‘Jonathan Oliver, commissioning editor of Solaris Books, has acquired the sequel to Helix by Eric Brown, which was published by the company in 2007 and has reprinted ever since, selling regularly.  Helix Wars will be delivered in the spring of 2012, for an autumn publication. The agent was John Jarrold, and the deal was for UK/US rights.

Eric explains the basis of the amazing artefact that is Helix:

“Helix is a vast spiral construct, wound around a main sequence G-type sun, and is the work of an ancient alien race known only as the Builders. The helix resembles a spiral staircase made up of eight ‘twists’, four above the sun and four below. Each twist or circle consists of well over two thousand ‘sections’ or worlds, amounting to some ten thousand worlds. Each one is approximately forty thousand miles wide, with an ocean in between. Each ‘planet’ is barrel-shaped and rotates on a lateral, equatorial axis, like a bead on a string, and each has its own unique atmosphere and duration of rotation. The arms of the helix at the top and bottom, being further away from the sun, are polar in make-up; those closer to the sun are more clement. The alien races of the helix number some six thousand, at varying levels of technological accomplishment.” ‘