Need space opera recommendations - Page 8

Blue Tyson · 02-03-2011, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Good stuff, and thank you. One nitpick, however: I concur on the quality of Karl Schroeder, but he's not a Macmillan author. Karl is published by Tor Books. Tor is a unit of Holtzbrink, and Macmillan is Holtzbrink's US umbrella, which also includes Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, Henry Holt, Palgrave Macmillan, Scientific American, St. Martin's Press, and others, but that's a different matter.
______
Dennis

Ah, fair enough then, thanks. Even worse if there are multinationals all the way down.

Darqref · 02-04-2011, 01:13 AM

After thinking a bit more, I can recommend a couple of series by Roger MacBride Allen. The first is two books , "The Torch of Honor" and "Rogue Powers". The first book is an almost classic space yarn.

The second series is "The Ring of Charon" and "the Shattered Sphere", and are almost classic space opera. The Scale of events is really large, and science details get thrown around quickly.

The third series is "The Depths of Time", "the Ocean of Years" and "The Shores of Tomorrow". A single story in three parts, time travel and terraforming. Also in this series is a rather interesting thought about electronic databases vs hardcopy for storing the knowledge of the human race. Hint: electronic versions can be corrupted too damn easily.

Allen also wrote some decent Star Wars books, but I consider them lesser works (although almost by definition, they're space opera...)

Blue Tyson · 02-04-2011, 06:55 AM

Yes, I have seen the name before, but not those. Can only write about what I remember/know about or have seen (and more recently). So I'll check it out. Thanks, sounds interesting.

Crusader · 02-04-2011, 07:29 AM

Any recommendations about human colonization and the struggle of humanity to survive and war with with other alien races?

Something along the line of Saga of Seven Suns, Xelee war etc. Something epic and galaxy spanning...

Blue Tyson · 02-04-2011, 08:49 AM

Gregory Benford's Galactic Centre is like the Xeelee a little, Alastair Reynolds Inhibitor Trilogy - Revelation Space, etc. , Gary Gibson, Neal Asher's Polity has parts with the Prador War

nyrath · 02-04-2011, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Hmmmm. Yes. And The Vortex Blaster is set in the Lensman universe, but not part of the Lensman sequence.

Another stand-alone space opera from Smith is The Galaxy Primes.

I personally found The Vortex Blaster to be a fine addition to the Lensman universe. If you like other Lensman books, you'll like Vortex Blaster

I personally found The Galaxy Primes to be disjointed and tedious.

YMMV

DMcCunney · 02-04-2011, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nyrath

I personally found The Vortex Blaster to be a fine addition to the Lensman universe. If you like other Lensman books, you'll like Vortex Blaster

I personally found The Galaxy Primes to be disjointed and tedious.

YMMV

I didn't find The Galaxy Primes as tedious as you did, but I concur it's not up to the Lensman series.

It is space opera, with a premise that would have benefited from expansion. I wonder if what got published got cut to fit space requirements.
______
Dennis

nyrath · 02-04-2011, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darqref

After thinking a bit more, I can recommend a couple of series by Roger MacBride Allen. The first is two books , "The Torch of Honor" and "Rogue Powers". The first book is an almost classic space yarn.

The second series is "The Ring of Charon" and "the Shattered Sphere", and are almost classic space opera. The Scale of events is really large, and science details get thrown around quickly.

Seconded. All of those books are excellent, and I re-read them regularly.

The Torch of Honor actually has some realistic spaceflight technology (ignoring the FTL drive, of course). And it does a great job of involving the reader with the heroic protagonist in his struggle against the incredibly evil invaders. Starships, epic space battles, undercover insurgent actions in enemy occupied territories, what's not to like?

The Ring of Charon and The Shattered Sphere are just flat-out awesome. The science is reasonably hard, but the scale and scope is truly of space opera dimensions. And the ending in the second novel is very satisfying, unlike so many space operas.

