favorite space opera?

[Windshadow]

The Lensmen books by e e Doc Smith are the foundational Space Opera books to me ( well, all of the books he wrote. I read them when I was seven or so)

 

[Hobbit]

The Lensmen books by e e Doc Smith are the foundational Space Opera books to me ( well, all of the books he wrote. I read them when I was seven or so)

And welcome back, Windy! I have an Easton Press edition of these, and my original Panther UK paperbacks with great Chris Foss covers.



But I do find them dated. I can live with that, but they're not something today's readers would like, I think. I can see where Heinlein got a lot of his dialogue style from!

 

[Cicero]

The Dominic Flandrey series by Poul Anderson

 

[farseer2]

But I do find them dated.

They certainly are dated. Not so much because of the story, which is fast paced, grandiose and full of interesting elements, but because of the writing style. Of course the gender roles are what you would expect from the 1930s/40s, but that would be very easy to modernize if they wanted to make a TV show of it.

E.E. Smith was really good at creating alien races, even though his main characters are human, and the story is not deep or thoughtful but it's full of adventure. You can see how Star Wars follows from this. Or Green Lantern, because the Green Lantern Corps is obviously inspired by the Lensmen.

But the writing style... It's awkward in a quite unique, it takes a while to get used to it, and I agree that many modern readers would not want to make that effort, but once you do, it's a lot of fun.

Also, he was a pioneer. He was creating this stuff from nothing. No tradition of space opera before him.

I like how the fancyclopedia puts it: E. E. Smith was not a particularly good writer, but he was a great one. https://fancyclopedia.org/E._E._Smith

John Clute is more ruthless in the Encyclopedia of SF: "Today, while he must be read by anyone interested in understanding the deep appeal of American Genre SF in the days before World War two, any revisit to his work should be made in the loving awareness that he is a creature of the dawn." https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/smith_e_e

From the one I'm reading just now, Galactic Patrol:

Ship after ship of the pirate horde followed him down in madly suicidal last attempts to blast him out of the ether; down toward the terrific armament of the base. Prime Base itself, the most dreaded, the most heavily armed, the most impregnable fortress of the Galactic Patrol! Nothing afloat could even threaten that citadel—the overbold attackers simply disappeared in brief flashes of coruscant vapor.

Kinnison, even before inerting his ship preparatory to landing, called his commander.

“Did any of the other boys beat us in, sir?” he asked.

“No, sir,” came the curt response. Congratulations, felicitations, and celebration would come later; Haynes was now the Port Admiral receiving an official report.

“Then, sir, I have the honor to report that the expedition has succeeded,” and he could not help adding informally, youthfully exultant at the success of his first real mission, “We’ve brought home the bacon!”

 

[Raf]

They certainly are dated. Not so much because of the story, which is fast paced, grandiose and full of interesting elements, but because of the writing style. Of course the gender roles are what you would expect from the 1930s/40s, but that would be very easy to modernize if they wanted to make a TV show of it.

E.E. Smith was really good at creating alien races, and the story is not deep or thoughtful but it's full of adventure. You can see how Star Wars follows from this. Or Green Lantern, because the Green Lantern Corps is obviously inspired by the Lensmen.

But the style... It takes a while to get used to it, and I agree that many modern readers would not want to make that effort, but once you do, it's a lot of fun.


From the one I'm reading just now, Galactic Patrol:

Now that's just classic space opera. I read all the Lensman books when I was young. Loved everything E.E. Doc Smith did. Might need to re-read them again.

 

[Windshadow]

Let me strongly recommend this if you have read Doc Smith recently.

 

[Raf]

Let me strongly recommend this if you have read Doc Smith recently.

Welcome back Windy!

 

[Cicero]

The Star Kings by Edmond Hamilton You just cant beat a classic. My advice , read this book, its a blast. and its got everything !