Ruff! Guide to Space Opera
Leigh Reynolds
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2011 Leigh Reynolds
Dedicated to Edgar Rice Burroughs, E. E. 'Doc' Smith, C. L. Moore, Alex Raymond, Leigh Brackett, Edmond Hamilton, Julius Schwartz, Stan Lee, Gene Roddenberry, James H. Schmitz, Anne McCaffrey, Terry Nation, Marc W. Miller, Steve Jackson, Paul Levitz, Keith Giffen, Gardner Dozois, Stephen Baxter, Alastair Reynolds, Neal Asher, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning and other mastersingers of the space opera yet to come.
With soundtrack by Queen.
Space Opera is a subgenre of science fiction. The two progenitors of space adventure work whose descendants and colleagues that will be discussed in this book are :
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edmond Hamilton
Burroughs with his creation of John Carter and Dejah Thoris gave rise to the colorful adventures on a Venus with jungles and an ancient, dusty Mars. Both full of monsters, ancient races and troves of technology if you could find them. Lots of sword-slinging type hand to hand action can often be found in these stories of alien peoples, monsters and mad scientists.
Smith's vision gives us the giant ships in outer space duelling with destructive energy weapons or missiles and wars with aliens and the exploration of distant galaxies via amazing technological achievements. There are also plenty of super agents down on planets, desperately trying to stop the insidious plots of the bad guys, raygun in his hand or brainblasting mindbolt in her head, ready to put things to right.
The two, of course, can intersect. These are the two strains of romantic or large scale adventure and other stories that will be followed throughout this book.
USING THIS BOOK
This Ruff! Guide is designed to give an overview of space opera in all its many forms to point people towards the best or most interesting work, or to help them find what is out there when they are unsure of where to look. Or indeed looking for more that is similar. It is also only intended to be for English language work, or that which has been translated into English.
It is broken down into sections :-
Prose - The heading for each author will be linked to their entry at ISFDB - the internet database of speculative fiction, if they have such an entry. Not that these are not always comprehensive or complete, especially with the rise of digital publishing. In each entry, the author's name should link to Wikipedia if such a page exists, otherwise perhaps to their home page or other relevant url. Sometimes Wikipedia pages will include bibliographies for an author or editor, or will link to subpages that do. Wikipedia has been chosen because Kindle users with the right model get free access to that resource even if they do not have the wider internet available. At the end of this section is a list of Tie-In novels of interest.
Comics - The heading should link to a Wikipedia article on the company involved. In the entry, the links will be to articles about the character, group, work and creators if they exist. At the end of each entry there will usually be a link to relevant Comic Book DB entries.
Role Playing Games - The heading should link to a Wikipedia article on the company involved or occasionally the company page. In the entry, the links will be to articles about the work and creators if they exist.
Video/Computer Games - Each entry should have a relevant game or series link to a Wikipedia article where they exist.
Radio - Each entry should have a link to a Wikipedia article about the work where they exist.
Animation - Each entry should have a link to a Wikipedia article about the work where they exist.
Rock Music - Each title should have a link to a Wikipedia article about the work where they exist.
Board Games - Links to lists of resources are given, and entries for a sampling of titles are linked to their Wikipedia articles.
Puppetry - Each entry should have a link to a Wikipedia article about the work where they exist.
Television - Each entry should have a link to a Wikipedia article about the work where they exist. In the case of franchises with multiple series or properties each of these will fall under the broad general heading. e.g. you will find Star Trek: The Next Generation under Star Trek.
Movies - Each entry should have a link to a Wikipedia article about the work where they exist. If there is more than one movie in a series, they will fall under the general heading. e.g The Empire Strikes back will be under Star Wars.
Timeline - A list that goes year by year listing entries for important and interesting space opera works in all media.
How much space opera has been written? Quite a lot, really. So much so that it is impossible for any one person to have read it all. The later you are born, the harder that task becomes. How do you even find all the old magazines and books that such stories might be in to find, to start with, lacking infinite resources? This is also particularly dependent on where you live.
Availability is also an issue, with the US-UK divide in work being sold. Before the 1980s and 1990s books from the USA were far less common. The USA garden variety midlist writer is also unlikely to appear here as they have competition from local work, the closer ties to the UK for publishing and local work and authors that are more of interest. Many books are blocked from being bought digitally, too, even in the crazy cases where you live in the same city as the author. Science fiction fans though are big consumers of literature, so googling for sources of such may well find you want you can't buy even though you want to. The Book Depository or Amazon thanks to the competition from the former will try and get you new paper books cheaply as they can. Abebooks will do likewise for amalgamating the sellers of the used dead tree variety.
The rise of digital publishing means work can be sold independently whether via Amazon's Kindle, or Smashwords, or Fictionwise or other small independent publishers selling their work directly. I definitely recommend you check out these options.
Although I have tried to give a broad coverage, you can only write about what you are actually aware of. I also have not included every instance of an isolated decent or worse short story I have come across, at least in detail. Anyone that has suggestions for other work of interest, please feel free to send them to :
galacticnorthpress@netspace.net.au
Movies have novelisations.
A
Forrest J. Ackerman
Forrest J. Ackerman was the man responsible for bringing the world's most famous space vampire, Vampirella to Earth and also was responsible for having translated into English over an hundred adventures of the German created space hero Perry Rhodan. The Peace Lord of the Universe whipped Earth into shape with his band of immortals and super powered mutant humans and aliens, then went after other regions of space. A series that is still going into the four figure numbers now, in German. Fun, knocked out work for hire stuff. You'd also have to be pleased with the space opera scale sales numbers at well over a billion sold in the various languages.
A minor note is that he also assisted C. L. Moore with her Northwest Smith story Nymph of Darkness.
Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams is of course famous for comedy, and the radio show cum novel cum TV show cum example of the American version of anything from anywhere else is no good rule movie that is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The spoofing is extremely funny with the adventures of a nebbishy Earthling and his mate who happens to be a freelance alien travel writer. From past the Vogon Constructor Fleet that demolishes Earth to improve traffic flow to cruising around with Zaphod Beeblebrox on the starship Heart of Gold with its Infinite Improbability Drive.
After the brilliance of the first novel the second, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe is still very good, but it is rapidly downhill from there, and you should skip the rest.
There's a good short story Young Zaphod plays it safe.
