The Outposter

the earth city is overcrowded and sense most people don't want to leave for the colonies there is the lottery. now certain people important to the running of earth city are exempt and also the military and thier families. so mostly the dregs of society are forceably sent to colonise the systems around earth. the outposters are the govenment force with the responsiblity to run the colonies. because most people don't want to be there they barely survive with help from the earth city, add and alien race more interested in what they can steal than trade for and a space navy taking bribes and afraid to fight and things are desperate. throw in a second generation outposter with the will and a plan to change it all and your have a geat story.

An alien race takes over Earth, but they allow Earth to pretty much still govern itself. There are diplomats who correspond with the alien race. Earth is overpopulated, so the poor are sent to colonize nearby planets/satellites (e.g. mars, moon). The Outposter is one of the government security force assigned to keep the colonists orderly, but he soon abandons his post to join with the resistance movement.action (as in some fighting) and intruige - and all this from a shady memory of it (i read it maybe 5-6 years ago, around the same time i read Black Steel by Steve Perry)

Live on the edge of Human colonization and strange things happen. You get attacked a lot by aliens and your government no longer trys to protect you. Solution: defend yourself. Dickson once again invents a rich tale of survival of the fittest where one individual can influence the survival of the entire Human race. Dickson tells this story in a compact but rich format that draws you in and makes for a memorable story