{"id":42129,"date":"2024-05-13T06:30:11","date_gmt":"2024-05-12T18:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=42129"},"modified":"2024-05-12T20:00:38","modified_gmt":"2024-05-12T08:00:38","slug":"two-quotes-on-space-opera-for-your-monday-from-iain-m-banks-gareth-l-powell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2024\/05\/13\/two-quotes-on-space-opera-for-your-monday-from-iain-m-banks-gareth-l-powell\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Quotes on Space Opera for Your Monday &#8212; from Iain M Banks &#038; Gareth L Powell"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, I <a href=\"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2024\/05\/06\/what-im-reading-station-eternity-by-mur-lafferty\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">posted on reading<\/a> <strong><em>Station Eternity<\/em><\/strong>, the first in Mur Lafferty&#8217;s <strong>Midsolar Murders<\/strong> series &#8212; which as noted, is space opera with plenty of whodunnit thrown in.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-41896\" src=\"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Station-Eternity-192x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"192\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Station-Eternity-192x300.jpg 192w, https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Station-Eternity-96x150.jpg 96w, https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Station-Eternity.jpg 256w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 192px) 100vw, 192px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I also think it more than meets this quote from the great <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Culture_series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Iain M Banks<\/strong><\/a> on space opera:<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><em>&#8220;I think space opera in general celebrates a certain manic wildness and vivacity of vision, a refusal to be constrained.&#8221;<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-7902\" src=\"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/surfacedetailcover-194x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"194\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/surfacedetailcover-194x300.jpg 194w, https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/surfacedetailcover-97x150.jpg 97w, https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/surfacedetailcover.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 194px) 100vw, 194px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>To which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.garethlpowell.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gareth L Powell<\/a> added:<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><em>&#8220;<span class=\"css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\">Space opera affords us the chance to indulge our imaginations, giving us the twin infinities of time and space in which to examine ourselves and our place in the universe. It is one of the most vital of genres.<\/span>&#8220;<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-42131\" src=\"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Embers-of-War-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Embers-of-War-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Embers-of-War-99x150.jpg 99w, https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Embers-of-War.jpg 637w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a genre that has seen quite a resurgence over recent years, with works such as those of Gareth L Powell himself, as well as Martha Wells <strong>Murderbot<\/strong> series and James A Corey&#8217;s <strong>The Expanse<\/strong> series, <strong><em>Ancillary Justice<\/em><\/strong> by Ann Leckie and John Scalzi&#8217;s <em><strong>Old Man&#8217;s War<\/strong><\/em> leading the charge.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-36028\" src=\"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/All-Systems-Red-188x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"188\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/All-Systems-Red-188x300.jpg 188w, https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/All-Systems-Red-94x150.jpg 94w, https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/All-Systems-Red.jpg 297w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 188px) 100vw, 188px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As a long term fan of the (sub) genre, I thoroughly support the resurgence. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-27917\" src=\"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Ancillary-Justice-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Ancillary-Justice-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Ancillary-Justice-99x150.jpg 99w, https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Ancillary-Justice.jpg 260w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, I posted on reading Station Eternity, the first in Mur Lafferty&#8217;s Midsolar Murders series &#8212; which as noted, is space opera with plenty of whodunnit thrown in. I also think it more than meets this quote from the great Iain M Banks on space opera: &#8220;I think space opera in general celebrates a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,10,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-funstuff","category-general","category-other-writers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42129"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42135,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42129\/revisions\/42135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}