Just For Fun: My Favorite Moments, Part 2

Continuing the discussion of the things I've liked most in my works...

 

Castaway Planet: Eric and I ended Portal fairly certain that this was the last of the series, but not necessarily the universe. The main cast of Boundary had gotten pretty old to be gallivanting around the Solar System.

However, when we thought about doing a space-based version of Swiss Family Robinson or Mysterious Island, the Boundaryverse suggested itself strongly as a candidate. So fast forward a century or two, let the humans learn the interstellar secrets of the ancient Bemmies, and we have the setup for getting someone lost in the stars!

While the events that initially get the Kimei family marooned are certainly exciting and noteworthy, I think my first key moment is the instant in which they both really know they're marooned, and that this world is nothing like what they thought:

 

The ground quivered.

At the same time, three somethings erupted from the water, gray-blue-green, stretching up, pointing to the heavens like curved daggers as they rose, trailing foaming water into the air with them, towering up, far, far above LS-5. Even as they reached their apex, casting sharp-edged terrifying shadows across the three refugees, LS-5 tilted sideways, falling…

And the far side of the lagoon, too, slid sideways.

 

Marooned with barely any equipment at all, the Kimeis, and their alien friend Whips, have to figure out how to survive on a world that isn't anything like any known planet. There are a lot of emotional moments, but the two others that stick with me are, first, Sakura running to get help for her mother, Caroline, and Whips and suddenly lost in the black night of Lincoln with something stalking her:

 

A low, rumbling growl floated through the air behind her. Sakura whirled, holding the spear stiffly before her. No. It wasn’t that close yet. But it was closer than it had been.

     I have to find that omni!

She knew what her hesitancy would look like to a predator; something wounded, or lost, separated from its herd, vulnerable. If it chose to attack—whatever it was, because she didn't recognize the rattling growl or the snarl—she'd have one stab in the dark to stop it, and then she'd almost certainly be dead.

Ignoring the crawling between her shoulder blades, the certainty that something was going to spring on her, she turned back and continued the methodical movement forward. Swing the spear left, step, right, step, left, step…

The sound was on her left, now, a little closer. It was stalking her. That was classic predator's behavior, surveying the prey, closing in, cautious but confident at the same time.

Flicker.

     It was the faintest spark of light, but her heart gave a tremendous leap. It was here! Nearby!

 

And of course paired with that, the nick-of-time rescue:

 

    "NOW!" Akira shouted.

Sakura wrenched the sealed top from the container and lunged forward, jabbing the open end like a spear towards the creatures.

A fountain of white, dusty gravel erupted from Sakura's, Melody's, and Akira's tubes and scattered across the mass, dust spreading farther with the north-blowing wind.

There was a pause, a shout of "Akira!" from her mother—and then the creatures shrieked, a cry of shocked and unbelieving agony. An undertone of hissing became audible, and she could see steam rising from the things, which now writhed and struggled and rolled over, desperate to escape the hideous pain that was all over them. Creatures which had not yet been touched moved in and tried to flow over those who were struggling. But her father already had another tube out and doused the next group.

With the second outbreak of terrified pain from multiple creatures, the approaching swarm finally broke. Turning, they fled for the water, away from the terrible burning things in the air. Many of them never made it; some that reached the water hissed and steamed more spectacularly.

 

The second book in the series, Castaway Odyssey, should be released this fall. But of course it's not time to spoiler it yet…

 

 

Grand Central Arena: 2010 was a good year for my writing; not only did it see the publication of Threshold, but also the release of Grand Central Arena. My most successful solo work (thus far, anyway), Grand Central Arena, or GCA as I like to call it, is my salute to the masters of the Golden Age of SF and specifically E. E. "Doc" Smith who was one of my greatest inspirations… while at the same time trying to make the sense of wonder a modern one.

My first "moment" from GCA – not the first in chronological order, but the first to come to mind whenever I think of the book – is the one I call "DuQuesne's Awakening". In many ways this is one of the most defining and crucial moments in the entire series.

Backed into a corner by the Molothos, with his friend Carl and, potentially, all of humanity hanging in the balance, Hyperion Marc C. DuQuesne finally lets go of all the restraints he had placed upon himself, and demolishes the entire remaining landing force in five seconds:

 

"Your mistake, you pea-brained overbearing pompous crayfish, is that you think you have any idea of what you're dealing with."

