Books by Smith, Edward E.
- Smith, Edward E.
Children of the Lens.
Baltimore: Old Earth Books, [1947–1948, 1954] 1998.
ISBN 1-882968-14-X.
-
This is the sixth and final installment of the
Lensman
series, following
Triplanetary
(June 2004),
First Lensman
(February 2005),
Galactic Patrol
(March 2005),
Gray Lensman
(August 2005),
and
Second Stage Lensmen
(April 2006).
Children of the Lens appeared in serial form in
Astounding Science Fiction from November 1947 through
February 1948. This book is a facsimile of the illustrated 1954
Fantasy Press edition, which was revised from the magazine edition.
(Masters of the Vortex
[originally titled The Vortex Blaster] is
set in the Lensman universe, but is not part of the
Galactic Patrol saga; it's a fine yarn, and
I look forward to re-reading it, but the main story
ends here.)
Twenty years have passed since the events chronicled
in Second Stage Lensmen, and the five
children—son Christopher, and the two pairs
of fraternal twin daughters Kathryn, Karen,
Camilla, and Constance—of Gray Lensman Kimball Kinnison
and his wife Clarissa, the sole female
Lens… er…person in the universe
are growing to maturity. The ultimate products of a
selective breeding program masterminded over millennia
by the super-sages of planet Arisia, they have, since
childhood, had the power to link their minds directly
even to the forbidding intelligences of the Second Stage
Lensmen.
Despite the cataclysmic events which concluded
Second Stage Lensmen, mayhem in the
galaxies continues, and as this story progresses
it becomes clear to the Children of the Lens that
they, and the entire Galactic Patrol, have been
forged for the final battle between good and evil
which plays out in these pages. But all is not
coruscating, actinic
detonations and battles of
super minds; Doc Smith leavens the story with
humour, and even has some fun at his own expense
when he has the versatile Kimball Kinnison write a
space opera potboiler,
“Its terrible xmex-like snout locked on. Its
zymolosely polydactile tongue crunched out,
crashed down, rasped across. Slurp!
Slurp! … Fools! Did they
think that the airlessness of absolute space, the
heatlessness of absolute zero, the
yieldlessness of absolute neutronium could
stop QADGOP THE MERCOTAN?” (p. 37).
This concludes my fourth lifetime traverse of this epic, and
it never, ever disappoints. Since I first read it more than
thirty years ago, I have considered Children of the
Lens one of the very best works of science fiction
ever, and this latest reading reinforces that conviction. It
is, of course, the pinnacle of a story spanning billions of
years, hundreds of billions of planets, innumerable species, a
multitude of parallel universes, absolute good and
unadulterated evil, and more than 1500 pages, so if you
jump into the story near the end, you're likely to end up
perplexed, not enthralled. It's best either to start at the
beginning with Triplanetary or, if you'd rather
skip the two slower-paced “prequels”, with Volume
3, Galactic Patrol, which was the first written
and can stand alone.
April 2007
- Smith, Edward E. First Lensman. Baltimore: Old
Earth Books, [1950] 1997. ISBN 1-882968-10-7.
-
There's no better way to escape for a brief respite from
the world of
session persistence, subnet
masks, stateful fallover, gratuitous ARP packets, and the like
than some
coruscating, actinic
space opera, and nobody does it better than the guy
who invented it, Doc Smith. About every decade I re-read the
Lensman
series, of which this is the second of six volumes
(seven if you count
Masters of the Vortex) and
never cease to be amazed at Smith's talent for thinking big—really big.
I began this fourth expedition through the Lensman saga with the first installment,
Triplanetary,
in June 2004. Old Earth
Books are to be commended for this reprint, which is a
facsimile of the original 1950 Fantasy Press edition including
all the illustrations.
February 2005
- Smith, Edward E.
Galactic Patrol.
Baltimore: Old Earth Books, [1937-1938, 1950] 1998.
ISBN 1-882968-11-5.
