New Adventures in Space Opera. edited by Jonathan Strahan. 2024
NEW ADVENTURES IN SPACE OPERA
RATED 86% POSITIVE. STORY SCORE 4.0 OF 5
14 STORIES : 4 GREAT / 6 GOOD / 4 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 0 DNF
I always understood Space Opera as the genre definition that separated something like Star Wars or Guardians of the Galaxy from “Science Fiction” which was represented by Isaac Asimov, Gene Wolfe, or Arthur C Clarke. Which apparently isn’t the case in the mind of many scholars and commentators.
Before reading this anthology, I listened to The Coode Street Podcast Episode 588: Let’s Talk About Space (Opera), Baybee…. In this podcast episode you can hear Editor Jonathan Strahan and SciFi Scholar Gary K Wolfe wrestle with the history and definition of Space Opera. By the time Strahan was writing the forward to this anthology, he had settled on this definition.
It was at this time, around 2003, that I got caught up in online discussions of the new space opera, and went on to help to compile Locus’s special new space opera issue, and to co-edit The New Space Opera and The New Space Opera 2 with Gardner Dozois which covered it. It was an exciting time.
This book, though, covers what came next. The journey that picks up in 2011 with the publication of James S. A. Corey’s Leviathan Wakes (possibly the most popular space opera of the period), moves to Ann Leckie’s ambitious Ancillary Justice, Yoon Ha Lee’s Ninefox Gambit, and then to Nnedi Okorafor’s Binti, Martha Wells’ All Systems Red, Arkady Martine’s A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace, Tade Thompson’s Far from the Light of Heaven, Maurice Broaddus’s Sweep of Stars, and Emily Tesh’s Some Desperate Glory.
…
The fascination with empire faded and its terrible impact was more deeply interrogated. This is the move from the ‘new space opera’ to whatever comes next. What is it? It is more open, more diverse, has different points of view to present, and
powerfully and critically examines the political underpinnings of its stories, while still being everything that Silverberg, Hartwell, and Spinrad understood space opera to be.
In the 2020s the influences of the new space opera have been absorbed and space opera itself now stands somewhere between the sprawling empire of Teixcalaan and the glorious pulpy energy of Guardians of the Galaxy. It can be thoughtful and considered, analysing, deconstructing, and commenting upon what has come before in terms of politics, economics, race, gender, and more. It can also be garish goofy fun (a talking racoon, a face the size of a planet!). It’s all still space opera, as you will see in the pages to come.
This is a very different Space Opera anthology than the ones Strahan edited with Gardner Dozois. It is dominated by female writers, the science is much less “hard,” the descriptions less baroque. The stories show higher levels of character development and prose technique. The New Adventures in Space Opera are different because the genre is different..
What hasn't changed is a collection of a “who’s who” of modern science fiction and Jonathan Strahan focus on the selection of superb stories.
Four Stories Make My All-Time Great List:
“All the Colors You Thought Were Kings,” by Arkady Martine. 2016. Elias and his friends have covertly planned an assassination attempt during Tamar's upcoming succession duel against the current Empress. Elias must decide whether to go through with their treacherous plan or abandon it.
“Belladonna Nights,” by Alastair Reynolds. 2017. A poignant tale of loss, set in a far-flung future where humans attend lavish gatherings to reminisce and celebrate past glories. This story centers on one such event called the Belladonna Nights.
“Immersion,” by Aliette de Bodard. 2012. In a world where people can assume the avatars of other culture, there is a strong danger of losing oneself inside it.
“The Last Voyage of Skidbladnir,” by Karin Tidbeck. 2019. Beautiful and poetic story of an accidental jack-of-all-trades on a living spaceship with an animal encased in the metal of the ship. The animal is dying and must either be killed or find a new “shell.” I loved the warmth of this story.
New Adventures in Space Opera will be released on August 13, 2024.
I received an ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) for review in advance of publication. The opinions are my own
New Adventures in Space Opera
14 Stories : 4 Great / 6 Good / 4 Average / 0 Poor / 0 Dnf
How do I arrive at a rating?
“Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance,” by Tobias S. Buckell. 2017
Good. A robot living on the outside of a large interstellar ship has a moral dilemma when it is commanded to help a human war criminal escape justice.
“Extracurricular Activities,” by Yoon Ha Lee. 2017
Good. A story full of good, old-fashioned espionage and action. A cunning military commander is sent to rescue a captured old friend and discovers things are more complex than they seem.
“All the Colors You Thought Were Kings,” by Arkady Martine. 2016
Great. Elias and his friends have covertly planned an assassination attempt during Tamar's upcoming succession duel against the current Empress. Elias must decide whether to go through with their treacherous plan or abandon it.
“Belladonna Nights,” by Alastair Reynolds. 2017
Great. A poignant tale of loss, set in a far-flung future where humans attend lavish gatherings to reminisce and celebrate past glories. This story centers on one such event called the Belladonna Nights.
“Metal Like Blood in the Dark,” by T. Kingfisher. 2020
Good. Two giant robots (Brother and Sister) are captured by an enemy and have to evolve and find a way to survive. It is interesting with the ways in the which the robots transform their thinking and their bodies to increasingly deceptive purposes. Upgrade from my original review of average. I was original put off my the fantasy-style poetic language, but it didn’t bother me much this time.
“A Temporary Embarrassment in Spacetime,” by Charlie Jane Anders. 2017
Average. A tongue-in-cheek, twee, pastiche of the zany space opera romps of old. Two vulgar and chaotic ‘anti-heroes’ are on the run after stealing from a space cult.
“Immersion,” by Aliette de Bodard. 2012
Great. In a world where people can assume the avatars of other culture, there is a strong danger of losing oneself inside it.
“Morrigan in the Sunglare,” by Seth Dickinson. 2014
Good. With radiation death imminent and certain, a captain and her star pilot discuss what one has to become in order to kill without hesitation in war.
“The Old Dispensation,” by Lavie Tidhar. 2017
Good. A story of espionage, sabotage, discovery, and betrayal in a universe controlled by variations of Judaism.
“A Good Heretic,” by Becky Chambers. 2019
Average. After a religious ritual that should have taken hold doesn’t, the protagonist must come to grips with her feelings of failure, betrayal, and lack of identity.
“A Voyage to Queensthroat,” by Anya Johanna DeNiro. 2020
Average. The narrator, an old woman, recounts how she first met the young woman who would become the Empress when the narrator saved her and then guided her escape. Reads very much like fantasy and not ideal for this anthology.
“The Justified,” by Ann Leckie. 2019
Average. In a world where some groups of people are constantly reborn, Het is given and assignment to eliminate the threats to the powers.
“Planetstuck,” by Sam J. Miller. 2023
Good. A sexworker/spy, who travels the universe though ‘gates,’ discovers that his home world may not actually be completely cut off from everyone else.
“The Last Voyage of Skidbladnir,” by Karin Tidbeck. 2019
Great. Beautiful and poetic story of an accidental jack-of-all-trades on a living spaceship with an animal encased in the metal of the ship. The animal is dying and must either be killed or find a new “shell.” I loved the warmth of this story.
