The System of the World

Paperback,. Volume Three of the Baroque Cycle, P.S. Insights, Interviews and more… The title alludes to the third volume of Isaac Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which bears the same name. The System of the World won the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and the Prometheus Award in 2005, as well as a receiving a nomination for the Arthur C. Clarke Award the same year. England, 1714. London has long been home to a secret war between the brilliant, enigmatic Master of the Mint and closet alchemist, Isaac Newton, and his archnemesis, the insidious counterfeiter Jack the Coiner. Hostilities are suddenly moving to a new and more volatile level as Half-Cocked Jack hatches a daring plan, aiming for the total corruption of Britain’s newborn monetary system. Enter Daniel Waterhouse: Aging Puritan and Natural Philosopher, Daniel has been on a long and harrowing quest to help mend the rift between adversarial geniuses. As Daniel combs city and country for clues to the identity of the blackguard who is attempting to blow up Natural Philosophers, political factions jockey for position while awaiting the impending death of the ailing queen, and the holy grail of alchemy, the key to life eternal, tantalizes and continues to elude Isaac Newton. As Newton, Waterhouse, and Shaftoe each circle closer to the object of Daniel’s quest, everything that was will be changed forever …