The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The
Restaurant At the End of the Universe
Young
Zaphod Plays It Safe
John Joseph Adams
John Joseph Adams is an editor, formerly an underling at Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine and now the editor of Lightspeed, and a successful new breed anthologist. At the former publication he was likely responsible for bringing us some space opera stories, and given the title of the new magazine will again with the latter. Or if he doesn't, someone should take him, tie him up and give him the Vogon Poetry Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster Drip treatment.
A book of note that he edited is Federations, which takes a look at the galactic civilisation or empire theme.
The recommended stories here at the Card, Foster, Tolbert and Silverberg.
There are also links to several of the stories free online at the excellent website he has put together for the anthology at the Federations Anthology website.
Mazer in Prison - Orson Scott Card
Carthago Delenda Est - Genevieve Valentine
Life-Suspension - L. E. Modesitt
Terra-Exulta - S. L. Gilbow
Aftermaths - Lois McMaster Bujold
Someone is Stealing the Great Throne Rooms of the Galaxy - Harry Turtledove
Prisons - Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason
Different Day - K. Tempest Bradford
Twilight of the Gods - John C. Wright
Warship - George R. R. Martin and George Guthridge
Swanwatch - Yoon Ha Lee
Spirey and the Queen - Alastair Reynolds
Pardon Our Conquest - Alan Dean Foster
Symbiont - Robert Silverberg
The Ship Who Returned - Anne McCaffrey
My She - Mary Rosenblum
The Shoulders of Giants - Robert J. Sawyer
The Culture Archivist - Jeremiah Tolbert
The Other Side of Jordan - Allen Steele
Like They Always Been Free - Georgina Li
Eskhara - Trent Hergenrader
The One with the Interstellar Group Consciousnesses - James Alan Gardner
Golubash or Wine-War-Blood-Elegy - Catherynne M. Valente
Ann Aguirre
Ann Aguirre is a writer of many genres, focused on the romance end of things it would appear. She has a six book series about a mutant with the ability to navigate ships faster than light. The first four are out, and I have read the first chapter excerpts of each. Sirantha Jax would appear to be a bit more hardboiled than some romance heroes, so this looks like a possibility, and definitely of interest to the romance fans.
Brian Aldiss
While Brian Aldiss has written a little of this sort of work, including the good story of Silurian wipeout, T, it isn't worth bothering with other than that. The interest in him lies as an anthologist, and the three following books in particular. Galactic Empires can be found in an omnibus of both books, or separately.
Aldiss is guilty of editorialus canthelphimhselfus in picking stuff that doesn't fit, too, and is a strange choice of editor in general for these particular themes, it not being his interest or forte. So the books have big flaws from that point of view, but if you want a selection of somewhat relevant work from the fifties era then grabbing these cheap secondhand is worth a look.
Space Opera : Zirn Left Unguarded the Jenghik Palace in Flame Jon Westerley Dead - Robert Sheckley
Space Opera : The Red Brain
Space Opera : A Honeymoon in Space [excerpt] - George Griffith
Space Opera : Tonight the Sky Will Fall! - Daniel F. Galouye
Space Opera : The Star of Life - Edmond Hamilton
Space Opera : After Ixmal - Jeff Sutton
Space Opera : Sea Change - Thomas N. Scortia
Space Opera : Breaking Point - James E. Gunn
Space Opera : The Sword of Rhiannon [excerpt] - Leigh Brackett
Space Opera : All Summer in a Day - Ray Bradbury
Space Opera : The Mitr - Jack Vance
Space Opera : The Storm - A. E. van Vogt
Space Opera : The Paradox Men [excerpt] - Charles L. Harness
Space Opera : Time Fuze - Randall Garrett
Space Opera : The Last Question - Isaac Asimov
Space Opera : The Answer - Frederic Brown
The best stories in Space Opera are Sheckley's sendup of space heroes, Garrett's Time Fuze and the unintended disastrous consequences of interstellar spaceflight, and Asimov's last question. The two novel excerpts from Brackett and Harness are also pretty good, and those works are certainly recommended.
Space Odysseys : The Sentinel - Arthur C. Clarke
Space Odysseys : Galactic Patrol [Excerpt] - Edward E. Smith
Space Odysseys : The Lake of the Gone Forever - Leigh Brackett
Space Odysseys : Reason - Isaac Asimov
Space Odysseys : Time Is the Traitor - Alfred Bester
Space Odysseys : The Impossible Planet - Philip K. Dick
Space Odysseys : The Unfinished - Frank Belknap Long
Space Odysseys : And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side - James Tiptree, Jr.
Space Odysseys : The Empress of Mars - Ross Rocklynne
Space Odysseys : I'm Going to Get You - F. M. Busby
Space Odysseys : Strange Exodus - Robert Abernathy
Space Odysseys : Star Ship - Poul Anderson
Space Odysseys : To Each His Star - Bryce Walton
Space Odysseys : The Big Hunger - Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Space Odysseys : Night Watch - James Inglis
The best work here includes the Clarke story, from which the famous 2001 descended. A no-brainer for a collection with this title. Brackett's Lake of the Gone Forever, with a man searching for what happened to his father on another world thanks to the strange body of water in the title. The Tiptree, Asimov and Inglis are solid.
Galactic Empires 1 : Been a Long Long Time - R. A. Lafferty
Galactic Empires 1 : The Possessed - Arthur C. Clarke
Galactic Empires 1 : Protected Species - H. B. Fyfe
Galactic Empires 1 : All the Way Back - Michael Shaara
Galactic Empires 1 : The Star Plunderer
Galactic Empires 1 : Foundation [short story] - Isaac Asimov
Galactic Empires 1 : We're Civilized - Mark Clifton and Alex Apostolides
Galactic Empires 1 : The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal - Cordwainer Smith
Galactic Empires 1 : The Rebel of Valkyr - Alfred Coppel
Galactic Empires 1 : Brightness Falls from the Air - Margaret StClair
Galactic Empires 1 : Immigrant - Clifford D. Simak
Galactic Empires 1 : Resident Physician - James White
Galactic Empires 1 : Age of Retirement - Mal Lynch
Galactic Empires 1 : Planting Time - Pete Adams & Charles Nightingale
The best stories here are the Planet Stories romances from Anderson and Coppel, the latter interesting in that sometimes a space princess has to do without her hero, let him go, and be a queen instead, at the end. Then there is the glorious strangeness of Cordwainer Smith and his lost planets, time wonkiness and killer cats. The Asimov is a bit of his famous Foundation series, and James White a space doctor.
