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The Expanse author James S.A. Corey is writing a new space opera trilogy

The Expanse author James S.A. Corey is writing a new space opera trilogy

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It’s set in a separate world from The Expanse

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Art: Orbit Books

Coming off of this morning’s news that the Syfy channel was not going to renew The Expanse for a fourth season, there is some positive news for fans of the series: Orbit Books has announced that it has signed Expanse author James S.A. Corey for three books of a new space opera series.

Corey is actually two authors: Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, who co-wrote The Expanse series, which is expected to run for nine novels, the last of which will hit bookstores in 2019. That series has become a popular hit with readers and was adapted as a television show on the Syfy channel that premiered in 2015 with Abraham and Franck as producers. The duo have written outside of the series before: they wrote a Star Wars novel about Han Solo in 2014, Honor Among Thieves. Abraham tells The Verge that Orbit is where James S.A. Corey really began, and I’m delighted that we have another projected queued up with them once The Expanse is complete.”

Rather than being a part of their The Expanse universe, this new series will be set in a completely new world. In the press release, Ty Franck notes that where The Expanse drew on things like Ridley Scott’s film Alien and Alfred Bester’s novel The Stars My Destination, this new series is their “exploration of the high concept science fiction that followed [The Golden Age of science fiction], with books like Dune and Hyperion and The Left Hand of Darkness.” Abraham says that “It’s big spectacle far future space opera, while never losing our focus on the complexity of human nature in these strange new settings.”

No title or cover art for the series have been announced yet, but Orbit says that the trilogy will hit bookstores after the final installment of The Expanse series is published next year.