[crich70]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

We can have an argument about it if you like?

Spoiler:

I did come up with a definition I liked after I made that post earlier:

In Space Opera, the science is there to serve the story; in Hard SF, the story is there to serve the science.

It seems to me that the tech in the HH series was initially created to emulate the navy of the early 19th Century, even down to having to fight with broadsides. It's just there to tell navy stories in SF clothes. It has become more of its own thing as the series has progressed and the technology has been developed.

Of course, it depends how you define the subdivisions, which is hard to get people to agree on, before you even get to apply them. The finer the distinctions, the less easy it is to put any given work in the right boxes.

There's a lot of really interesting stuff at the genre boundaries, too. It must be tricky to know how to shelve them in a bookstore. At least virtual stores can put the same book on many shelves.

I think space opera is more like Star Trek and Star Wars where as Hard Sci Fi is more like Forbidden Planet and The Fantastic Planet. Likewise in fiction space opera would be Ray Bradbury's "Martian Chronicles" and the John Carter books while the Hard Science Fiction would be Clarke's "The Sands of Mars," and Hamilton's "City at Worlds end."