I recently picked up a copy of the latest Beyond the Stars Anthology from Amazon. I love space opera. It’s probably my favorite science fiction sub-genre. I’ve heard great things about this anthology and was excited to dig in with the first story: One Last Gig by Cain V. Hopwood.
One Last Gig: A Space Opera Short Story by Cain V. Hopwood
This one started off a little different than a lot of other space opera stories I’ve read. Rather than jumping into a high-action scene with explosions or mysterious aliens it stars with the last few notes of a song. More specifically, an audition.
The beginning of the story intrigued me and Hopwood’s descriptions and writing style kept me reading. Before I knew it I was in an exotic world full of interesting aliens, criminals, and capers.
The main character, Aila is on a secret mission and the readers are drip-fed details of her mysterious plan until the real action begins. It really reminds me of some of my favorite crime caper movies like Snatch and the whole Ocean’s series. You know something is afoot but the scale of the plan is bigger than you imagined.
And there’s always a twist.
I finished out this short story with a smile on my face and hungry for more. I’ll be adding Hopwood’s books to my TBR list in hopes his other adventures are as fun as this one.
If you’d like to read my thoughts about other science fiction or space opera books, shows, or movies, click here.
As I have time I’ll be reviewing the other stories in the anthology as well. Unfortunately time is a little short for me these days. Jobs to work, kids to raise, and books to write. 😉 All in good time, though. Reading is still a favorite hobby of mine so expect to see more space opera reviews like this one in the future.