Galactic Empires 2 : Escape to Chaos - John D. MacDonald
Galactic Empires 2 : Concealment - A. E. van Vogt
Galactic Empires 2 : To Civilize - Algis Budrys
Galactic Empires 2 : Beep - James Blish
Galactic Empires 2 : Down the River - Mack Reynolds
Galactic Empires 2 : The Bounty Hunter - Avram Davidson
Galactic Empires 2 : Not Yet the End - Fredric Brown
Galactic Empires 2 : Tonight the Stars Revolt! - Gardner F. Fox
Galactic Empires 2 : Final Encounter - Harry Harrison
Galactic Empires 2 : Lord of a Thousand Suns
Galactic Empires 2 : Big Ancestor - F. L. Wallace
Galactic Empires 2 : The Interlopers - Roger Dee
The best stories in the second volume are MacDonald's rebel leader hunt tale, Blish's space time communication, and Roger Dee's Interlopers, with the Fox and Anderson fun, too.
Space
Opera
Space
Odysseys
Galactic
Empires Volume One
Galactic
Empires Volume Two
Galactic
Empires
T
Roger Macbride Allen
Roger Macbride Allen is the author or over 20 science fiction novels, none of which I have read. This also includes some Star Wars work. The majority appear to be of definite space opera interest.
Lou Anders
Lou Anders is an editor and anthologist who via his Pyr imprint has been responsible for publishing some work such as Mike Resnick's Starship Series or Kay Kenyon's Entire and the Rose, republishing some space opera novels, most notably John Meaney's Nulapeirion Sequence. There will also be the occasional story in an anthology, such as Paul Cornell's new style planetary romance of super space agents Catherine Drewe. Probably not likely to be a lot more there as these days they largely put out fantasy.
However, they do have Kristine Kathryn Rusch's Diving Into the Wreck and sequel upcoming, as well as a reprint of Paul J. McAuley's Quiet War and Gardens of the Sun. So it would appear that the occasional book may still come.
Directly relevant, however, this is an interview with him on the agony column podcast, Talking About Space Opera.
Poul Anderson
Poul Anderson is a Grand Master of Science Fiction and a writer with an enormous output from the Golden Age through give decades later. He wrote for Planet Stories, producing some of the best tales to be found there. Therein was the genesis of Captain Dominic Flandry, Defender of the Terran Empire, and the rest of Anderson's extensive Polesotechnic Future History. It also stars the capitalist space merchant and mangler of bon mots Nicholas Van Rijn and his protege David Falkayn and his friends. Fans of the Legion of Super-Heroes will note that some incarnations of their founder and funder R. J. Brande bear some resemblance to Van Rijn and his quirks. Live well, delegate to the young, be in charge, but shoot if you have to.
Flandry was a flamboyant spy and warrior who often, like James Bond, often believed in solving problems by starting with wine, women, song and maybe some punting, whether duelling with telepathic opposition spymasters or barbarian warlords. Not always, however, as sometimes clandestine infiltration is the way to go.
The interesting thing about the Flandry stories and books is that it does follow his career, from the brash young agent that could get past a couple of hours sleep and a hangover to an elderly senior military official trying to slow the decline of the Terran Empire and hold back the barbarian hordes, and maybe keep his next generation alive into the bargain.
Baen is republishing the entire Technic History and is currently several volumes in, whether in paper or DRM free ebook. So you can check out some extensive samples of there. A large amount of this work is good, but I have just listed the very good or better examples below.
From the Planet Stories era Duel on Syrtis is a story of a human who pays to hunt a Martian, Sargasso of Lost Starships is the reunion and conflict between a super powered alien woman and a human military officer from a losing side, and Witch of the Demon Seas is similar thematically, but much more Sword and Planet, with a pilot and rebel captured and forced to show sorcerers safe passage to the land of another race and potential lucrative exploitation. Some of which you will find online by following the links, or for the usual online purchase.
Anderson certainly has other space opera work, and given the hundreds of short stories and all the books it is pretty much impossible for anyone to get to it all without immense effort, and anything from around 1980 onwards as far as actual original publication date goes it likely isn't worth it. There's a Planet Stories tale I have never seen, for example.
Agent of the Terran Empire : 1 Tiger by the Tail
Agent of the Terran Empire : 2 Warriors From Nowhere!
Agent of the Terran Empire : 3 Honorable Enemies
Agent of the Terran Empire : 4 A Handful Of Stars
David Falkayn Star Trader : Territory
David Falkayn Star Trader : The Trouble Twisters
David Falkayn Star Trader : Day of Burning
David Falkayn Star Trader : The Master Key
David Falkayn Star Trader : Satan's World
David Falkayn Star Trader : A Little Knowledge
David Falkayn Star Trader : Lodestar
Rise of the Terran Empire : Mirkheim
Rise of the Terran Empire : Wingless
Rise of the Terran Empire : Rescue On Avalon
Rise of the Terran Empire : The Star Plunderer
Rise of the Terran Empire : Sargasso of Lost Starships
Rise of the Terran Empire : The People Of The Wind
Agent
of the Terran Empire
David
Falkayn: Star Trader
Duel
On Syrtis
Flandry
of Terror
The
Long Night
The
Man Who Counts
Margin
of Profit
The
Master Key
Rise
of the Terran Empire
Sargasso
of Lost Starships
The
Star Fox
The
Star Plunderer
Tiger
by the Tail
Time
Lag
Trader
to the Stars
The
Plague of Masters
Witch
of the Demons Seas
Piers Anthony
Piers Anthony is likely best known for the Xanth kids fantasy series or the Incarnations of Immortality, but he did produce some work for older readers in this area, the Cluster series.
Here, travel to far away worlds is enabled by those with strong 'Kirlian auras' allowing them to use technological means to transfer their personalities into host bodies, to become troubleshooters. Also of interest may be his Bio of a Space Tyrant series. The standalone book Steppe has a barbarian yanked out of time to play in what is basically a live-action interstellar massively multiplayer game, with odd in-game adjustments for the scale of the thing. He has written many novels, lots of which I am unfamiliar with.
Vicinity
Cluster
Chaining
the Lady
Steppe
Christopher Anvil
Christopher Anvil is the author of the Interstellar Patrol series of stories. They are notable for being more of the brains before blasters variety, even if sometimes of necessity. A lot of military centred stories are to be found in his work, and plenty of entertainment in the humans outwit aliens type of tale. Lots of this is only of the ok variety, quite a few are good, but a handful stand out.
