Challenges of the Deeps
Published on 15. April 2025
400 pages
978-1-59211-628-7 (ISBN)
Description
The climax of the Arenaverse adventure SF series is here!
The Arena: a vast alien otherspace that all species were forced to enter when they discovered faster-than-light travel. The Arena: where the lives of entire species might hang in the balance in a single Challenge. The Arena: filled with mysteries, alliances, betrayals, opportunities, and hideous dangers for individual and empire alike. And the only thing you couldn't do...was refuse to play the Arena's game.
Ariane Austin and her crew had learned these lessons the hard way, and - with luck, skill, and sheer will, had managed to survive so far. But now a debt of honor to Humanity's oldest, if sometimes self-serving, ally, Orphan, has come due. The threat of war looms with the xenophobic Molothos, one of the five Great Factions; the dark and omnipresent legacy of the Hyperion Experiment lingers. As Leader of the Faction of Humanity, Captain Ariane Austin had to deal with all of these problems, and deal with them soon. For within her was also the alien power that the Shadeweavers and the Faith had sealed away - with a seal that would not last forever. She needed to find a way to control that power before it broke free - or more than just Humanity would pay the price.
Now Ariane must travel with Orphan into the legendary Deeps of the Arena, far from any known Spheres - to a destination only the enigmatic alien knows, leaving behind one of her most trusted friends and advisors to confront whatever new trials the Arena may throw at Humanity in her absence.
But before Ariane can depart, she must deal with a minor matter of a Challenge against one of the Great Factions - a Challenge with an entire species' citizenship in the Arena at stake!
The Arena: a vast alien otherspace that all species were forced to enter when they discovered faster-than-light travel. The Arena: where the lives of entire species might hang in the balance in a single Challenge. The Arena: filled with mysteries, alliances, betrayals, opportunities, and hideous dangers for individual and empire alike. And the only thing you couldn't do...was refuse to play the Arena's game.
Ariane Austin and her crew had learned these lessons the hard way, and - with luck, skill, and sheer will, had managed to survive so far. But now a debt of honor to Humanity's oldest, if sometimes self-serving, ally, Orphan, has come due. The threat of war looms with the xenophobic Molothos, one of the five Great Factions; the dark and omnipresent legacy of the Hyperion Experiment lingers. As Leader of the Faction of Humanity, Captain Ariane Austin had to deal with all of these problems, and deal with them soon. For within her was also the alien power that the Shadeweavers and the Faith had sealed away - with a seal that would not last forever. She needed to find a way to control that power before it broke free - or more than just Humanity would pay the price.
Now Ariane must travel with Orphan into the legendary Deeps of the Arena, far from any known Spheres - to a destination only the enigmatic alien knows, leaving behind one of her most trusted friends and advisors to confront whatever new trials the Arena may throw at Humanity in her absence.
But before Ariane can depart, she must deal with a minor matter of a Challenge against one of the Great Factions - a Challenge with an entire species' citizenship in the Arena at stake!
More details
Person
Ryk E. Spoor was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and has lived in South Dakota, Georgia, New York, and Pennsylvania. Severe asthma forced him to spend most of his childhood reading and, by the time he was six, writing. While he began reading fantasy such as Oz and science fiction starting with Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, it was his 5th grade teacher that sent him on the course that would make him a science-fiction author, by lending Ryk a battered copy of E.E. "Doc" Smith's Second-Stage Lensmen; this sent him on a reading spree that devoured every science-fiction book he encountered for the next ten years, and instilled in him the conviction that being a science-fiction author was the greatest possible profession anyone could aspire to.
At the turn of the 21st century, Ryk succeeded in achieving this ambition by first launching a clever plan to be published through the diabolical strategem of insulting Eric Flint in public. (Note that neither Eric nor Ryk recommend anyone else attempt his strategy.) Subsequently, Eric brought Ryk's work to the attention of Baen Books, culminating in the publication of Digital Knight, and subsequently two stories with Eric Flint ("Diamonds Are Forever" and Boundary). His next solo novel Grand Central Arena was released in April 2010, followed in June by the sequel to Boundary, titled Threshold. More recently he has completed release on the Balanced Sword trilogy (Phoenix Rising, Phoenix in Shadow, and Phoenix Ascendant) and released his first self-published novel, Polychrome. His most recent works as of 2018 are the magical girl-based novel Princess Holy Aura, the first volume in a space opera trilogy Demons of the Past, titled Revelation, and the first novel in the Fall of Veils series, titled French Roast Apocalypse.
Ryk Spoor is also Research and Development Coordinator for International Electronic Machines (IEM), where he has obtained funding for and directed/assisted in research into wireless MEMS sensor systems, power harvesting, smart video security systems, and other related fields; he holds several patents in these areas. He lives in Troy, New York, with his wife Kathleen and their four children Christopher, Gabriel, Victoria, and Domenica.
At the turn of the 21st century, Ryk succeeded in achieving this ambition by first launching a clever plan to be published through the diabolical strategem of insulting Eric Flint in public. (Note that neither Eric nor Ryk recommend anyone else attempt his strategy.) Subsequently, Eric brought Ryk's work to the attention of Baen Books, culminating in the publication of Digital Knight, and subsequently two stories with Eric Flint ("Diamonds Are Forever" and Boundary). His next solo novel Grand Central Arena was released in April 2010, followed in June by the sequel to Boundary, titled Threshold. More recently he has completed release on the Balanced Sword trilogy (Phoenix Rising, Phoenix in Shadow, and Phoenix Ascendant) and released his first self-published novel, Polychrome. His most recent works as of 2018 are the magical girl-based novel Princess Holy Aura, the first volume in a space opera trilogy Demons of the Past, titled Revelation, and the first novel in the Fall of Veils series, titled French Roast Apocalypse.
Ryk Spoor is also Research and Development Coordinator for International Electronic Machines (IEM), where he has obtained funding for and directed/assisted in research into wireless MEMS sensor systems, power harvesting, smart video security systems, and other related fields; he holds several patents in these areas. He lives in Troy, New York, with his wife Kathleen and their four children Christopher, Gabriel, Victoria, and Domenica.
