Space Opera

by Anne McCaffrey (Editor), Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (Editor), Jody Lynn Nye (Contributor)

Twenty original science fiction tales based on the theme of music--by such authors as Marion Zimmer Bradley, Charles de Lint, and Gene Wolfe--include the story of a singer whose ear for music helps her fight crime.

ix · Introduction · Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough · in
13 · Bluesberry Jam · Gene Wolfe · nv *
41 · To Drive the Cold Winter Away · Marion Zimmer Bradley · ss *
54 · The Last Song of Sirit Byar [world of The Inkeeper’s Song] · Peter S. Beagle · nv *
96 · Roundelay · Mary C. Pangborn · ss *
106 · Space Station Annie · Cynthia McQuillin · ss *
126 · Swan Song · Lyn McConchie · ss *
144 · Heavenside Song · Warren C. Norwood · ss *
157 · Drift · Steven Brust · nv *
178 · A Hole in the Sky · Margaret Ball · ss *
193 · The Impossible Place · Alan Dean Foster · ss *
207 · Ever After · Paula Lalish · ss *
225 · Soulfedge Rock · Suzette Haden Elgin · ss *
238 · Scarborough Fair · Elizabeth Ann Scarborough · nv *
263 · Thunderbird Road · Leslie Fish · nv *
294 · Our Father’s Gold · Elisabeth Waters · nv *
317 · A Song of Strange Revenge · Josepha Sherman · ss *
323 · Songchild · Robin Wayne Bailey · ss *
338 · Saskia [Newford] · Charles de Lint · nv *
369 · Calling Them Home · Jody Lynn Nye · ss *
385 · Bird in the Hand · Anne McCaffrey · ss *

Genres: Science Fiction, Anthologies, Short Stories, Fantasy, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Space Opera

400 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1996

About the author

Anne Inez McCaffrey was an American writer known for the Dragonriders of Pern science fiction series. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction (Best Novella, Weyr Search, 1968) and the first to win a Nebula Award (Best Novella, Dragonrider, 1969). Her 1978 novel The White Dragon became one of the first science-fiction books to appear on the New York Times Best Seller list.
In 2005 the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America named McCaffrey its 22nd Grand Master, an annual award to living writers of fantasy and science fiction. She was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame on 17 June 2006. She also received the Robert A. Heinlein Award for her work in 2007.

Reviews

[Chan Fry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rated each of the 20 stories separately (in my longer review), and came up with an average of 2.5 stars for the book, rounding it up to three. Like most anthologies, this one is hit-or-miss; some stories simply weren’t worth my time and others were wonderful. Mostly, I enjoyed the variety, and the kinds of stories I wouldn’t normally find.

One downside of the book overall, for me, was how many misogynistic tropes I saw, especially in a book as recent as 1996 and one edited by two women. Many of the female characters required a man for help or explanation or something else, for example. Also weird: almost all the music mentioned herein was either classical or folk music — possibly an artifact of the authors’ average ages. Almost no mention was made of modern popular music’s many genres: rock, metal, blues, jazz, dance, techno, R&B, hiphop, etc.

One last oddity: both the front cover and back cover specifically use the descriptor “science fiction” while avoiding the term “fantasy”. Yet I counted only five stories that avoided magic, gods, fairies, and so on — meaning 75% of the stories have a hard time counting as “science fiction” by many definitions (and mine).

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought THIS book for Charles de Lint, Anne McCaffrey and Jim Burns (the cover artist)

[Carolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of stories, both fantasy and science fiction, that in some way revolve around music. Just 'eh' - none that really got my interest.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Space Opera
McCaffrey, Anne
a collect of stories by new born authors supported and enabled by one of the greatest

[Tammy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stories are all 'fine', but kinda weird. I often thought 'why do i care'. Individually, I gave them all a 3/5. I gave the book 2/5 as a whole, even though that's not how averages work, because so many of the meh stories were quite dull and a slog to read.

1. Bluesberry Jam by Gene Wolfe - 3/5 - A weird story about a group of people / culture who live in an effectively completely stopped traffic jam told from the point of view of a busker looking for inspiration for a new song.

