SFWA Grand Master C. J. Cherryh and Jane S. Fancher  return to the Hugo-award winning Alliance-Union Universe with a thrilling entry in her far-reaching sci-fi saga. For years, the stations of the Hinder Stars, those old stations closest to Sol, have lagged behind the great megastations of the Beyond, like Pell and Cyteen. But new opportunities and fears arise when Alpha station, the oldest of them all, receives news of a huge incoming faster-than-light ship with no identification. The denizens of Alpha wait anxiously for news about the outsiders, each with their own suspicions about the ship and its motivations. Ross and Fallan, crew members of the Galway , believe the unidentified ship belongs to Pell and has come to investigate another massive ship docked at Alpha, The Rights of Man . Though Rights is under the command of the Earth Company, it is not quite perfected—and its true purpose is shrouded in mystery. James Robert Neihart, the captain of the strange ship—finally identified as one of the two largest ships of the Beyond, the Merchanter vessel Finity's End —has heard whispers of The Rights of Man and wonders at its design and purpose, especially as Sol has struggled to rival the progress of the Farther Stars. Now docked at Alpha, he must convince the crews that there is more to The Rights of Man than meets the eye. Because the reasons behind the creation of The Rights of Man , and its true plans, could change everything—not just for Sol, but for the Hinder Stars and the Beyond itself. Praise for  Alliance Rising "SFWA Grand Master C.J Cherryh and Jane Fancher team up to create another exciting entry in Cherryh's extensive Alliance-Union Universe." — Kirkus Reviews "Cherryh and Fancher ground this fine work in the difficult choices that their characters must make in the face of an uncertain future. The economics and sociopolitics are as riveting as space battles , enhancing this welcome addition to the Alliance-Union saga." — Publishers Weekly "[ Alliance Rising ] showcases a concern—common to Cherryh's other novels—with organisations and bureaucracies, with systems and societies, and how such wider contexts shape the people (ambitious or content, well-meaning or malicious) who operate within them.... Cherryh and Fancher deploy an anthropological eye ." —Tor.com " Alliance Rising  serves to whet the appetite, not just for the second novel in the Hinder Stars sub-series but also to visit and re-visit the full Alliance-Union backlist of novels." —nerds of a feather, flock together With more than seventy books to her credit, and the winner of three Hugo Awards, C. J. Cherryh is one of the most prolific and highly respected authors in the science fiction field, and has been named a Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America. She lives in Washington state. Born in Renton, Washington, Jane S. Fancher grew up raising and training horses, learning to fly a plane, playing piano, singing, drawing, and studying math, physics, astronomy, and anthropology. While working for WaRP Graphics ( Elfquest ), she joined a project to produce a graphic adaptation of C. J. Cherryh’s Gate of Ivrel . This endeavor led her to a new home in Oklahoma City, where she found her calling and began writing her own novels. She lives in Spokane, Washington with partner C. J. Cherryh. Rosie’s Pub was Alpha-based spacer turf. It was where you went on the Strip to spend time, to talk with shipmates, friends, and other ships’ crew who were regulars at Alpha Station. And like other bars on the Strip, Rosie’s maintained, half-lost in the glassware and the bottles of liquor on the shelves above the bar, a sched­ule board—a list of ships coming in, ships leaving, ships currently in dock. Widescreen, three separate displays: interstation FTLers, mainte­nance insystemers, and on the far left, the sub-lighters, those two remain­ing links to Sol Station and Earth, one ship coming, one going, on their ten-year-long voyages—Sol being the only star outside the jump range of the faster-than-light ships: ironic proof, some said, that there was a god. That part of the screen rarely changed: two ships, two destinations, no surprises there. The other two sections, with FTLers listed in the center and insystemers on the right, ebbed and flowed with the tides of commerce—shifting but generally predictable. Until three hours ago, when the words in arrival had flashed above the listing of FTL ships and assigned berths. In arrival. With no name or origin, just an ominous blank where both ought to appear. Three hours and counting, and still no update. Nobody remembered that happening. Ever. FTL ships dropped in at system zenith and sent ID before the first vane pulse, so ID arrived nearly simultaneously with the entry wavefront. In arrival always, always , came with a ship name attached. Period. That information kept honest folk from flashing on Beta Station . . . and t