The Infinite State

by Richard Swan

WHO GIVES YOU LIFE?
PATER AETERNUS.

Katherine Fuller’s husband is dead. As an esteemed member of Pater Aeternus—governing party of the fascist, galaxy-spanning Decurion Empire—he has left behind an estate of immeasurable wealth. And Katherine is going to inherit it.

WHO GIVES YOU PURPOSE?
PATER AETERNUS.

Life under the Eternal Father is rigidly stratified, surveilled, and controlled—each new day to be endured, not lived. But with Katherine’s newfound fortune, she is presented with a rare and dangerous opportunity: purchase a virgin world, and create a better, fairer society.

WHO GIVES YOU JOY?
PATER AETERNUS.

But the Empire cannot allow its wayward daughter to succeed. And as Katherine works in secret, recruiting allies she's not even sure she can trust, she will discover exactly how far Pater Aeternus is willing to go to stop her. Because Katherine is going to create something nobody has seen for many years.

A democracy.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

Kindle Edition

Expected publication August 4, 2026

About the author

Richard Swan is a critically acclaimed British genre writer. He is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Empire of the Wolf and Great Silence trilogies, as well as fiction for Black Library and Grimdark Magazine. His work has been translated into nine languages.

Richard is a qualified lawyer, and before writing full time spent ten years litigating multimillion pound commercial disputes in London. He currently lives in Sydney with his wife and three young sons.


For updates follow him at stonetemplelibrary.com.

Reviews

[Marc *Dark Reader with a Thousand Young! Iä!* · Rating 5 out of 5]

Giving this 5 stars to counteract the clearly malicious 1 star reviews on a book that hasn’t even been announced yet. The people doing that are clowns

[Erika George]

honestly, im always here for a wayward daughter plot!