Baen have these available in all varieties, DRM-free and buyable anywhere. So extensive samples of some will be available online.
The
King's Legions
Pandora's
Planet
Sellers
Market
Test
Ultimate
The
Trojan Hostage
The
Troublemaker
Eleanor Arnason
Eleanor Arnason is a not particularly prolific author of several novels and quite a few more short stories, a couple of series of which are relevant. The scientific romance of the Hwarhath aliens and their different way of looking at things, and the adventures of Lydia Duluth, as seen in the large tentacled beastie tale Moby Quilt. None of which will be easy to find, being a distributionless author, it would seen. You'll be able to score one here or there in an anthology.
Kevin J. Anderson
Kevin J. Anderson is certainly prolific. However, as a novelist I rate him a good short story writer, but unfortunately none of those I have come across are space opera. As well as that, he is one of the guilty parties in bringing about interminable Dune prequels and now even worse I think, midquels and probably sequels, maybe all the way through to Spice Espresso Machine of Dune.
As a consequence I haven't read his big fat space opera sequence The Saga of Seven Suns. However, he has produced some Star Wars novels which are more palatable, and something I did like, he edited an anthology based around what happened to those whacky characters at the Mos Eisley Cantina. e.g. why was Greedo so dumb?
We Don't Do Weddings: The Band's Tale – Kathy Tyers
A Hunter's Fate: Greedo's Tale – Tom and Martha Veitch
Hammertong: The Tale of the Tonnika Sisters – Timothy Zahn
Play It Again Figrin D'an: The Tale of Muftak and Kabe – A. C. Crispin
The Sand Tender: The Hammerhead’s Tale – Dave Wolverton
Be Still My Heart: The Bartender’s Tale – David Bischoff
Nightlily: The Lovers' Tale – Barbara Hambly
Empire Blues: The Devaronian’s Tale – Daniel Keys Moran
Swap Meet: The Jawa's Tale – Kevin J. Anderson
Trade Wins: The Ranat's Tale – Rebecca Moesta
When the Desert Wind Turns: The Stormtrooper’s Tale – Doug Beason
Soup's On: The Pipe Smoker's Tale – Jennifer Roberson
At the Crossroads: The Spacer's Tale – Jerry Oltion
Doctor Death: The Tale of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba – Kenneth C. Flint
Drawing the Maps of Peace: The Moisture Farmer's Tale – M. Shayne Bell
One Last Night in the Mos Eisley Cantina: The Tale of the Wolfman and the Lamproid - Judith Reeves-Stevens and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Tales From the Mos Eisley Cantina
Catherine Asaro
Catherine Asaro is notable for her Saga of the Skolian empire, novels and short stories about an interstellar empire. I haven't read much of her work other than a couple of short stories. She writes romance-featuring work, and perhaps is unique in following that style of storytelling while having a physics PhD and also including maths and physics in her writing as opposed to more science-fantasy. There's also a strong novella, The Space-Time Pool that may be of interest to space opera readers.
The
Ruby Dice
Aurora
In Four Voices
Neal Asher
Neal Asher is one of the leading proponents of and most consistent producers of New Space Opera. His major work is an extensive future history about an area of space ruled by humans and their supposedly benevolent AI overlords that range in size and power. Interstellar ship travel is possible, as is teleportation. Humans such as Agent Ian Cormac help police the planets and space, such as when you need to stop a psychopathic maniac and his killer robot in Gridlinked.
There are remnants of nasty alien technology, super cyborgs, alien crab men and things even stranger. And if anything was ever deserving of fangirl squeeing, it would be his OMG proficiency with creating monsters. Hooders and more, and Gabbleducks are a glorious thing. One of the Polity sequences focus on the planet Spatterjay, where don't go in the water is a very serious warning. Occasionally the creatures that live there will transform humans into Hoopers, changing their biology so they become long-lived, strong, and strange. Gridlinked starts out as a personal super-agent story, but the scope expands greatly through the rest of the series, as do the stakes and discoveries of what is really going on. The Polity universe also has sentient ships and robots or 'drones', much as in Iain Banks Culture, but of a more down to earth variety than the toffee nosed gits you at times find there.
A common weakness of 21st century authors is having novels go on too long, and this problem weakens some of Asher's novels more than necessary - and he has written some shorter longer works, too, so to speak. However, he has a great facility for short fiction, and in fact is somewhat better in this area than as a novelist. So we are thankful he writes as many of them as he does, and they have been conveniently gathered in more than one collection, the titles of which will be listed below. The Art of Plausible Aliens is an online interview, and some excerpt and information on the Polity Universe and book orders are linked below. The rest are his strongest work, story, novel and collection.
Gabble and Other Stories : Softly Spoke the Gabbleduck
Gabble and Other Stories : Putrefactors
Gabble and Other Stories : Garp and Geronamid
Gabble and Other Stories : The Sea of Death
Gabble and Other Stories : Alien Archeology
Gabble and Other Stories : Acephalous Dreams
Gabble and Other Stories : Snow in the Desert
Gabble and Other Stories : Choudapt
Gabble and Other Stories : Adaptogenic
Gabble and Other Stories : The Gabble
Let us hope he continues to be productive at all lengths for some time to come.
The
Engineer
The
Gabble
The
Gabble and Other Stories
Garp
and Geronamid
Gridlinked
1
Gridlinked
2
The
Line of Polity
Line
War
Polity
Books Order and Timeline
The
Thrake
Polity
Encyclopedia
The
Skinner
The
Skinner: The Art of Plausible Aliens
Softly
Spoke the Gabbleduck
Mike Ashley
Mike Ashley is a researcher, editor and author in other genres as well as SF. As such, his anthologies have contained some space opera, as per the example below. The article is an example of his research, and his work has helped to illuminate the history of this sub-genre.
The
Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction
Son
of Space Opera
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov is a grandmaster of science fiction, but not of space opera. He wrote some Lucky Starr books for kids, and a few short stories of interest, and that is all. The Foundation series will be of interest to fans of the Galactic Empire sub-genre and its history. He gave it a shot early with Black Friar of the Flame Planet Stories type stuff, but probably realised it was rubbish, and he was rubbish at it so turned his attention elsewhere. C-Chute is a get captured and into trouble in space story.
B
Bill Baldwin
Bill Baldwin is a science fiction writer who has produced an intergalactic military sf series called The Helmsman Saga. I have never seen any of these.
