''EarthWeb'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novel written by American author

Marc Stiegler Marc Stiegler (born 1 August 1954) is an American science fiction author and software developer. He co-authored ''Valentina: Soul in Sapphire'' (1984) with Joseph H. Delaney. The computer program, Valentina, was one of science fiction's earli ...

, published in May 1999 by

Baen Books Baen Books () is an American publishing house for science fiction and fantasy. In science fiction, it emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, and military science fiction. The company was established in 1983 by science fiction publisher an ...

. ''EarthWeb'' is set in a future where Earth faces a recurring attack every five years by a massive spaceship of unknown origin. Named Shivas, after the

Hindu deity Hindu deities are the gods and goddesses in Hinduism. The terms and epithets for deities within the diverse traditions of Hinduism vary, and include Deva, Devi, Ishvara, Ishvari, Bhagavān and Bhagavati. The deities of Hinduism have evolved ...

, these ships are vast, robot-crewed, and progressively more advanced. The apparent ultimate goal of the Shivas is the total extermination of the human population on Earth. Highly trained hero commando squads, known as Angels, infiltrate and attempt to destroy each Shiva using data gathered through an expanded, global version of the internet. A crucial feature of this web are the 'castpoints' (derived from 'forecast') where individuals can wager money on the internal layout of each Shiva and the potential solutions to various problems the Angels might encounter within the ship. The betting system ensures the prominence of beneficial ideas (those most wagered on), and rewards those skilled at identifying these good ideas by increasing their winnings, thereby enhancing their influence on future idea selection.

References

External links

Earthweb
by Marc Stiegler (Online preview copy of Chapters 1 to 7 at Baen Books)

1999 novels 1999 science fiction novels Novels about alien invasions {{1990s-mil-sf-novel-stub