Grand themes of saving civilization as we know it, complete with romance and heroism and death and great villains, set on a multi-planetary scale. Plan B and its antecedents by Lee and Miller, of course. The Mageworld series by Doyle and Macdonald. Star Wars (the first movie now known as A New Hope). The other five movies don't qualify as they don't have the quality required for great space opera. Wagner or Verdi with spaceships.
Well, they may not be in fashion, but I think that it is far more possible to do your own niche thing nowadays... I am much less likely to go to a bookstore with the blank slate desire to find 'something interesting to read' ... partly, alas, because the sections I frequent are mostly being filled by the computer recs, without apparent human modification, and do not feel *loved,* but also because my TBR list is adjusted ahead of time, based on release dates that I'm already aware of, or (for new authors) mailing list &c fan buzz.
hm, I'm not sure it's a 'definition': If it's easy to use (or mis-use) the adjective 'epic' when describing some aspect of the book...
Dune? Cherryh's SF? Bujold's Vorkosigan stuff?
Oddly enough, I persist in thinking that Cordwainer Smith's stuff is, while not precisely Space Opera, perhaps 'kin to space opera.' But the ways he shows potential physical action sequences are different. -- megd
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Examples... will ponder. Good space operas seem to be out-of-fashion lately. I blame the postmodernists.
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(Anonymous) 2004-09-24 11:44 am (UTC)(link)hm, I'm not sure it's a 'definition':
If it's easy to use (or mis-use) the adjective 'epic' when describing some aspect of the book...
Dune?
Cherryh's SF?
Bujold's Vorkosigan stuff?
Oddly enough, I persist in thinking that Cordwainer Smith's stuff is, while not precisely Space Opera, perhaps 'kin to space opera.' But the ways he shows potential physical action sequences are different.
--
megd