Space Opera Fans discussion
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Welcome Wagon & Rules
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Introduce Yourself - Part I
Name: JoshuaFavorite Book: Shadows of the Empire
Favorite Genre: I like to read all genre's
Favorite TV show: I don't have a favorite but, right now I'm watching Star Wars Rebels and The Walking Dead
Favorite Movie: Mostly I like either Science Fiction or Apocalyptic genres.
Favorite Food: TexMex
Day Job: USAF System Administrator
Hobbies: I'm trying to read 1-2 books a week so pretty much thats become my hobby.
Anna wrote: "Most of our members skew towards more PG-13 and R-rated fare, but we -do- have a listopia 'cause if it's a rollocking good Space Opera we want to assimilate it all."Now R rated is a funny term. I'm guessing it means not erotic to you? Here in australia we call a movie R rated when it is very erotic.
I'll have a look at your list and put mine on there.
And yes, EE Doc Smith seems to be considered the father of space opera by many. Though the finer details have faded, I recall gobbling up all those books.
The R rating used to mean restricted (16 or over I think). They modified the ratings a few years ago so I am not sure if they mean the same or not.Went and looked up movie ratings on Wikipedia. Way too complicated to try and explain how Canada works. Here is link to the article which contains a nicely coloured graph for a whole passel of countries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_...
Eh. It's more fun not to know sometimes. But thank you. :)
joshua dray wrote: "Name: Joshua Favorite Book: Shadows of the Empire ..."Welcome Joshua! Apocalyptic stuff, eh? You a Walking Dead fan? Welcome to Space Opera Fans!
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@ John - the ratings keep changing. I use the 'squirm rule', as in, if I take my 13-year-old to this movie, are there places it makes me squirm because she's in the next seat?
Actually that can give rise to some interesting situations. We have let all our kids (currently age 5 to 11) watch Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and Lord of the Rings/Hobbit, but I know Christine would draw a line at Bambi (one of the few Disney animated films she refuses to get).
John wrote: "Actually that can give rise to some interesting situations. We have let all our kids (currently age 5 to 11) watch Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and Lord of the Rings/Hobbit, but I know Christine wou..."Bambi's mother gets shot and dies. Throughout the movie, Bambi has to worry about getting killed. While that's implied in the other movies, when people die in the other films they are much more distant characters and the emotional impact on the characters is minimal. Even in Percy Jackson, when his mother dies, she does not DIE (capital D) but is taken away to an underworld.
Name: Nalin RatnayakeFavorite Books: a question with variable answers, but lately, I would have to say The Quiet War by Paul McAuley and Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy. Other favorites from science fiction include Joe Haldeman's The Forever War and Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars.
Favorite Genres: Well, science fiction of course! But I also love fantasy and a good deal of contemporary literary fiction. The classics are hit or miss with me. Not a huge fan of horror, but I've read some I like. Anything that makes me think, and especially anything that makes me think about humanity, humanity's future, and who we are as individuals and as people.
Favorite Movies: Bladerunner is always a good watch, and I love its successor, Ex Machina. There are many others of course.
Favorite Food: Japanese, Italian, Caribbean, South Asian.
Day Job: science teacher
Hobbies: writing and reading mostly, though I've also dabbled in theatre and love a good soccer match (watching or playing).
Other: GoodReads author... passionate about human spaceflight, exploring the stars, scientific literacy, and creating a more equitable and just society for all sentient beings.
Mod
N.A. wrote: "Favorite Books ... Anything that makes me think, and especially anything that makes me think about humanity, humanity's future, and who we are as individuals and as people..."Welcome Nalin! Caribbean food? :-) I used to work at a place that had a Caribbean restaurant across the street. Mmm....
I agree about liking literature that makes people think about the future. So much of literature these days is escapist. Not that I don't mind escaping, but one of the reasons I keep coming back to speculative fiction is it looks into the future to where we're headed as a society.
Betsy wrote: "Welcome, Nalin. I checked out your author profile on GR, and it's most impressive. I'm especially encouraged that you chose to become a high school science teacher. Maybe there's hope for the futur..."Thanks for the welcome, Betsy! I checked out your profile as well, and I think you have a great mix in your "Favorite Books" field. The intersection of science fiction and political is some of my favorite stuff. Among the reasons I love space opera... where the actions of a few can influence the fate of many thousands of worlds!
Anna wrote: Caribbean food? :-) I used to work at a place that had a Caribbean restaurant across the street. Mmm....
Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Trini, Haitian... hard to go wrong with plantains, pork, and fire.
Leonie wrote: Hi Nalin! Welcome!
Thanks for the welcome!
