Crashcourse Series by Wilhelmina Baird

Baird's stunning debut is the cybershock novel of the year. Dosh has sold his good looks once too often to rough customers. He's so desperate to get off the planet and start a new life that he persuades friends Moke and Cass to sign a cybercinema contract--a decision that proves to be as dangerous as it is lucrative.

Two years after taking part in a cyber-film to make enough money to leave Earth--a film that left their friend Dosh dead and them fleeing for their lives--Cass and Moke return to uncover the truth about the tragedy.

In order to avert imminent war, the Earth's government agrees to negotiate with alien invaders. The military's representative is Swordfish, a veteran of the Third Alien War. A delegation travels to meet the aliens--an enemy whose nature no human being will ever truly know or trust again. From the author of Clipjoint.