Review: 'New Adventures in Space Opera', edited by Jonathan Strahan
Pub. Date: 16/8/2024
Publisher: Tachyon Publications
Ann Leckie / Becky Chambers / Alastair Reynolds / T. Kingfisher / Charlie Jane Anders / Anya Johanna DeNiro / Yoon Ha Lee / Lavie Tidhar / Tobias S. Buckell / Arkady Martine / Aliette de Bodard / Seth Dickinson / Karin Tidbeck
Award-winning science fiction editor Jonathan Strahan (The Best Science Fiction of the Year series) presents this quintessential guide to the New Space Opera, showcasing short stories with big adventures from fifteen acclaimed speculative fiction authors.
In “Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance,” a cloud-based contractor finds a human war criminal clinging to the hull of the ship. The clones of “All the Colours You Thought Were Kings,” about to attend their coming-of-age ceremony, are also plotting treason. During “A Temporary Embarrassment in Spacetime,” two outlaws go on the run after stealing a device from a space cult.
Take a faster-than-light trip to the future. Discover where memes rise and fall in moments. Here are the new, adventurous, and extremely efficient—takes on interstellar battles, sentient spaceships, and galactic intrigue. The future is sooner than you think, and there’s only so much time to visit.
I will have to admit that, while I consider my Sci-Fi reading quite broad, I had never fully considered how "Space Opera" might differ, as a sub-genre. as such, I found Jonathan Strahan's introduction very insightful. There he argues that, in short space opera is a 'romantic adventure set in space and told on a grand scale'. What "romantic" here means is, I believe, up to the author but what I found was true in each of the stories in the collection was that they contained a deep yearning for something. Sometimes another person, sometimes a way of life, sometimes a place. Adventures abound, however, in this collection, and each does reach an impressive scale within the limits of a short story. Another interesting element of the introduction is how Strahan tracks the development of this sub-genre, how it took on the galactic-empire framework in the '50s, but then built upon this and began to become more diverse and actively critical of imperialism and colonialism in the decades that followed. The diversity of the stories included in New Adventures also supports this and in almost all you can find the traces of this deconstructing of empire and its influences, as well as LGBTQIA elements. Besides that, however, there is also the sheer inventiveness which blew me away. Some stories in this collection are irreverent, in a "Guardians of the Galaxy" way, while others are almost mythical, some never touch down on a planet while others hop between moons and worlds like there's no tomorrow. I can honestly say that this edition has made me a Space Opera-convert.
'Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance' by Tobias S. Buckell is a delightful start, about a robot, a stowaway, and the question of what makes us us. 'Extracurricular Activities' by Yoon Ha Lee is a heist story, with surprises and twists and insights into the oddities of cultures and sexualities. 'All the Colours You Thought Were Kings' by Arkady Martine, whose inclusion alongside T. Kingfisher and Lavie Tidhar first attracted me to the collection, is also stunning and ends in a way that had me on the edge of my seat. It is about empire, love, treason, and all things in between. 'Belladonna Nights' by Alastair Reynolds is a surprisingly tragic tale about endless travels through space, memory, and communion. 'Metal Like Blood in the Dark' by T. Kingfisher was a very surprising story to me, almost a fairy tale about a robot brother and sister who find themselves alone in space. 'A Temporary Embarrassment in Spacetime' by Charlie Jane Anders, meanwhile, is utterly delightful as well as gross as well as sweet. It surprised me from the first page, until I found myself oddly touched by the end. 'Immersion' by Aliette de Bodard is potentially my favourite story from the entire collection. It is a stark tale about identity, colonialism, and technology which made my heart ache. 'Morrigan in the Sunglare' by Seth Dickinson suffered a little from coming directly after 'Immersion', but its discussion of war and comradeship was also strong. 'The Old Dispensation' by Lavie Tidhar was mind-expanding, depicting a galactic empire grounded in Jewish theology and story telling. This one also had me on the edge of my seat as it explored faith and identity. 'A Good Heretic' by Becky Chambers is a very touching story about who you truly are, the potential pressure of traditions, and daring to be one's self. 'A Voyage to Queensthroat' by Anya Johanna DeNiro made me a fan of this author, because it was not only a delightful mix of Fantasy and Sci-Fi, but also very inventive in its structure. 'The Justified' by Ann Leckie was another favourite, combining the divine with bloody vengeance and Egyptian mythology! 'Planetstuck' by Sam J. Miller focuses on a sex worker in a universe that is truly endless, full of star gates, except to where our main character truly wants to go. It is an intriguing, warm, and heart-breaking story about not being able to go home. 'The Last Voyage of Skidbladnir' by Karin Tidbeck is an excellent closer to this collection, focusing on a space ship that is an office building that is also a sentient life form.
Usually my go-to caveat with short story collections is that not every story will be a hit and that one should expect this, going in. For New Adventures, however, I have to say that I enjoyed each story. Naturally, some did affect me a little more than others. As I said, 'Immersion' by Aliette de Bodard was heartbreaking and will remain with me for quite a while. Arkady Martin'es 'All the Colours You Thought Were Kings' was gorgeously descriptive and made me determined to reread A Memory Called Empire ASAP and then get onto the second. Karin Tidbeck's 'The Last Voyage of Skidbladnir' and Anya Johanan DeNiro's 'A Voyage to Queensthroat' were also very intriguing from their structure, the way the authors played with genre and format, alongside crafting beautiful stories. 'Morrigan in the Sunglare' by Seth Dickinson and 'A Temporary Embarrassment in Spacetime' by Charlie Jane Anders, while not entirely my cup of tea, were still excellent reads that made me curious to read more by both. Overall, I think New Adventures is a perfect example of a well-curated collection, because it made me want to explore even further, find more stories that fall under Space Opera, and give each of these authors money for more of their works.
I give this collection...
5 Universes!
New Adventures in Space Opera is a delightful collection in which I took something away from each story. While some stuck with me more than others, each served to more fully fill in my idea of what Space Opera can be. The possibilities are endless in space!
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