Set in the 26th century. Involves fringe-of-empire settlers breaking away from an overbearing Earth government dominated by the Japanese Empire . . . which had the sense to grab the high ground of space when the U.S. abandoned it in the early 2000s.

Most of the first book revolves around a war with some VERY strange aliens. Books two, three and four pit frontier rebels against the Empire. Books five and six involve both rebels and Empire in a struggle against a malevolent AI machine threat from the Galactic Core.

Series highlights include intense combat sequences both in space and planetside, mecha, nanotechnology, personality uploading, full-sensory virtual reality, unique and very alien aliens, biofactured android slave castes, and more.