnowsTooMuch]] (Miriam is a journalist and tends to dig, which gets her in serious trouble on more than one occasion)
* ShoutOut: The end of ''The Trade of Queens'' has one to Clarke's "The Nine Billion Names of God", of all things:
-->[[spoiler:Overhead without any fuss, the bombers were going out.]]
** On a lighter note, Miriam's friend who happens to have some legal training usually has some words of wisdom, often a bit off kilter, which she prefaces with [[FearAndLoathingInLasVegas "As your attorney I advise you to..."]]
* Pirates Of Penzance: The general was the perfect model of a modern military man
* {{Squee}} (Executed and named hilariously in The Merchants' War. ("''[=SQUUEEEEEEEE!=]''"))
* SchizoTech: The Clan create schizo tech wherever they go. In addition, New Britain has minor elements of it all by itself.
* ScienceCannotComprehendPhlebotinum: Averted - the Clan firmly believe that their world-walking ability is a unique power that nobody else can duplicate, but [[spoiler:given tissue samples from world-walkers, the American scientists succeed in reverse engineering the ability quite easily]].
* SpannerInTheWorks (Miriam's very existence knocks several conspiracies out of the water, and then she brings her reform plan into play)
* SteamPunk: New Britain has elements of this, with zeppelins and trains being bigger and more important than they are now in real life, but cars and planes never took off.
* TeleportInterdiction - the antagonist in ''The Merchants' War'' strings ropes all over his castle to keep out the world-walkers.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Played dead straight with Operation CARTHAGE. NoOneCouldSurviveThat for real.
* TheUnfavourite (Miriam is often an outcast, since she lived for so long in her Earth)
* [[WhamEpisode Wham Chapter]]: At least one per book, but then Books 5 and 6 turn it UpToEleven. [[spoiler:Stop all the clocks.]]
* XanatosRoulette [[spoiler: Iris has been running the whole plot from behind the scenes.]]
* XanatosSpeedChess: Massive multiplayer edition.
** Seriously, almost all of the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters many]] characters get caught up knee-deep in intrigue and hatch their own elaborate plans. Predictably, everything starts going to hell very fast, and that's [[FromBadToWorse just the beginning]]...
----
The series was originally planned as four very long books, but the publisher got cold feet about the length of the books and insisted [[ExecutiveMeddling they be broken up into multiple volumes]]. The six books published so far started out as the first two books of the original plan; the sequels [[WordOfGod may or may not eventually be written]].
----
!! This series provides examples of:
* ActionMom (Miriam's "adopted mom" has a shotgun hidden in her wheelchair. Seriously.)
* AlternateHistory (each AU has a place where they diverged from normal Earth)
** Miriam's Earth is also slightly alternate, as revealed in Book 5. Chemical Ali killed Saddam Hussein before the Iraq War even began.
* AlternateUniverse (and there isn't just one)
** It's worth noting that the series is quite a brutal {{Deconstruction}} of the usual "Alternate Universe" setting. The logistical and geopolitical consequences are explored quite thoroughly.
* ActionGirl (slightly subverted - Miriam can't take anyone down during a fight, but she sure shoots people who try to kill her and doesn't wait to be rescued)
** Brilliana and Olga, on the other hand, have no such limitations.
* AnyoneCanDie: Just saying.
* ArrangedMarriage (Both Miriam and her mother. Neither were happy about it ''at all''.)
* BadassNormal (Miriam's friend Paulette, everyone in Clan Security, Mike Fleming)
* BallroomBlitz ([[spoiler:Miriam's betrothal to Creon]])
* BewareTheNiceOnes (They might actually be intelligence service!)
* BigDamnHeroes (Brilliana and the rest of TheCavalry show up JustInTime to save Miriams and Erasmus's ass at the ticket office stand-off in Book 5.)
* BigScrewedUpFamily (the entire series is the epitome of this trope)
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Families, having a medieval mentality, genuinely do not understand that [[spoiler: if they detonate multiple nukes in Washington, D.C., what's left of the U.S. government]] will ''not'' open negotiations with them, but rather declare apocalyptic vendetta.
* ChangelingFantasy (deconstructed harshly: Miriam is secretly a noblewoman with magical powers from a medieval-type world, ''and it sucks''. Also in that [[spoiler: Miriam's "adopted mother" turns out to be her real mother.]])
* TheChessmaster [[spoiler: (Patricia Thorold-Hjorth)]]
* ConspiracyRedemption [[spoiler: By the end of Book 5, the Clan's leadership is mostly in sane hands, and Iris has maneuvered Miriam onto the throne, so now the good guys can defend the Gruinmarkt against invasion.]]
