For my first foray into the world of SciFi Month prompts (aside from my November hopefuls), today’s is about the space opera subgenre. I had not heard about this subgenre until about one or two months ago. So, in case you’re like me, here’s a great definition from Wikipedia:

Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes science fictional space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, it features technological and social advancements (or lack thereof) in faster-than-light travel, futuristic weapons, and sophisticated technology, on a backdrop of galactic empires and interstellar wars with fictional aliens, often in fictional galaxies.

Some well known space operas are Star Wars and the updated Battlestar Galactica show. Today, however, I’m featuring a book marketed as a space opera. (I’ll be surprised if I’m the only one to mention this book today!) It just so happens that this will be my first jump back into a scifi book in well over a year. At the time I’m scheduling this post I haven’t technically started it yet, but I plan to very shortly!

The Stars Undying by Emery Robin

Series: Empire Without End #1
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Orbit
Publish Date: November 8, 2022
Print Length: 528

From Bookshop.org:

A sweeping tale of empire and betrayal set among the stars, perfect for readers of Ann Leckie and Arkady Martine, The Stars Undying is a queer, spectacular space opera debut inspired by the rise and fall of ancient Rome and Egypt–and the lives and loves of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar.

Princess Altagracia has lost everything. After a bloody civil war, her twin sister has claimed both the crown of their planet, Szayet, and the Pearl of its prophecy: a computer that contains the immortal soul of Szayet’s god.

So when the interstellar Empire of Ceiao turns its conquering eye toward Szayet, Gracia sees an opportunity. To regain her planet, Gracia places herself in the hands of the empire and its dangerous commander, Matheus Ceirran.

But winning over Matheus, to say nothing of his mercurial and compelling captain Anita, is no easy feat. And in trying to secure her planet’s sovereignty and future, Gracia will find herself torn between Matheus’s ambitions, Anita’s unpredictable desires, and the demands of the Pearl that whispers in her ear.

For Szayet’s sake and her own, she will need to become more than a princess with a silver tongue. She will have to become a queen as history has never seen before.

**ARTWORK: this year’s SciFiMonth artwork is by the amazingly talented Simon Fetscher.**