Questions tagged [space-opera]
Use this tag for question about the subgenre of Space Opera. May also be used together with [story-identification] when looking for a Space Operatic work.
31
questions
43
votes
5
answers
31k
views
Difference between Space Opera and Science Fiction?
A while back a guy came into the place where I was working. He had a book (I don't remember the name). The book was, according to him, scifi. I told him, "Great! My favorite scifi is the Skylark ...
- 1,609
26
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Negotiator promises not to destroy conquered territory's cultural heritage - but renders it useless without destroying it [duplicate]
In the last couple of years, I read an SF book in which a conquering general negotiates a surrender from a conquered world - in exchange for an end to resistance, the defeated planet's cultural ...
- 28.4k
14
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Space opera about a Dyson sphere
Help me find a book, please. What I remember is that it was a space opera (fairly huge). It was about a star that suddenly went dark and people were intrigued. They set an expedition to find out why ...
- 157
14
votes
2
answers
945
views
Novel about a man who seeks revenge against villains for attacking his planet
I remember scrolling on Wikipedia and reading about a science fiction novel with an interesting premise, but I can for the life of me remember what it was called. Thankfully, I do remember certain ...
- 381
13
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Sci-Fi book where spider-like alien lives on the hull of a ship and configures his web to forecast space weather or the future?
I read a book about 11 years ago that was part of a larger series and I can't remember the name or author. I randomly picked it out of the Sci-Fi section in the library because I liked the cover and ...
- 131
12
votes
1
answer
321
views
Book Name: Space Operaish
I am trying to find the name of a book I read many years ago but have not been having much luck. I remember a fair bit about the book but I just can't seem to track it down. Any help would be ...
- 123
12
votes
1
answer
139
views
Old (pre-1970) novel with plot point about insufficient tech level to reproduce a broken gizmo
I don't think this was really a big deal in the story, just some on-going issue the protagonist was dealing with while carrying on with whatever the major plot was. It stuck in my head for some ...
- 4,871
11
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Book with a ship that has its hull automatically repair
The book was in a space opera/rpg style. The hull was described as being made from a very rare and expensive material that would concentrate and refract laser fire back to the enemy. It would repair ...
- 524
11
votes
1
answer
782
views
Title/author of book in which a young low-ranking officer ends up captain of spaceship?
A young man on the crew of a spaceship (a luxury passenger liner on a long trip, I believe) ends up as the captain after the ship runs into some kind of danger that kills or disables most or all of ...
- 969
11
votes
2
answers
655
views
Space opera book with telepathic female main character
I read this book sometime in the mid-late 90s. It's set on other worlds and in space, mostly human characters.
What I remember:
the female main character (FMC) has telepathic and telekinetic powers ...
- 111
11
votes
1
answer
356
views
Book about humanity and four other alien races at war, learn they are seed colonies of dead civilizations
I'm looking for a book I read 6 or 7 years ago - maybe less.
Humanity is at war with one or more of four alien races, there is a sixth race which is a cross breed of the others. Humans come across ...
- 111
10
votes
2
answers
411
views
Lone human travels through galaxy populated by aliens and is put to work as a slave separating functional equipment from faulty
I am looking for the name of a science fiction story or novel that I read 30 years ago.
It is a "space opera" about a lone human who travels some distance through a galaxy populated by ...
- 103
10
votes
1
answer
454
views
Space opera with large cat and discussion about infinite dimensions
I'm trying to remember a novel I read in the late 80s or early 90s. I don't remember too many details. This is what I do remember:
It involved a voyage through hyperspace.
As part of this voyage they ...
- 667
10
votes
1
answer
222
views
Old SF short story where Solarians have evolved into a separate species who eat humans [duplicate]
I read this short story in a science fiction anthology sometime during the 1960s or 1970s, and the story should have been somewhat older than the anthology.
In this space opera story humans from Earth ...
- 39.6k
9
votes
1
answer
180
views
70s/80s comic space opera short story published in some SF magazine, containing the phrase "in durance vile."
A ship is intelligent.
It plays tricks on its crew to keep them alert. Sometimes they think it goes too far.
The crew shut it down for a period of time as punishment.
Space pirates then chase and ...
- 539
8
votes
1
answer
274
views
Recent story featuring exponentially growing swarm of aliens (which turn out to be human-made)
I recently read this story (recently meaning within the last two years), but can't for the life of me remember the name of the books. It was part of (at least) a trilogy, of which I read two. The ...
