Fantasy Fiction Authors and Their Works Exploring Trade Flow Control and Surplus Creation

Daniel Abraham

1. The Long Price Quartet: Examines how the cotton trade sparks generational upheaval, with a focus on surplus-driven prosperity and its societal consequences

2. The Dagger and the Coin Series: Features banking as a tool of power, with trade networks shaping alliances and driving conflicts. The series explores how banks function as quasi-nations, wielding immense influence across borders

Elizabeth Bear

1. Eternal Sky Trilogy (Range of Ghosts): Explores trade routes like the Celedon Highway (a Silk Road analogue) and their role in empirea-building. The manipulation of trade flows is central to political power and military strength

Seth Dickinson

1. The Traitor Baru Cormorant: Focuses on colonialism and capitalism, showcasing how economic manipulation via tariffs, debt, and trade systems enables imperial control. It also highlights choke points as flashpoints for rebellion

Neal Stephenson

1. The Baroque Cycle: A historical epic that examines the birth of modern economics, trade networks, and financial systems during the Enlightenment. It delves into surplus creation and geopolitical tensions arising from mercantile empires

2. Cryptonomicon: Explores cryptography’s role in shaping global trade networks during World War II and its implications for modern digital economies

3. Snow Crash: Critiques capitalism through decentralized economies in a fragmented world dominated by corporate-controlled city-states

4. The Diamond Age: Examines nanotechnology-driven economies and how technological surpluses transform societies

Anne McCaffrey

1. Dragonriders of Pern Series: Features a complex economic system of "marks," which have value based on what they can be exchanged for at issuing Holds or Halls