History Literature / GrandCentralArena

* SymbioticPossession: In ''Spheres of Influnce'', [[spoiler:Oasis Abrams's]] is revealed to carry two minds. In her backstory, the body of one of the minds was dying, and the mind of [[spoiler:Oasis Abrams]] was transferred into the brain of [[a Hyperion. By the time we meet her/them, their minds have sort of fused, creating a new amalgam personality.]]

The sequel, ''Spheres of Influence'', has been finished, and will be published in November 2013.

* ShoutOut:

A sequel has been announced as in progress, with the working title of ''Spheres of Influence''.

* FridgeLogic: The [[spoiler: willingness of humans to take more risks]] than other species they encounter in the Arena is justified if one considers that other species have been there longer; the non-humans have lived in a system where [[spoiler: going too far in betting can lose you ''solar systems'' or even the freedom of your entire species]] which would tend to make them [[spoiler: more conservative in their risk-taking]].

A GeorgeLucasThrowback SpaceOpera novel by Creator/RykESpoor.

* GeorgeLucasThrowback: To the pulp space opera of Creator/EEDocSmith and his contemporaries.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Ariane has blue hair, which she was born with as a legacy of genetic tinkering in one of her ancestors.

* ShoutOut: Lots, notably the ''Literature/{{Lensman}}'' and ''Literature/{{Skylark|Series}}'' series and ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary''.
** Several in-universe shout-outs to Creator/EEDocSmith (both {{Lensman}} and SkylarkSeries) due to Ariane being a fan.
** The Hyperion Project also provides in-universe shout-outs to the SkylarkSeries, as well as DocSavage, SherlockHolmes, and ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest''.

* ShoutOut: Lots, notably {{Lensman}}/SkylarkSeries and ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary''.

* GeorgeLucasThrowback: To the pulp space opera of EEDocSmith and his contemporaries.

** Several in-universe shout-outs to EEDocSmith (both {{Lensman}} and SkylarkSeries) due to Ariane being a fan.

A GeorgeLucasThrowback SpaceOpera novel by RykESpoor.

The Sandrisson Drive promises to give humanity FasterThanLightTravel of the distances-are-shorter-in-hyperspace variety. But when the ''Holy Grail'', the first manned FTL ship, transitions into Kanzaki-Locke space, it finds itself not in a featureless void, but contained within an enormous sphere encompassing the volume equivalent to the solar system. Outside the sphere is the Arena, where thousands of alien races interact and compete according to the rules laid down by the {{Precursors}} who built it. And if Captain Ariane Austin and her crew are ever to bring the Drive running again and get home, they'll have to face the wonders and dangers of the Arena and stake out a place for humanity in a universe stranger than they ever imagined.

The Sandrisson Drive promises to give humanity FasterThanLightTravel of the distances-are-shorter-in-hyperspace variety. But when the ''Holy Grail'', the first manned FTL ship, transitions into Kanzaki-Locke space, it finds itself not in a featureless void, but contained within an enormous sphere encompassing the volume equivalent to the solar system. Outside the sphere is the Arena, where thousands of alien races interact according to the rules laid down by the {{Precursors}} who built it. And if Captain Ariane Austin and her crew are ever to bring the Drive back up to speed and get home, they'll have to face the wonders and dangers of the Arena and stake out a place for humanity in a universe stranger than they ever imagined.

* UpTheRealRabbitHole[=/=]RecursiveReality[=/=]WelcomeToTheRealWorld[=/=]''something'': [[spoiler:The Hyperion Project]] took characters from fiction and raised people in simulations to make them into those characters, with excellent results apart from the ethical issues, the [[spoiler:MarySue]], and it all falling apart at the end.
** Also what one of the characters assumes when they initially discover where they are and the impossibilities (such as artificial gravity) they see. [[spoiler: Marc, having been been raised in such as environment]] responds rather negatively to the idea.

A GeorgeLucasThrowback SpaceOpera novel by RykESpoor. The good news: FTL travel is possible. The bad news: You don't get to travel through interstellar space, you get to enter the Arena and play by the {{Precursors}}' rules.

* EnergyBall: Of the [[ShockAndAwe made-of-electricity]] sort. One of the Shadeweavers' attacks.
** WordOfGod says that any energy type can be used; Amas-Garao just likes the zappy ball.

* HeavyWorlder: [[spoiler:Marc]] (see WorldOfCardboardSpeech below).

* IKnowMortalKombat: Most of the humans with regard to hand weapons. Of course, in the Solar System of GCA, the "simulators" are just as good AS the real world.

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: [[spoiler:Marc]]. "Your mistake, you pea-brained overbearing pompous crayfish, is that you think you have any idea of what you're dealing with."

* GeorgeLucasThrowback: Grand Central Arena ''is'' this trope, distilled and solidified.

** And on top of that, WordOfGod says that humans have a special ability that they've never noticed because they've only been competing against each other.

* FantasyGunControl, non-Medieval variant: Certain technologies just don't work in the Arena -- AI; nuclear reactors; nanotech beyond certain limits. This is assumed to be due to The Arena's deliberate intervention; it doesn't ''want'' you having those things to play with, so you don't.

* [=~Clarke's Third Law~=]: The Faith and the Shadeweavers. The whole Arena is this, too.