When my agent emailed me last week, he referred to my little book as a "space opera."
A space opera! I don't really know what that means, but it sounds cool. Like Luke Skywalker or Captain Picard speeding through the galaxy and breaking out in song. Awesome!
Anyway, I decided to look up the definition of "space opera" on trusty Wikipedia and here's what I found:
Space opera is a sub-genre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic adventure, and is set mainly or entirely in outer space. Perhaps the most significant trait of space opera is that settings, characters, battles, powers, and themes tend to be very large-scale. Unlike conventional opera, space operas do not usually feature people singing.
What?! No people singing? I guess no genre can be perfect...
Interestingly enough, I've finally found a genre that encompasses my book to a tee! My novel is set almost entirely in space and it features a plethora of battles and spaceships and sharp weapons. (A Trekkie's dream!) But alas, it does not feature people singing. Perhaps I should pen some ditties and insert them into a few of the chapters? Maybe something like "Meet Me at the Asteroid Belt" or "I'm Goin' Off to Fight Aliens" or "I Left My Heart at a Cafe on Pluto."
I also thought it would be fun to see what I could find when I typed "space opera" in Google Images. Some cool stuff came up, as well as some super-weird things.
Pretty awesome! I love the vintage, Star Wars feel of this poster. If my book could be distilled into a single image, it would look a lot like this: sleek space vessels, crazy-looking aliens, and a backdrop of stars. But no spandex-clad women. This is a middle grade novel for goodness sake!
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Ahhh! Why do space opera women have to wear skimpy clothing? Don't they have proper apparel in the future?
Look! They're totally singing!
I'm weird, huh?
:o)
