On the topic of Space Opera
Sunday, January 26th, 2014 09:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rolanniAsyouknowBob, Steve and I write Space Opera, starting when it was neither popular nor profitable, and continuing to, oh, Right Now. Along the way, we've heard our novels described as "Military SF*," which is where Space Opera goes to take cover when it's out of fashion; "Adventure SF;" "Romantic SF;" "SF Romance;" "SF Lite;" and "What Do You Call This, Because it's Not SF, Really, Is It?"
Happily, Space Opera has come 'round again on the guitar as being a recognized, if not exactly lauded, sub-genre of SF. Unhappily, there are a lot of odd ideas about what Space Opera is, which do seem to arise whenever it surfaces again as a sub-genre.
I recall, for instance, when Mr. Feintuch was still with us and writing his version of Space Opera, which was Very Bleak, and some readers (and editors, too) wouldn't touch any thing calling itself Space Opera, because Enough With the Bleak, Already.
My personal definition of Space Opera has always been that, on some level -- though, yes, we are Saving the Universe and All Like That -- at some level, I say, Space Opera needs to be fun.
And, yanno, just like Real Operas, Space Opera is a place where any old unlikely thing can happen (so long as the authors make it believable, which, to be fair, isn't always the case with Real Opera), including telepathy and all the other Psi skills, if you want them; Giant Turtles; FTL drives; Deathless Wanderers of the Star Lanes; True Love, and whatever yer havin' yerself.
So, anyway. . .in another part of the InterTubes, someone has put forth the observation that Space Opera has drifted away from including aliens, in order to focus of the diversity of human cultures. It's an interesting observation, and certainly we here in the Liaden Universe® celebrate the richness of human cultures. But we also celebrate the strangeness of Clutch Turtles, and of Korval's Damned Meddling Tree. And while we didn't exactly celebrate them, the Iloheen were certainly aliens.
However, as mentioned above, we started down this path more than a quarter-century ago.
What about newer Space Operas? Have we moved away from aliens, in favor of more human-centric stories? Or is it all in what you're reading? And, if that's the case, what are you reading?
Have at it.
_______
*I had the. . .surreal. . .experience of standing in an elevator with two young men at the Chicago WorldCon-but-one. And the first young man was describing this Really Cool Military SF Book he had just read. The plot, as he short-formed it, sounded Awfully Familiar, and just before they got off at their floor, the second young man asked after the title, and the first young man said, "Conflict of Honors."
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no subject
Date: 2014-01-26 06:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-26 11:21 pm (UTC)I, for one, don't believe in space operatic aliens -- by which I mean specifically the kind that can be portrayed by an actor with heavy latex make-up and crappy diction. Things that are in no way human are another matter, but then, sapient group-mind toadstools are kind of hard to generate human empathy for (if they're done accurately as fungi rather than a shaved ape in a mushroom suit).
Hell, it's hard enough to write a believable AI created by humans. I could get some mileage out of uplifted mammals (as with David Brin's chimps and gorillas and dolphins) -- they're pretty alien, actually, if done right. But evolution isn't convergent, and unless J. Random Alien evolved on a remarkably similar-to-Earth world, it ain't likely to resemble us any more closely than a crayfish or an octopus. And the only author who's nailed alien interstellar travellers for me in recent years is Peter Watts ("Blindsight").
(Which, incidentally, is my huge beef with Iain Banks' Culture novels. But I digress.)
'Bout the only way to plausibly have a universe full of humanoid aliens is to start with a human diaspora, radiate, and allow time for divergent adaptation. Which you can just about claim for the Liaden universe, I think (I've only read a few of the books).
... If you make it to Boskone, drag me into the bar to kick this football around over drinks?
no subject
Date: 2014-01-26 11:38 pm (UTC)Which we do indeed claim for the Liaden Universe.
... If you make it to Boskone, drag me into the bar to kick this football around over drinks?
You're on!
no subject
Date: 2014-01-26 11:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-26 11:48 pm (UTC)Both Joel Shepherd's Cassandra Kresnov and Ann Leckie's Ancillary series have aliens but they're off-stage. Humans are using the tech, but that's about it. I just finished Ancillary Justice and really liked it a lot. The main character, Breq, used to be an A.I. I found her view point to be somewhat alien.
Melita
no subject
Date: 2014-01-27 06:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-26 11:55 pm (UTC)While I do favour Space Marine and Space Navy fiction, they need to have a decent dose of the Opera element to keep me entertained or I get bored with the science and the action becomes too strategic making it hard work to read. I don't care if they achieve their miillitary objective or not if I don't cry while my favourite marines are dying. Aliens wouldn't be my favourite of the series if not for the developing relationships between Hicks, Ripley and Newt despite the overabundance of Space Marine action.
ummm... I just finished reading Crisis of Emipre - that had an alien underclass. Starfire, I'm 2/4 books into, has alien enemies even though it's predominantly human in its drama. Hmmm.... don't know how new they are, or how space operatic but at least a little, since I enjoyed the reads.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-27 12:20 am (UTC)I wonder if, in addition to the perception of Space Opera being considered 'fluff', publishers don't know what to do with the genre? So, as you've mentioned, it's labeled 'Military Sci-Fi" or "Adventure."
As a reader, it means I have to do a lot of browsing, because there isn't exactly a label that says: "This is a space-exploring, fast ships and awesome pilots, high-stakes story with alien cultures!" :)
I found Local Custom years ago at a B&N, because it looked like it would offer that sort of story. And I was right. But, unlike say, Urban Fantasy, or Horror, you can't point at a book and say "There, this is Space Opera!"
Which, yes, there is a blurring of genre lines, but I think that a lot of publishers don't know how to market a space opera book /as/ a space opera. The closest I've come across is Baen.
From a reader perspective, it can be a bit frustrating. Which is why when I do find an author I like who writes space opera, I tend to hang on to their books for dear life. ;)
no subject
Date: 2014-01-27 05:22 pm (UTC)Was it Clarke (?) who said that he did not know which would surprise him more -- if we are alone in the universe, or if we have company in the universe. It is still an open question.
What is Space opera?
Date: 2014-01-27 05:58 pm (UTC)Still seem to be a lot of them (dragons) around judging by covers in bookshops (maybe they were 'dragon storoes' not 'space opera'
(side question) Are cats alien (I'm fairly sure they mind read and they aren't quite human...)
On Pern there's definite spaceship (albeit an old and no longer used one). there is/was an AI system. However space wasn't the theme. Seems to me it counts, though the emphasis is human in most of the stories because to be enjoyable you have (for me at least) to empathise with characters and empathy with a wholly different/alien emotional landscape is just too hard (probably to write and read).
Part of the problem for me is finding (Space Opera or whatever) new writers I want to read. I tend to latch onto the ones I like and don't spend enough time looking for new authors but there's only 25 hours each day ya know...
Re: What is Space opera?
Date: 2014-01-27 06:45 pm (UTC)I was once the single-woman-point of an internet pile-on for asserting this in a fantasy reader's group.
Not an expert
Date: 2014-01-28 06:11 am (UTC)Am now reading a charming fantasy book called Carousel Sun. Not Space Opera of course. I'm pretty sure about that.
Carousel books
Date: 2014-01-28 06:16 am (UTC)Carousel ......
Date: 2014-01-28 07:21 am (UTC)Aliens vs. humans in Space Opera
Date: 2014-01-28 07:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-29 09:28 pm (UTC)