Book excerpt: "The circus is in town, and on the planet Boon, that's big, potentially riotous news. The delicate, decaying political balance maintained by the cloned human grands at the expense of the uplifted dog and cat populations is in danger of toppling under the influence of mysterious forces both outer and inner. When Gio Barbaro--clone descendant of one of Boon's ancient leaders, junior Senator, known friend to dogs and secret iconoclast--is recruited by the ringmaster cat, Scratch, he's knowingly going against everything his family and class believes in. The question, though, is what Gio believes in"--