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I got into Sci-fi with E.E. 'Doc' Smith back in the early 70s. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what is current in a similar vein?

Space Opera is still around but has changed markedly. I'd refer you to Iain M. Banks, Alastair Reynolds, Neal Asher, Peter F. Hamilton, Ken MacLeod - all well worth a read in their different ways.

It's struck me for some time that it's the British authors that have really flown the flag for this sort of SF in recent years, although more recently US authors such as John Scalzi and James S. A. Corey cover that sort of territory too. In some ways the Americans are more 'pure' Space Opera, I'd say, while the Brits seem to mix it up a bit. I think there's also quite an overlap with the Military SF like David Weber, and then you spiral into the stuff that is Operatic in scale but can get increasingly multi-layered (or just weird); Dan Simmons, John Meaney, Hannu Rajaniemi, even some Charlie Stross and Gene Wolfe.

'Doc' Smith's stuff was one of the things that got me into SF when I was in my teens - my dad had the Lensman and some of the Skylark series - thence into Asimov and Aldiss and Clarke and Dick before discovering the newer authors.

Paul has provided a nice list in the above post but I am guessing we all have some favorite authors who have written in this genre (or at least with some of the elements). Here are a few I have enjoyed.

Julian May
David Brin
Steve Perry
Allan Cole and Chris Bunch
Anne McCaffrey
Michael McCollum
Jack McDevitt
Timothy Zahn
Brian Daley
James Luceno
Jack L. Chalker
L.E. Modesitt Jr.
Mike Resnick
Vernor Vinge
Kevin J. Anderson

This just touches on some of those I have read. Plus you could throw in all the novels published in the different space opera themes (Star Wars, Star Trek etc...).

Though not as good as Doc Smith's books, David A. Kyle wrote several more Lensman novels back in the '80's if you want to read additional in that universe.

Hey - 'Doc' Smith in the 1970s was my gateway drug into sf too!
Let me suggest this pair of unjustly overlooked Space Opera titles - I'm fairly sure poor sales is what drove the author to writing YA full-time - The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds by Scott Westerfeld. Classic space opera for the modern era - implacable cyborg foes, ship to ship space battles and all the hyper-tech a lover of DeLameter blasters, Bergenholm drives and negasphere planet smashers could want. Plus cats - check 'em out!

I will second The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds wholeheartedly! I loved those books and read several of Westerfeld's other books because of them.

FYI - there is a Space Opera group here. They support the genre as you might expect, with passion and detail.

/group/show/...

The Great North Road by Peter f Hamilton

Laz wrote: "FYI - there is a Space Opera group here. They support the genre as you might expect, with passion and detail.

/group/show/..."

Thanks for the tip.

About a year ago i lamented the poor state of space opera on my blog...



I really think this is the primary reason that SF sells so poorly in the bookstores now (a tiny fraction of what fantasy generates) while SF movies (usually very action-heavy space operas/superheroes) tear up the box office. SF CAN BE FUN AGAIN!

Laz wrote: "FYI - there is a Space Opera group here. They support the genre as you might expect, with passion and detail.

/group/show/..."

Thanks for the heads-up ... joined! And they're reading one of the books I'm currently reading with Beyond Reality: A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge, though I'm not sure I'd call that book "space opera," per se. To me space opera is pulp SF... ray guns and BEMs.

Philip wrote: "About a year ago i lamented the poor state of space opera on my blog...



I really think this is the primary reason..."

That's a great article - one I can wholeheartedly agree with. If you're a SF fan, you'll read all kinds of stuff and enjoy it as well because you're already a fan of the genre, and you know that there's all kinds of exploration within it.

If you're not, the lack of a fun story can be a real downer. Or the apparent lack of a story at all...