{"id":2799,"date":"2020-06-25T18:09:01","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T22:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/groundbasedspacematters.com\/?p=2799"},"modified":"2020-06-25T18:09:01","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T22:09:01","slug":"the-outer-space-treaty-and-legal-space-opera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/groundbasedspacematters.com\/index.php\/2020\/06\/25\/the-outer-space-treaty-and-legal-space-opera\/","title":{"rendered":"The Outer Space Treaty and Legal Space Opera"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>When wearing my science fiction writer’s hat, I haven’t found my day job as a space lawyer uniformly helpful.\u00a0 Sure, it’s great for my bourgeois, legal science fiction but not so much for the space opera.\u00a0 Until now.<\/p>\n

I have long thought that my Waking Late trilogy — which covers the tale of a cryo-frozen space marine trapped on a lost, medieval colony planet — was space opera.<\/p>\n

Then one day, while rambling around on Facebook, I ran across a discussion which cast doubt on my happy assumption.\u00a0 Someone suggested that space opera has to take place in space, in spaceships, not planetside.\u00a0 Space stations were fine, too.\u00a0 They were in space.<\/p>\n

I may have turned a little pale.\u00a0 What was Waking Late?\u00a0 It takes place entirely on the ground, but I’ve been categorizing it as space opera.\u00a0 The newly released audio version reached the Top 100 in the Space Opera sub-genre today, however briefly.<\/p>\n

It was at this moment of crisis when my legal training finally came in handy for the space opera.\u00a0 Some of you will have already guessed the answer, and you are correct.\u00a0 According to the Outer Space Treaty, my Waking Late series is space opera.<\/p>\n

It works like this.\u00a0 Although the treaty neglects to mention where outer space begins, it’s very clear about what outer space includes.\u00a0 Outer space includes planets.\u00a0 It says so.\u00a0 For example, Article I says “Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be free for exploration and use…”\u00a0 In most instances (I suspect it’s all of them, if memory serves), wherever the treaty mentions “outer space” the drafters made sure to throw in that outer space includes the Moon and other celestial bodies.\u00a0 During my legal career I have many times pointed out the flaws in this, noting that anyone remotely conversant with science fiction would agree with me that once you reach another planet you are no longer in outer space.\u00a0 You are on the ground.\u00a0 And, if you reach a planet like my fictional one, you can breathe.\u00a0 Nonetheless, that’s what the treaty says, and the planet Nwwwlf is a celestial body.\u00a0 Therefore, since outer space includes Nwwwlf, my little trilogy is space opera.<\/p>\n

Just like in my youth when I handled black lung cases and had to contend with “legal pneumoconiosis” (which means that even though you don’t have medical pneumoconiosis you are entitled to benefits), I think I can say that planetside science fiction can be “legal space opera.”<\/p>\n

So, please check out the audio version of Waking Late<\/a>.\u00a0 It contains Sleeping Duty, Out of the Dell<\/em>, and Like a Continental Soldier<\/em>.\u00a0 You may listen secure in the knowledge that it is legally classified as space opera.\u00a0 Also, my publisher Podium Audio did a great job with the recording.\u00a0 And the cover.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When wearing my science fiction writer’s hat, I haven’t found my day job as a space lawyer uniformly helpful.\u00a0 Sure,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[56,45],"class_list":["post-2799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-outer-space-treaty","tag-science-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Outer Space Treaty and Legal Space Opera - 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