Nova

Author: Samuel R. Delany

We've already included one example of what might be called new wave space opera, and in a sense this is another, but it is a very different novel. The novel takes the form of a quest in which Lorq von Ray and his crew of misfits travel across the galaxy hunting clues in their search for the universe's most valuable fuel, which could change the whole balance of power in this future. All the while they are pursued by their arch enemy, and in the end it becomes a race as they plunge into the heart of a nova to discover their treasure. It's a rich and vivid book, a precursor of cyberpunk in the way the characters jack in to their instruments, and at the same time the story is modelled on the Grail Quest from Arthurian legend, and yet the whole work is filled with references to other space operas such as the Foundation Trilogy. It was Nova that prompted AlgisBudrys to describe Delany as "the best science fiction writer in the world", and it was a major influence on William Gibson's Neuromancer. It is also, quite simply, one of the most entertaining space operas you're likely to read.