 

There are of course a … LOT… of moments I could choose after that. The whole point of GCA was to create a universe that sort of ran on "Moments of Awesome" and "Rule of Cool". That said, the next moment I recall most frequently from GCA occurs slightly earlier in the book, when the human crew of the Holy Grail finally come face to face with the dramatic impossibility of the Arena, as introduced to them by their sometime ally Orphan:

 

"Behold the Arena." Orphan repeated, more quietly, almost reverently. "The endless skies, the worlds that drift in cloud and light and shadow, a place where storms a million million kilometers wide clash above and around embattled Spheres, where trading ships and pirates and mercenaries travel beside, prey upon, and defend explorers, decadent tourists, lost souls searching for a home or a cause, armadas finding new worlds to conquer, and all, all of them looking, watching, asking for news… news of First Emergents, of ancient ancient ruins atop a lost Sphere, of rumors of Voidbuilder knowledge or Shadeweaver powers… and all of them returning here to hear that news, to behold the newcomers – and perhaps to Challenge them, or be themselves Challenged, and gain or lose all in a single contest. It is my home. Now it is yours."

 

It's hard to choose the third event, however, because there are so many; the most obvious is Ariane's apotheosis and victory in the Arena, but I think instead I will choose Orphan's most triumphant moment, when he overcame his Arena-natural fear of confronting the Shadeweavers and stood up to Amas-Garao himself for the sake of his human allies:

 

     "I have voyaged in search of the truth behind the darkest tales of those who sail the darkest reaches of the Arena; I have returned alone after gazing on things no other has ever seen, remembering sometimes only that I dare not remember." Orphan's voice grew stronger. "I have dealt with Shadeweaver, Faith, Molothos, and Vengeance. I have won a Sphere in fair challenge. I am the Survivor.

 

"And I will tell myself no lies at the behest and in fear of others, even you – for then I have conceded the control of my mind – of myself – to you. Perhaps I will be their enemy one day. But who and what I am, that I shall choose… and never think of the odds, when it is my very self at stake!"

 

I've always liked Orphan, ever since I started writing the series, but I think that was when I was, an author, proud to know him.

     Spheres of Influence: Second in the Arena series, Spheres of Influence or SoI picks up not long after GCA ends, and puts our heroes through yet another series of wringers both physical and political.

The first Moment in SoI happens very early on, when DuQuesne goes to recruit Sun Wu Kung, the Hyperion Monkey King, to help them in the Arena. He thinks, tragically, that he has failed, yet cannot quite force himself to leave for almost an hour, sitting by the bedside of the simulation-suspended Wu Kung. And then as he gets up to leave…

 

     He took a shaky breath, then rose and started to turn.

A hand caught his wrist.

A shock of adrenalin and hope shot through him and he looked back.

Through eyes barely open, Wu Kung looked up at him, tears trailing down his cheeks. "… An adventure, huh?"

 

Second is hard to choose from, but I think I have to go to Wu Kung again and his dramatic return from the dead:

 

     The wind from outside whipped in a breath of clearer air and she gasped as she suddenly saw…

… Robes of ruby and gold, sparkling of jade and sapphire and twilight purple; red-black hair flowing in the wind, bound by a golden circlet with a diamond sparkling like a star; and a crimson-and-gold staff gripped in a clawed hand…

Head held high, green-gold eyes coldly furious, Sun Wu Kung stood before them.

 

And for third, I'll give one to Simon Sandrisson, who begins to learn how to control his unique powers in this volume… and ends up in a very unexpected confrontation against someone that should defeat him. But Simon wins by sheer strategy:

 

     And Simon saw probabilities spiking as he had hoped, and dropped flat to the deck.

There was a slamming, shattering detonation as though a lightning bolt had struck, and Vantak flew by him, tumbling like a puppet with cut strings until coming to a halt, while flaming debris showered all around Simon, some of it burning like pins of flame into his face.

The Blessed twitched, tried to rise, but there was a metal support embedded more than halfway through his back. "Wh… what…?"

"Your pistol," Simon said, painfully getting to his feet and retrieving his sword. "I … had thrown it into the wreckage. I remembered that it must be powered with superconductor batteries…"

 

The third Arenaverse novel, Challenges of the Deeps, has been submitted to Baen, but as it hasn't been published yet, it'd be kinda unfair to start spoilering it now!

Next time, I finish out my currently-published books with the Balanced Sword series and Polychrome!