Five Faves: Space Opera Books — #MonthofJoy
It’s Five Faves time! Throughout the month of June, I’ll be diverting attention away from the things I’m supposed to be doing in order to spend a little time babbling about the things that I love. This feature will do exactly what it says: list five of my favorite things in a category. Most of the lists will be “on topic,” which is to say “related to SF/F in some way,” but some lists will be on my other ancillary interests, such as reptiles, books of theory, pies, and…wait…pie? Oh my god, I love pie! Anywho…today’s post, as the title suggests, will list 5 of my favorite space operas. I will use the following criteria for this list: Books will be taken to mean “narrative fiction at novel length” rather than the broader definition we use today. Comics and graphic novels deserve their own list anyway. That means no movies either. I’m using my personal definition of space opera. I’m happy to talk about that definition at another time, but for now, I just want to share some things I love! Here we go:
Shaun’s Rambles 010: On C.L. Moore’s Judgment Night and Gender Violence
Space opera attacks! It’s been three weeks since I started teaching my space opera course, and I already have far too much to talk about! In this edition, I take a look at the first half of C.L. Moore’s Judgment Night and the interesting ways in which I and my students read gender violence into some of the early scenes. I hope you enjoy it! Some useful links: http://media.blubrry.com/shaunsrambles/archive.org/download/ShaunsRambles010OnC.L.MooresJudgmentNight/ShaunsRambles010–OnC.l.MooresJudgmentNight.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Adventures in Teaching: The Space Opera Syllabus Reading List
As most of you are aware by now, I’m teaching an upper division literature course in fall. The theme: American space opera. A few weeks ago, the department approved my syllabus, so come the end of next month, I will be teaching a whole lot of really interesting works. Here’s what my students will be reading: