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  • Re: “Top 10 Space Opera Books and Series”

    From WolfFan@21:1/5 to Lynn McGuire on Sat Jun 1 12:45:42 2024
    On May 31, 2024, Lynn McGuire wrote
    (in article <v3dc4d$2cmed$1@dont-email.me>):

    “Top 10 Space Opera Books and Series”

    https://discoverscifi.com/the-top-10-space-opera-books-and-series-of-all-time/

    10. Blood on the Stars by Jay Allan - never heard of it
    9. Hyperion by Dan Simmons - yes
    8. Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds - I have never read the series
    7. Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold - freaking awesome series

    Mad Miles started as Space Opera (jg) and quickly mutated into something much more like Pierot In Space. The Little Grey Cells were much more important
    than the Big Black Guns. Indeed, the Little Grey Cells were more important
    from the very beginning.

    6. The Culture Series by Iain M. Banks - I have never read the series
    5. The Commonwealth Saga by Peter F. Hamilton - I have never read the series 4. Triplanetary by E.E. "Doc" Smith - this is on my reread list
    3. Old Man's War by John Scalzi - yes
    2. The Expanse Series by James S.A. Corey - awesome series
    1A. The Foundation Series by Issac Asimov - yes

    Asimov has never, ever, written space opera. The closest would be the short story “I’m in Marsport Without Hilda”. The first three (the _only_
    three that I will admit exist) go out of their way to ridicule space opera.
    See further ‘Mule, The’.

    1B. Honor Harrington Saga by David Weber - yes

    David Weber's Dahak series needs to be a part of this list.

    I would swap The Foundation Series and The Vorkosigan series.

    Lynn

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  • From Robert Woodward@21:1/5 to Michael F. Stemper on Sun Jun 2 09:45:53 2024
    In article <v3huav$3ckvd$1@dont-email.me>,
    "Michael F. Stemper" <michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 01/06/2024 17.34, William Hyde wrote:


    Brian Aldiss published a two volume anthology of Space Opera stories.

    Are you possibly thinking of another editor? I have a one-volume anthology, edited by Aldiss, titled _Space Opera_. Its title, copyright, and contents pages nowhere say anything about another volume, or about "previously published in two volumes." Neither does the ISFDB:

    <https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?34976>

    William Hyde might be thinking of _Space Odysseys_, also edited by Aldis.

    --
    "We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
    Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_. —-----------------------------------------------------
    Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

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  • From Ted Nolan @21:1/5 to g@crcomp.net on Fri Jun 7 19:27:03 2024
    In article <20240607a@crcomp.net>, Don <g@crcomp.net> wrote:
    Ted Nolan wrote:
    Lynn McGuire wrote:
    Christian Weisgerber wrote:
    Lynn McGuire wrote:

    ???Top 10 Space Opera Books and Series???
    https://discoverscifi.com/the-top-10-space-opera-books-and-series-of-all-time/

    8. Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds - I have never read the series >>>>
    We both should read it. :-)

    6. The Culture Series by Iain M. Banks - I have never read the series >>>>
    You should rectify that.

    4. Triplanetary by E.E. "Doc" Smith - this is on my reread list

    You can't talk about space opera without Doc Smith, but this is an
    odd choice. Why a single novel and not the whole Lensman series?
    And if you select an exemplary novel, _Galactic Patrol_ would be
    my pick.

    1A. The Foundation Series by Issac Asimov - yes

    Whut!?? That's no space opera.

    What genre is Foundation then ?

    SF?

    "What's seen can not be unseen"

    "What's done can not be undone" - _Macbeth_ (1606)

    "Things done can not be undone"
    - Francis Bacon's Promus of Formularies and Elegancies (1596)



    [Foundation] is a story about social engineering. A mathematician
    and a group of academic intellectuals decide to save civilization
    by manipulating history, and their plan leads to a Second Empire.
    The idea of giving votes to plebeians simply never comes up.

    _Transhuman and Subhuman_ (Wright)

    Did Asimov and Campbell create _Foundation_'s psychohistory as an
    allegory for Kenesian economics and Baconian scientism, without
    realizing it?


    Well to be fair, Seldon and the initial Foundation settlers were products
    of an Imperial system, so they were never going to be democrats.
    I think Foundation had settled down into some sort of oligarchy by the time
    the Mule put paid to the Plan, but my memory is hazy.

    Of course later Asimov's Lucky Starr series seemed to have rule by "Science Council" posited as a Good Thing iirc..
    --
    columbiaclosings.com
    What's not in Columbia anymore..

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  • From Don@21:1/5 to Ted Nolan on Fri Jun 7 19:15:29 2024
    Ted Nolan wrote:
    Lynn McGuire wrote:
    Christian Weisgerber wrote:
    Lynn McGuire wrote:

    ???Top 10 Space Opera Books and Series???
    https://discoverscifi.com/the-top-10-space-opera-books-and-series-of-all-time/

    8. Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds - I have never read the series >>>
    We both should read it. :-)

    6. The Culture Series by Iain M. Banks - I have never read the series

    You should rectify that.

    4. Triplanetary by E.E. "Doc" Smith - this is on my reread list

    You can't talk about space opera without Doc Smith, but this is an
    odd choice. Why a single novel and not the whole Lensman series?
    And if you select an exemplary novel, _Galactic Patrol_ would be
    my pick.

    1A. The Foundation Series by Issac Asimov - yes

    Whut!?? That's no space opera.

    What genre is Foundation then ?

    SF?

    "What's seen can not be unseen"

    "What's done can not be undone" - _Macbeth_ (1606)

    "Things done can not be undone"
    - Francis Bacon's Promus of Formularies and Elegancies (1596)



    [Foundation] is a story about social engineering. A mathematician
    and a group of academic intellectuals decide to save civilization
    by manipulating history, and their plan leads to a Second Empire.
    The idea of giving votes to plebeians simply never comes up.

    _Transhuman and Subhuman_ (Wright)

    Did Asimov and Campbell create _Foundation_'s psychohistory as an
    allegory for Kenesian economics and Baconian scientism, without
    realizing it?

    Sociological propaganda springs up spontaneously; it
    is not the result of deliberate propaganda action.
    No propagandists deliberately use this method,
    though many practice it unwittingly, and tend in this
    direction without realizing it. When the American
    producer makes a film, he has certain definite ideas
    he wants to express, which are not intended to be
    propaganda. Rather, the propaganda element is in the
    American way of life with which he is permeated and
    which he expresses in his film without realizing it.
    We see here the force of expansion of a vigorous
    society, which is totalitarian in the sense of the
    integration of the individual which leads to
    involuntary behavior.

    _Propaganda_ (Ellul)

    Danke,

    --
    Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``. https://crcomp.net/reviews.php telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,. Walk humbly with thy God.
    tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.' Make 1984 fiction again.

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