11 Books That Changed How I think About Space Opera

A detail from the cover of Stainless Steel Rat: Deluxe Edition from 2000 A.D., by Carlos Ezquerra and Kevin Cosnell, based on the characters created by Harry Harrison

We are living in a new golden age of space opera. People have proclaimed the death of this vital subgenre many times over the decades -- but like a deep space probe upgraded by godlike aliens, space opera keeps coming back. (See my article in Esquire for more details!) I recently wrote a whole space opera trilogy, full of all my fa...