There's nothing quite like a good space battle.  The clash of two spaceships, complete with explosions, can be anything from exciting to sublime, and the special effects used to create these spectacles can make us gasp, grip the arms of our chairs, and shiver with anticipation.  Here's a video that brings together some of our favorites:


A lot of time, the soundtrack playing in the background is what makes these battles truly epic, something that this next video demonstrates really well.  It's a compilation of battle scenes from the various Stargate films/TV shows, accompanied by the music from Metal Gear Solid 3.  It makes me want to go out and save the universe:


This week at Fantasy Matters, we are going to take a closer look at this thrilling part of the science fiction genre.

We'll start things off this afternoon with a post from Mark Schelske on some of the most over-the-top space battles in film; Adam Throne will write later this week about some of the best musical scores for space battles, and Luke Rasmussen will take a closer look at one of the best books about a space battle--Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game.

Also this week, we are excited to have a sneak peek at a new novel by Shay West called The Chosen, the first book from The Portals of Destiny series.  This series tells the story of people from five different planets who must all come together to save the universe from a race of merciless, destructive machines.  We'll feature our review of the novel, as well as a guest post from West herself!

Of course, this week is also a great time to start reading John Scalzi's Old Man's War and join in our discussion over at Fantasy Matters Reads!--that book (and series) is about an epic space battle if there ever was one.

We hope you are able to come back often and join in the exciting, explosive fun!