N.A. if you like politics and SF mixed have you read Heinlein's "Double Star". Sort of a political thriller in an SF setting. One of my favourites if truth be told.
Mod
Hi, my name is Jessica and I'm a long time fan of Space Opera. I read a lot of David Weber, but also enjoy Doc Smith, LE Modesitt, and got started reading the John Carter of Mars books.I'm new to Goodreads, I don't spend much time on the internet but I'm excited to talk with all of you!
Hello Jessica. If you enjoy the John Carter books Burroughs also wrote a series set on Venus and one set in the center of the Earth. He also wrote a series set in the African jungle (mostly) but nobody remembers them (he says half-facetiously)
Jessica wrote: "Hi, my name is Jessica and I'm a long time fan of Space Opera. I read a lot of David Weber, but also enjoy Doc Smith, LE Modesitt, and got started reading the John Carter of Mars books. I'm new to..."Welcome Jessica! I'm an LE Modesitt fan as well :-)
Mod
I really enjoy reading Burroughs in general, but I haven't read his Venus series yet. I hadn't seen the Honorverse fan group, thanks for that! Thanks for the welcome, too!
If you enjoy Burroughs there are a few other authors you might want to try. A couple of them are Otis Adelbert Kline and Ralph Milne Farley. Sam Moskowitz wrote a book quite a few years ago named "Under the Moons of Mars" which covered the history of SF in the Munsey pulps (where Burroughs stuff originally appeared). The back section included quite a few reprinted stories, though unfortunately the majority of them are excerpts from novels.
R. Michael wrote: "Space 1999 is much less obnoxious if pretend it isn't earths moon but some minor moon of Jupiter or an asteroid. And then smoke a lot of pot."I love Space:1999! And will cheerfully admit it to ANYONE!
Hi, I'm Pat Powers. I'm an author, mostly I write erotica, but I like to read science fiction, and my favorite subgenre of SF is space opera. I think Iain Banks's Culture series are the greatest space operas ever, and I think Vernor Vinge's stories are none too shabby, either.I was an Air Force brat as a youth and read voraciously as we moved from place to place, exhausting various small public libraries of their generally outdated science fiction collections. The first SF novel I ever read was space opera: Andre Norton's "Sargasso of Space." The notion of of alien art that could drive human beings mad with its shapes and colors blew my mind ... Internet porn did not exist at the time, you see ...
The best space opera from my early years was Asimov's "Foundation" series. I remember that when I first saw the images of the Jedi's home world in one of the Star Wars movies, with the towers and the streams of spaceships weaving between them, thinking "That's Trantor! They're not calling it Trantor, but that's freaking Trantor!"
I've also found some pretty good space opera writers among Amazon's indie writers: E.M. Foner's Union Station series just rocks.
I'm not so fond of military SF. The best of the bunch that I've read is Scalzi's "Old Man's War" but I didn't like it all that much ... thought he could have done more with the theme of an older mind dealing with war ... I don't think older minds would be quite so malleable as Scalzi would have us believe.
Well that's it for starters, nice to be here.
E.M. Foner's Union Station series just rocks.Agreed, totally brilliant.
Anna wrote: "Powder River Rose wrote: "A warm hello to all you Space Opera members my name is Rose and I live on the beautiful Oregon coast…..it was a gorgeous day today...."Welcome Powder River Rose! Histori..."
Anna, I apologize for just noticing your questions. I sew for competition and fun but generally more historically accurate, well, except sometimes for the fabric as there are so many great designs out there and I love color, plus silks and the like are so incredibly expensive and I can't make an ensemble with less than 10 yards of fabric, not to mention all the embellishments that are required. Did you remember the green dress worn by Vivian Leigh in "Gone with the Wind?" It required 35 yards of velvet!?! Holy Guacamole not only would that cost a fortune, the weight would be difficult to manage. My clothing requires true corsets (not the kind from Fredricks of Hollywood ehehehe) so the lines are accurate. I've made two steampunk style gowns and a bustle that is open and worn on the outside....it's gorgeous and I wear it with an old-fashioned blk/wh prison outfit and a lovely platinum and charcoal striped silk-like fabric. I wore the "jailbird" costume on stage this summer for an event in which I am the Mistress um, -cough- uh Madam of Ceremonies; I do this every year and it's great fun though every year I decide new themes for the costumes and so that means new gowns .... yippeee! I also have a fashion show each year. I love wearing the clothing for competition, our museum, re-enacting events and New Years Eve (though I've been ill and quite busy this year so nothing spectacular this holiday). Thank you for asking I have so much fun sharing about the costumes.
