THE ART OF WAR begins where FATHERS & SONS left off. In mid-21st-century Portland, in the Oregon Republic, the Cascadian Secession has failed and martial law is king. The people need their entertainment, and they need Paisley Jones and his mile-wide Club. But that Club has become a chessboard of First Contact with an entirely different species than those of the Antareans and Ganymedans who are here on Earth. One member of that new alien species feeds on our underbelly. The other waits for the next projected moment in human evolution. That moment is predicted to happen at the Club, and that chessboard desperately needs its human knights. And not every piece will make it the end of the game! Edward R. Morris's thrilling SF saga continues with Blackguard, Book Two!