Space Opera Fans discussion

Greetings Space Opera Fans!

Do you need help finding the right sub-genre of space opera? The SOF community and/or some of our members maintain some really great space opera LISTOPIAS to help you find that sweet-spot.

SOF Fans Community favorites: (add YOUR favorite space opera book to the list!) - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

Girls With Guns: ("You always were an @$$#0!e, Gorman..." i.e., space opera about kick-@$$ women soldiers, police, mercenaries) - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

Space Opera for Men: (this is the Tim Allen 'ug ug ug' listopia, books dudes often recommend to other dudes :-) - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...

Military & Space Opera: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...

Best Young Adult space opera: (what to give your teenagers to assimilate them into sci-fi) -- https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

Hottest Young Adult Space Opera Dream Boyfriends: (also known as the 'sneaky way to get teenage girls interested in science fiction instead of sparkly vampires' listopia) - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...

Middle-Grade (children's) Space Opera: (assimilate them young!) - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

Near Future space opera: (space opera set in the not-too-distant future) - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Solar System space opera: (space opera set within a single solar system) - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Space Opera with Female Protagonists and a bit of romance: (Not romance, but titles which focus on a woman's view of sci-fi which often include children and family) - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

Space Opera Comics & Manga: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...

Space Opera Romance: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...

Space Opera Erotic Romance: (hot! hot! hot!) - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

And don't forget to check out our monthly Book of the Month club recommendations!

Be epic!

Anna Erishkigal
SOF Borg Queen

Psst, the "near future space opera" link goes to the erotic romance list ;)

Tobias wrote: "Psst, the "near future space opera" link goes to the erotic romance list ;)"

Oops... sorry 3:-) Just fixed it.

Anna wrote: "Tobias wrote: "Psst, the "near future space opera" link goes to the erotic romance list ;)"

Oops... sorry 3:-) Just fixed it."


Nice try though, trying to get us into erotic romance....

If you want to colonize new worlds, 'getting it on' is an integral part of getting the job done 3:-)

Any chance you could amend the rules to only list the first book in a series? On some of these lists (which are great!), more than half the entries are book 2/3/4/5.

Laz wrote: "Any chance you could amend the rules to only list the first book in a series? On some of these lists (which are great!), more than half the entries are book 2/3/4/5."

Not a bad idea...

I don't 'control' all of these lists. On -my- lists I have that rule explicitly spelled out. Unfortunately, while Goodreads allows me to create these lists, in their infinite wisdom they don't allow the creators to remove a blatantly inappropriate book [*sarcasm*].

Two of the top 4 books on opera for men are series I have just read in the past 3 - 4 months! ...

1) thank you for the affirmation

2) Am I the manliest in the space opera forum now?

:P

Cody wrote: "Two of the top 4 books on opera for men are series I have just read in the past 3 - 4 months! ...

1) thank you for the affirmation

2) Am I the manliest in the space opera forum now?

:P"

Until proven otherwise....

Jim wrote: "Until proven otherwise.... "

I've read 2/3 of the Girls with Guns list, but I don't feel emasculated.

i will take that as a yes :P

Is there a listopia of diverse space opera? Whether with regards to the author or main character, I'm having a hard time finding books by or about people of colour, LGBT+, etc. I'd love some recommendations and be able to support authors who are or feature characters outside the straight white male norm. There are some female featured options above, but they're a bit limiting.

Monika wrote: "Is there a listopia of diverse space opera? Whether with regards to the author or main character, I'm having a hard time finding books by or about people of colour, LGBT+, etc. I'd love some recomm..."

Hi Monika. Chris G. Wright is a new kid on the block, he's not white, but incorporates a few ethnic backgrounds to his primary and secondary characters, and some backgrounds which aren't even from Earth, so, can't get more diverse than that. The Alliance is a space opera where his main characters, each one with their separate story, travel across Earth and space as the plot unravels. It's a diverse book with a lot of character.

Thanks for he recommendation, Imagination_hunter. I'll look him up :)

Monika wrote: "Thanks for he recommendation, Imagination_hunter. I'll look him up :)"

No probs, Monika. Also, another one that comes to mind is Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor.

I enjoyed Nnedi Okorafor's Binti, except it was a little too short for me and I like more detailed and intricate works. I'm hoping the sequel will delve deeper into her characters and world building. Post apocalyptic fantasy (as Who Fears Death is described) isn't exactly my wheelhouse though. She's definitely an author I'm keeping an eye on, and I hope she'll write more far reaching sci fi and build on the great start that Binti is for me.