Pat wrote: "...thought he could have done more with the theme of an older mind dealing with war ... I don't think older minds would be quite so malleable as Scalzi would have us believe...."Welcome Pat! Yes, while I -like- Scalzi's series, I've read better written by actual combat veterans, and you can tell. As for the older mind not being malleable, sometimes I wonder. Have you ventured onto Facebook lately? It seems to be click-farm heaven over there :-P
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Powder River Rose wrote: "Did you remember the green dress worn by Vivian Leigh in "Gone with the Wind?" It required 35 yards of velvet!?! Holy Guacamole not only would that cost a fortune, the weight would be difficult to manage..."
I used to sew all my own costumes, and was also recruited to design and sew entire bridal parties for people, though that was a very long time ago. I would probably run my finger through the sewing machine if I tried that now :-) Oh, what, I already did that ... 7th grade ... Kevin whats-his-name sat in front of me in class and I got distracted. Blood everywhere! But Kevin whats-his-name -did- walk me down to the nurses office to pull the needle that snapped off out :-)
At age 60 I would love to know what you mean when you say older minds might not be malleable. Since I haven't read Scalzi I admit I don't have a frame of reference for the topic.
Anna wrote: "Pat wrote: "...thought he could have done more with the theme of an older mind dealing with war ... I don't think older minds would be quite so malleable as Scalzi would have us believe...."Welco..."
I sew costumes only for the most loved because I refuse to placate bridezilla..hehehe Ouch.....thankfully I haven't done that as yet...hurts just thinking about it. Hmmmm, Kevin-what's-his-name sounds interesting ***as I laugh thinking about my 8th grade sewing class outfit and Eddie...........oh I remember his last name....***
John wrote: "At age 60 I would love to know what you mean when you say older minds might not be malleable. Since I haven't read Scalzi I admit I don't have a frame of reference for the topic."It means we're OLD FARTS, John :-) Heh-heh... I don't know about you, but the older I get, the more cautious I get about making life-shattering leaps of logic that I wouldn't have hesitated to make in my younger days. In the 'good old days' they called that wisdom. At some point, inquiring minds stop falling prey to mass media manipulation.
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Powder River Rose wrote: "mmmm, Kevin-what's-his-name sounds interesting ***as I laugh thinking about my 8th grade sewing class outfit and Eddie...........oh I remember his last name....***"
Kevin Whats-his-Name? I daydreamed about that dude through two years of high school :-) He always referred to me as the gal with the bloody finger. Not the impression I was hoping to make. :-P Luckily, our home-ec teacher taught me how to get blood stains out of fabric with vinegar, cold water and salt, a skill which lasted longer than my infatuation with Kevin Whats-his-Name :-) Better living through science.
G'day all.I'm Adam. I live in Australia's island state: Tasmania, and I've been a fan of space opera for as long as I can remember.
Favorite Books: Right now my absolute favourites are Brandon Sanderson's books, but as for space opera, some I've really enjoyed lately are Space Drifers by Paul Regnier, To Honor You Call Us by H. Paul Honsinger, Amish Vampires in Space by Kerry Nietz and Old Man's War by John Scalzi. The Expanse by James S.A Corey. I tend to read wide rather than deep, so I've started a lot of series that I need to continue.
Favorite Genres: Speculative Fiction. That pretty much covers everything I like. Space Opera, Fantasy, Superhero, Time travel. In addition to mainstream, I read Christian speculative fiction.
Favorite TV shows: Now this is where my love of Space Opera was really born. Star Trek (all), Babylon 5, Stargate (all), Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, Falling Skies, Arrow, The Flash, Agents of SHIELD. I could go on.
Favorite Movies: Man of Steel. Star Trek movies (in particular First Contact). Marvel cinematic universe, the Star Wars films.
Favorite Food: Potato. It is food's answer to absolute perfection.
Day Job: Software developer. I'm also in the very eary days of building an author career.
Hobbies: Wrting, making videos, old Sierra and Lucasarts adventure games. Minecraft (my kids got me addicted)
Other: I've been married to a wonderful woman for 11 years and we have two children - a boy and a girl.
Adam wrote: "G'day all. I'm Adam. I live in Australia's island state: Tasmania, and I've been a fan of space opera for as long as I can remember...."Welcome Adam! It sounds like you're in the right place :-)
Hi Adam! *Waves from NSW*
Name: MaverynthiaFavorite Books: Hard to say on this one because it keeps changing. Haven't really found a be all end all book. Or at least a novel.
Favorite Genres: Sci-Fi, Fantasy maybe a bit of Paranormal Urban mixed in, but only a little bit.