Iain M. Banks
Iain M. Banks was an early New Space Opera scribe, most noted for his Culture series of books and stories. He has the opposite problem to Kevin J. Anderson, in that as a short story writer he makes a good novelist. And like Neal Asher, he has a tendency to bloat, particularly evident in the horribly padded and dull Matter. Some earlier work is orders of magnitude better and is listed below.
The Culture is almost a utopia. People can alter their bodies, and mostly do whatever they like. Unless, of course, a xenophobic alien galactic empire tries to kill them and take over. Here's where Special Circumstances comes in, along with the military ships and drones, to try and stop such things. Consider Phlebas is a little different from the rest in that the protagonist is a shapeshifting agent of opponents of the Culture, as they hunt for a lost ship AI mind. The Player of Games has a top ranked master of game playing employed as an agent to win a contest and help to destabilise a brutally repressive non-Culture planet. The Algebraist is an over the top standalone work complete with inscrutable aliens and crazed supervillains. A Few Notes is a non-fiction piece with Banks talking about this particular future history. Want to know why those loopy ships have such silly names? etcetera etcetera.
The
Algebraist
Consider
Phlebas
A
Few Notes On the Culture
The
Player of Games
Arthur K. Barnes
Arthur K. Barnes wrote a series of short stories about Gerry Carlyle, the Interplanetary Huntress, who tracked down exotic and dangerous animals from all over the Solar System. They also featured the man she would eventually marry as they managed to get into trouble singly and together, and bring down some bad guys into the bargain. You will find most of them free online.
Interplanetary Huntress : 1 The Hothouse Planet
Interplanetary Huntress : 2 Dual World
Interplanetary Huntress : 3 Satellite Five
Interplanetary Huntress : 4 The Energy Eaters
Interplanetary Huntress : 5 The Seven Sleepers
John Barnes
John Barnes has written some novels that may be of interest in the Thousand Cultures series, but is also the author of a fine short story.
Jamie Barras
Jamie Barras has written several short stories, only two of which I have seen, so there may be more of interest past this far future exploration.
William Barton
William Barton has written several short stories and apparently quite a few novels, none of which I have read or even ever seen. However, they would mostly definitely appear to be of interest, and a good chance of being decent if his short stories are anything to go by, often being space oriented like the fine example noted here.
Stephen Baxter
Stephen Baxter is an extremely prolific science fiction writer, in both the short and long form through a great variety of subgenres. The work of interest here is the Xeelee sequence, a range of novels and stories of astonishing scope and variety, and with complex interlinking that we likely have not seen the end of yet, as characters from one sequence appear in another. These take humans from spaceflight through contact with aliens, enslavement, fightback, immense cosmic engineering and to the end of time. Another writer where the short work is better than the long. So much so that I have read all the Xeelee short form pieces but have felt no need to delve into the novels as a result. Lots of them are collected in Vacuum Diagrams and Resplendent. Many of these are good, so below I just list the standouts, which is a significant number as you can see.
Vacuum Diagrams : The Sun-People
Vacuum Diagrams : The Logic Pool
Vacuum Diagrams : Gossamer
Vacuum Diagrams : Cilia-of-Gold
Vacuum Diagrams : Lieserl
Vacuum Diagrams : Pilot
Vacuum Diagrams : The Xeelee Flower
Vacuum Diagrams : More Than Time or Distance
Vacuum Diagrams : The Switch
Vacuum Diagrams : Blue Shift
Vacuum Diagrams : The Quagma Datum
Vacuum Diagrams : Planck Zero
Vacuum Diagrams : The Gödel Sunflowers
Vacuum Diagrams : Vacuum Diagrams
Vacuum Diagrams : Stowaway
Vacuum Diagrams : The Tyranny of Heaven
Vacuum Diagrams : Hero
Vacuum Diagrams : Secret History
Vacuum Diagrams : Shell
Vacuum Diagrams : The Eighth Room
Vacuum Diagrams : The Baryonic Lords
Vacuum Diagrams : Eve
Resplendent : Cadre Siblings
Resplendent : Conurbation 2473
Resplendent : Reality Dust
Resplendent : All in a Blaze
Resplendent : Silver Ghost
Resplendent : The Cold Sink
Resplendent : On the Orion Line
Resplendent : Ghost Wars
Resplendent : The Ghost Pit
Resplendent : Lakes of Light
Resplendent : Breeding Ground
Resplendent : The Dreaming Mould
Resplendent : The Great Game
Resplendent : The Chop Line
Resplendent : In the Un-Black
Resplendent : Riding the Rock
Resplendent : Mayflower II
Resplendent : Between Worlds
Resplendent : Siege of Earth
Barrier is a Fermi Paradox story.
Easily the most impressive example of an ongoing future history produced in the 21st century.
Barrier
Blue
Shift
Breeding
Ground
The
Chop Line
Cilia
of Gold
Conurbation
2473
Ghost
Wars
Gossamer
The
Great Game
On
the Orion Line
Raft
Riding
the Rock
Remembrance
The
Xeelee Sequence Timeline
Resplendent
The
Seer and the Silverman
Elizabeth Bear
Elizabeth Bear has written a number of series of novels, as well as a lot of short stories, but these days seems to mostly be writing fantasy. Dust is the beginning of a Generation Ship series - and it is mostly de rigueur for these to become very strange over time, and this is no exception. Why wouldn't you develop wings, anyway? Also of possible interest is her Jenny Casey trilogy beginning with Hammered, and also the novel Undertow. Unfortunately an author of no particular popularity, and hence no longer on sale here, so I doubt I will be reading any more of these.
Greg Bear
Greg Bear has written in several genres, but mostly science fiction with some fantasy and thrillers, and has equal facility with short fiction. The Cold War period set novel Eon, with the discovery of a giant artifact and the conflict over the secrets it holds is his major work. He does not produce a lot, and his newest book is a Generation Ship story, which I have not read. Anvil of Stars has a small group of remaining humans fleeing a destroyed Earth into space. Hardfought is a short story of a new breed of space warrior, and likewise Scattershot gives more strangeness of probability and universes.
Gregory Benford
Gregory Benford is an author who doesn't write as much as we would like because he is too busy with reality and his own superscience. Come on, Greg, have 'em whip up a fast-grow clone of you and chain him to the keyboard. He is still the author of a number of novels and short stories, the latter of which he still has time to produce. These encompass a range of subgenres.