Monika wrote: "Is there a listopia of diverse space opera? Whether with regards to the author or main character, I'm having a hard time finding books by or about people of colour, LGBT+, etc. I'd love some recomm..."

I don't know of a listopia, but there's a whole folder in this group which includes several threads listing books with diverse characters:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Monika wrote: "I enjoyed Nnedi Okorafor's Binti, except it was a little too short for me and I like more detailed and intricate works. I'm hoping the sequel will delve deeper into her characters and world buildin..."

Well, in that case, I'm glad I recommended The Alliance

Monika, Have you read Octavia E. Butler's Xenogenesis series? It's fantastic. The first book is
Dawn

The main protaganist in the first book is female and a person of color. Plus there's lots of interesting gender bending and very difference views of sex and partnering and so forth.

Monika wrote: "Is there a listopia of diverse space opera? Whether with regards to the author or main character, I'm having a hard time finding books by or about people of colour, LGBT+, etc. I'd love some recomm..."

Amelia, that sounds exactly up my alley! I'll look for it asap

I just released my own military space opera in Lucifer's Star, which I call my "R-rated Star Wars."

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

I think it'd qualify as an ugh-ugh too.

:)

I'd also recommend Alexis Carew 1# "Into the Dark" by J.A. Sutherland which is pure awesome. I love that series. Like Honor Harrington but more character focused.

I have a list I created a long time ago called Shatterers of Worlds: The Most Spectacular Space Opera which is designed to collect books in which moons, planets, stars etc. get blown up or at least devastated.

Man, this is great!

If I only have known about this area it could have saved me so much time and credits ( $$$ ).

Thank you members for sharing,
Much appreciation!!!

I would like to learn how did you guys made your list and moved it here, like exactly step by step because from all the books that I’ve read and own I have quite a selection which I wouldn’t mind sharing.
So if anyone have the patience to teach others how to work with Goodreads and create shortcuts it will be great and I’ll be grateful.

Making a list is pretty easy; you just go to Browse>Lists ( https://www.goodreads.com/list ) and click on Create New List at the top right ( https://www.goodreads.com/list/new ). Then you fill in the title, description and any keyword tags you want to add to make it show up in searches (e.g. science fiction, space opera, etc.), and click Save. The creation page has some advice on how to name lists. Once the list has been made, you can click on "Add Books To This List" and select books from a search or one of your shelves. (Anyone can add books to any list in this way, which can create problems if people keep adding books that don't fit the description.)

As noted on the creation page, you shouldn't make lists with generic names like "Best Space Opera" - you should pick some specific theme that hasn't been done a hundred times before, like "Space Opera With Cat People". You also shouldn't make "my favourite space opera"-type lists, as lists are intended to be public. My lists (found at https://www.goodreads.com/list/create... ) include:

-Good Book, Bad Romance
-We Are The Knights Who Say F*** - Best Grimdark High Fantasy
-YA Before It Was Cool - Pre-2000 Books For YA Readers
-Free Fantasy and Sci-Fi E-Books Which Are Actually Worth Reading
-Stupid Jetpack Hitler And The Ghostapo - Nazi Superscience And Sorcery
-Intellects Vast And Cool And Unsympathetic - The Best Cosmic Horror Stories

Much appreciation,
Thank you, I'll create a list but one last thing, how do I enter my list into this place or the explanation is in those shortcuts you gave me which I haven't checked yet?

Sorry I believe you have explained now that I looked for it.

If you want to post a link to the list in this thread, just copy and paste the URL.

Something I forgot to mention is that my advice assumes you're using Goodreads from a web browser, not using the mobile app. The mobile app doesn't work very well or at all with some of the functions available on the full website.

That’s exactly was my problem I’m using an iPad but I just noticed that at the bottom of the page there is a Copy this page URL, I’m learning.

I wasn't sure where to post this, but here is as good a place as any.

This is a list of scifi tropes with some reference titles for each. I recognized most of the books, but there were some that I hadn't been aware of. Ignore the ranking as that's very subjective.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/s...

Thanks Laz for sharing.

Laz wrote: "I wasn't sure where to post this, but here is as good a place as any.

This is a list of scifi tropes with some reference titles for each. I recognized most of the books, but there were some that I..."

If you’re looking for lists of books (and movies, TV series, comic books, radio shows, etc) which feature specific tropes, head over to TV Tropes. https://tvtropes.org

For example, generation ships: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...

