[Emperor's Child]

I have to say that Card's "Speaker for the Dead" is a must read for anybody who is interested in SE... Good background, good fodder for military strategy.

I'm currently re-reading Niven's "Mote in God's Eye," and am very surprised on how it works for a SE setting (ie: ships use warp points at the edges of the system). That and the author spins a really-good yarn about a first contact scenario. I'd highly recommend this book to anybody who has found SE(series) to be an enjoyable game, this will be an enjoyable read.