Smith, E. E. 'Doc'

Planet of Treachery (Family D'Alembert, Bk. 7)

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Planet of Treachery (Family D'Alembert, Bk. 7)
Edward E. ("Doc") Smith
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0425053016

Book Description

Classic space opera adventure, Book #7 in the "Family D'Alembert" series. For centuries, the planet Gastonia has been a planet of exile, an escape-proof prison world for the worst sorts of traitors. But now, it seems, prisoners are indeed escaping, and all evidence points to the sinister, all-knowing conspiracy that continues to shadow the Throne. The d'Alemberts must infiltrate this world of traitors--and they must do it without a safety net, because if they fail they themselves will be trapped on this inhospitable world.

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Most Different? Best? Worst? All of the above?
Grand conclusion to the Skylark series!

Skylark Duquesne
E. E. "Doc" Smith
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0425091481

Customer Reviews:

Most Different? Best? Worst? All of the above?.......2004-07-25

This was the last of the Skylark books and it goes WAY over the top - I mean atleast 2 unstoppable alien races, discussions of why people are people, sex, love, witches, mining, ESP, Fenacrome, world domination, how to run a civilization - it's got it all! They even blow up not one but TWO galaxies! talk about bodycount!

Personally, I could never imagine this as a live-action movie but there's any number of japanese anime directors I'd love to have do this - but that's just me.

Anyway, this is the last and possibly the best from one of the first in the field and he put his heart and soul in it and it's well worth the price at any price! And best of all, even if you absolutely hate it; compared to today's foot-crushing books this'll be a real quick read - it's only afew hundred pages, and boy, will it suck you in when you start reading them!

Grand conclusion to the Skylark series!.......1999-01-19

This is the last of the Skylark books, and in true Smith style the scale is grander than ever. Seaton and Duquesne, who have long been enemies, must pool their resources and work togeather against the most formidable opponent either has ever seen - not a hostile ship, or ruler, or even a planet, but an entire galaxy militarized by the Chlorians! This has all the qualities readers have come to identify as E.E. "Doc" Smith - powerful weapons, powerful enemies, and unstoppable heros, but in this novel the character of Duquesne assumes more complexity than any other Smith character I can recall. He is definitely the most interesting - a criminal, power hungry, brilliant, yet at the same time he will never break his word, even when it could mean achieving his goals. Cold and heartless, logical to a degree unapproached by any other human character Smith wrote save Fernidad Stone, yet possessing no hatred for even his archrival, Seaton. This book is very highly recommended!

The Skylark of Space (Bison Frontiers of Imagination)

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Would've preferred the original text...
Careening recklessly through space was never so fun!
Smith Sizzles
A gen-X perspective
Ho-Hum Space Adventure

The Skylark of Space (Bison Frontiers of Imagination)
E. E. "Doc" Smith
Manufacturer: Bison Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0803292864

Book Description

Brilliant government scientist Richard Seaton discovers a remarkable faster-than-light fuel that will power his interstellar spaceship, The Skylark. His ruthless rival, Marc DuQuesne, and the sinister World Steel Corporation will do anything to get their hands on the fuel. They kidnap Seaton's fiancée and friends, unleashing a furious pursuit and igniting a burning desire for revenge that will propel The Skylark across the galaxy and back.

The Skylark of Space is the first and one of the best space operas ever written. Breezy dialogue, romantic intrigue, fallible heroes, and complicated villains infuse humanity and believability into a conflict of galactic proportions. The Amazing Stories publication of The Skylark of Space in 1928 heralded the debut of a major new voice in American pulp science fiction and ushered in its golden age. Legions of interstellar epics have been written since that time, but none can match the wonder, dazzle, and sheer fun of the original. This commemorative edition features the author's preferred version of the story, the original illustrations by O. G. Estes Jr., and a new introduction by acclaimed science fiction writer Vernor Vinge.

Customer Reviews:

Would've preferred the original text..........2006-05-09

I think I'd give this 5 stars, just for being the original... if it WERE the original. E. E. Smith did some serious re-writing on this one, sometime during the 1950s. In this version, Greedo shoots first.

Okay, that's a joke, but the Star Wars fan-boys get what I mean. I didn't want something revised, with mushroom clouds and television sets. I wanted something written in 1915. I think that's when Smith claimed to have started "Skylark of Space".

