Once upon a time, science fiction was about science and engineering. Was about big ideas for how technology can transform the world. Was about what a high-tech future might look like, and how it might feel to be a real person living there. Was about our hopes and aspirations.
But something happened. Somewhere along the way, our fiction lost hope. Began preaching our inevitable failure. Began sifting through the ashes of endless visions of decay. Began lamenting instead of inspiring. Began, above all, lecturing us for daring to have hopes, dreams, and desires, for daring to think that the universe is a better place with humans in it than without, that tomorrow might be better than today.
Well, some of us aren't interested in self-flagellation. And we're not done with the big ideas yet.
I'm Devon Eriksen. And I'm writing the Orbital Space trilogy as a love letter to every head-high pile of science fiction classics I ever hid in the back of a public library with. Because I think the era of whining is over, and humanity is going places again.
The first volume, Theft of Fire, begins our journey with a small and inauspicious spark — a down-on-his-luck asteroid miner turned petty criminal.
At the frozen edge of the solar system lies a hidden treasure which could spell their fortune or their destruction—but only if they survive each other first.
Marcus Warnoc has a little problem. His asteroid mining ship—his inheritance, his livelihood, and his home—has been hijacked by a pint-sized corporate heiress with enough blackmail material to sink him for good, a secret mission she won't tell him about, and enough courage to get them both killed. She may have him dead to rights, but if he doesn't turn the tables on this spoiled Martian snob, he'll be dead, period. He's not giving up without a fight.
He has a plan.
Miranda Foxgrove has the opportunity of a lifetime almost within her grasp if she can reach it. Her stolen spacecraft came with a stubborn, resourceful captain who refuses to cooperate—but he's one of the few men alive who can snatch an unimaginable treasure from beneath the muzzles of countless railguns. And if this foulmouthed Belter thug doesn't want to cooperate, she'll find a way to force him. She's come too far to give up now.
She has a plan.
They're about to find out that a plan is a list of things that won't happen.
Along our three-volume journey from get-rich-quick-schemes and petty blackmail to the technological singularity and the fate of the galaxy, we'll explore post-terrestrial civilization from the frozen orbit of Sedna to the corporate boardrooms of Mars, meet mercenaries, genetically enhanced post-humans, and space truckers, learn about the existential crisis of waking up one day as a prototype AI, recklessly tamper with mysterious alien artifacts, fight an interplanetary war, and answer Fermi's famous question, "Where is everyone?" once and for all.
So strap into an acceleration chair, and slap on a high-g stim patch. It's going to be a bumpy ride.
Theft of Fire: Orbital Space #1 is publishing 11/11. Readers who love the irreverent grit of The Martian, the first-person immediacy of Red Rising, and the thoughtful craftmanship of Brandon Sanderson can learn more at DevonEriksen.com, add it to their To Read shelf on Goodreads, and pre-order the Kindle edition at Amazon and sign up for additional publication formats here.