GW: What’s your all-time favorite space opera novel?
JM: You know, that’s a tough one. I love several space opera series, but the kinds that I like best are the ones that have the full package for me. That includes spaceships, galactic travel, aliens, robots, etc. I love current series like James S. A. Corey’s The Expanse series, John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series, and particularly Iain M. Banks’ Culture novels, but I would have to say that my all-time favorite space opera novel is still Frank Herbert’s Dune. People regard it as an SF classic and tend to focus on the politics and the spiritual elements, but I think a lot of people tend to forget that it is still a great example of a space opera. I don’t care as much for the series, and to be honest I stopped reading the books after Children of Dune, but the first book is still the absolute best example of the best that the space opera genre be, much derided as it is, can be.
If I had a runner-up it would be The Witches of Karres by James H. Schmitz. In fact any of Schmitz’s short stories, or story collections are fantastic examples of fun space opera.
So, let me ask you, what are some of the essential elements that a space opera novel has to have in order for you to consider it a “true” example of the genre? Or are you not that picky?
GW: I think Space Opera, as far as elements go, is not really about certain tropes (robots, aliens, etc.). It’s more of an attitude. It is a feel that Space Opera fiction has, that says here’s the wide universe and all the exciting things that can happen in it. In a sense, it is frontier fiction. That may be part of the reason it is so derided, being associated with Westerns. (The Space Western is a specific type of Space Opera that has received some new attention since Joss Whedon’s Firefly.)
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