Anyway, it's still a fun story, and since it sets you up for "Skylark 3" and "Skylark of Valeron" (both better written and more engaging), it's important reading. I think I'm like a lot of people who read something this old-- I'm trying to fill in the cracks in my understanding of the progression of sci-fi. It's an entertaining history lesson.

I can still glean what the untouched book must have been, but I wish I could actually read the original version. If you can find that one, read it. If you can't, read this one.

Careening recklessly through space was never so fun!.......2003-10-17

For someone like me, who grew up on old Tom Swift books often purchased at antique stories, Doc Smith is the paragon of lightspeed adventure. Not particularly keen on technical accuracy ("After all, Einstein's theory is just a theory," one character says upon discovering that he's traveling many times the speed of light) and full of predictibly stalwart or nefarious characters, Smith still manages to spin a great yarn. The main characters seem to exhibit a joyous recklesness remniscient (for me, at least) of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's trilogy. The "testing" of the flight systems and nuclear-powered bullets, in particular, are quite memorable.
If you're looking for gritty realism in characters or technical accuracy in technologies, you probably won't be able to enjoy this book. But for those who wish to put their brains in neutral and have a jolly good time, I can think of few books better than The Skylark of Space.

Smith Sizzles.......2003-05-16

Brilliant scientist Richard Seaton builds the first (many times) faster than light spaceship and travels the universe with a band of friends. Along the way he saves a race of aliens, helps decimate another, rescues his girlfriend and thwarts the misdoings of his arch rival Marc DuQuesne.

This is the first E.E. Smith book I've read and I must say that for the type of book that it is, The Skylark of Space isn't too bad. Think old school comic books. It has high adventure, a smart/strong/handsome protagonist, a loyal sidekick, gee whiz technology, an extremely evil bad guy, and pretty girls. For a large part of the book, the story is fairly interesting. Smith moves the action along quickly and provides a respectable amount of tension to the drama. Even though I knew everything would turn out fine in the end, I still wanted to know how Smith would accomplish it. At a short 159 pages, it was a quick and fun diversion.

The Skylark of Space is not, however, without issues. Many of them are given: flat, completely unreal characters, rigid gender roles, featherweight science, wildly campy. I won't fault the book for these sorts of things. It's a product of its time that targeted a specific audience.

What I do want to point out is that Smith treats war very lightly. Although this book was completed in 1920, Smith revised it in 1958. It's surprising to me that even though Smith had seen the effects of two world wars, mass destruction of life is a very casual act in his book.

For those of you who aren't already huge Doc Smith fans, you'll probably enjoy this book if you know what you're getting into. Understand that it doesn't hold up very well under careful (or even casual) scrutiny. But, for what it is, Smith wrote a great book.

A gen-X perspective.......2002-06-22

I'm guessing a lot of folks who've reviewed these books experienced them in the original printings, prior to Star Wars and the mass-popularization of space opera. I didn't- I "discovered" Doc in the late-80's as a teenager, and have become a huge fan. But heed the warnings of "camp" and "cheese": if there were an MST3K of books, his would be regular fodder. The gender stereotypes and roles as well as the frequent commission (and implicit condonement) of genocide by the heroes in particular are very hard to get past for a modern reader. Character development is non-existant (all protagonists are basically Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts), dialogue is awkward and unbelievably cheesy, genocide is repeatedly condoned, and the fact that the books were originally written as serials is painfully evident (almost every chapter ends with a CLIFFHANGER!). If you are a conesseur of camp, these books are a *rich* source of material.

But what I love about Doc's books is not rooted in irony: the incredible creativity in visualizing advanced technology, fast-forward and entertaining action plots, and the sheer scale of the "build up" within each book and from one book to another.

Technology: Although very quaint by modern standards (especially in "Skylark of Space"), put in context the creativity Doc displays in envisioning future technology is second to none. Not in terms of "accuracy", but in terms of their self-consistency and imaginativeness. Skylark was written pre-television, pre-laser, pre-NASA, and pre-nuke. What Doc built from that base is incredible, entertaining, and fun, viewed from the perspective that even relativity was a comparatively new theory when it was written (Doc obviously knew about it, and chose to ignore it). In "Skylark of Space", the result is spacesuits made out of leather, descriptions of how the spaceship's hull is fashioned from heavy steel, faster-than-light travel by simple accelertaion, and "energy beams" of different frequencies with different effects. I think Skylark of Space actually remains too tied to the technology of the day, but those shackles are unleashed in Skylark Three (the sequel) and Doc's vision really shines.

