Space Opera : An Anthology of Way Back When Futures

By Brian W. Aldiss

Book Overview

Anthology of great space opera. First paperback publication. Introduction, Foreword (Is Everything an Illusion?) and Afterword (Envoi) by the editor, and these stories: Zirn Left Unguarded, the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B000PGL5R6
• Release Date: January 1974
• Publisher: Doubleday
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Where Stars Flow Like Wine Past the Ports

There seem to be roughly two schools of thought regarding space opera among critics and editors. Some take a purely descriptive approach, viewing it as merely one strand of genre science fiction. This seems to be the orientation of Patricia Monk (1992) in her article, "Not Just Cosmic Skulduggery." Editors David Hartwell and Katheryn Cramer are almost militant descriptive editors. Other critics argue that there is a qualitative element to space opera. In a rebuttal to Monk's article, Gary Westfahl (1993) contends that it is just not as serious as mainstream science fiction. This is certainly in keeping with Wilson Tucker, who coined the term in 1941. He did not intend it to be a flattering one. Brian W. Aldiss is an editor who falls into this category. This is from his introduction to _Space Opera_ (1974): "Space opera is heady, escapist stuff, charging on without overmuch regard for logic or literacy, while often throwing off great images, excitements, and aspirations" (xi-xii). Again: "Science fiction is for real. Space opera is for fun" (xi). And again: "What space opera does is take a few light years and a pinch of reality and inflate thoroughly with melodrama, dreams, and a seasoning of screwy ideas" (xi). In other words, space opera is what you write when you are letting your hair down and allowing the romantic in you to burst free. Some of the selections in this anthology seem approptiately space opryish: Robert Sheckley's "Zirn Left Unguarded...," A.E.van Vogt's "The Storm," George Griffith's "Honeymoon in Space," Edmond Hamilton's "The Star of Life," Leigh Brackett's "The Sword of Rhiannon," and Charles L. Harness's "The Paradox Men." Others seem somewhat odd choices: Daniel F. Galouye's "Tonight the Sky Will Fall," Philip K. Dick's "Colony," Jack Vance's "The Mitr," Ray Bradbury's "All Summer in a Day," and Isaac Asimov's "The Last Question." Good stories one and all, mind you, but not what I would call space opera. Jeff Sutton's "After Ixmal" and Thomas N. Scoria's "Sea Change" are borderline pieces, but they are ones that I am glad that Aldiss included. Out of fourteen stories, five-- the van Vogt, the Griffith, the Hamilton, the Brackett, and the Harness-- are excerpts from novels. Again, the quality is impeccable. But I am inclined to think that there should have been a greater balance of short fiction. Some later critics have complained that Aldiss has a "patronising attitude" toward space opera. There is no law that says that an editor must believe that the stories that he selects must be deathless classics. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the proof of an anthology is in the reading. How well does Aldiss do? There is only one story-- Randall Garrett's "Time Fuze"-- that strikes me as truly minor fare. The rest of the selections range in quality from good to excellent. The truth is that Aldiss is an excellent editor, even when he is dealing with stories that are not his normal cup of tea.