Favorite TV shows: I watch mostly anime, but 'Terra E' is my current fave by far. This old series called Brigadoon: Mari and Melan is also in the top slots. Obscure stuff.
Currently most of the Yoshiki Tanaka shows are climbing up the ranks.
Other: I mostly came here to get some recommendations based on my reading habits. I've been in this Japanese space opera mood and I'm quickly running out of stuff I can access. SO I'm looking at maybe some western books that have a very similar feel to them
I've been working with the anime and manga as that's most all of what's been translated.
Animewise I have:
Tytania
Crest of the Stars
Banner of the Stars
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Glass Fleet
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (remake)
(Last Exile is usually listed, but I don't think it ever gets into space. Mostly stays around with airships)
Novelwise I have:
Crest of the Stars (Tokyopop went under before Banner :c)
Mobile Suit Gundam (I'm not actually enjoying this but I'll list it)
Legend of the Galactic Heroes (I read the first novel fantranslated and have the Haikasoru version on pre-order.)
So if there's any kind of Western novels that are like any of the above (which is all of the offerings in English from Japan?). Either intelligent advanced tech (with a hint of anachronism) space empire like the Abh, or the ridiculous anachronistic stylings of Legend of the Galactic Heroes and even more so with Glass Fleet. Nobles, emperors, plucky commoners, I'm listening.
Note they don't always need to have these things, but I feel it kind of adds a little style to the way they are written, basically makes them not as serious.
Edit: I say western novels, but if anyone knows any OTHER Japanese novels that might have gone overlooked, or novels from other parts of Asia, that's fine too.
name: Greg HuntFavorite SCI-Fi: Dune, The Mote In God's Eye, Ringworld
Favorite Genre: Sci-Fi,Fantasy, Horror, American History.
Favorite TV shows: Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Babylon 5,Star Trek, NGR, Dexter,BSG, Space: Above and Beyond.
Favorite food: almost all of it.
Graphic novels: Marvel mostly, some DC.
I like to draw Super heroes, SCI-FI, and horror, but not exclusively. Trying my hand at some fiction, im not normally a writer but I thought Id like to give it a shot.
Well met, to my SCI-FI brethren! Full speed ahead!
Maverynthia wrote: "Other: I mostly came here to get some recommendations based on my reading habits. I've been in this Japanese space opera mood and I'm quickly running out of stuff I can access. SO I'm looking at maybe some western books that have a very similar feel to them..."Welcome Maverynthia! My teenager is a rabid anime / manga fan of all ilk, both fantasy and space opera. I will ASK her what the coolest stuff is. I keep trying to get her on here as a junior-MOD, but she's gotten me into Space Battleship Yamamoto and Attack on Titan (definitely not space opera, but skirts the line of sci-fi).
I'm not familiar with the other manga series you listed, but maybe you could give the first book of the Honor Harrington universe a try? On Basilisk Station It has some things in common with Space Battleship Yamamoto, though I wouldn't say it's an exact fit. You can grab the first book in the series for FREE pretty much at all the major online distributors, and it's also in most western public libraries.
Also, we had a 'themed' short story anthology that was up for Book of the Month quite some time ago that had some manga-like space opera short stories in it. It's FREE if you have Amazon's Kindle Unlimited, so maybe give it a try? You may find a new favorite indie author. Dark Expanse: Surviving the Collapse
Hope this helps? And check back ... I'll ask my way-cooler-than-me into-anime/manga teenager whazzup with the latest stuff.
Greg wrote: "Graphic novels: Marvel mostly, some DC...."Welcome Greg! I'm a Marvel fan as well :-)
Anna wrote: "Maverynthia wrote: "Other: I mostly came here to get some recommendations based on my reading habits. I've been in this Japanese space opera mood and I'm quickly running out of stuff I can access. ..."Thanks for the link Dark Expanse. I'll give it a try.
I've actually almost finished the first book of the Honor Harrington series and... it's not really what I'm looking for. It just doesn't have the right kind of vibe. Thanks for the rec. though. :3
I really enjoy Honor. But what about the Vorkosigan saga, it's not a female character. But I love it .
Greg wrote: "name: Greg HuntFavorite SCI-Fi: Dune, The Mote In God's Eye, Ringworld
Favorite Genre: Sci-Fi,Fantasy, Horror, American History.
Favorite TV shows: Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Babylon 5,Star Tr..."
More of a DC man myself. In fact when I was a kid back in the 60s Marvel was at best number three as far as comic companies went with me and my friends. DC was number 1 and second place was held by Gold Key.
