E.E. "Doc" Smith is considered as one of the creator of space opera subgenre of science fiction with Edmond Hamilton, The lensman serie was a runner-up for the 1966 Hugo award for Best All-Time Series, losing to the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov Triplanetary: Science fiction Read more

What sets space opera apart from other fiction is its sheer scale: it is an exuberant celebration of the very large and the very small, of the very old and the very new, of the vast, panoramic instant we live in; the instant in which everything that went before melds with everything yet to be.
It is Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica.
The only book of its kind, The New Space Opera brings together for the first time the generation of writers who spawned and embody the “new space opera, ” as well as other talents destined to join their ranks.
Going beyond everything that has come before, this fresh, visionary anthology is essential reading for every science fiction fan.
book 2 here