The Secant…
The stories I grew up loving were varied, but I kept coming back to the oft-misnamed tales called Space Opera. Again and again, those vast, illimitable vistas of stars and dust and distance, crossed by explorers in tiny ships that were little more than hardened bubbles against an unfathomable emptiness, pulled me in and saturated my imagination.
Early on, I discovered Isaac Asimov’s Foundation stories, especially the three books that comprised the original trilogy. The details of the stories drew me, certainly, but it was the immensity of the Galactic Empire that kept me fascinated. Somehow, no other unexplored realm quite offered the same attraction. When Star Trek came long with its declaration “Space…the Final Frontier…” it felt so obviously right. Twelve-year-old me wanted to live there.
When I began writing stories, eventually I developed my own take on that territory. There were a few attempted novels leading up to what became the first book of what I called The Secantis Sequence. Entering that space, everything came together, and I felt I had found my stage for the kinds of stories I wanted to tell.
Why the Secant? The name comes out of mathematics. There are a few applications of the term, but the one I chose was a straight line that cuts a curve in two or more parts. Simple, direct, and also a thematic element in the evolution of the future history I was building. But more interestingly—and pertinently—is the extended meaning. “Secantis” is the genitive form of the Latin word “secans,” which means cutting, cleaving, dividing, or operating. It’s a participle, and the genitive case indicates possession or relationship. That opens the interpretive possibilities to include civilizations, species, philosophies, politics…
I decided to start from the common idea of First Contact. Early on, I did write a novel (never published) about that, but it faded over time, and I became more interested in the aftermath. How would people react. What would evolve. Compass Reach is about the efforts by various parties, human and alien, to avert a coming division.
Into this I introduced an element I thought underexplored in science fiction—economics. I’ve always been a bit bothered by those marvelous civilizations depicted in science fiction: who pays for all that? I mean, you look at any empire, at any time, and it seems obvious to point out that any of them would be really expensive. As I studied economics, it became clear that one of the most effective viewpoints in introducing all this would be from that of an outsider. And not just any outsider, but an internal outsider. A member of the underclass. So emerged the Freeriders, interstellar hobos, people possessed of nothing in terms of membership in the general population. The homeless. Those who cannot take for granted anything.
After that, the Pan Humana practically built itself, as well as all the reasons the privileged would seek to isolate human territory from alien. And the story emerged.
I do my worldbuilding as I go along. Encounter a problem, find the solution, then move on. Piece by piece, the dynamics of my field of action developed. The Pan Humana, human territory. Then came the alien realms, which came to be known as the Seven Reaches. Why the Seven Reaches? As in so many things in human ken, this came from a corruption of an alien term, the Sev N’Raicha, which is a kind of collective descriptor of the loose federation of…
I opted to use the term Seti as an all-inclusive descriptor for any sapient nonhuman. I created several with which humanity had become aware by the time the events of Compass Reach begin: the Rahalen, the Menkan, the Cursian, the Distanti, the Coro…and the principle seti actors in this novel, the enigmatic Vohec and the Ranonan, the diplomats.
With such an array, it was easy to see how a segment of humanity might recoil in horror and wish to close the border. (So often, we are all about borders…) Hence, the stakes in the novel. The players who are working against history in a way.
After Compass Reach, two more novels quickly followed, exploring the precincts and politics and philosophies of my universe—Metal of Night and Peace & Memory. As well, several short stories came. I am by no means through with this world (these worlds).
First published in 2001, I am beyond pleased that Compass Reach is being re-issued. Histria Books has acquired the three previously-published novels. I hope to find new readers and perhaps remind older readers of the works. I have more stories to tell in the Secant and I hope this will give me the opportunity.
Welcome to the Secant.