David Weber, most famous for his Space Opera series, Honor Harrington, ran this DemiCon 24 panel solo, beginning with the theme of “The Future of Space Opera,” but fielded questions that made this more aptly entitled, “Militarily Authentic Space Opera.” If you’re new to this series, the first book, On Basilisk Station
Topics discussed:
- Space Opera as a genre, then takes Q and A, discussing:
- Strengths of Space Opera in dealing with human relationships;
- How important it is that you understand military if you write military science fiction, including helpful hints on how not to write bad military fiction;
- The psychology of killing in war and how many can’t;
- 3AM courage type of heroes;
- How science fiction has a huge responsibility not to glorify war or clean it up;
- And finally, how to avoid writing a cardboard character.
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Stay tuned for two more panel podcasts from David Weber at DemiCon 24, “Building a Navy” and “Working with David Weber.”
Recent news from David Weber:
House of Steel (Honor Harrington): The Honorverse Companion, by David Weber and BuNine, was released in May.
- Treecat Wars (advanced reader copy ebook), by David Weber and Jane Lindskold, is available through Baen Books.
- David’s announcement that Toni Weisskopf has given David permission to write his magnum opus that springboards off the Bahzell books (War God series).
Podcast: Download (Duration: 58:41 — 53.8MB)
Weber mentions a book about how to avoid writing bad military fiction (he also mentions “On Killing”, but the first book is unnamed). Any idea what book he might be talking about?
I will look into that, Kurt. Thanks for listening!
Can’t comment on this yet, since I am still catching up on shows. However, I just want to say I’m sorry that Shaun is gone for the time being – he was a fantastic host. But Tim Ward is doing a great job now, and I look forward to all the goodies coming our way during his tenure.
I am happy to be on the review team also, and looking forward to posting my first review really soon.
Thanks, John! You’re right. I miss Shaun and just being a listener, but it has been a sweet ride.