There Needs To Be A War Going On Somewhere. Lieutenant James Shelley commands a high-tech squad of soldiers in a rural district within the African Sahel. They hunt insurgents each night on a harrowing patrol, guided by three simple protect civilians, kill the enemy, and stay alive--because in a for-profit war manufactured by the defense industry there can be no cause worth dying for. To keep his soldiers safe, Shelley uses every high-tech asset available to him--but his best weapon is a flawless sense of imminent danger...as if God is with him, whispering warnings in his ear. Hazard contains military grade profanity.Nominated for the 2013 Nebula Award and selected for the Locus Recommended Reading List Praise for The First "Linda Nagata's The First Light begins like a shot and never lets you go. Well-written, thrilling, and thoughtful, The First Light is science fiction at its best. " --USA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch"Remember the scare times of the Cold War, when President Eisenhower warned us of the power of the military-industrial complex? Don't you wish we had listened? In The First Light, Linda Nagata gives us an alarming glimpse of the day after tomorrow--on an Earth torn by wars fueled by defense contractors. It's a thriller; it's a convincing character novel; it's a terrifying extrapolation--and it's a hell of a fine read. But...don't read this book if you don't want to think squarely about what our world is coming to. Don't read it if you don't want to risk some sleepless nights. Don't say you weren't warned! Once you start it, you're not going to stop."--Jeffrey A. Carver, author of The Chaos Chronicles"Military fiction and high-tech speculation, complex and edgy characters, a pinch of Eichmann in the plot, sly bits of Frankenstein in the setting, ... make Linda Nagata's The First Light compulsively readable." --Vonda N. McIntyre, Nebula and Hugo Award-winning author of Dreamsnake, Starfarers, and The Moon and the Sun.The First Light is a fast-paced, exciting story about soldiering in the near future. The characters are likeable and well-drawn, and the piece is infused with the kind of careful, thought-provoking attention to "how might this work, really?" that has always been one of Nagata's particular strengths." --Sean Stewart, author of the World Fantasy Award winner Galveston