The Duke of Uranium

LOW-GEE HIJACK
Sesh was tied completely and gagged, and the line was towing her toward the emergency exit, faster than Jak could airswim to her. Their eyes met for just a moment; he could see her terror pleading for rescue, in that bare instant, before the rotation shifted again, and he lost his orientation as the netting flew around him, grabbed him in a fierce hug, and spun him in a dizzy whirl.
Her final scream, smothered by the gag, felt to Jak like a kick in the stomach. Sesh was dragged out of his field of view. The net yanked brutally. Jak saw boots touching down all around him. Then there was a flurry of fists, feet, and clubs, fading rapidly into terrible pain and utter darkness.
-from THE DUKE OF URANIUM

The acclaimed author of A Million Open Doors and Mother of Storms, John Barnes presents THE DUKE OF URANIUM, a fast-paced new adventure in the spirit of Harry Harrison and Robert A. Heinlein. In this spectacular tale of action and intrigue, a thirty-sixth-century young man discovers that the galaxy is far more complex, and deadly, than he'd ever imagined...

THE BAD SIDE OF ENTROPY
For eighteen-year-old Jak Jinnaka, life in the Hive space colony is a simple routine of schoolwork and partying. But his world irrevocably turns topsy-turvey one night when strangers viciously attack Jak and kidnap his girlfriend, Sesh. Then Jak learns that Sesh is really a princess from a distant world and that his Uncle Sib is actually a spymaster who is running a covert cabal vying to control the galaxy. Adding to his shock, Jak comes to the startling realization that he has been groomed since birth to become-a secret agent. And his first assignment is to ransom Sesh from her captor, the mysterious Duke of Uranium. Yet the one truth nobody tells Jak is that the thirty-sixth century itself is based on lies, where no one and nothing are as they seem. And the only way for Jak to make sure his maiden mission is not his last is to discover what his true mission really is!