#e. e. smith

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Spacehounds of IPC - art by A. J. Donnell (1947)

[the25centpaperback]

Triplanetary by E.E. "Doc" Smith, cover by Jack Gaughan (1965)

[thefugitivesaint]

Virgil Finlay (1914-1971), 'The Galaxy Primes', ''Amazing Stories'', Vol. 33, #3, 1959 Source

[biblioncollection]

Triplanetary | E. E. Smith | Action & Adventure Fiction, General Fiction...

[fuckyeah-nerdery]

I love the fact that there was a space opera book series that featured an arms race that escalated to the point that both sides were using *planets* as kinetic weapons

No seriously, both sides were firing planets at each others planets.

God bless E. E. Doc Smith and his Lensman series.

[cindygrigg]

Highlights from LTUE: Why I Love Writing Conferences

Highlights from LTUE: Why I Love Sci Fi Conferences #SciFi #LTUE #AmWriting

Life, the Universe, and Everything 2015 (LTUE), a symposium for speculative fiction authors, was absolutely awesome this weekend. I woke up today wired with so many ideas for my works in progress. Pretty awesome for Monday morning…

As a writer, I’ve learned to love the conference scene. Actually, I’m completely drained by large social gatherings–evidence that I am a legitimate introvert. But…

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[pineas2]

Osnomianische Religion

"They have ministers here, I know, and I know something of their religion, but my knowledge is rather vague. You know more about it than we do, Dick, suppose you tell us about it while we wait."

Seaton paused a moment, with an odd look on his face. As one turning the pages of an unfamiliar book of reference, he was seeking the answer to Crane's question in the vast store of Osnomian information received from Dunark. His usually ready speech came a little slowly.

"Well, as nearly as I can explain it, it's a funny kind of a mixture--partly theology, partly Darwinism, or at least, making a fetish of evolution, and partly pure economic determinism. They believe in a Supreme Being, whom they call the First Cause--that is the nearest English equivalent--and they recognize the existence of an immortal and unknowable life-principle, or soul. They believe that the First Cause has decreed the survival of the fittest as the fundamental law, which belief accounts for their perfect physiques...."

Aus: E. E. Smith, The Skylark of Space, 1928

http://manybooks.net/titles/smithee2086920869-8.html

(E. E. Smith beschreibt in diesem Buch übrigens wohl als erster Mobil-Telefone. Die Gespräche müssen allerdings dann noch von Hand vermittelt werden.)

[3000--21]

52 Books: Triplanetary

by E. E. 'Doc' Smith

The back book states that this "is the first self-contained novel in [the] epic Lensman series, one of the all-time classics of adventurous, galaxy-spanning science fiction.". I disagree; it reads more like a rushed, open-ended prequel.

I'll begin by saying the first three chapters were redundant, having no conceivable bearing on any of the plot detailed thereafter. I'm not saying the story was badly formed, just that the writing style (or lack there of) had no grip on me, and that it was badly formed. It could be entirely possible that the author was oblivious to the fact he was writing a novel, and not a script, until the last third of the book, due to the absence of any physical description. And even the continuous series of dialogues found in the first two thirds of the book were delivered with all the emotional finesse of an emotionally vacant automaton. The inclusion of such a laughably one-dimensional romance also felt entirely unnecessary to me, along was a cliché ending I saw the minute the antagonists was introduced.

It did get better towards the end, but it was a case of too little too late to redeem what could have been an interesting (if dated) introduction to the series.

I'm a bad person and I should feel bad.