Space Opera Fans discussion
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Book and Author of the Month
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June 2020 LIMITED Nominations
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Bob's Saucer Repair by Jerry Boyd. Mostly set on Earth, but there are trips to the moon, aliens, flying saucers, and pirates. Humorous, light, lots of dialog with generous amounts of puns and pop culture references. I’m currently rereading it, after less than a year since I first read it, and I’m finding it still fun. Ebook only. Available in Kindle Unlimited as well as to purchase. No idea whether it is available on other platforms.
I'd like to nominate
Souls in the Great Machine by Sean McMullen. Here's the description on Amazon:
In 40th-century Australia, Zarvora Cybeline discovers the world is threatened by destruction from the sky--yet the planet doesn't have enough technology even to build a steam engine. To save civilization, Zarvora must recover lost 21st-century technology. But technology is proscribed, and the dangers from the sky are joined by enemies in the sea, and even among her own ranks. Zarvora embarks on a bold and ruthless plan to save a world no one else believes is in danger.
"Souls in the Great Machine is a big book at 450 pages. Stuffed fuller than a Thanksgiving turkey with great storylines, characters, and concepts, it's got thrilling action, hair's-breadth escapes, tyranny, treachery, villainy, heroism, duels, riots, war, love, hate, obsession, powerful women, mad monks, a returning ice age, a lost race, rediscovered civilizations, invasions, executions, high-tech, steampunk tech, a computer with human components, and numerous subplots.
In short, Souls in the Great Machine is huge; it is epic--but it is not sprawling. In the hands of most authors, this complex and ambitious SF novel would be a trilogy. And while Souls may occasionally move a little too fast, the plot never drags and the reader's interest never flags. If you're looking for a sense of wonder, for adventure that respects your intelligence, for an enormously fun read--look no further than Souls in the Great Machine." --Cynthia Ward
*Is this Space Opera? I'd say yes, since Earth is threatened by ancient nuclear battle stations which need to be defeated in space - but for this, Earth needs to re-discover its old space-faring technology. It's the first book in the Greatwinter Trilogy and the second book (The Miocene Arrow) has space ships on the cover.
*LIMITED? Only the Kindle edition seems available at a regular price, physical editions seem limited to a few used copies in most countries.
Mod
Bob's Saucer Repair by Jerry Boyd. Nominated by Teresa. Awaiting seconds.
Souls in the Great Machine by Sean McMullen. Nominated by Eva. Awaiting seconds.
I read Souls in the Great Machine when it came out (21 years ago) and I don’t remember any Space opera elements at all. The book it most closely resembled to me is A Canticle for Leibowitz, which has a spaceship scene near the end but the vast majority of it takes place in a post-apocalyptic desert.
I recall liking SitGM, because it has some interesting ideas (using human slaves as a giant binary calculator sticks with me) and has a fairly unique setting (rebuilding civilization in the Australian outback) but aside from the ancient killer satellites that rain down destruction, I don’t remember much space action, if any.
Mod
If anyone seconds that book please tell us whether it does have a war in space and not just attackers bombing the planet.
Teresa wrote: "That’s a good point Trike. I read the description and was about to disqualify it for being non technological, but noticed the bit about the war in space so assumed there were ships.If anyone seco..."
I don't think of Souls in the Great Machine as Space Opera. Think we shelved all the Greatwinter books with the low tech/limited tech Post Apocalyptic books.
I haven't read it yet and nominated it because I assumed it was about the challenge of responding to a threat in space by very quickly reaching the space age again from nothing, and building a spaceship to face that threat. There are post-humans and aliens, an artificial sun, space fortresses, nanotechnology, unmanned rockets, sapient AI, missiles, ion cannons, etc. But I've just checked and they're fighting their war in space via remote control in the first book (sending up unmanned vessels and remote-controlling the artificial sun as a weapon), and only fly into space themselves in later books apparently. The rules define space opera as "a spaceship has to be involved in the story somewhere", but maybe unmanned ships/star fortresses don't count, in which case I'd have to withdraw this nomination, sorry!
Maybe Trike would like to nominate something so we can give people more than one choice then? With modern self-publishing options it isn't easy to find something that qualifies for LIMITED.