As far as space opera goes, if you took Stephen Baxter's Xeelee Sequence and took out the Silver Ghosts and the Qax and put in Fred Saberhagen's Berserkers or something like them, you would have Benford's Galactic Centre series, as humans established in the galaxy come into conflict with machines. Heart of the Comet is Generation Starship on Astronomical Object as novel. Unfortunately have never found all the Galactic Centre series to read. Maybe his clone can digitise those in his spare time. The Hydrogen Wall is a far future alien intelligence story, and A Worm in the Well is the story of a ship captain with some hard choices facing her.
Heart
of the Comet
The
Hydrogen Wall
A
Worm In the Well
Alfred Bester
Alfred Bester was an author and editor who wrote in a multiple media, and here is most notable for his novel of teleportation revenge, The Stars My Destination. I do not rate this book anywhere near as highly as most people do. The head of the Psi Corps on Babylon 5 was named after him, and spawned his own series of books.
Jerome Bixby
Jerome Bixby was an author and editor, and as the latter was influential because he worked at Planet Stories. He also wrote a few Star Trek episodes.
Planet
Stories 44
Planet
Stories 46
Planet
Stories 49
James Blish
James Blish was a science fiction and fantasy author and critic, whose series such as Cities In Flight and the Seedling Stars are of interest, and a common setting for some stories is The Haertul Scholium. I have read some of his stories, but not the aforementioned novels. Blackout In Cygni, Solar Plexus etc. are subgenre. He is also noted for many early Star Trek novelisations, and also did Star Trek the Motion Picture.
Ben Bova
Ben Bova is an author and editor, and as the latter has been responsible for publishing some space opera at Analog and Omni. He does have one of his Orion novels set in space, and his major SF work involves many novels and stories about Solar System exploration and conflict, which may be of interest.
The Last Decision is a keeping a Galactic Empire going story.
Leigh Brackett
Leigh Brackett was known as the Queen of Space Opera. The greatest proponent of the Planetary Romance story was also a gifted crime writer and screenwriter, and also notable for writing the first draft of The Empire Strikes Back. The author of ten SF novels and several dozen short stories on top of her crime work, her greatest creation was Eric John Stark, a wild antiheroic warrior who roamed the Solar System on Mars and Venus, occasionally finding women to match him, but never settling, and eventually out into the galaxy in a trilogy of novels set on the dying planet Skaith. The hardboiled iconoclastic sensibility of her characters along with her rationalist approach to writing in amongst the super science, monsters and decaying ancient civilisations produced something unique and wonderful. Ray Bradbury finished Lorelei of the Red Mist when she had to go to Hollywood to work, and she wrote Stark and the Star Kings with her husband Edmond Hamilton. You will find the early adventures and some other stories free online, and a large part of the rest are included in Baen collections, DRM-free which I most definitely recommend. There were several collections from her lifetime, and some hardback collectibles being produced now by Haffner.
She also edited an anthology, The Best of Planet Stories :-
Lorelei of the Red Mist - Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury
The Star Mouse – Fredric Brown
Return of a Legend – Raymond Z. Gallun
Quest of Thig – Basil Wells
The Rocketeers Have Shaggy Ears – Keith Bennett
The Diversifal – Ross Rocklynne
Duel on Syrtis – Poul Anderson
Further detail on her future history as humans move out into the hostile stars can be found at Leigh Brackett's Future History: Connecting the Stories - An Examination
And more about Leigh Brackett's work than you will probably ever want to know at Leigh Brackett (ology).
Listed below are a couple of interviews, and you'll find more of the above, one online and one downloadable audio.
The Shadows, and Last Call From Sector 9G are two of the humans out in the galaxy stories.
It was rare that she wrote an ordinary story, so the overwhelming majority of her work is good or better, SF or crime, but this is the cream of the science fiction listed below.
You will certainly find some of her work online, too.
Stark and the Star Kings Haffner : The Star Kings – Edmond Hamilton
Stark and the Star Kings Haffner : Queen of the Martian Catacombs
Stark and the Star Kings Haffner : Enchantress of Venus
Stark and the Star Kings Haffner : Black Amazon of Mars
Stark and the Star Kings Haffner : Return to the Stars – Edmond Hamilton
Stark and the Star Kings Haffner : Stark and the Star Kings - Leigh Brackett and Edmond Hamilton
Eric John Stark Saga : The Ginger Star: Volume I of The Book of Skaith
Eric John Stark Saga : The Hounds of Skaith: Volume II of The Book of Skaith
Eric John Stark Saga : The Reavers of Skaith: Volume III of The Book of Skaith
Eric John Stark Saga : The Secret of Sinharat
Eric John Stark Saga : People of the Talisman
Eric John Stark Saga : Stark and the Star Kings
Eric John Stark Saga : The Star Kings – Edmond Hamilton
Eric John Stark Saga : Return to the Stars – Edmond Hamilton
Beyond Mars : No Man's Land in Space
Beyond Mars : Child of the Green Light
Beyond Mars : Outpost on Io
Beyond Mars : The Halfling
Beyond Mars : The Dancing Girl of Ganymede
Black Amazon of Mars and Other Tales From the Pulps : Black Amazon of Mars
Black Amazon of Mars and Other Tales From the Pulps : A World Is Born
Black Amazon of Mars and Other Tales From the Pulps : Child of the Sun
Mercury's Light : The Demons of Darkside
Mercury's Light : A World Is Born
Mercury's Light : Cube From Space
Mercury's Light : Shannach—The Last
Martian Quest : Martian Quest
Martian Quest : The Treasure of Ptakuth
Martian Quest : Water Pirate
Martian Quest : The Sorcerer of Rhiannon
Martian Quest : The Veil of Astellar
Martian Quest : The Beast-Jewel of Mars
Martian Quest : The Last Days of Shandakor
Martian Quest : Mars Minus Bisha
Martian Quest : The Road to Sinharat
Martian Quest : Purple Priestess of the Mad Moon
Martian Quest Haffner : Martian Quest
Martian Quest Haffner : The Treasure of Ptakuth
Martian Quest Haffner : The Tapestry Gate
Martian Quest Haffner : The Stellar Legion
Martian Quest Haffner : The Demons of Darkside
Martian Quest Haffner : Water Pirate
Martian Quest Haffner : Interplanetary Reporter
