Well, seeing as I wasn't born yesterday, I clarified that Star Wars was a storyline using fantasy tropes dressed up as sci-fi, a telltale sign being the use of magic ("Use the Force, Luke!"), which is not an element in space opera. But of course, my nuance fell on deaf ears.
Anyway, I do know what space opera is and one of my favorite series is T.M. Hunter's Aston West novels and stories. Go to Amazon (link in my review below) and browse his some fifteen titles and discover some good reading for yourself. To whet your appetite, here's my take on Hunter's latest offering - a triple-shot of Aston West.
Sweet Embrace & Other Adventures is a short collection of three more Aston West stories (book 5 in the series). This cycle centers around the space pirate/smuggler's relationship with a relative newcomer to the smuggling game, knock-out beauty Diedra Cane.
In tale number one, Conventional Wisdom, Aston gets in and out of a sticky situation...with a little help from Diedra. In the second story, Sweet Embrace, we see a more compassionate side to Aston, grace under fire, if you will. And finally, he wins the day in Ridealong, the third story where Cane's naivete once again gets our hero into a bit of trouble.
All told, aboug 35 pages. If you like space opera, wild adventure, and a turnabout storyline, these triple shots are just the thing for a quick lunch break escape or bedtime reading.
