"Space opera", once a derisive term for cheap pulp adventure, has come to mean something more in modern SF: compelling adventure stories told against a broad canvas, and written to the highest level of skill. Indeed, it can be argued that the "new space opera" is one of the defining streams of modern SF.
Now, World Fantasy Award-winning anthologists David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer have compiled a definitive overview of this subgenre, both as it was in the days of the pulp magazines, and as it has become in 2005. Included are major works from genre progenitors like Jack Williamson and Leigh Brackett, stylish midcentury voices like Cordwainer Smith and Samuel R. Delany, popular favorites like David Drake, Lois McMaster Bujold, and Ursula K. Le Guin, and modern-day pioneers such as Iain M. Banks, Steven Baxter, Scott Westerfeld, and Charles Stross.
Contents:
I. Redefined Writers
"The Star Stealers" by Edmond Hamilton
"The Prince of Space" by Jack Williamson
"Enchantress of Venus" by Leigh Brackett
"The Swordsman of Varnis" by Clive Jackson
II. Draftees (1960s)
"The Game of Rat & Dragon" by Cordwainer Smith
"Empire Star" by Samuel R. Delany
"Zirn Left Unguarded, the Jenjik Palace in Flames, Jon Westerly Dead" by Robert Sheckley
III. Transitions/Redefiners (late 1970s to late 1980s)
"Temptation" by David Brin
"Ranks of Bronze" by David Drake
"Weatherman" by Lois McMaster Bujold
"A Gift from the Culture" by Iain M. Banks
IV. Volunteers"Revisionaries (early 90s)
"Orphans of the Helix" by Dan Simmons
"The Well Wishers" by Colin Greenland
"Escape Route" by Peter Hamilton
"Ms Midshipwoman Harrington" by David Weber
"Aurora in Four Voices" by Catherine Asaro
"Ring Rats" by R. Garcia y Robertson
"The Death of Captain Future" by Allen Steele
V. Mixed Signals/ Mixed Categories (to the late 1990s)
"A Worm in the Well" by Gregory Benford
"The Survivor" by Donald Kingsbury
"Fools Errand" by Sarah Zettel
"The Shobies Story" by Ursula K. Le Guin
"The Remoras" by Robert Reed
"Recording Angel" by Paul McAuley
"The Great Game" by Steven Baxter
"Lost Sorceress of the Silent Citadel" by Michael Moorcock
"Space Opera" by Michael Kandel
VI. Next Wave/21st Century
"Grist" by Tony Daniel
"The Movements of her Eyes" by Scott Westerfeld
"Spirey and the Queen" by Alastair Reynolds
"Bear Trap" by Charles Stross
"Guest Law" by John C. Wright
