№ 1 · The Vela
The Vela: The Complete Season 1,
by Yoon Ha Lee, S.L. Huang, Rivers Solomon, Robin Miles, Becky Chambers
by Yoon Ha Lee, S.L. Huang, Rivers Solomon, Robin Miles, Becky Chambers
The Vela is a serialized space opera from Serial Box, which co-written by Yoon Ha Lee, Becky Chambers, Rivers Solomon, and S. L. Huang. Concept by Lydia Shamah.
Gun-for-hire Asala Sikou is used to looking out for number one, especially in a solar system that’s slowly dying as its sun cools. But when she and hacker Niko are sent to find out what became of a vanished ship of refugees from the frozen outer planets, they stumble across a secret that could mean life or death for the entire system.
Features a tough trans woman heroine and her nonbinary sidekick, big space battles, rampaging mobucks, grasshen cup noodles, intrigue, and death-defying antics.
Source: https://www.yoonhalee.com/
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The Vela
6 books in catalog
Complex mathematical calendrical warfare and far-future military tactics define the space opera world of the Machineries of Empire trilogy. Korean-American speculative fiction author Yoon Ha Lee gained wide recognition in science fiction and fantasy with his debut novel Ninefox Gambit, which established a universe grounded in high-concept geometry, political intrigue, and ritualistic technology. His body of work spans adult space opera, young adult mecha fiction such as Moonstorm, middle-grade fantasy, short fiction, tabletop roleplaying games, and comic scripts.
Born in Houston, Texas, in 1979 and educated at Seoul Foreign School, Lee completed a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics at Cornell University, followed by a Master of Arts in mathematics education from Stanford University, and pursued an MFA in media composition and orchestration at ThinkSpace Education. While in college, he sold his first short story, "The Hundredth Question," to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Over his career, his short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, Lightspeed, Reactor (formerly Tor.com), and Audubon Magazine, as well as numerous year's best anthologies. Beyond prose, Lee wrote comic scripts for Marvel, including Doom's Division #1-5 and "Epée Is Truth" in The X-Men: The Wedding Special #1, and collaborated on serialized fiction projects including The Vela: The Complete Season 1. His hobbies include game design, visual art, and playful efforts at destroying the reader. He lives in Louisiana with his family and an extremely lazy cat.
Lee's academic training in mathematics deeply influences his worldbuilding and narrative structures, incorporating high-level concepts of geometry, calendrical systems, and abstract mechanics directly into space opera settings. His fiction regularly investigates themes of institutional authority, military duty, identity, and personal morality within rigid power structures. Beyond high-concept adult science fiction, Lee draws heavily on Korean mythology and folklore for works such as Dragon Pearl and its companion novel Tiger Honor. His work in game design, including tabletop roleplaying systems, reflects a narrative approach centered on strategic systems, intricate tactical dilemmas, and complex moral choices.
