Market Forces
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Image:Market Forces cover (Amazon).jpg Market Forces is a science-fiction novel by Richard Morgan, first published in 2004.
Set in 2049, it follows up and coming executive Chris Faulkner as he plunges into the profitable field of conflict investment. Shorn Associates and other major corporations invest in rebel armies, totalitarian dictatorships, freedom fighters, and terrorists by selling weapons and services in exchange for a percentage of a state's GNP.
The potential for profit is immense, and competition is cut-throat. It's not enough to out-bid a competitor for the opportunity of supplying intelligence gathering services to Cambodia's freedom fighters; rival executives joust for the privilege on race tracks via heavily armoured "battle-wagons". This fiercely competitive business model is bloody but effective: surviving executives are by natural selection more cunning and aggressive than their fallen competitors, and therefore best suited for the job.
Market Forces is less science than fiction, and it certainly doesn't follow in his previous novels' cyberpunk footprints, although there are signs that it may take place in the same universe. Certain cyberpunk elements remain, though, such as the dominance of large corporate empires and the Hobbesian nature of everyday life. The novel retains strong dystopian influences throughout and delivers a frighteningly realistic future.