The Space Opera Renaissance

Space opera, once a derisive term for cheap pulp adventure, has come to mean something else in modern SF: compelling adventure stories told against a broad canvas, and written to the highest level of skill. Indeed, it can be argued that the new space opera is one of the defining streams of modern SF. Now, World Fantasy Awardwinning anthologists David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer have compiled a definitive overview of this subgenre, both as it was in the days of the pulp magazines, and as it has become in 2005. Included are major works from genre progenitors like Jack Williamson and Leigh Brackett, stylish midcentury voices like Cordwainer Smith and Samuel R. Delany, popular favorites like David Drake, Lois McMaster Bujold, and Ursula K. Le Guin, and modern-day pioneers such as Iain M. Banks, Steven Baxter, Scott Westerfeld, and Charles Stross.

David G. Hartwell, called “an editor extraordinaire” by Publishers Weekly, is one of science fiction’s most experienced and influential editors. He has been nominated for the Hugo Award thirty-one times. Kathryn Cramer co-edited the World Fantasy Award-winning anthology The Architecture of Fear and was the editor of its widely-praised sequel Walls of Fear. She has edited and co-edited several other anthologies. Hartwell and Cramer co-edit the annual Year’s Best Fantasy and Year’s Best SF series. They live in Pleasantville, New York.

Introduction: How Shit Became Shinola: Definition and Redefinition of Space Opera

I. Redefined Writers
Edmond Hamilton: The Star Stealers
Jack Williamson: The Prince of Space
Leigh Brackett: Enchantress of Venus
Clive Jackson: The Swordsman of Varnis

II. Draftees (1960s)
Cordwainer Smith: The Game of Rat & Dragon
Samuel R. Delany: Empire Star
Robert Sheckley: Zirn Left Unguarded, the Jenjik Palace in Flames, Jon Westerly Dead

III. Transitions/Redefiners (late 1970s to late 1980s)
David Brin: Temptation
David Drake: Ranks of Bronze
Lois McMaster Bujold: Weatherman
Iain M. Banks: A Gift from the Culture

IV. Volunteers: Revisionaries (early 90s)
Dan Simmons: Orphans of the Helix
Colin Greenland: The Well Wishers
Peter Hamilton: Escape Route
David Weber: Ms Midshipwoman Harrington
Catherine Asaro: Aurora in Four Voices
R. Garcia y Robertson: Ring Rats
Allen Steele: The Death of Captain Future

V. Mixed Signals/ Mixed Categories (to the late 1990s)
Gregory Benford: A Worm in the Well
Donald Kingsbury: The Survivor
Sarah Zettel: Fools Errand
Ursula K. Le Guin: The Shobies Story
Robert Reed: The Remoras
Paul McAuley: Recording Angel
Steven Baxter: The Great Game
Michael Moorcock: Lost Sorceress of the Silent Citadel
Michael Kandel: Space Opera

VI. Next Wave/21st Century
Tony Daniel: Grist
Scott Westerfeld: The Movements of her Eyes
Alastair Reynolds: Spirey and the Queen
Charles Stross: Bear Trap
John Wright: Guest Law