I'd love those two novels to be made into blockbuster movies.

nyrath · 02-04-2011, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crusader

Any recommendations about human colonization and the struggle of humanity to survive and war with with other alien races?

Something along the line of Saga of Seven Suns, Xelee war etc. Something epic and galaxy spanning...

The previously mentioned The Ring of Charon and The Shattered Sphere.

WillAdams · 02-04-2011, 10:43 AM

Crusader, a notable recent set of stories about ``human colonization and the struggle of humanity to survive and war with with other alien races'' would be John Scalzi's:

Old Man's War
The Ghost Brigades
The Last Colony

Just finished reading _The Ghost Brigades_ and found it interesting (but irritatingly filled w/ typos).

Also, while it doesn't have colonization, Harry Turtledove's _Vilcabamba_ is a thought-provoking story of war w/ an alien race:

http://www.tor.com/stories/2010/02/vilcabamba

William

Crusader · 02-04-2011, 12:02 PM

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

Got Alastair Reynolds. Read Revelation Space, but still need to read the rest.
Have to complete Neal Asher series on their way via surface mail, so will only get them by March or so.
Will check out Benford. His stuff seem to be expensive though in comparison with more modern releases.
Have read Old Man's War and liked it. Will definitely get the rest of that series.

Haven't heard about The Ring of Charon and The Shattered Sphere , will see if I can track them down. I see it was supposed to be a Trilogy, but the third book hasn't been written (and might not ever be). Would that detract from the series? I despise getting hooked on a series and then left hanging.

ctol · 02-04-2011, 11:16 PM

Found this one for free at Smashwords. Do not think it has been mentioned yet, if so apologies. It is interesting to go through. Some of them are iffy as being true space opera.

Here is the link:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/15662?ref=inkmesh

jehane · 02-05-2011, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Re-read them. There actually is a female Lensman toward the end. (More then one, when you count the Children of the Lens.) But lack of a Lens for females has nothing to do with weakness, and is more to do with lack of need.

If you want to look at it that way, you can make a case that males are the weak ones, because they require the artificial aids to do things the females accomplish naturally. (Consider Jill Sams playing Herkimer Herkimer the 3rd in _First Lensman_.)
______
Dennis

Sorry, but I can't agree with you. I didn't make it to the end of the series because I was sufficiently put off by these issues. I won't have access to my (paper) books until late May so there's no way for me to re-read before then.

anjirlly · 02-08-2011, 09:08 PM

Beyond the Chanur novels, CJ Cherryh has lots of space opera, especially Rimrunners, Heavy Time and Hellburner, not to mention the Foreigner universe trilogies.

For mercenaries with a strong female protagonist, try Tara K. Harper's Cat Scratch Fever and Cataract.

TheSFReader · 02-09-2011, 06:04 AM

I didn't read CatScratch, but will have a look at it.
Just wanted to note that CJ Cherry's Heavy Time and Hellburner are available as ebooks from the "Closed Circle" site
http://www.closed-circle.net/WhereItsAt/?page_id=71
As one third of the site, she receives the entire totality of proceeds for her books there.

02-04-2011, 10:43 AM	#115
WillAdams Wizard Posts: 1,260 Karma: 3439432 Join Date: Feb 2008 Device: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (300ppi), Samsung Galaxy Book 12	Crusader, a notable recent set of stories about ``human colonization and the struggle of humanity to survive and war with with other alien races'' would be John Scalzi's: Old Man's War The Ghost Brigades The Last Colony Just finished reading _The Ghost Brigades_ and found it interesting (but irritatingly filled w/ typos). Also, while it doesn't have colonization, Harry Turtledove's _Vilcabamba_ is a thought-provoking story of war w/ an alien race: http://www.tor.com/stories/2010/02/vilcabamba William Last edited by WillAdams; 02-04-2011 at 10:47 AM. Reason: Added Turtledove story