2. To Drive the Cold Winter Away by Marion Zimmer Bradley - 3/5 - A ministrel-mage takes shelter in a village where music is banned. The Duke thinks all fun (music, booze) encourages rogues. Lythande thinks that overturning this ban might be part of her geas to fight evil. The Duke seeks her help with his infant son, who quieted upon hearing Lythande play. However, it turns out the baby just has jaundice, and his mother a sun allergy. As payment, Lythande requests the ban on music be overturned.

3. The Last Song of Sirit Byar by Peter S. Beagle - 3/5 - A weird story about a bard and his apprentice. Sirit Byar uses his last song, i.e. gives his life, to cure the madness of a woman he loved 15 years ago.

4. Roundelay by Mary C. Pangborn - 3/5 - Lol. Author intro. "She has always, on the side, been a wannabe writer, but no publisher has ever been interested. Period." According to wikipedia, that's not sarcasm. She has an unpublished novel, and her published works are short stories in anthologies or magazines. Kids make a giant chain out of mobius strips and sing Three Blind Mice in a round, and it nearly summons the pied piper and/or the devil.

5. Space Station Annie by Cynthia McQuillen - 3/5 - A has-been singer tries to revive her career. Inspired by a song written by the author and her own fears. This is the first story of the book that I liked, and wasn't just weird. An old love entreats her to take a chance and start her career over on the frontier.

6. Swan Song by Lyn McConchie - 3/5 - In T'Chree's culture, singing ability is high prized, and she is quite terrible. It makes her the same of her family, society, and effectively, unmarriageable. Eh, I didn't like the ending. She makes a devil's bargain to temporarily gain a beautiful voice and leave a legacy, in exchange for her life. Her human friend saves her, but now that she has accomplished her goal, she lets the world assume she has died to live a new life / adventure with her friend. There's some weird morality something something here.

7. Heavenside Song by Warren C. Norwood - 3/5 - A world where women are not allowed to sing. Misogynistic society. Women are not allowed to sing (among other things), but a girl dares to do it during some sort of coming of age ceremony, and all the women join in her rebellion.

8. Drift by Steven Brust - 3/5 - Drummers are increasingly replaced by machines. One challenges the the latest machine in a contest that he can keep better time (i.e. less drift). He wins over ~3 days. I didn't really get the point of this story.

9. A Hole in the Sky by Margaret Ball - 3/5 - Plagues and the end of the world. Didn't really get this one either. A plague in Africa kills everyone on an remote island, and I guess the native's drumming / singing is maintaining the world.

10. The Impossible Place by Alan Dean Foster - 3/5 - Inspired by a real place in Namibia. Some dude runs into a naked singing woman in the bush (Skeleton Coast) in Namibia. She teaches him the dance that goes along with her traditional, spiritual song. Some mystical shit happens. They both disappear, and probably part of the arch carvings now.

11. Ever After by Paula Lalish - 3/5 - Weird monkey's paw Cinderella.

12. Soulfedge Rock by Suzette Haden Elgin - 3/5 - Kinda cool idea, but nothing really ties the characters to the story. The ending is also completely random. A Dr. has a very annoying, contrarian daughter, and she's explaining to her grandchildren how she teaches aphasiacs to communicate with a musical code. Then randomly, rocks in her garden sing back to her, so she books a trip to the Grand Canyon despite prior professional commitments. Because reasons.

13. Scarborough Fair by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough - 3/5 - More of a story than most in this collection. Elizabeth Ann Scarborough visits Scarborough, England, and meets an old woman and her sister. The old woman convinces her to 'solve' the riddle in the song, and it allows her to reunite with her dead love.

14. Thunderbird Road by Leslie Fish - 3/5 - A half white / half Native American guy goes to the top of a mountain in Arizona to do a rain dance and stumbles across a powerful self-taught shaman, who is causing the drought to chase out the white people. First dude summons a giant Thunderbird who eats the shaman and then breaks the drought spell.

15. Our Father's Gold by Elisabeth Waters - 3/5 - Epilogue to Wagner's Ring Cycle (opera) A 16 year old half-Rhinemaiden, Antonia, is told to get the cursed ring (like, the one ring) from Alberich's son. She decides to tell him what's what, and they work together to break the curse. Upon placing the ring in dead Alberich's hands, it melts back to Rhinegold, and Antonia returns it to her Aunts, the Rhinemaiden.

