"Space opera", once a derisive term for cheap pulp adventure, has come to mean something more in modern SF: compelling adventure stories told against a broad canvas, and written to the highest level of skill. Indeed, it can be argued that the "new space opera" is one of the defining streams of modern SF.

Now, World Fantasy Award-winning anthologists David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer have compiled a definitive overview of this subgenre, both as it was in the days of the pulp magazines, and as it has become today.

Contents:

• I. Redefined Writers
  • The Star Stealers by Edmond Hamilton
  • The Prince of Space by Jack Williamson
  • Enchantress of Venus by Leigh Brackett
  • The Swordsman of Varnis by Clive Jackson
• II. Draftees (1960s)
  • The Game of Rat & Dragon by Cordwainer Smith
  • Empire Star by Samuel R. Delany
  • Zirn Left Unguarded, the Jenjik Palace in Flames, Jon Westerly Dead by Robert Sheckley
  III. Transitions/Redefiners (late 1970s to late 1980s)
  • Temptation by David Brin
  • Ranks of Bronze by David Drake
  • Weatherman by Lois McMaster Bujold
  • A Gift from the Culture by Iain M. Banks
• IV. Volunteers/Revisionaries (early 90s)
  • Orphans of the Helix by Dan Simmons
  • The Well Wishers by Colin Greenland
  • Escape Route by Peter Hamilton
  • Ms Midshipwoman Harrington by David Weber
  • Aurora in Four Voices by Catherine Asaro
  • Ring Rats by R. Garcia y Robertson
  • The Death of Captain Future by Allen Steele
• V. Mixed Signals/Mixed Categories (to the late 1990s)
  • A Worm in the Well by Gregory Benford
  • The Survivor by Donald Kingsbury
  • Fools Errand by Sarah Zettel
  • The Shobies Story by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • The Remoras by Robert Reed
  • Recording Angel by Paul McAuley
  • The Great Game by Steven Baxter
  • Lost Sorceress of the Silent Citadel by Michael Moorcock
  • Space Opera by Michael Kandel
• VI. Next Wave/21st Century
  • Grist by Tony Daniel
  • The Movements of her Eyes by Scott Westerfeld
  • Spirey and the Queen by Alastair Reynolds
  • Bear Trap by Charles Stross
  • Guest Law by John C. Wright