Mod
At this point we have no seconds on this thread at all, so we might not have any Limited pick for June.
Eva wrote: "The rules define space opera as "a spaceship has to be involved in the story somewhere", but maybe unmanned ships/star fortresses don't count, in which case I'd have to withdraw this nomination, sorry!"It’s entirely possible my memory is faulty after two decades, but I don’t recall the space stuff being all that significant to the story. It’s more like War of the Worlds where the bad stuff comes from space but not much of the book (if any) takes place there. Hopefully someone who has read it more recently can shed some light on that.
Eva wrote: "Maybe Trike would like to nominate something so we can give people more than one choice then? With modern self-publishing options it isn't easy to find something that qualifies for LIMITED."
I have a book I just encountered that might fit, but I nominated one in the other thread, so I don’t want to hog all the noms.
I think Souls in the Great Machine is an interesting book that most members will enjoy, I just don’t remember it being very Space Operatic at all. It’s kind of like Ancillary Justice, which deserves the awards and praise its garnered, but everyone kept saying it was Space Opera when it wasn’t, and I spent the whole thing waiting for the big space battles.
Teresa wrote: "I would say remote control ships count. At this point we have no seconds on this thread at all, so we might not have any Limited pick for June."
I’ll second Bob's Saucer Repair. I noticed the other day I bought it at some point and it’s been in my TBR.
(I actually thought I did second it, but apparently that was pure imagination. My wife’s been in the hospital this week, so I’ve been running around trying to do twelve things at once.)
Mod
Thanks for the second!
Hope she gets well soon, Trike!Thanks for the explanation and we all know that you have a stricter, more old-fashioned definition of space opera (I mean, in AJ, the main character is a spaceship!) but I think we can just stick to the group's definition here if that's okay. :-)
I nominate Bypass Gemini by Joseph R Lallo (sorry I'm using the app, no possibility to add a link).
Mod
Bob's Saucer Repair by Jerry Boyd. Nominated by Teresa. Seconded by Trike and Eva.
Souls in the Great Machine by Sean McMullen. Nominated by Eva. Awaiting seconds.
Bypass Gemini by Joseph R. Lallo. Nominated by Ally. Awaiting seconds.Nominations/seconds will close tomorrow.
I seconded Bob's Saucer Repair earlier, too. ;-)
Mod
Eva wrote: "I seconded Bob's Saucer Repair earlier, too. ;-)"I think there’s an alien conspiracy eating our Bob seconds!
...now THERE’S a sentence that’s never been uttered in the entirety of human history.
Mod
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
Space Opera Fans
Books mentioned in this topic
Souls in the Great Machine (other topics)A Canticle for Leibowitz (other topics)
Bypass Gemini (other topics)
Ancillary Justice (other topics)
Bob's Saucer Repair (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Sean McMullen (other topics)Joseph R. Lallo (other topics)
Jerry Boyd (other topics)
LIMITED books are books that are unlikely to be available to all members. Typically these will be Indie books, but can also include books available only as ebook or from a single vendor, or books only available in a few countries. The general rule of thumb is if it doesn’t qualify for READER, then it should fit into LIMITED.
Must be
* currently in print in at least one format, either ebook or physical book. Requiring a special order from a store or website counts, but not if the book is only available used.
* Books posted to be read online count.
* Kindle Unlimited books count.
* Space Opera, which means a spaceship has to be involved in the story somewhere.
* If it is part of a series, it needs to be suitable to being read without having read other books in the series.
* Please no blatantly erotic books, as some of our members are not full adults yet.
RULES:
* you may nominate one book on this thread.
* you may second as many nominations as you like on this thread.
* it is okay to nominate the same book on more than one nomination thread, as long as it meets the criteria
* books we already have on our bookshelf will be disqualified
* If a book you nominate or second is selected, you are expected to post at least one comment about it on the thread about the book.
* In about two weeks I will draw a book randomly, with each second being one raffle ticket for the book. That is, a book with three seconds (so four of us want it) will get three chances in the pool.
It is likely helpful if you know something about a book that has been nominated if you mention it in this thread, whether it is for or against the book.