16. A Song of Strange Revenge by Josepha Sherman - 3/5 - Pretty writing. Based(?) on the opera Mlada.A woman, influenced by a dark sorceress, is murdered by her cousin to steal her fiance. As a ghost, she sings to a deity of light, and he figures it out. He kills the cousin, and then himself to avoid being used as a pawn. The two ghosts are reunited.

17. Songchild by Robin Wayne Bailey - 4/5 - Sweet and sad. The first story in this collection I liked. Jilrean accidentally turns herself into a god and destroys her world by absorbing all magic. Her intentions were good, but she did not understand that all life is magic. She tries to use the power and her harp to recreate her world, but fails. Then, one day, she accidentally breaks a string and creates a god child. She realizes that she has the power, but not the knowledge. Instead, she pours her power into the harp and runs, letting the wind create life. The end hints the cycle will happen again when someone else discovers the magic gathering spell.

18. Saskia by Charles de Lint - 3/5 - I don't understand poetry. Heh, the main character is freaked out when he types a question into a specialized search engine with typos, and it answers him. Published in 1996. Yea, I don't really get what's happening. Some author obsesses over a girl, and she ends up being a body/piece a search engine AI created to experience the world. She's also a poet. And, there's some stuff with about building a relationship with his brother, a musician.

19. Calling Them Home by Jody Lynn Nye - 3/5 - Margette runs a space lighthouse, which uses music, 7 notes, as its beacon. A ion storm knocks out the electronics, so she has to sing the notes over and over again to guide a space ship due to come by. I'm not really sure why it was necessary for it to be 100% continuous... Nor why did it have to be exact in the vastness of space...

20. Bird in the Hand by Anne McCaffrey - 3/5 - A part time detective uses her musical ability to find sentient alien baby birds smuggled off world as trophy pets.

[Mario · Rating 2 out of 5]

I came up with an average score of about 2.7 stars for each story, deducted one because there was no real feel of a collection bridging them together. The theme of the book was probably too broad, it's not even 'space' opera, it's fantasy that is somehow vaguely associated with music. Disappointing, overall.

[Dave Counselman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A geed anthology of stories. The musical theme takes center stage throughout.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of fantasy/sci-fi short stories by a variety of authors including Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Anne Scarborough, all based around music or singing.

------------------------------------

First read in 2008; re-read in 2020. I don't remember specifically how I felt about it the first time round; the second time my primary feeling is, "Yeah, okay, that was fine." The stories all have music or singing as a theme, but the styles differ quite a lot, and range from fantasy to fairly hard sci-fi.

I've re-rated it down from four stars to three on re-reading, though I feel that some of the stories are definitely four- or five-star quality - I particularly enjoyed Calling Them Home by Jody Lynn Nye, whom I had heard of via her work with Anne McCaffrey, as well as Saskia by Charles de Lint and Thunderbird Road by Leslie Fish (neither of whom I'd read before).

[Lisa Williamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Space Opera anthology edited by Anne McCaffrey Now I picked up this book way back when it came out in 1996 , but I recently decided I needed to re-read my older books.
 
This lovely anthology is a collection of tales with the theme of music. Everything from fantasy, horror, science fiction, post apocalyptic and more. Some of the greatest voices in fiction from the 90s and before are in this book.
 
From Space Station Annie by the late great Cynthia McQuillian to Scarborough Fair by Elizabeth Anne Scarborough to Calling Them Home by Jody Lynn Nye it is easy to find a tale that lifts up your heart by the power of the mixture of words and music.
 
While these tales might seem a bit dated to a lot of modern readers, they are fine examples of masters of the craft writing on a theme. We need more anthologies like this and I know I will be looking for them.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a couple of stories in this collection that deserve fives,
e.g., "A Hole in the Sky" by Margaret Ball (p. 178) and "Soulfedge Rock" by Suzette Haden Elgin (p. 225).

[Emy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know I read this multiple times while abroad, and that I leant it to a co-student when I was in St Petersburg

[D · Rating 1 out of 5]

I liked two stories: Saskia by Charles de Lint and Calling Them Home by Jody Lynn Nye.

[Jacquie]

Bird in the Hand · Anne McCaffrey · ss