30 Essential Space Operas

A list of 30 space opera (or space opera adjacent) books that have influenced, inspired, and entertained me.

As regular readers will know, I have a new book coming out in April. I describe Descendant Machine as a space opera, because it features large starships, space battles, mysterious alien technology, and huge swathes of time and distance.

I was recently asked if I had been influenced by any other authors, and struggled to come up with a short, pithy answer…