** [[spoiler: Book 6 has the old bad guys come out of the woodwork for one last ride and get cut down completely. It also has Erasmus Burgeson ''begin'' to clean up his own world's revolution.]]
* ConvenientMiscarriage: somewhat subverted in that in some ways, it isn't all that convenient. Nice for [[spoiler: Miriam]] personally, not so much for politics.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance (the people of the Gruinmarkt and New Britain don't ''think'' like modern Americans, and Miriam really doesn't like having to play by Gruinmarkt rules)
* TheDitz (Olga is set up as this in the first book, but it's really a case of ObfuscatingStupidity. Kara, on the other hand, is a straight example.)
* TheDon (Duke Angbard fits the role)
* DoomMagnet: Dear innocent bystanders, stay the hell out of range of Miriam (or the other plot lines for that matter) if you want to live. "Within range" means [[spoiler: "on the same world."]]
* [[spoiler: TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt (The Gruinmarkt gets carpet-bombed with hydrogen bombs at the end of Book 6, and it's implied that the result is a global nuclear winter for the rest of that version of Earth)]]
* EvilChancellor (Matthias, [[spoiler: WARBUCKS]])
* EvilMatriarch (Miriam's grandmother)
* TheEvilPrince: Prince Egon aka "The Pervert".
* ExternalCombustion (Played straight with [[spoiler:Mike Fleming]] in Book 5. [[spoiler:He survives because the bomb is wired to the doors, not the ignition, and explodes before he gets too close to the car.]]
* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop (There's nothing wrong with a little responsible use of drugs; not just alcohol, but marijuana and crystal meth.)
** Even/especially if you're pregnant!
* FeudingFamilies (there was even a civil war 30 years ago, and Miriam's return threatens to start it up again)
* GambitPileup (By the third book, there are at least five different factions all either shooting at each other or inches away from doing so.)
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when Miriam, in the second book, asks whether there's anyone in her entourage ''not'' working for the secret service. Her maid Kara responds, [[CrowningMomentOfFunny "Not me!"]]
* GenreShift: It starts out exhibiting more fantasy tropes (noble families in MedievalStasis; magical-seeming phenomena mediated through a Celtic-knotwork–style sigil), but by the midpoint the series is clearly economic and military science fiction. This is in part the result of ExecutiveMeddling: one publisher already had an option on Stross's next SF novel, so he started this series as fantasy in order to be able to get it published by another company.
* GivingRadioToTheRomans: How Miriam gets rich in New Britain.
* [[spoiler: GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion, though Miriam considers it.]]
** This trope is [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig Zagged]]. They consider it, and ultimately everyone agrees to support if that's what she wants, which is surprising in the socially conservative culture of the Gruinmarkt. That's justified by both an inversion of PoliticallyCorrectHistory - people actually do understand the value of that kind of thing, because in that kind of culture it can prevent blood feuds and DeathByChildbirth - and a possible BatmanGambit. [[spoiler: In the end Miriam decides to keep it for political reasons. But then she has a ConvenientMiscarriage, so it wouldn't matter. And then the Gruinmarkt is [[NukeEm destroyed]], so she wouldn't need her claim to power in their political structure anyway.]]
* InvisiblePresident—sort of. Although George Bush and Dick Cheney appear as characters on-page occasionally, their ''names'' are never used (except for on one page near the very end of Book 6 [[spoiler:after both characters are dead]]), even though names of other public figures, such as Ashcroft and Scalia, are used more or less freely. The text, and all the other characters (even those for whom it makes no sense to do so), refer to the president and vice president by their supposed CIA code names, BOY WONDER and WARBUCKS.
* KissingCousins (because the dimension-hopping is genetically recessive, the family is ''braided'' - people have to marry other clan members in order to ensure the children inherit it, but to avoid inbreeding, those family members can't be too closely related. There are a lot of second-cousin or first-cousin-once-removed marriages)
* LaResistance (The Levelers in New Britain. [[spoiler:It starts sliding down the slippery slope towards TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized after a fashion.]]
* LesYay (Miriam and Brilliana get plenty of subtext. Brilliana even kisses Miriam at one point, though that's ''probably'' not intended to come off as sexual.)
