Picking up form yesterday’s post about picking the right science fiction niche, Injustice Gamer Alfred Genesson names some successful indie authors who are peeling off readers from underserved or poorly served fandoms:
Brian brings up Galaxy’s Edge, which is an interesting study as it’s by Nick Cole and Jason Anspach, two authors I’ve reviewed apart from each other as well. They’re both really good. I want more ‘Til Death, Jason. But, the brand here is not either author, but both. I don’t think either could put out as good a work in the world alone. This is far from an insult, it’s a compliment to how well they work together. It’s a really good riff on Star Wars. I know of at least one more coming up.
There’s a rather good one from Robert Kroese, which started off as a Star Wars riff, but has moved more to SF in general: Rex Nihilio of Starship Grifters. The brand? Kroese, hitting on notes from around sf culture.
One somewhat similar setting that was missed was Mark Wandrey and Chris Kennedy’s Horsemen universe. The books are solo pieces so far(there’s an announced shared novel). And only a few of the short stories have been cowritten. Here, the strength belongs more to the universe. Yes, it was established by two authors, but others are playing in it, and why is it working? Well, Mechwarrior and Robotech aren’t doing the job, and I don’t see any dominant anime now. Once again, we hit familiar notes.
So where’s the alternate Trek(outside of Orville)? There’s Starfleet Universe, but the publisher has done very little with it of late. A smart publisher/investor would buy those rights and do EVERYTHING they can. I don’t know all the details of those rights, they may exclude film and tv. If not, Axanar should have bought them. But video and boardgames and rpgs there? They could move, and Nick Cole used Starfleet U in his Ctrl Alt Revolt!, not Trek. Galaxy Quest did its thing(the best trek film), had some mildly amusing comics, and disappeared.
I still maintain that the ST:U subplot in Ctrl Alt Revolt! is the best Start Trek story in the past twenty years. If I were a Paramount executive, I’d beg Nick Cole to come and save the Trek franchise. As it is, he’s probably too busy walking all over Star Wars.
Speaking of poorly served fandoms, aspiring author Bradford Walker notes the conspicuous lack of Star Wars forks that are pure space operas.
Like others, I’m looking to riff on Star Wars for my own purposes. What I see a lot is a shift of emphasis away from the Knights & Wizards towards the more underworld and mil-SF aspects. I’m wanting to go the other way. Space Knights, Space Princesses, castles in the sky, and fantastic powers capable of wondrous things- including wondrous technologies.
All one has to do is browse Amazon’s space opera category to see that Bradford is right. That’s not to knock Galaxy’s Edge. Nick and Jason seem to have tapped into a rich vein of disaffected fans of the X-Wing and Bounty Hunter books from the Star Wars Expanded Universe’s heyday. It’s heartening to see those long-neglected fans finally get the Mil-SF flavored feast they’ve been starving for.
But as Bradford points out, fans of Star Wars’ core space opera fandom are still going hungry.
Flat out going good and hard for the Space OPERA, and laying on the myth and fantasy thick (like how I prefer the frosting on my cakes). There’s not enough of the fantastic and mythic in science fiction, and I’m fully behind the #RegressHarder mantra. (And yes, you see it in Legend of the Galactic Heroes, straight and subverted.) If you’ve ever seen the original, non-Flanderized King of Beasts: Go Lion from which we in the West got Voltron, you will know that “Space Princesses” is not code for “Baby’s First Sci-Fi”. It’s hearkening back to John Carter, but played out on a galactic or universal scope and scale.
I see the term space opera thrown around a lot lately, and in contexts that make it clear there’s more than a little confusion about what the genre entails. To sum it up, space opera descends from the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Doc Smith. Modern Mil-SF follows the tradition of authors like Robert A. Heinlein and Joe Haldeman.
Whatever your preference, here’s wishing Nick Cole and Jason Anspach continued success. And here’s hoping Bradford Walker can bring back our space princesses.