-
Although this is the third volume of the
Lensman
series, it was written first;
Triplanetary
(June 2004)
and
First Lensman
(February 2005)
are “prequels”, written more than a decade after Galactic
Patrol ran in serial form in Astounding Science
Fiction beginning in September 1937. This was before John W.
Campbell, Jr. assumed the editor's chair, the event usually
considered to mark the beginning of the Golden Age of science
fiction. This volume is a facsimile of the illustrated 1950 Fantasy
Press edition, which was revised somewhat by the author from the
original magazine version.
While I enjoy the earlier books, and read them in order in
this fourth lifetime trip through the saga, Galactic
Patrol is where the story really takes off for me. If you're new
to Doc Smith, you might want to begin here to experience space
opera at its best, then go back and read the two slower-paced
prior installments afterward. Having been written first,
this novel is completely self-contained; everything introduced
in the earlier books is fully explained when it appears here.
March 2005
- Smith, Edward E.
Gray Lensman.
Baltimore: Old Earth Books, [1939-1940, 1951] 1998.
ISBN 1-882968-12-3.
-
This is the fourth volume of the
Lensman
series, following
Triplanetary
(June 2004),
First Lensman
(February 2005),
and
Galactic Patrol
(March 2005).
Gray Lensman ran in serial form in Astounding
Science Fiction from October 1939 through January 1940. This
book is a facsimile of the illustrated 1951 Fantasy Press edition,
which was revised somewhat from the original magazine serial.
Gray Lensman is one of the most glittering
nuggets of the Golden Age of science fiction. In this
story, Doc Smith completely redefined the standard
for thinking big and created an arena for the conflict
between civilisation and chaos that's larger than a
galaxy. This single novel has more leaps of
the imagination than some other authors content themselves
with in their entire careers. Here we encounter the “primary
projector”: a weapon which can only be used when no
enemy can possibly survive or others observe
because the mere knowledge that it exists may compromise
its secret (this, in a story written more that a decade
before the first hydrogen bomb); the “negasphere”: an object
which, while described as based on antimatter, is remarkably
similar to a black hole (first described by J.R. Oppenheimer
and H. Snyder in 1939, the same year the serial began to
run in Astounding); the hyper-spatial tube (like a
traversable wormhole); the Grand Fleet (composed of one million
combat units); the Z9M9Z Directrix command ship, with
its “tank” display 700 feet wide by 80 feet thick able to show
the tactical situation in an entire galaxy at once; directed
planetary impact weapons;
a multi-galactic crime syndicate; insects and worms as allies of
the good guys; organ regeneration; and more. Once you've experienced
the Doc Smith universe, the Star Wars Empire may feel
small and antiquated.
This edition contains two Forewords: the author's original, intended
to bring readers who haven't read the earlier books up to speed,
and a snarky postmodern excretion by John Clute which is best skipped.
If you're reading the Lensman series for the
first time (this is my fourth), it's best to start either at
the beginning with Triplanetary, or with
Galactic Patrol, which was written first and
stands on its own, not depending on any of the material
introduced in the first two “prequel” volumes.
August 2005
- Smith, Edward E.
Masters of the Vortex.
New York: Pyramid Books, [1960] 1968.
ISBN 978-0-515-02230-8.
-
This novel is set in the Galactic Patrol universe, but is not part of
the
Lensman saga—the
events take place an unspecified time after the conclusion
of that chronicle. Galactic civilisation depends upon atomic
power, but as Robert A. Heinlein (to whom this book is
dedicated) observed,
“Blowups
Happen”, and for
inexplicable reasons atomic power stations randomly erupt into
deadly self-sustaining nuclear vortices, threatening to ultimately
consume the planets they ravage. (Note that in the
technophilic and optimistic universe of the Galactic Patrol,
and the can-do society its creator inhabited, the thought
that such a downside of an energy technology essential to
civilisation would cause its renunciation never enters the mind.)