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters
* MadDoctor ([[spoiler:Dr. ven Hjalmar]] - not actually mad, but definitely completely unethical and outright creepy)
* MagnificentBastard (Miriam's uncle and [[spoiler:the king's spymaster]])
* MedicalRapeAndImpregnate: [[spoiler: Dr. ven Hjalmar does this to Miriam with her fiance's sperm.]]
* MightyWhitey (Miriam tries this, but her plans get repeatedly derailed because she gets caught in everyone else's byplay.)
* MisappliedPhlebotinum: A minor version is played straight at first, and a major part of the plot is ending that. The Clan has the ability to teleport between worlds, and they ''are'' using it to get rich by smuggling drugs past international boundaries and selling high-tech innovations to a low-tech setting. However, the system used at the start of the story is limited to what individuals can carry and it's unsafe to make trips more than once or twice a day, putting a sharp limit on the weight and volume of their interdimensional cargo. And trade is risky for cultural reasons (such as illegality) in both worlds. After Miriam throws a SpannerInTheWorks, people begin experimenting and work out ways to increase the amount carried, and she suggests that GivingRadioToTheRomans would be a much higher-profit enterprise, given starter capital and a government that enforces patents.
* [[spoiler: NukeEm (WARBUCKS uses a nuke against the Clan, but it misses and [[DroppedABridgeOnHim drops a bridge]] [[BigDamnVillains on the Clan's enemies]] instead.)]]
** [[spoiler: KINGPIN orders the nuclear murder of every living thing in an alternate-world New England.]]
* ObfuscatingStupidity (Olga tends to play the DumbBlonde stereotype in social situations)
** [[BlatantLies Brilliana's just an ordinary serving girl.]] [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial She's not a wannabe marine turned secret police for the Clan, no sir.]]
* PresidentEvil [[spoiler: (Dick Cheney. No, [[BlatantLies no]] [[{{Anvilicious}} anvils being dropped]], [[BlatantLies really]]. [[NukeEm Bombs]], on the other hand....)]]
** [[spoiler: Donald Rumsfeld]] turns out to be [[FromBadToWorse even worse]].
* ProperlyParanoid (A repeated motif is various characters being very careful when opening doors or entering houses - a wise decision, given the amount of booby traps in the series so far...)
* RunOrDie (after Plan Blue goes through, the progressive faction of the Clan realizes they have a very limited amount of time to get the hell out of Dodge.)
* [[HeKnowsTooMuch SheKnowsTooMuch]] (Miriam is a journalist and tends to dig, which gets her in serious trouble on more than one occasion)
* ShoutOut: The end of ''The Trade of Queens'' has one to Clarke's "The Nine Billion Names of God", of all things:
-->[[spoiler:Overhead without any fuss, the bombers were going out.]]
** On a lighter note, Miriam's friend who happens to have some legal training usually has some words of wisdom, often a bit off kilter, which she prefaces with [[FearAndLoathingInLasVegas "As your attorney I advise you to..."]]
* Pirates Of Penzance: The general was the perfect model of a modern military man
* {{Squee}} (Executed and named hilariously in The Merchants' War. ("''[=SQUUEEEEEEEE!=]''"))
* SchizoTech: The Clan create schizo tech wherever they go. In addition, New Britain has minor elements of it all by itself.
* ScienceCannotComprehendPhlebotinum: Averted - the Clan firmly believe that their world-walking ability is a unique power that nobody else can duplicate, but [[spoiler:given tissue samples from world-walkers, the American scientists succeed in reverse engineering the ability quite easily]].
* SpannerInTheWorks (Miriam's very existence knocks several conspiracies out of the water, and then she brings her reform plan into play)
* SteamPunk: New Britain has elements of this, with zeppelins and trains being bigger and more important than they are now in real life, but cars and planes never took off.
* TeleportInterdiction - the antagonist in ''The Merchants' War'' strings ropes all over his castle to keep out the world-walkers.
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Played dead straight with Operation CARTHAGE. NoOneCouldSurviveThat for real.
* TheUnfavourite (Miriam is often an outcast, since she lived for so long in her Earth)
* [[WhamEpisode Wham Chapter]]: At least one per book, but then Books 5 and 6 turn it UpToEleven. [[spoiler:Stop all the clocks.]]
* XanatosRoulette [[spoiler: Iris has been running the whole plot from behind the scenes.]]
* XanatosSpeedChess: Massive multiplayer edition.
** Seriously, almost all of the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters many]] characters get caught up knee-deep in intrigue and hatch their own elaborate plans. Predictably, everything starts going to hell very fast, and that's [[FromBadToWorse just the beginning]]...
----
