From New York Times bestseller and Hugo Award-winner John Scalzi, a trade paperback repackage of his wild-and-woolly caper novel of interstellar diplomacy—now with a new cover and intro

A human diplomat creates an interstellar incident when he kills an alien diplomat in a most unusual way. To avoid war, Earth’s government must find an equally unusual object: a type of sheep used in the alien race's coronation ceremony. To find the sheep, the government turns to Harry Creek, ex-cop, war hero, and hacker extraordinaire, who, with the help of a childhood friend turned artificial intelligence, scours the earth for the rare creature. Others have plans for the sheep as well. The military. Adherents of a secret religion based on the writings of a twenty-first century SF author.

And alien races eager to start a revolution on their home world and a war on Earth. To keep our planet from being enslaved, Harry will have to pull off a grand diplomatic coup. There's only one chance to get it right, to save the life of the sheep—and to protect the future of humanity.