The books are titled Pallas, about homesteading the second largest worldlet in the Asteroid Belt, Ceres, about terraforming the largest, and right between them, Ares about pursuing the same objectives on Mars. There will be other books, Rosalie's World, about an extrasolar planet, and Beautiful Dreamer, about ... I'm not sure I can tell you in a few words.

In these two excerpts from Ares, 20-something William "Billy" Ngu, the oldest of Emerson Ngu's eight children, plans a mission from Pallas to Mars to aid the East America/United Nations colonists sent there and abandoned by their socialist governments.

On Mars, he will also meet Marine Lieutenant Julie Segovia, the love of his life ... but that's another story.

ALICE

He could feel it through the floor.

As the gigantic Marshall Services' hangar door rolled thunderously to the oil-stained but well-scrubbed concrete floor below, and sealed with a pneumatic hiss, the cavernous space began to fill with air and light and warmth. Watching gauges, Billy Ngu pulled his helmet off for an unobstructed look at the craft that was going to be his first command.

A cloud of water vapor formed around the ship which had been outside, but in the shade at nearly Absolute Zero for a long time. It needed to be opened up and warmed. It would probably require several hours.