Amazon.com Book Description (ISBN 0312890761, Hardcover)

In The Merchants of Souls, a new movement on Earth seeks to use the recorded personalities of the dead as their helpless virtual reality playthings. To the worlds of the interstellar Thousand Cultures, where the reborn are accepted as normal citizens, its a monstrous crime and reinforces their distaste for Earth. If Earth cannot be stopped from ratifying its plans, the entire structure of galactic human civilization will collapse.