Stations of the Tide
The story of a nameless bureaucrat who is sent by the Office of Technology Transfer, charged with restricting the flow of dangerous technologies, to the planet Miranda to search for a fugitive in possession of forbidden technological knowledge.  His search is complicated by his quarry's deep local knowledge and the imminence of the continent-inundating Jubilee tides, which have thrown the world he's searching into chaos.  Little is what it seems and references abound.
Science Fiction, Space Opera, Cyberpunk, Fiction, award:nebula_award=novel
Michael Swanwick