If you find you’ve lost nine hours of your day by following links on TV Tropes, just know I’ve been there.😂

I've been there , too . . . recently

What would be the best space opera listopia to add an erotic space opera to. It's not romance. It has a female protagonist and ends on a cliff-hanger. There will be a book 2. I'm thinking either the Space Opera with Female Protagonists and a Bit of Romance category (even know the only romance is not with the main character) or the Space Opera Erotic Romance category (again not much romance). The main character is a non-monogamous "unicorn" swinger. There are a lot of explicit sex scenes, but they are secondary to the plot and overall story arc. The end of book 2 will probably have a HEA ending. Any thoughts on space opera listopia listing?

IMO it goes in Erotic Romance even if it’s more explicit sex than romance. That has the advantage of not surprising readers who don’t want explicit sex.

yessssss!!!!!!! i was like i want a new badass military sci-fi heroine to fall in love with. i know somebody has made a rec list. and there it is.

Girls With Guns: ("You always were an @$$#0!e, Gorman..." i.e., space opera about kick-@$$ women soldiers, police, mercenaries)
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...

thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Everyone! - I am very new to goodreads (but not so new to SpaceOpera). So I was wondering if there are any good lists that will be specifically about KII/KIII civilizations... I am a huge fan of P.F. Hamilton and N. Asher - who I think have really have a nack for grand scale nararation and truly epic story telling... I just re-read Saints of Salvation (not sure why this is not nominated more) and I am still thinking about the epic battle at the end of the book - a true KII/KIII battle - and I really would like to find more books of this scale/magnitude/quality - and would welcome any suggestions of such!

Ilya wrote: "Hey Everyone! - I am very new to goodreads (but not so new to SpaceOpera). So I was wondering if there are any good lists that will be specifically about KII/KIII civilizations... I am a huge fan o..."

It's tough to find books like Hamilton's. I found Charlie Stross and Iain Banks, as well as some Alastair Reynolds to be a nearby substitute. Haven't read Ascher much myself, thanks! I loved the Salvation series. Looking for other suggestions myself.

Monwar wrote: "Ilya wrote: "Hey Everyone! - I am very new to goodreads (but not so new to SpaceOpera). So I was wondering if there are any good lists that will be specifically about KII/KIII civilizations... I am..."

I've read Reynolds - revelation space and Banks both are good - but IMHO not on the same level as PFH and Asher ... but I need to look into Charlie Stross - I don't think I've read anything of his. As for Asher - he's Polity series - and there are a number of tri-duo logies set in the same universe - are really really good - just like PFH the scale is monumental, fighting is epic and the story complex and interesting... so yeah - a huge fan of his!

It has aliens, and ends up off earth but might not qualify as Space Opera: “Doorways in the Sand” by Zelazny. A fun romp that I find myself re-reading every couple of years: a hidden gem.

Ilya wrote: "Hey Everyone! - I am very new to goodreads (but not so new to SpaceOpera). So I was wondering if there are any good lists that will be specifically about KII/KIII civilizations... I am a huge fan o..."

I can’t think of any Space Opera that really deals with the Kardashev scale. It’s kind of tangential to Niven’s Known Space, but not a feature.

Maybe Baxter’s Time, aka Manifold: Time, would be along the lines you mean, but it’s also not Space Opera.

The background of Jack L. Chalker’s Well World saga is that aliens created (and run) the entire universe, but none of the books really deal with that aspect. Also not Space Opera.

Going to have to ask what the heck are we talking about here. This is the first time I have heard/read this term.

C. John wrote: "Going to have to ask what the heck are we talking about here. This is the first time I have heard/read this term."

The wiki has a good summation: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karda...

The original scale basically rates civilizations from 1 to 3 based on how much energy they use. Another is based on information transfer, in terms of speed and volume. Currently we are like a 0.75 level civilization. A civilization that has surrounded its sun with a Dyson sphere would be a Type II. One that utilizes the total output of a galaxy is Type III.

The wiki talks about the versions Carl Sagan and Michio Kaku added, and I’ve read their books, but I’m not convinced it’s really a super-useful scale. It’s a handy measuring stick, but the leaps between the stages are fairly preposterous. Going from II to III is like going from primordial amoebas to sentience. Fun to think about, though.

Thanks. Most of my favourite authors are old. Probably explains my lack of familiarity with the term.