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02-04-2011, 01:13 AM	#107
Darqref space cadet Posts: 335 Karma: 2999999 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Seattle area Device: Rocket PRO, gen3, Pocketbook360	After thinking a bit more, I can recommend a couple of series by Roger MacBride Allen. The first is two books , "The Torch of Honor" and "Rogue Powers". The first book is an almost classic space yarn. The second series is "The Ring of Charon" and "the Shattered Sphere", and are almost classic space opera. The Scale of events is really large, and science details get thrown around quickly. The third series is "The Depths of Time", "the Ocean of Years" and "The Shores of Tomorrow". A single story in three parts, time travel and terraforming. Also in this series is a rather interesting thought about electronic databases vs hardcopy for storing the knowledge of the human race. Hint: electronic versions can be corrupted too damn easily. Allen also wrote some decent Star Wars books, but I consider them lesser works (although almost by definition, they're space opera...)

02-04-2011, 06:55 AM	#108
Blue Tyson Blue Captain Posts: 1,595 Karma: 5000236 Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Australia Device: Kindle Keyboard 3G,Huawei Ideos X3,Kobo Mini	Yes, I have seen the name before, but not those. Can only write about what I remember/know about or have seen (and more recently). So I'll check it out. Thanks, sounds interesting.

02-04-2011, 07:29 AM	#109
Crusader Space Cadet Posts: 1,180 Karma: 4030536 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: South Africa Device: Sony PRS-T1, Cybook Opus, Kobo Glo	Any recommendations about human colonization and the struggle of humanity to survive and war with with other alien races? Something along the line of Saga of Seven Suns, Xelee war etc. Something epic and galaxy spanning...

02-04-2011, 08:49 AM	#110
Blue Tyson Blue Captain Posts: 1,595 Karma: 5000236 Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Australia Device: Kindle Keyboard 3G,Huawei Ideos X3,Kobo Mini	Gregory Benford's Galactic Centre is like the Xeelee a little, Alastair Reynolds Inhibitor Trilogy - Revelation Space, etc. , Gary Gibson, Neal Asher's Polity has parts with the Prador War

02-04-2011, 12:02 PM	#116
Crusader Space Cadet Posts: 1,180 Karma: 4030536 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: South Africa Device: Sony PRS-T1, Cybook Opus, Kobo Glo	Thanks for the suggestions guys. Got Alastair Reynolds. Read Revelation Space, but still need to read the rest. Have to complete Neal Asher series on their way via surface mail, so will only get them by March or so. Will check out Benford. His stuff seem to be expensive though in comparison with more modern releases. Have read Old Man's War and liked it. Will definitely get the rest of that series. Haven't heard about The Ring of Charon and The Shattered Sphere , will see if I can track them down. I see it was supposed to be a Trilogy, but the third book hasn't been written (and might not ever be). Would that detract from the series? I despise getting hooked on a series and then left hanging.

02-04-2011, 11:16 PM	#117
ctol Groupie Posts: 152 Karma: 303523 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Arizona Device: Nook, Fire Tablet, Windows RT Tablet Windows Phone	Found this one for free at Smashwords. Do not think it has been mentioned yet, if so apologies. It is interesting to go through. Some of them are iffy as being true space opera. Here is the link: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/15662?ref=inkmesh

02-08-2011, 09:08 PM	#119
anjirlly Groupie Posts: 155 Karma: 58410 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: SE Michigan Device: Kindle on Android phone; PB360; Sony 950	Beyond the Chanur novels, CJ Cherryh has lots of space opera, especially Rimrunners, Heavy Time and Hellburner, not to mention the Foreigner universe trilogies. For mercenaries with a strong female protagonist, try Tara K. Harper's Cat Scratch Fever and Cataract.

02-09-2011, 06:04 AM	#120
TheSFReader Groupie Posts: 172 Karma: 161634 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Nook	I didn't read CatScratch, but will have a look at it. Just wanted to note that CJ Cherry's Heavy Time and Hellburner are available as ebooks from the "Closed Circle" site http://www.closed-circle.net/WhereItsAt/?page_id=71 As one third of the site, she receives the entire totality of proceeds for her books there.