Tag: space opera

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Exclusive Interview: “Activation Degradation” Author Marina Lostetter

 

There’s no shortage of funky robots in sci-fi: Bender, Marvin, Murderbot, Claptrap, R2-D2… But that doesn’t mean we don’t want more, especially when they put a unique spin on the idea.

Which brings us to Unit Four, the “biological soft” maintenance robot from Marina Lostetter’s new sci-fi space opera thriller Activation Degradation (paperback, Kindle, audiobook).

In the following email interview, Lostetter discusses what inspired this robotic story, as well as whether this is the end for our favorite new ‘bot.

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Exclusive Interview: “Light Chaser” Co-Authors Peter F. Hamilton & Gareth L. Powell

 

Given that they both write epic sci-fi space opera stories, you might think Peter F. Hamilton (of the Salvation Sequence Hamiltons) and Gareth L. Powell (of the Embers Of War Trilogy fortune) would be cordial at best and bitter rivals at worst. But once again, your cynical nature has gotten the best of you, because the two not only get along, they actually appreciate each other’s work enough that they decided to collaborate on (what else?) an epic sci-fi space opera story. In the following email interview, Peter and Gareth discuss their new novella Light Chaser (paperback, Kindle), as well as their mutual admiration society membership

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Exclusive Interview: “The Necropolis Empire” Author Tim Pratt

 

Like his novel The Fractured Void, Tim Pratt’s The Necropolis Empire (paperback, Kindle) is a sci-fi space opera based on the strategic board game Twilight Imperium.

But while both novels share the same universe, as he explains in the following email interview about it, Necropolis isn’t a sequel to Fractured…well, not entirely.

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Exclusive Interview: “Hold Fast Through The Fire” Author K.B. Wagers

 

As Douglas Adams so aptly put it, “Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is.” Which means it may take a while for AAA to show up when your spaceship gets a flat tire. Good thing the Near-Earth Orbital Guard are always at the ready. Well, so long as you get that flat tire while being a character in one of K.B. Wager’s NeoG novels.

In the following email interview, Wagers discusses the second book in this ongoing military sci-fi series, Hold Fast Through The Fire (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook), as well as their plans for the future.

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Exclusive Interview: “Assassin’s Orbit” Author John Appel

 

It’s always fun to see how someone describes a story when they’re trying to be pithy. Take, for instance, how Solaris described John Appel’s sci-fi space opera thriller Assassin’s Orbit (paperback, Kindle, audiobook): “Golden Girls meets The Expanse with a side of Babylon Five.” But as Appel himself admits in the following email interview, that weird mix isn’t that far off.

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Exclusive Interview: “The Fallen” Author Ada Hoffmann

 

It’s always the middle book of a trilogy where things go to shit. But that doesn’t seem to be the case with Ada Hoffmann’s cosmic horror sci-fi space opera novel The Fallen (paperback, Kindle)…but only because things already went to shit in the first book, 2019’s The Outside. In the following email interview, Hoffman discusses what inspired and influenced this middle part, as well as her plans for the conclusion.

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Exclusive Interview: Secrets Of The Force Co-Writer Mark A. Altman

 

While there’s been tons of behind-the-scenes books about Star Wars, writers Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman are trying to do something different with Secrets Of The Force (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook) by not only presenting it as an oral history, but having that oral history be, as the subtitle explains, “Uncensored” and “Unauthorized.” In the following email interview, Altman (who was my boss at Geek Monthly) explains how this book came together, what it does and does not cover, and why they feel oral histories work for these kinds of making-of books.

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Exclusive Interview: “Catalyst Gate” Author Megan E. O’Keefe

 

Like a lot of video games, the Mass Effect series wasn’t just influenced by other games, but by sci-fi space opera novels as well.

But influence flows both ways, as evidenced by what writer Megan E. O’Keefe says in the following email interview about Catalyst Gate (paperback, Kindle), the third and final book in her Mass Effect (and other games) inspired The Protectorate Series trilogy.

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DVDs/Blu-rays Reviews TV

“Star Trek: Lower Decks: Season 1” Blu-ray, DVD Review

 

Nearly twenty years after William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and the rest of the Enterprise crew played Star Trek for laughs in the Futurama episode “Where No Fan Has Gone Before,” Starfleet is getting colorfully comedic again with Star Trek: Lower Decks, an animated comedy that’s also the newest addition to the Star Trek cannon. And while it takes more than one episode to really get good, watching all ten on the Star Trek: Lower Decks: Season 1 Blu-ray, DVD, or limited-edition Blu-Ray steelbook is the best way to see it happen.

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