Martian Quest Haffner : The Dragon-Queen of Jupiter
Martian Quest Haffner : Lord of the Earthquake
Martian Quest Haffner : No Man’s Land in Space
Martian Quest Haffner : A World Is Born
Martian Quest Haffner : Retreat to the Stars
Martian Quest Haffner : Child of the Green Light
Martian Quest Haffner : The Sorcerer of Rhiannon
Martian Quest Haffner : Child of the Sun
Martian Quest Haffner : Out of the Sea
Martian Quest Haffner : Cube from Space
Martian Quest Haffner : Outpost on Io
Martian Quest Haffner : The Halfling
Martian Quest Haffner : The Citadel of Lost Ships
Stark and the Star Kings : Stark and the Star Kings - with Edmond Hamilton
Stark and the Star Kings : Enchantress of Venus
Stark and the Star Kings : The Lake of the Gone Forever
Stark and the Star Kings : Child Of the Sun
Stark and the Star Kings : Retreat To the Stars
Stark and the Star Kings : The Jewel of Bas
Book Of Skaith : The Ginger Star
Book Of Skaith : The Hounds of Skaith
Book Of Skaith : The Reavers of Skaith
Eric John Stark Outlaw Of Mars : The Secret of Sinharat
Eric John Stark Outlaw Of Mars : People of the Talisman
Solar System : Mercury's Light
Solar System : Swamps of Venus
Solar System : Sea-Kings of Mars
Solar System : Shadow Over Mars
Solar System : Beyond Mars
Solar System : Martian Quest
Solar System : Alpha Centauri or Die
Lorelei Of the Red Mist : The Blue Behemoth
Lorelei Of the Red Mist : Thralls of the Endless Night
Lorelei Of the Red Mist : The Jewel of Bas
Lorelei Of the Red Mist : The Veil of Astellar
Lorelei Of the Red Mist : Terror Out of Space
Lorelei Of the Red Mist : The Vanishing Venusians
Lorelei Of the Red Mist : Lorelei of the Red Mist - with Ray Bradbury
Lorelei Of the Red Mist : The Moon That Vanished
Lorelei Of the Red Mist : The Beast-Jewel of Mars
Lorelei Of the Red Mist : Quest of the Starhope
Lorelei Of the Red Mist : The Lake of the Gone Forever
Lorelei Of the Red Mist : The Dancing Girl of Ganymede
Stark
and the Star Kings
Author's
Introduction to Stark and the Star Kings
The
Eric John Stark Saga
Lorelei
of the Red Mist
The
Beast-Jewel of Mars
Beyond
Mars
Black
Amazon of Mars and Other Tales From the Pulps
The
Blue Behemoth
Child
of the Green Light
The
Citadel of Lost Ships
The
Demons of Darkside
The
Dragon Queen of Venus
Enchantress
of Venus
The
Halfling
Mars
Minus Bisha
Mercury's
Light
The
Moon That Vanished
Planet
Stories Feature Flash
Queen
of the Martian Catacombs
The
Reavers of Skaith
The
Secret of Sinharat
The
Shadows
The
Sorcerer of Rhiannon
The
Stellar Legion
The
Hounds of Skaith
Last
Call From Sector 9G
The
Last Days of Shandakor
Lorelei
of the Red Mist-Planetary Romances
Martian
Quest The Early Brackett
Martian
Quest
Sea
Kings of Mars
Stark
and the Star Kings and Other Stories
The
Sword of Rhiannon
Black
Amazon of Mars
The
Book of Skaith
Eric
John Stark: Outlaw of Mars
The
People of the Talisman and the Secret of Sinharat
Sea
Kings of Mars and Otherworldly Stories
The
Secret of Sinharat
The
Solar System
Swamps
of Venus
Tony
Macklin Interview
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Marion Zimmer Bradley was a fantasy and science fiction author most well know for The Mists of Avalon. She was also an editor of the long-running Sword and Sorceress series. Earlier in her career she produced some novels of subgenre interest along with some short stories such as Death Between the Stars or The Colour of Space. Her extensive science fantasy Darkover (colony with psionic powered people) may also be of interest, but I have not read any.
Reginald Bretnor
Reginald Bretnor is an author of science fiction and non-fiction about science fiction, best known for a long-running humorous bunch of short stories. Gilpin's space is a novel about the invention of a hyperdrive - which they promptly put in a submarine! There is also an associated novella.
Chris Bunch
Chris Bunch was the author of around 30 novels and a smaller number of short stories, both science fiction and fantasy. With Allen Cole, he produced the Sten series of military sf novels about a young man taken from a dangerous planet and made into an interstellar commando (along with a motley crew of mates) in an empire powered by antimatter and ruled by an ancient emperor. His Star Risk series is also of interest.
C
John W. Campbell
John W. Campbell is best known for his editing of Astounding/Analog magazine for over 30 years, and the writing of the story Who Goes There? that has been filmed as The Thing. As the former, he introduced more than a few tales of interest, including Lee Brackett's first Mars story. He wrote some stories and novels such as Brain Stealers of Mars and the Planeteers that are in the subgenre, but are of no interest now.
Some of his stories you will find online.
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card is best known for his novel Ender's Game. Would you call a novel about stealth training child genius warriors into fighting immense space battles a space opera? Up to you, but some of the sequels more certainly are more so, as you have intelligent AI inventing interstellar travel methods, for example, and more than one space fleet. The problem here is that the sequels really aren't worth bothering with, except for Ender's Shadow, which unsurprisingly enough is a retelling of Ender's Game from the point of view of his vertically challenged fellow child genius aide.
You'll also find the short story Ender's Game was based on online to read.
Ender's
Game
Ender's
Shadow
Ender's
Game short story
Lin Carter
Lin Carter could have opened a press called Homages 'n Pastiches, as he copied Edgar Rice Burroughs and Lester Dent and others merrily. Only read if you are a fan of that sort of thing, the Callisto series, the Mars series, etc. As a writer, he made a really good editor, but that was of fantasy in a Year's Best series and novel line and Sword and Sorcery in particular.
Jeffrey A. Carver
Jeffrey A. Carver is a science fiction author of over a dozen novels, the majority of which appear to be of space opera interest, as you can tell from titles like Down the Stream of Stars and others like it. He also has produced the first Battlestar Galactica book of the new series. I have not read any as yet. However, he has also written a few short stories, and several of those I have read. These are solid, and several are available at his website and a couple like Dog Star and Though All the Mountains Lie Between are of interest.
You'll find a Carver book in the Baen Free Library, and others to buy at Webscriptions.
