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My new novel is set in an entirely different universe than Ventus. In this novel, I wanted to completely reinvent interstellar travel and the notion of interstellar civilization. I wanted to create a possible, hard-sf society that spanned multiple stars using slower-than-light travel. I found a way to do that. And I wanted to set a classic space-opera in this new world. So I did that. What's been bugging me for a few years now is the lack of innovation in SF in the area of space. There's been a kind of revolution in the areas of nanotech and genetics--"squishy" technologies that have influenced people like Linda Nagata and William Gibson. But in space... well, most writers still use hyperdrive, or wormholes, or Bussard ramjets, don't they? There's an unspoken assumption that slower-than-light travel is just plain unsexy--not suited to writing really interesting deep space stories. So I've wanted to drag the interstellar travel story kicking and screaming into the 21st century, using recent developments in hard science (some of which, I freely admit, are the work of other hard SF writers, most notably Geoffrey A. Landis). Permanence is set in the universe as we have only recently come to understand it; that universe is quite different than we'd assumed even ten years ago. The stars are not alone in the sky. In the darkness between them, countless other objects can be found, if you know how to look for them. There are orphaned planets, possibly dozens of them for every star we see. And there are the brown dwarfs. To my mixed delight and consternation, I've found that nobody seems to be writing about brown dwarfs--those objects too big to be planets, and too small to be stars. We've discovered recently that they are as common as the visible stars. It's likely that there's one closer than Alpha Centauri--maybe much closer. And brown dwarfs are massive enough to have incredibly powerful magnetic fields; if they're young enough, they're hot enough to warm any nearby satellites to Earth-like temperatures. They are, in other words, invisible suns between the suns. For me, that makes them objects of infinite fascination and potential. Yet nobody seems to have picked up on that potential. So I've written Permanence. This book lays out the possibilties in as much detail as my impoverished imagination can handle. The brown dwarfs are the key to making interstellar civilization possible--the dwarfs, and a starship technology designed specifically to exploit their strengths and ubiquity. This new kind of starship is the interstellar cycler. All this technobabble aside, what I'm happiest with in the new novel is the characters. The alien worlds of the Halo are inhabited by perfectly human beings--for instance Meadow-Rue Rosebud Cassels, who sets the whole plot in motion when she runs away from home and discovers a derelict cycler on the way. All Rue wants in her life is a little stability, but she gets sucked into an ambitious plan to board and salvage the cycler... and that's all I'll say. Permanence is available now in hardcover edition; I haven't heard yet when the paperback will be out. < | >
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