Kirsten *Dogs Welcome - People Tolerated" wrote: "I really enjoy Honor. But what about the Vorkosigan saga, it's not a female character. But I love it ."I think I have the first book of that here. Just haven't gotten around to it yet. Got so many other books to read X3
Always a problem, too many books to read, not enough time to read them. Sort of like the character Burgess Meredith played in an episode of Twilight Zone.
John wrote: "Always a problem, too many books to read, not enough time to read them. Sort of like the character Burgess Meredith played in an episode of Twilight Zone."That's just the physical book I have lying around, I have about 700 kindle book I acquired for free whenever I browse Amazon and they had some promotion. I also have a separate library of ePub/Mobi from OTHER non-Amazon sites and such, not to mention all the fan translated novels from Baka-Tsuki.
I think I'll rotate the Vorkosigan book in soon.
Name: Buzz H.Favorite Books: Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh, Foreigner by C.J. Cherryh, Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh, Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold, Dune by Frank Herbert, Berserker by Fred Saberhagen, Startide Rising by David Brin, Singularity Sky by Charles Stross, and many others.
Favorite Genres: Space Opera, Post Apocalyptic SF, First Contact, High Fantasy, Feminist F&SF, Cyberpunk, LGBT literature
Favorite TV shows: Firefly, Battlestar Galactica (recent remake), Dr. Who, Orphan Black, Penny Dreadful, Babylon 5, various Star Trek shows
Favorite Movies: Aliens, Terminator 2, Star Wars, many others
Day Job: mosaic artist
Hobbies: SF conventions, gardening, wargames
Buzz H. wrote: "Name: Buzz H.Favorite Books: Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh, Foreigner by C.J. Cherryh, Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh, Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold, Dune by Frank Herbert, Berserker by Fred Saberha..."
Welcome Buzz! Yay ... another Browncoat!
Welcome, Buzz H!And given that I like all of your TV shows but haven't watched Penny Dreadful, perhaps I should try it!
Anna wrote: "Welcome Buzz! Yay ... another Browncoat! Indeed. Nice to meet you. And I just realized that we may know one another in passing. I have also been involved with Arisia for many years (though less so for the past 2-3 cons).
Leonie wrote: "And given that I like all of your TV shows but haven't watched Penny Dreadful, perhaps I should try it!"I recommend Penny Dreadful highly. Excellent writing and acting.
Trying to follow directions re what to share about myself:Name: Jim McClanahan. On "Science Fiction & Fantasy forums - SFF Chronicles" I label myself as a "Prehistoric Irish Cynic".
Favorite Books: Best to go by authors, I suppose, as opposed to specific books. I'm old enough to count Murray Leinster, Arthur C. Clarke, A. E. Van Vogt, Fritz Leiber and Alfred Bester among my favorites. From there it's a myriad of writers throughout the last few decades. Lately, I would name Iain M. Banks, Alastair Reynolds, Neal Asher, Kage Baker, Nancy Kress, C. J. Cherryh (I've read more books by her than anyone else), Charles Sheffield and Jay Lake. Unfortunately, some of these seem to be dying at an alarming rate.
Favorite Genres: I'm here now because I get a tad weary of all the discussions of books about unicorns, wizards, elves and faeries. Give me a crew aboard a space ship, even a slow one, chasing down strange beings, phenomena and adventures and I'm a happy camper. My father got me started eons ago by putting us both in the Science Fiction Book Club.
Favorite TV shows: Firefly. And all the Star Trek iterations. The Expanse appears promising.
Favorite Movies: Saw The Martian recently after having read the book. That inspired me to watch the 1955 movie, Conquest of Space again, about an expedition to Mars. The interesting thing about it was that it tried to be up to date technically. But 60 years later, it was woefully inaccurate. Still fun, though. Liked the George Pal War of the Worlds better than Spielberg's remake. My all time fave is Forbidden Planet. Liked Guardians of the Galaxy enough to buy the Blu-ray.
Favorite Food: Anything not freeze-dried.
Day Job: Retired bureaucrat. Spend my time volunteering for my County Friends of the Library where I'm in charge of the Fantasy and SF at our bookshop.
Hobbies: I'm a pipe smoker. It's a hobby, not a habit.
Other: Happily married for a very long time to a long-suffering spouse. Two sons and three grandkids.
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I'm Cari Silverwood. A pen name though. I mostly write erotic and kinky stories. Hit the NY Times Bestseller list via a collection of books, which is a very sideways method to do it. So now I ..."
Welcome Carey! Were you aware we have a 'space opera erotic romance' listopia? Most of our members skew towards more PG-13 and R-rated fare, but we -do- have a listopia 'cause if it's a rollocking good Space Opera we want to assimilate it all. HERE: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...
E.E. Doc Smith fan, eh? That's a REAL space opera pedigree :-)