Space Opera Fans discussion

Greetings Space Opera Fans!

It's that time of the month to nominate what space opera books we'd like to read as a group in November. Up this month we have the following categories:

READER PICK: Dead trees is where it's at for the Reader Pick, which should be widely available in both paperback and ebook at most chain bookstores and public libraries. Books can't be exclusive to Kindle Unlimited since we're a global community.

INDIE PICK: This is for those newer, edgier books where the author has to do it all. Books that have been published by a micropress that helps you upload the thing, but YOU otherwise do the work and marking are okay, or if you got your backlist back, still qualify.

YOUNG ADULT FRIENDLY PICK: This is where YOU guys help me indoctrinate set a good example for my teenagers and hook them up with good books that won't make them roll their eyes. That means: Must be written FOR a young adult and STAR a young adult protagonist (age 17 or less) and not have been published any earlier than the year 2000 AD (yeah, I know you all think Heinlein is young adult, but the Y2K kids think he's sooooo 1966).


(If the cover looks like this, chances are a teen will spurn it...)

Since it's hard to find purely space opera YA books, any sci-fi book that has a strong space or space-yearning element will probably be acceptable. Gotta still have spaceships and aliens.

Drop your nomination into the thread below and, on the first of the month (or so), we'll spin it through Random.org to pick three brand new group reads.

Be epic!

Anna Erishkigal
SOF Borg Queen

P.S. - drive-by spam nominations not allowed, so if you're not an active member, we reserve the right to disqualify anything fishy.

Indie

The Settlers by Jason Gurley. It was free on Kindle recently. It's got two votes for space opera, and sounds like a lot of it takes place on space stations.



YA

Sticking with Galactic Heroes: Dawn.

Dawn


Reader Pick:



Space Opera Manga about terra forming Mars with cockroaches. As you can probably guess, things go swimmingly with this plan... (view spoiler)[Not. (hide spoiler)]

There is a YA component to this, but it should probably be in Indie...MAYAN, Atlantis Returns

is out in November! YA pick from me :)

Reader: Forsaken Skies (The Silence, #1)
Indie: Liberty by Alasdair C. Shaw
YA: Revenger, the sisters qualify as YA range protags, but mostly because I can't really think of anything else at the moment.

How about https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... as either Indie or Reader. Intriguing interstallar politics with the occasional shoot-em-up. A bit like CJ Cherryh's Chanur or Foreigner, but not as heavy.

I think I got the first two of those ringo books on my kindle since I found the free version of the 2nd one in the series. My backlog is still very veeeeeery sad.

Laz wrote: "How about https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... as either Indie or Reader. Intriguing interstallar politics with the occasional shoot-em-up. A bit like CJ Cherryh's Chanur or Fore..."

This book, Ambassador, is free on Amazon and has the audio narration for two bucks, so worth picking up I would guess.

Didn't we already read Ambassador: Seeing Red?

Teresa wrote: "Didn't we already read Ambassador: Seeing Red?"

Could be. I keep forgetting to look at the list.

Indy: Auberon military space opera, female main character, several humorous parts.

Teresa wrote: "Didn't we already read Ambassador: Seeing Red?"

We did indeed. Very recently, as I recall.

My reader pick... The Quantum Thief (does this qualify as space opera?)
Indie pick... Girl From Above: Betrayal (even though it's Kindle-only, dammit)
YA pick... Not a clue, sorry.

Steph wrote: "Teresa wrote: "Didn't we already read Ambassador: Seeing Red?"

We did indeed. Very recently, as I recall."

Hmm, maybe that's where I picked it up. I may need to pay closer attention...

I'll second The Settlers for Indie Pick, and if Revenger does qualify as YA, I'll second that as well!

Thank you!