THE BELT deals with the mining operations found in the Kuiper Belt at the start. It is discovered that an alien world called Ortasia has salted planetoids with precious minerals and placed both installations and booby traps in the Kuiper Belt. One of these booby traps kills Space Corps personnel and the best friend of one of the main characters in the book.
Later on, an independent mining operator transports to Ortasia and eventually becomes a hero during the interstellar war he believes might have been caused because he transported to Ortasia. Come to find out, a malevolent empire uses his action to provoke a war and deceives other worlds to fight it. The Ortasians had once been a galactic power. But 30,000 years before the start of the book they decide to become isolated, to some extent, and peaceful. The reason for the change centers around a secret hidden in the Belt that the malevolent empire eventually discovers.
The war involves our system, an empire, a confederation of planets, Ortasia, and pirates that want to take advantage of the chaos the war presents.
When it looks like the story is about to end, a dramatic twist is added that will make the reader believe the secret that is discovered is only one of many secrets that are left to be discovered in the Belt.
THE BELT is like a science fiction version of a western. There are mining operations like what we had during gold rush eras. Pirates are like the Indians the cavalry used to fight. The space stations Yukon, Siberia, Patagonia, and Tibet administer small portions of the Belt and are like the frontier forts the protected settlers a century and a quarter ago. There are vast unexplored areas full of potential riches and potential death. THE BELT could be the first in a series of books that will make the Kuiper Belt as interesting as our western frontier. Since our descendants may eventually live and work out there, someone needs to create the mythology and romance that will make the Belt inviting just like the dime novelists did for the Old West. They based their stories on truth and lies and provoked hundreds of thousands to go West to seek their fortune. If I can do the same thing for the Kuiper Belt, I might in the future become like Horace Greeley who told people to go West. My book THE BELT is my way of saying go to the Kuiper Belt and make your fortune as well as lead us to the stars.
THE BELT deals with a place that exists. It is a place where people will work hard. It will be where people have their last chance to succeed. Millions of people want to travel to the stars to find adventure. But those who are willing to get their hands dirty and take chances in order to strike it rich, the Kuiper Belt is waiting for them. Just like the area between the Coasts is called fly-over country, the Kuiper Belt is the future version of fly-over country. If THE BELT can show the public that an alien region closer to us than the nearest alien star exists that needs to be explored and utilized, my effort will have not been in vain.
