The New Space Opera

The New Space Opera is an anthology of short stories by some of the best sci-fi writers today. I picked up the first issue of this series (released in 2007) earlier this year. It's a 515 page tome containing 18 stories, edited by the venerable Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan.

What is space opera? It's one of those things that you know it when you see it. In the "good old days" of science fiction, it characterized most of what was produced: fanciful, oftentimes melodramatic, stories with epic settings, heroic action and technology that may not be grounded in reality. The writers of Ancient Greece would be comfortable with space opera. Star Wars is certainly space opera, but Star Trek is not. The term was considered derogatory for some time as the genre wallowed in the toilet. But in recent years, it’s enjoyed a resurgence as quality has returned minus some of the absurdities.

Since I hold no illusions as to being current with the sci-fi book scene, I thought that this collection would expose me to new (to me) writers while getting to savor new treats from familiar favorites.

Rating System:
5 Excellent
4 Very Good
3 Good
2 Fair
1 Poor
0 Awful

“Saving Tiamaat” by Gwyneth Jones - 2
“Verthandi’s Ring” by Ian McDonald - 2
“Hatch” by Robert Reed - 4
“Winning Peace” by Paul J. McAuley - 3
“Glory” by Greg Egan - 3
“Maelstorm” by Kage Baker - 5
“Blessed by an Angel” by Peter F. Hamilton - 5
“Who’s Afraid of Wolf 359?” by Ken Macleod - 4
“The Valley of the Gardens” by Tony Daniel - 5
“Dividing the Sustain” by James Patrick Kelly - 4
“Minla’s Flowers” by Alastair Reynolds - 5
“Splinters of Glass” by Mary Rosenblum - 5
“Remembrance” by Stephen Baxter - 4
“The Emperor and the Maula” by Robert Silverberg - 4
“The Worm Turns” by Greg Benford - 4
“Send Them Flowers” by Walter Jon Williams - 4
“Art of War” by Nancy Kress - 4
“Muse of Fire” by Dan Simmons - 5

The first two stories, “Saving Tiamaat” and “Verthandi’s Ring”, left me cold. I really didn’t connect with them, though the former ended well. The latter was so far in the future with vast time scales and god like technology that it seemed like I was reading mythology. After going 0 for 2, I was afraid that I might’ve made a mistake in picking up this book.

But the third story, “Hatch” by Robert Reed, got me. The story is the latest in a series of tales which take place on an alien constructed, Jupiter-sized starship circumnavigating the galaxy. Humans, and many other aliens, are just along for the ride.

“Winning Peace” and “Glory” were solid stories. The former dealt with a post-interstellar war treasure hunt while the latter concerned an archaeological dig on an alien world in the midst of a cold war threatening to turn hot.

Things took a turn for the better after that.

“Maelstorm” is about the amusing misadventures of a production company on Mars performing a retro form of entertainment known as “plays.”

There’s nothing amusing about the diabolical exploits of the titular character in “Blessed by an Angel.” It brought the promise of immortality, but the price was one’s soul. And “no” really wasn’t an answer it wanted to hear.

“Who’s Afraid of Wolf 359?” takes the clever play on words and runs with it.

“The Valley of the Gardens”, one of a few stories in which humanity gets its ass handed to it, skillfully pits bioengineered humans versus an extra-universal lifeform that achieved sentience when the universe only contained subatomic particles.

“Dividing the Sustain” is another amusing tale in which humans re-engineer themselves with strange physical characteristics to avoid becoming stale.

“Minla’s Flowers” shows that no matter how hard you try to save a world from destruction, you inevitably wind up destroying it. Good intentions and roads to brimstone destinations and all that. It’s such a good story that it convinced me to go out and buy Alastair Reynolds’ novel Revelation Space.

“Splinters of Glass” is an excellent tale of intrigue and love beneath the ice on Europa.

“Remembrance” is another Earth’s ass gets brutally kicked story. The problem is, no one remembers it. Well, one guy does.

“The Emperor and the Maula” is a bit gentler in its ass kicking of Earth. Humor salves the wound though. In order to save our world, a woman seeks an audience with the Emperor. But as Earth is considered barbaric, barbarians are to be executed upon setting foot upon the capitol world.

Corporations will always be up to shenanigans. Hostile takeovers for competitors will go on, whether the prize is greater telecom market share or wormholes. In “The Worm Turns” a plucky woman is sent out to traverse a wormhole before someone else can snatch away the rights to it.

“Send Them Flowers” lets us know that the laws of physics may change from one to universe to the next but love triangles are still messy.

History shows us that you can learn a lot about a culture by studying its art. In “Art of War” the same holds true for aliens, but whoever heard of soldiers as artists?

“Muse of Fire” ends the book on a spectacular note. A Shakespearean production company is tasked with performing various works of the Great Bard for humanity’s alien overlords. The performance of the work will determine whether our species lives or dies.

All in all, this is a great collection of stories that will please most sci-fi fans. Hard sci-fi purists are the only group that I don’t see enjoying this anthology. I’ll have to pick up volume two and see what great tales Messrs Dozois and Strahan have gathered for us to read.

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