Category Archives: The New Space Opera

The New Space Opera in The Library Journal

And another lovely review for The New Space Opera, this time in Library Journal:

Library Journal
Award-winning editors Dozois (editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine) and Strahan (reviews editor of Locus and co-editor of Science Fiction: The Best of . . . and Fantasy: The Best of… anthology series) have put together an exceedingly fine set of stories written specifically for this collection by some of the best sf authors writing today. These 18 tales run the gamut from technologically centered hard science (think exploding comets and artificial intelligence) to character-driven soft science (settling on new worlds). Alien perspectives are balanced by humanistic introspection. Many of the stories mine the genre’s favorite nuggets by exploring political and ethical questions from varied and unusual points of view. In the great tradition of space opera-not to be confused with soap opera, although there is some similarity in the epic sprawl of the underpinnings-the collection shows both remarkable diversity and cohesiveness. Standouts from Kage Baker, Paul J. McAuley, Nancy Kress, Gregory Benford, and Dan Simmons, among others, make this a solid purchase for public libraries with sf and/or short story collections.

New Space Opera reviewed

Another great review for The New Space Opera, this time from Booklist.

The New Space Opera.
Dozois, Gardner (editor) and Jonathan Strahan (editor).
June 2007. 528p. Eos, paperback, $15.95 (0-06-084675-5).
REVIEW. First published May 15, 2007 (Booklist).

The rich space opera tradition, extending from the off-world voyages of Verne and Wells to this galaxy-embracing anthology, is arguably sf’s most prolific subgenre. Veteran anthologist Dozois and coeditor Strahan present some of the newest boundary-stretching variations on the category’s many themes. Accordingly, the roster of contributors includes some of contemporary sf’s brightest innovators, such as Peter Hamilton and Robert Silverberg, as well as such rising stars as Tony Daniel and Mary Rosenblum. Ian McDonald brilliantly sketches entire future cultures and histories in “Verthandi’s Ring,” the main concern of which is millennia-old intergalactic battles. In “Hatch,” Robert Reed describes the precarious lifestyle of a small human society eking out a living on the surface of a Jupiter-sized starship. Other tales monitor species-changing scientists, an eccentric Martian arts colony, and Earth’s last traumatized survivor. In sheer breathtaking, mind-expanding scope, this collection of some of the finest tale-spinning the subgenre has to offer delivers hours of exhilarating reading.

— Carl Hays