Thoughts on My Books 4: Grand Central Arena

My fourth published novel was actually the sixth for which I was contracted; following Boundary, Eric and I got a contract for two sequels, later published as Threshold and Portal. But for various reasons (detailed in the relevant book discussion), Threshold got published later than Grand Central Arena.

My second solo novel, Grand Central Arena (or GCA) is a huge-scale space opera novel that makes nods to pretty much everything that influenced me through the 2000s, with a major focus on the Golden Age works that I found interesting or influential.

The central character of GCA, Ariane Stephanie Austin, is a daredevil racing pilot who is chosen as the backup pilot for the first starship from Earth, the Holy Grail. But when the experimental FTL drive is activated, it doesn't take them "out there", but ELSEWHERE -- and Ariane suddenly has to use all her skills to keep the ship from crashing into the impossible WALL that has appeared before them, without the main drive OR their AIs still active. Ultimately they find they have entered a gigantic space filled with other constructs, called "The Arena" by its inhabitants, and that in order to get home, they must become Citizens of the Arena; and they MUST get home, because not only are the Challenges of the Arena potentially lethal, but also the aliens now know that Earth is out there...

GCA was the first book written in a brand-new universe that I ended up simply calling "The Arenaverse". The original idea grew a lot from the time Eric and I first discussed it (because Eric helped kickstart my brain for it); originally the Arena was going to be more physically connected, but ultimately my memory of Roger Dean's “Yessongs” triggered my vision of the Spheres and thus the full titanic scale of the Arena itself. 

I constructed an outline of a new history for our solar system in the 300 or so years between now and then, and one part -- the Hyperion Project -- became one of the behind-the-scenes plot drivers for an awful lot of what followed. The Hyperion Project was, put simply, a gigantic experiment to try to create the heroes of fiction using the tremendously advanced technology of 2300. In some ways, it succeeded, and one of its greatest successes became one of the other major characters: Marc C. DuQuesne, a "good-guy" version of Doc Smith's most formidable villain. His existence helped drive other elements of GCA that Ariane didn't, and the combination of the two and their resident scientist, Dr. Simon Sandrisson, became the Power Trio that really made the books work. 

GCA was the first of my books to have any sort of trailer advertising it as well; this was made possible by Keith Morrison, who created a lovely little rendered animation of the Holy Graildoing a Sandrisson Drive Jump.  That trailer is still visible on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgzM0J9XikU

The other noteworthy thing about GCA is that it is my only work that has been translated to two other languages; it has both a Japanese edition (split into two volumes), and a French edition. It will also be turned into a roleplaying game (RPG) in the next year.

I remain very proud of Grand Central Arena, and of the two sequels that followed, Spheres of Influence and Challenges of the Deeps. In the next year and a half, I'll be producing the fourth, currently titled Shadows of Hyperion.