When a freak vortex accident kills ace nucleonicist Neal Cloud's
family, he swears a personal vendetta against the vortices and
vows to destroy them or be destroyed trying. This mild-mannered
scientist who failed the Lensman entry examination re-invents
himself as “Storm Cloud, the Vortex Blaster”, and in
his eponymous ship flits off to rid the galaxy of the
atomic plague. This is Doc Smith space opera, so you can be
sure there are pirates, zwilniks, crooked politicians,
blasters, space axes, and aliens of all persuasions in
abundance—not to mention timeless dialogue like:
“Eureka! Good evening, folks.”
“Eureka? I hope you rot in hell, Graves…”
“This isn't Graves. Cloud. Storm Cloud, the
Vortex Blaster, investigating…”
“Oh, Bob, the patrol!” the girl screamed.
It wouldn't be Doc Smith if it weren't prophetic, and in this book
published in the year in which the Original Nixon was to lose the
presidential election to John F. Kennedy, we catch a hint of a
“New Nixon” as the intrepid Vortex Blaster visits the
planet Nixson II on p. 77. While not as awe inspiring in scope
as the Lensman novels, this is a finely crafted yarn which combines a
central puzzle with many threads exploring characteristics of alien
cultures (never cross an adolescent cat-woman from Vegia!),
the ultimate power of human consciousness, and the eternal question never
far from the mind of the main audience of science fiction: whether a
nerdy brainiac can find a soulmate somewhere out there in the
spacelanes.
If you're unacquainted with the Lensman universe, this is not
the place to start, but once you've worked your way through,
it's a delightful lagniappe to round out the epic.
Unlike the Lensman series, this book remains out of print.
Used copies are readily available although sometimes pricey.
For those with access to the gizmo, a
Kindle edition is available.
February 2009
- Smith, Edward E.
Second Stage Lensmen.
Baltimore: Old Earth Books, [1941–1942, 1953] 1998.
ISBN 1-882968-13-1.
-
This is the fifth installment of the
Lensman
series, following
Triplanetary
(June 2004),
First Lensman
(February 2005),
Galactic Patrol
(March 2005),
and
Gray Lensman
(August 2005).
Second Stage Lensmen ran in serial form in Astounding
Science Fiction from November 1941 through February 1942. This
book is a facsimile of the illustrated 1953 Fantasy Press edition,
which was revised from the original magazine serial.
The only thing I found disappointing when rereading this book
in my fourth lifetime expedition through the Lensman
saga is knowing there's only one volume of the main
story remaining—but what a yarn that is.
In Second Stage Lensmen, Doc Smith more overtly
adopts the voice of “historian of civilisation” and
from time to time departs from straight story-telling to describe
off-stage action, discuss his “source material”, and
grouse about Galactic Patrol secrecy depriving him of important
documents. Still, there's enough rays and shields space opera action
for three or four normal novels, although the focus increasingly
shifts from super-weapons and shoot-em-ups to mental combat,
indirection, and espionage.
It's here we first meet Nadreck, one of the most fascinating of Doc
Smith's creations: a poison-breathing cryogenic being who extends into
the fourth dimension and considers cowardice and sloth among his
greatest virtues. His mind, however, like Kinnison's, honed to second
stage Lensman capability by Mentor of Arisia, is both powerful and
subtle, and Nadreck a master of boring within without the villains
even suspecting his presence. He gets the job done, despite never
being satisfied with his “pitifully imperfect”
performance. I've known programmers like that.
Some mystery and thriller writers complain of how difficult
the invention of mobile phones has made their craft. While it
used to be easy for characters to be out of touch and operating with
incomplete and conflicting information, now the reader immediately
asks, “Why didn't she just pick up the phone and
ask?” But in the Lensman universe, both the
good guys and (to a lesser extent) the blackguards have
instantaneous, mind-to-mind high bandwidth communication
on an intergalactic scale, and such is Doc Smith's mastery of
his craft that it neither reduces the suspense nor strains the
plot, and he makes it look almost effortless.
