The New Space Opera 2

May 25, 2009
This solid follow-up anthology to 2007's The New Space Opera
includes 19 new stories that show how far space opera has come since its pulp beginnings in the '30s and '40s. These entertaining and provocative tales of interstellar adventure, written by a laundry list of genre heavyweights, range from Mike Resnick's “Catastrophe Baker and a Canticle for Leibowitz,” a campy misadventure that follows a larger-than-life freelance hero on his quest to regain a musical theater producer's lost song, to John Meaney's “From the Heart,” set in his Nulapeiron universe, which revolves around spy Carl Blackstone and an unlikely—and surprisingly poignant—love story at the galactic core. The impressive diversity of stories reaffirms that soap opera is alive and well, and where some of the genre's most innovative writing is taking place.

July 15, 2009
From Robert Charles Wilson's evocative tale of a young woman faced with a destiny-changing choice ("Utriusque Cosmi") to John C. Wright's far-future novella, which combines high-tech romance with cosmic drama ("The Far End of History"), the 19 original stories in this collection exemplify the growing sf subgenre of new space opera, featuring galactic themes, dramatic episodes, a social conscience, and literary excellence. The second volume in a continuing series features works by a stellar group of writers that include Mike Resnick (see below), Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Cory Doctorow, Elizabeth Moon, and other genre veterans and more recent writers. VERDICT A solid introduction to the genre.

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2009
The term space opera evokes a bygone era in sf, when the likes of Edmond Hamilton and John W. Campbell Jr. spun melodramatic narratives encompassing fathomless vistas of time and space. Yet as editors Dozois and Strahan demonstrated in The New Space Opera (2007), new authors are continually reinventing this sf subgenre. As in its predecessor, a lively bunch of established authors and newcomers is responsible for this volumes 19 exuberantly inventive tales, which offer visions of galactic empires, swashbuckling space piracy, and grimly dystopian far-futures. Robert Charles Wilsons Utriusque Cosmi recounts the fate of an adolescent girl spared from earths destruction and granted virtual immortality by enigmatic aliens. In Elizabeth Moons Chameleons, a bodyguard and his wealthy teenage charges face mortal danger on a deteriorating space station. Cory Doctorows To Go Boldly generously borrows motifs from Star Trek lore and wryly upends them. Speculative-fiction fans looking for consummately crafted fiction that expands the genres creative possibilities to their outer limits will find it here in abundance.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)