- 421
7
votes
2
answers
997
views
Vampires in space
I remember reading a novella in an old sci-fi anthology about vampires in space from what they call "the golden age of sci-fi".
It was NOT Blindsight by Watts (loved that one), or the choose ...
- 179
7
votes
1
answer
471
views
Anime space opera from the 80s, possibly involving some temporal paradox
I'm trying to identify an old anime movie from my childhood. I saw it around the might-eighties.
It was a space opera, and I can recall the following elements:
A big space fleet that is escaping ...
- 203
7
votes
1
answer
404
views
Book about a girl who had a space suit which came out of her pores
I am looking for an old space opera book I read; I can't remember the name. It has a squid-like creature who gives a girl a mission. Also, I remember that this girl had a space suit which came out of ...
6
votes
1
answer
114
views
Space Opera Book Series with the main premise of a black hole thing that inhabits another world, allowing telekinetic powers
A black hole thing was created by an alien species and it inhabits a whole world in it that can fulfill a person's desires through the manipulation of space-time or creating multiple dimension layers. ...
- 71
6
votes
1
answer
178
views
Early 1980s graphic novel about human spies undercover on an intergalactic cruise
In the early to mid '80s I read a graphic novel about space travel in the distant future. A human couple win a lottery for an intergalactic cruise line. In reality they are spies that have to get ...
- 63
6
votes
1
answer
244
views
Space opera book series about an augmented soldier doing a planetary assist toward Uranus to kill cyborgs
I am a die hard sci-fi space opera reader. I read an ongoing series that was a work in progress about 5 years ago. This was a series of books, each about 300-400 pages long. There were 4-8 books in ...
- 677
6
votes
1
answer
548
views
Space Opera Comic 80s/90s
This might be a bit more complicated, because the comic I'm looking for is not well known, I think it was 4-5 issues, might have been from the late 80s, mid-90s, not sure about the publisher. Probably ...
- 61
6
votes
0
answers
166
views
When did the term "space opera" first refer to the SF subgenre, rather than just formulaic, schlocky SF?
In 1941, Wilson Tucker coined the term "space opera", in parallel with "horse opera" and "soap opera", to refer to schlocky, formulaic writing, the kind of stuff that ...
- 14.4k
5
votes
1
answer
329
views
Book(s): Space Opera - Young Man becomes Captain, Homemade AI becomes Real Girl
I believe I read this either in the late 1990's or early 2000's. I may have stumbled across it as an online story (similar to how "John Dies at the End" was originally posted online), but I remember ...
- 153
5
votes
1
answer
203
views
Title of space opera novel where they implant a parasite on people who have died [duplicate]
I read this great book a while ago and have not been able to find it since.
It's a space-opera novel involving a society in which a parasitic organism is planted in people who have died, reviving ...
5
votes
1
answer
315
views
Military space opera story discovering dead civilization
I am trying to find a story I read a few years back.
It was a space opera-type story with big military spaceships, discovering remains of a past civilization in the form of big asteroid-like ...
- 283
5
votes
0
answers
102
views
Old comic book, space opera or planetary romance, nonhuman villain
I asked a question about an old science ficition comic book here:
Old comic book, war with the moon, Pan-ku Chinese first man1
I already knew the answer, and planned to answer myself if nobody else ...
- 39.6k
4
votes
0
answers
70
views
Space opera novella about a civilization that exists on huge space ships where higher-caste individuals have a second pair of hands in place of feet [duplicate]
Please help me identify a space opera novella about caste-based civilization that exists on huge space ships with no gravity in which higher-caste individuals have a second pair of hands in place of ...
- 153
2
votes
1
answer
89
views
Space opera featuring gladiatorial combat with an enhanced main character [duplicate]
I’m looking for a book I last read in the late 1970s to early 1980s. The main character was a young male humanoid whose skeleton had been enhanced with titanium to increase its lightness and strength. ...
- 21
-4
votes
1
answer
236
views
Does a space opera have to feature supernatural abilities, à la the Force? [duplicate]
I'm creating a space opera video game and I was wondering if to be considered a Space Opera it had to feature some supernatural abilities like Star Wars has with the Force. Or can I completely forgo ...
- 21