Futurist and award-winning author Karl Schroeder imagines infiltrating the elite of a marginal society inThe Million.
Every thirty years, ten billion visitors overrun Earth during one month of madness: partying, polluting, and brawling. In between, the world is ruled by the Million; the inheritors and custodians of all of humanity’s wealth and history, they lead unimaginable lives of privilege and wealth, and they see it as their due.
Gavin Penn-of-Chaffee is an illegal child—a visitor hidden among the Million. When the family that raised him in secret is torn apart, Gavin must impersonate a dead boy to survive. What he doesn’t know is that his new identity is expected at the School of Auditors—the Million’s feared police force, sworn to find and capture outcasts like him to keep the peace. In order to solve the murder of his adoptive father, Gavin must keep his disguise and his wits intact within the stronghold of those threatened by his very existence.

Karl Schroeder was born to a in Brandon Manitoba. His family is part of a Mennonite community that has lived in southern Manitoba for over one hundred years. Karl moved to Toronto to pursue a writing career. His novel Permanence won the 2003 Aurora Award for best Canadian SF novel. Karl is married with a daughter and he divides his time between writing fiction and consulting - chiefly in the area of Foresight Studies and technology.

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"One of our finest futurists. I hope our future looks more like the things he imagines."—Tobias Buckell
"Karl Schroeder is one of our best hard SF writers.” —Gregory Benford, author ofTimescape
"Schroeder has the rare and invaluable ability to develop wholly new concepts and turn them into compelling narratives." —Stephen Baxter