"Action": I understand that this book is the origin of spaceships shooting at each other. Doc's battle and action sequences need make no apologies for their age or context. This is why you put up with all the sexist attitudes, the bad speeches and the cheesy exclamation. Unless they are encountering the brief setbacks necessary to create some semblance of dramatic tension, Doc's heros kick so much alien bad guy butt it's amazing.

"Scale": Doc obviously is a big believer in the "orders of magnitude" theory of plot development. The formula is this: at the beginning of the book, the main characters are on top of the world, and their power seems nearly limitless. Then they nearly get their butts kicked by bad-guy aliens who are so much more powerful that the good guys look like gnats. Then the good guys bulk up (in technology, knowledge, etc...) to the point that the bad guys are completely and easily decimated. Repeat as often as necessary. What is amazing and enjoyable is how long Doc can keep this up: by the end of the series, literally whole galaxies are being destroyed. Yes, it's completely implausible, but dammit! It's fun!

Anyway, if you only are going to read one "Skylark" book, I'd actually recommend the sequel: Skylark Three. It's not very hard to get into the plot, and enough trappings of 30's earth technology have fallen away at that point to let Doc's real creativity shine.

In summary: Smith is a must-read for sci-fi buffs. Stick with it, and you will be rewarded. But don't expect any of your friends or family to enjoy it.

Ho-Hum Space Adventure.......2002-06-14

According to the introduction to this book, "The Skylark of Space" is the first "space opera" ever written. The story first appeared during the 1920's in the pages of "Amazing Stories," and was reedited in the 1950's by the author, E.E. "Doc" Smith. Smith went on to write other Skylark stories, as well as a few other sci-fi series. The introduction also calls attention to other themes in the story: the role of women in the sci-fi genre, the idea of manifest destiny, and the accuracy of predictions made in the story as opposed to real scientific development.

"The Skylark of Space" is entertaining. Of that there is no doubt. Scientist Richard "Dick" Seaton, during the course of mundane research at his government laboratory, accidentally discovers a new means of propulsion. Of course, no one at the lab believes him. Seaton then goes to his buddy Martin Crane, inventor and millionaire, for help. Together, the two begin to develop a spaceship using the new propulsion formula. The wily Marc DuQuesne, a fellow scientist in league with the evil World Steel Company, constantly undermines their plans in the hope of stealing the formula and making a fortune out of it. When DuQuesne abducts Dorothy, Seaton's fiancée, and flies her away on a second ship using the stolen formula, the hijinks begin. The characters end up uniting to face a host of spectacular space dangers. The characters, who use their wits and strength to great advantage, overcome black holes, hostile planets with weird animals, and a planet-wide war.

While the story is entertaining, the cheese factor here is off the charts. The story starts out well, but quickly descends into confusion and pure goofiness. The introduction stresses that the reader must suspend disbelief, but this is ridiculous. The characters are all models of perfection, and each difficulty encountered in space is overcome with seeming ease. The only thing missing from Seaton's profile is the gleam of his teeth when he smiles. The worst part of the book is the end, when the marriage of Seaton and Crane to their respective women dominates the story. Who cares? Isn't one of the goals of science fiction, at least in theory, to provide action sequences? There is action here, but not nearly enough to hold my attention.

This is probably essential reading for the diehard sci-fi fan, but all others should steer clear. A high intake of cheese like this can clog your arteries!

Skylark Three (Bison Frontiers of Imagination)
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You've got to enjoy this one...

Okay, this feels right...this is where it REALLY begins

Bearable pulp, more quaint than fun.

If you can find this book, buy it!

It is one of the best written books I have ever read.

Skylark Three (Bison Frontiers of Imagination)
E. E. 'Doc' Smith
Manufacturer: Bison Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0803293038

Book Description

In this exhilarating sequel to The Skylark of Space, momentous danger again stalks genius inventor and interplanetary adventurer Dr. Richard Seaton. Seaton’s allies on the planet Kondal are suffering devastating attacks by the forces of the Third Planet. Even worse, the menacing and contemptuous Fenachrones are threatening to conquer the galaxy and wipe out all who oppose them. And don’t forget the dastardly machinations of Seaton’s arch-nemesis, DuQuesne, who embarks on a nefarious mission of his own. Against such vile foes and impossible odds, how is victory possible?

Featuring even more technological wizardry, alien worlds, and all-out action than its predecessor, Skylark Three is hailed by many as the imaginative high point of the Skylark series.

