The "New" Space Opera

The New Space Opera; edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan (EOS, 2007, ISBN 978-0-06-084675-6, cover by Stephan Martiniere).

I picked this volume up on the basis of the one editor (Dozois) and the lineup. I've been impressed enough with the works of folks like Reynolds, Hamiltion, McAuley and Macleod, let alone Benford and Silverberg, that the presence of several unfamiliar names did not deter me.

The Introduction by Dozois and Strahan runs down the sub-genre, although I'll admit where the "new" comes from still puzzles me. I've always been a fan of space opera and never saw it die out and thus create a divide between "old" and "new". It's been morphed and refreshed, but it has always been there. Point to me a period when we didn't have space opera. The 1970's? The 1980's? I'll dig through my collection and find somebody who was practicing "space opera".

Saving Tiamatt (Gwyneth Jones): Hit the rocks already! I started reading this book several months ago. Alas, the first tale of the collection not only did not seem to be at all appropriate of the sub-genre, but was such a confused jumble that I stopped reading the collection. Next year!

Verthandi's Ring (Ian McDonald): Somewhat jumbled at times, but definitely space opera! Space opera with a galaxy-spanning view, like an Olaf Stapledon tale linked with the hard-physics approach of Alastair Reynolds or Stephen Baxter. Good stuff!

Made up of: Introduction (Gardener Dozois and Jonathan Strahan); Saving Tiamaat (Gwyneth Jones); Verthandi's Ring (Ian McDonald); Hatch (Robert Reed); Winning Peace (Paul J. McAuley); Glory (Greg Egan); Maelstrom (Kage Baker); Blessed By An Angel (Peter F. Hamilton); Who's Afraid of Wolf 359? (Ken Macleod); The Valley of the Gardens (Tony Daniel); Dividing the Sustain (James Patrick Kelly); Minla's Flowers (Alastair Reynolds); Splinters of Glass (Mary Rosenblum); Remembrance (Stephen Baxter); The Emperor and the Maula (Robert Silverberg); The Worm Turns (Gregory Benford); Send Them Flowers (Walter Jon Williams); Art of War (Nancy Kress); Muse of Fire (Dan Simmons).

Counts as two (2) entries in the 2007 Year in Shorts.

Part of the 2008 Year in Shorts.

Part of the 2009 Year in Shorts.