I scream, you scream, we all scream for A NEW GENRE!
I know the last genre was a bit of a curve ball for a lot of people. Who knew cliches would be such a toughie, eh? Hopefully this one lights a plasma fire under us all. :)
Wikipedia defines Space Opera as, “Space opera is a subgenre of speculative fiction or science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing powerful (and sometimes quite fanciful) technologies and abilities. Perhaps the most significant trait of space opera is that settings, characters, battles, powers, and themes tend to be very large-scale.” The Wiki article is fairly extensive and quite interesting; I recommend it highly.
Some examples of the genre include the books in Lois McMaster Bujold’s series The Vorkosigan Saga, all the Buck Rogers short stories, Star Trek Deep Space Nine (the other incarnations of Star Trek may also qualify, but I think DS9 is a prime example), and the recently concluded TV series, Battlestar Galactica. A fun example from the graphic novel format is Buck Godot.
Essentially, it’s a bit like a soap opera injected full of adventure steroids and set in space.