Opening Atlantis is commonly considered the first novel in the Atlantis Series (it was preceded by two novelettes, "Audubon in Atlantis" and "The Scarlet Band", but Opening takes place before these). It was published by Roc in December 2007. However, it is not a novel but a collection of three novellas that chart the history of the continent Atlantis through the eyes of English fisherman Edward Radcliffe and his descendants.
The first of these novellas, "New Hastings", chronicles the discovery of the semi-continent. "Avalon", the second novella, chronicles the destruction of the pirates of Avalon, led by Red Rodney Radcliffe, a descendant of Edward, by a joint Anglo-Dutch-Atlantean navy under the leadership of Red Rodney's cousin, William Radcliff, in the mid-1660s. "Nouveau Redon," the third and longest novella in the collection, follows the Atlantean campaign of the French and Spanish War, which sees French Atlantis conquered and annexed to British Atlantis.