The New Space Opera. edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan. 2007
The New Space Opera
Rated 81% Positive. Story Score: 3.72
18 Stories : 2 Great / 9 Good / 7 Average / 0 Poor / 0 DNF
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I was halfway through this anthology before I realized that it was an original anthology. Before that I’d assume that it was a themed anthology of modern Space Opera similar to The 2020 Look at Space Opera Book, edited by Allan Kaster (85% Positive.)
Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan have certainly assembled a list of excellent writers, even if the stories in this collection are not their best work. The tales are full of wild galaxy-expanding baroque speculation and it is sometimes hard to find anything firm to ground yourself. Adventure abounds, as if the authors really wanted to make this into blockbuster movies.
At 81% Positive, with no Poor or DNF stories, it is worth reading. Two stories really stood out:
“Minla's Flowers” • (2007) • novella by Alastair Reynolds. An adventurer and his AI spaceship land on a planet at war, but needs to come together to evacuate. He befriends a young girl who’s life will be of great importance to the mission. In an out of cryogenic sleep, the protagonist sees the rapid transformation of the society as they try to get unified and able to escape. This is brilliant in its execution of its concept and full of power human characters. A superb novella.
“Muse of Fire” • (2007) • novella by Dan Simmons. A troupe of intergalactic Shakespearean actors performs for alien races that are progressively more awe-inspiring and strange. They may be performing for humanity’s very survival. This is a story that slowly expands from small conversations to the most majestic possible scale, while never losing the humanity of its characters. I loved this.
The New Space Opera is rated 81%
18 Stories : 2 Great / 9 Good / 7 Average / 0 Poor / 0 DNF
Saving Tiamaat • short story by Gwyneth Jones
Good. A diplomat’s biases get in the way of negotiations between two factions on a primitive planet.
Verthandi's Ring • short story by Ian McDonald
Good. Wildly inventive story of war across galaxies with trillions dead and characters that basically live forever. Complicated to follow and maybe not entirely worth it.
Hatch • (2007) • short story by Robert Reed
Average. A dense baroque tale of people that live on the outside of a Jupiter-sized Great Ship.
Winning Peace • (2007) • novelette by Paul J. McAuley
Good. A fun adventure yarn about an indentured pilot and his owner/boss in a post-war world involving an artifact from a ancient culture.
Glory • (2007) novelette by Greg Egan
Good. Provincial squabbles get in the way of exploration of an ancient civilization’s mathematic remnants.
Maelstrom • (2007) • novelette by Kage Baker
Average. A quirk comedic story of a man who puts on a theater performance on Poe’s “Descent into the Maelstrom” for a rough planet.
Blessed by an Angel • (2007) • short story by Peter F. Hamilton
Average. Higher beings infiltrate a world and attempt to infiltrate it by seducing a couple. Over complex backstory for a very slight story.
Who's Afraid of Wolf 359? • (2007) short story by Ken MacLeod
Average. Man offends the Tychoon on a space station and is sent to investigate the problems on Wolf 359.
The Valley of the Gardens • (2007) • novelette by Tony Daniel
Good. Two parallel love stories combine with a brutal war fought against a collective consciousness. Good characters and great prose, but a ending that just keeps it out of greatness.
Dividing the Sustain • (2007) novelette by James Patrick Kelly
Average. On a large colony ship, individuals must ‘recast’ themselves to keep happy and sane. One man decides to recast as gay and finds himself drawn into intrigue around the Captain and his wife.
Minla's Flowers • (2007) • novella by Alastair Reynolds
Great. An adventurer and his AI spaceship land on a planet at war, but needs to come together to evacuate. He befriends a young girl who’s life will be of great importance to the mission. In an out of cryogenic sleep, the protagonist sees the rapid transformation of the society as they try to get unified and able to escape.
Splinters of Glass • (2007) novelette by Mary Rosenblum
Good. On the wild icy frontier of Europa, a man is hiding out from a large corporation. Then a former lover comes looking for them and they have to run.
Remembrance • (2007) • short story by Stephen Baxter
Good. A rememberer recounts the history of earth’s conquering and subjugation by an aquatic race.
The Emperor and the Maula • (2007) novelette by Robert Silverberg
Average. A Sci-Fi reworking of the story of Scheherazade.
The Worm Turns • (2007) • short story by Gregory Benford
Good. Wild adventure inside a wormhole with aliens. Dense science talk.
Send Them Flowers • (2007) • novelette by Walter Jon Williams
Good. A fun romp as a trader and a womanizer try to stay just ahead of the people they’ve cheated and husbands who’s wives they’ve seduced.
Art of War • (2007) short story by Nancy Kress
Good. A military art historian with seizures and painful family issues is sent to catalogue the human art stolen by an alien race in a war.
Muse of Fire • (2007) • novella by Dan Simmons
Great. A troupe of intergalactic Shakespearean actors performs for alien races that are progressively more awe-inspiring and strange. They may be performing for humanity’s very survival.
