Yesterday I stumbled upon a classification of Space Opera that I had never heard of – Planetary Romance.  It’s basically a Space Opera that confines itself to a single, exotic planet instead of many worlds or deep space. I’ll let you read the Wikipedia article for more details.  What interests me about this particular sub-genre is the fact that I somehow intuitively understood this classification when I started to design the universe in which most of my SF stories are set.

My first novel, Starstrikers, is quite properly described as Space Opera.  Although it leans heavily into the Military Science Fiction classification, it still has the planet hoping, intergalactic setting that defines traditional Space Opera.  Starstrikers is the middle book of a trilogy that defines the Galaxy Collision universe.  Each book is set in a different time period and features a completely new cast of characters.  The books follow the start, middle and end of a Great War between two space faring civilizations.  The first book is Starforgers, the second is Starstrikers and the third is Starveyers.  I will begin writing Starforgers this summer for release next year.

But I also have a series set in the same universe, that focuses on just one planet per book.  The first of these “Planet Books” as I have been calling them, is called Tyrmia. Set on a somewhat primitive jungle planet, Tyrmia concerns itself with the politics, geography and ecology of a single planet. It is the first of a series of books set in the Galaxy Collision universe that take place on one particular planet.  Future planet books in the series that are planned include Voton, the home world of the Votainion Empire. Voton could very well be categorized as a Sword and Planet novel as most of the technology is quite primitive.