Writing in an age where realistic women of any kind were rare in
science fiction, Smith was known for his strong female
characters—on p. 151 he observes, “Indeed, it has
been argued that sexual equality is the most important criterion of
that which we know as Civilization”—no postmodern
multi-culti crapola here! Some critics carped that his women
characters were so strong and resourceful they were just male
heroes without the square jaws and broad shoulders. So here, probably
in part just to show he can do it, we have Illona of Lonabar, a
five-sigma airhead bimbo (albeit with black hair, not blonde), and the
mind-murdering matriarchy of Lyrane, who have selectively bred their
males to be sub-sentient dwarves with no function other than
reproduction.
The author's inexhaustible imagination manages to keep these stories up
to date, even more than half a century on. While the earlier
volumes stressed what would decades later be called low-observable or
stealth technology, in this outing he anticipates today's hot Pentagon
buzzword, “network-centric warfare”: the grand battles
here are won not by better weapons or numbers, but by the unique and
top secret information technology of the Z9M9Z
Directrix command vessel. The bizarre excursion into
“Nth-space” may have seemed over the top to readers in the
1940s, but today it's reminiscent of another valley in the
cosmic
landscape of string theory.
Although there is a fifteen page foreword by the author which
recaps the story to date, you don't really want to start with
this volume: there's just too much background and context you'll
have missed. It's best either to start at the beginning with
Triplanetary or, if you'd rather defer the two slower-paced
“prequels”, with Volume 3,
Galactic Patrol, which was the first written and
can stand alone.
April 2006
- Smith, Edward E. Skylark DuQuesne.
New York: Pyramid Books, 1965.
ISBN 0-515-03050-3.
- This book is out of print; use the link above to locate
used copies. Paperbacks are readily available in readable condition
at modest cost. The ISBN given here is for a hardback dumped on
the market at a comparable price by a library with no appreciation
of the classics of science fiction. Unless you have the luck I did
in finding such a copy, you're probably better off looking for a
paperback.
May 2003
- Smith, Edward E. The Skylark of Space. Lincoln,
NE: University of Nebraska Press, [1928, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1958]
2001. ISBN 0-8032-9286-4.
- “Doc” Smith revised the original 1928 edition of this book
for each of four subsequent editions. This “Commemorative Edition” is
a reprint of the most recent (1958) revision. It contains a variety of
words: “fission”, “fusion”, “megaton”, "neutron", etc., which did not
figure in the English language when the novel was completed in 1920
(it was not published until 1928). Earlier editions may have more
of a “golden age” feel, but this was Smith's last word on the story.
The original illustrations by O.G. Estes Jr. are reproduced, along with
an introduction by Vernor Vinge which manages to misspell protagonist
Richard Seaton's name throughout.
August 2002
- Smith, Edward E. Skylark of Valeron.
New York: Pyramid Books, [1934, 1935, 1949] 1963.
LCCN 49-008714.
- This book is out of print; use the link above
to locate used copies. Paperbacks published in the 1960s
and 70s are available in perfectly readable condition at
modest cost—compare the offers, however, since some sellers
quote outrageous prices for these mass-market paperbacks. University of Nebraska Press are in
the process of re-issuing “Doc” Smith's Skylark novels,
but they haven't yet gotten to this one.
March 2003
- Smith, Edward E. Skylark Three. New York:
Pyramid Books, [1930, 1948] 1963. ISBN 0-515-02233-0.
- This book is out of print; use the link above
to locate used paperback copies, which are cheap and
abundant. An illustrated reprint edition is scheduled for
publication in 2003 by the University of Nebraska Press as
ISBN 0-8032-9303-8.
December 2002
- Smith, Edward E. Triplanetary. Baltimore: Old
Earth Books, [1948] 1997. ISBN 1-882968-09-3.
- Summer's here (though you'd never guess from the
thermometer), and the time is right for some light reading,
so I've begun my fourth lifetime traverse of Doc Smith's
Lensman series, which now, by
Klono's gadolinium guts, has been re-issued by Old Earth Books in
trade paperback facsimiles of the original Fantasy Press editions,
complete with all illustrations. The snarky foreword, where John
Clute, co-editor of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction,
shows off his pretentious post-modern vocabulary and scorn for the
sensibilities of an author born in 1890, is best skipped.
June 2004