Opera ... In ... Space!
Our Byzantium Shoreman wants to become the foremost authority on space opera. He supplies a reading list.
The space opera genre is a branch of science fiction that emphasizes the old verities of storytelling. It follows the belief that humans and extra-humans continue to act under the ancient forces of love, hate, life and death, even while rocketing about the galaxy, meeting all manner of aliens. More specifically, space opera preaches that in spite of the vastly expanded frontiers of the future, a lone heroic individual can still make a difference in the universe.
Lynn, who saw it first, also contributes a few more links to the discussion. I twice blogged* my reaction to First Lensman, a space opera founding document. Short version: they lost me at the sooper-dooper-fyootyooristic nylon shorts that the heroine wears.
By the way, my kids saw the original Star Wars movie this week. We let them watch it for the sake of their cultural literacy; they couldn't follow it well, and watched it without enthusiasm. To me, the graphics seemed humorously tied to the Pong era, yet Lucas' attempts to spice things up with added scenes of modern effects didn't work for me. Someone tell that guy to leave it alone.
*If you're looking for nominations for cleverest blog post title of all time, allow me humbly to commend you to this link.
Umie the Umlaut says, "ask your doctor about the Fredösphere!"
2 Comments:
I laughed the first time I read that title and I laughed again this time.
Ought to fix the link to the short story in the *post, though.
Thanks, Sean, for warning me about that dead link. I switched it to one that works. By all means, if y'all have never read Terry Bisson's story about the meat, go right now and read it. It will be three minutes well spent.
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