Paul Chafe
Paul Chafe is an unprolific science fiction writer at either length, with a handful of novels and a handful of short stories. Along with some work in Larry Niven's Man-Kzin wars series, he has two novels of his own about a Generation Ship.
Jack L. Chalker
Jack L. Chalker was a competent writer of SF adventure whose best work involves the Well of Souls series. A strange compartmentalised structure with each enclave containing a different race, and travelling there means you are turned into one of the locals. The galaxy is also overseen by powerful immortals, if you can find them and they can remember who they are then maybe you can hire: Nathan Brazil.
Chalker wrote occasional short fiction and also did some editing and SF research work. He produced many series and standalone novels and Baen has many of his books in the usual nice format.
Midnight
at the Well of Souls
The
Return of Nathan Brazil
A. Bertram Chandler
A. Bertram Chandler was a competent writer of space opera, and produced around 40 novels, most of which fall into this category. He was an extremely prolific short story writer, penning around 200. It was here you find his forte and upper range with stories like Giant Killer, The Mountain Movers and Frontier of the Dark. A merchant marine officer I find his work charming, as this also describes my grandfather, both of a similar vintage.
His major work was a series of novels and stories about John Grimes, a naval offer who recalcitrant individualism costs him his commission, so he undertakes work for hire and eventually ends up running his own show out on the rim. You might think a naval type series would be a little staid, but with the somewhat unstable interstellar drive systems that these ships run you can end up in an Alternate Universe if you are not careful. He had some colourful opponents and companions along the way until he settles down.
Chandler was English but became Australian, and the stories have a little Australian flavour, which even now is mostly unheard of in Northern Hemisphere SF, which makes it all the more endearing. As does the large omnibus collections available in multiformat DRM-free at great prices at Baen. By a quirk, a last Grimes story was just published recently, thanks to Paul Collins and Jack Dann. At the end of the list are a couple of non-fiction pieces online.
Catch the Star Winds : Chance Encounter
Catch the Star Winds : Catch the Star Winds
Catch the Star Winds : On the Account
Catch the Star Winds : The Dutchman
Catch the Star Winds : The Last Hunt
Catch the Star Winds : Rim Change
Hard Way Up : With Good Intentions
Hard Way Up : The Subtracter
Hard Way Up : The Tin Messiah
Hard Way Up : The Sleeping Beauty
Hard Way Up : The Wandering Buoy
Hard Way Up : The Mountain Movers
Hard Way Up : What You Know
Rim Gods : The Rim Gods
Rim Gods : The Bird-Brained Navigator
Rim Gods : The Tin Fishes
Rim Gods : Last Dreamer
Catch
the Star Winds
Firebrand
Frontier
of the Dark
Grimes
at Glenrowan
Grimes
and the Gaijin Daimyo
The
Hard Way Up
Naval
Engagement
The
Outsiders
The
Rim Gods
To
Run the Rim
John
Grimes Autobiographical Notes
My
Life and Grimes
Perry A. Chapdelaine
Perry A. Chapdelaine is a forgotten writer who penned a couple of novels and a dozen short stories. Brood World Barbarian is of the sword and planet ilk. A man becomes a hero in the arena and the focal point for opposition to oppressive rule. I have not seen any of his other work, but you will find this story online.
Robert N. Charrette
Robert N. Charrette produced a couple of military SF type novels about the Interstellar Defense League. Also some Battletech books for those that like their mecha.
C. J. Cherryh
C. J. Cherryh is a writer of science fiction and fantasy with a career spanning over three decades, several dozen novel and also a reasonable number of short stories. She has an extensive Future History called the Alliance-Union Universe. I have tried to read her work multiple times, but although ok, I find it flat and uninvolving and haven't pursued it very far.
Hellburner is one such novel, about the search for people with the physical skills to pilot a new type of spacecraft.
Note that she, along with several other authors has started selling her work online at Closed Circle in nice DRM free books, and Hellburner is one of those available so far. So fans should check that out.
Deborah Chester
Deborah Chester the author of 30 or so romance, fantasy and science fiction novels. Under the pseudonym Sean Dalton she wrote a six novel series called Operation StarHawks, about your classic super secret agents of space tearing around the galaxy on missions only they can manage.
She also wrote four standalones under the name Jay Blakeney, which are also of definite interest with Planet Patrols, lone warrior galactic quests, giant death machines, etc.
Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke, Like that other grandmaster of sf Isaac Asimov, this was not his area of expertise. Of his many novels and stories he did have a few pieces of interest. The famous 2001 may be too, of course. Superiority is a short story about a local space weapon confrontation.
John Clute
John Clute is an encyclopedist, editor and critic and the writer of the inferior of the two science fiction properties named Appleseed. As an author, he is a good all of the others above. His novel also displays the fact that few people in the world like the Complete Oxford Dictionary more than him. He also has produced a few short stories.
Michael Cobley
Michael Cobley is an author of science fiction and fantasy both long and short, and has begun a New Space Opera series called Humanity's Fire, which is currently up to the second volume. It looks decent, going by the only paltry excerpt from book 1 that is available.
Glen Cook
Glen Cook is an author of fantasy and science fiction, but largely fantasy later in his career. In the eighties he produced a couple of series of interest, the Darkwar and Starfisher sequences, which are both worth a look, one featuring some aliens, and the latter interfamily corporate military conflicts and spying. Two standalone novels, The Dragon Never Sleeps and the extremely tense and claustrophobic submarines-in-space novel Passage At Arms.
Alfred Coppel
Alfred Coppel was an author of science fiction. He wrote a couple of space opera series of novels and a reasonable amount of short fiction. The Glory series follows the travels of a large space ship when everyone else has lost such technology. The Rhada series (written under the Robert Cham Gilman pseudonym) has a dilettante nobleman and his sentient spaceship adventuring, in the main, along with some assistance from telepathic alien advisors. This series grew out of his planetary romance story The Rebel of Valkyr which is much better. Android usurpers, alien wizard engineers, nasty relatives and their political games, assassination, a young-should-be-empress under siege and the one warlord who will stand by her. Duels and smoke filled spaceships transporting horses. Lots of fun and bittersweet.
Paul Cornell
Paul Cornell is a Doctor Who nerd and writer in multiple media, including comics. Of interest is a series of stories about a super agent in an alternate future Britain named Jonathan Hamilton. The first story is Catherine Drewe, and you will find it online thanks to Pyr. Hamilton in superspy mode travels to Mars, with the titular woman his antagonist.
Juanita Coulson