My love for science fiction began when I was very young.  I was only six years old when the original Star Wars was released in theaters and was still a teenager when Star Trek: The Next Generation aired on television for the very first time.  In many ways, my early formative years were greatly influenced by these two largely popular American icons.

In my junior year of high school, I started working on my own science fiction series that, like Star Wars, originally took place in a far away galaxy.  The creative process began as a world-building project with descriptions of the planets, aliens, and characters, as well as a detailed history of two generations of interstellar conflicts.  By the time I was in college, I had completed my first draft and entitled it “The Succession Wars.”  My goal had always been to write an entire series of stories, but with both school and work consuming my life, the project I’d been so passionate about eventually became a forgotten notebook full of printed pages turning yellow on a shelf.

Twenty years later, I found myself at a point in my life where I was struggling with long-term unemployment and severe depression and was desperate to find anything that would keep me feeling motivated.  One afternoon, as I was sorting through some old mementos, I ran across that dusty old notebook and was immediately inspired to do a total re-write of that fictional world I’d created so long ago.  The first major change I made was to move the main setting into Earth’s nearby stellar neighborhood.  I also spent many long hours researching dozens of confirmed star systems to give it a more plausible and grounded tone.

Reminiscent of the great western migration of the 1800s across the United States, “VAST FRONTIER” chronicles the first one hundred years of Human colonization outside of our own solar system.  Taking place across a diverse assortment of worlds, my goal was to convey a grittier outlook on science fiction, with an enduring sense of achievement over adversity, and well-developed characters with relatable conflicts.  Rather than presenting this as a single autonomous narrative, it was always intended to be an anthology of stories set within a broad fictional universe.

Officially online since 2015, I am currently working on the third revision of this comprehensive guide to the star systems, planets, and sentient life forms.  The story itself has always seemed to have a life of its own and has constantly changed and evolved along the way.  From the very beginning, my reason for writing this has been primarily for my own personal satisfaction, but my hope is that there might be writers out there, or graphic artists, or video game designers, or even filmmakers, who might one day be interested in utilizing this universe to reach a broader audience.

I would like to thank Rob Hicks for designing this website and ultimately bringing this project to life.  I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to all of the people who have supported me with their ideas and feedback along the way.  This has literally been a lifelong dream for me which has finally become a reality.

Glenn McDaniel

May 2025