Customer Reviews:

You've got to enjoy this one..........2006-05-19

If our reality is socially constructed as some postmodernists now suggest, the Skylark series reflects both the era and the society it was written in. Assuming that we have a better world view today is, frankly, arrogant. Suspending imagination and jumping into this well-written SF adventure will not only delight the readers in a well-turned story, but inform them about the thinking that prevailed during a first half of the 20th century and, perhaps, provide some insight into our society today. The reader will also recognize the sheer genius and insight of "Doc" Smith. I introduced them quietly to my son, to find him captivated by the stories like I was. The label "space opera," I think, does not do these books (or the Lensmen Series) justice. Explore them on your own as one might read classics from another era.

Okay, this feels right...this is where it REALLY begins.......2006-05-09

I was glad I read "Skylark of Space," because it led to this. And this rocks. Forget the science that sometimes gets a little off track... there are concepts in this book that you see over and over in sci-fi afterward. Watch "Star Trek," and you'll come across E. E. "Doc" Smith.

The atomic drive that runs on copper... yes, copper. The metal of power. I guess it would sound like a giant arc welder, wouldn't it? Like the ships in the "Flash Gordon" and "Buck Rogers" serials... I wonder. Flash and Buck definitely owe something to Richard Seaton, the overlord of an entire galaxy.

Force fields, tractor beams, energy weapons of every variety, ships the size of Star Destroyers, black holes, warp travel...
You've gotta read this.

Bearable pulp, more quaint than fun........2003-05-23

This was the second book in E.E.Smith's first series, and it's pure thirties pulp, quite good of it's period, but then the period happily tolerated segregation. Smith hit his stride with this one, it is Space Opera with all the stops out on the organ. New ships are invented one week, in mass production by the end of the month, and obsolete within six months, the weapons so irresistible that battle seem to be a clash of heavily armed eggshells. Geocide is a casual tactic. Every thing is so black-and-white in Smith's writing, the humans are boy scouts in space, and most of the rest seem to be slaverin' B.E.M's after aw wimminfolks.
Frankly, skip this one and try Skylark DeQuesne, written about 30 years after the rest, when Smith had calmed down a bit, and his palatte had a few more colours other than black,white . . . oh and purple

If you can find this book, buy it!.......1999-03-25

I first read this book during the golden age- fourteen that is. Yet it has held a special place in my mind and heart ever since. It still gives me a thrill to think about this book even though I am now 49 going on 50. For sheer breadth of imagination, scope of theme and pace of action it is one of the best books I have ever read. It is ,of course, sadly dated by todays standards- but you must realize that when this book was written the very idea of space travel was nothing but sheer fantasy to the average person. At a time when no human had ever traveled faster than 300 miles per hour E. E. Smith was writing about star travel and doing it in a convincing and entertaining manner. If you like alien villains, Smith gives you the Fenachrone, surely one of the most arrogant, vile races ever committed to paper. If you like human villains, Smith gives you "Blackie" Duqesne the pure, utterly amoral scientist. If you like heroes, Smith gives you Richard Ballinger Seaton, brilliant scientist and engineer and his friend and partner Martin Crane- not to mention their wives who play a part in the plot that is well above the level of "rescue the Damsel" that was the standard fare at the time this was written. If you like space ships and weapons that boggle the mind, Smith gives you miles-long spaceships built of materials of unbelievable strength dueling in intergalactic space. And finally, there's the Norlaminians, a race devoted heart and soul to the accumulation of knowledge of every sort- and a good thing too, for without their help, beating the Fenachrone would have been impossible. Smith has a way of writing about impossible things that makes you think: Wouldn't it be great if ......... If you can suspend your disbelief for a couple of hours I guarantee that this book will leave you wanting more.

It is one of the best written books I have ever read........1998-11-01

THe book (also the sereis) will hold you spell bound for hours on end. It is well written,and very thought through. I hope that the publishers see that the series is reprinted. I have read the books many times over the last 35 yrs. I am looking for new copies to replace the ones I now have.

Average customer rating:

Another Smith Spectacular!

Subspace Encounter
Edward E. ("Doc") Smith
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0425062449

Customer Reviews:

Another Smith Spectacular!.......1999-01-19

This is the last book Smith wrote before he died, and it had to be put together and completed after his death. To those who have read a lot of Smith, there will be a slight difference in the style. This, however, does nothing to change the fact that it is a wonderful story and extremely entertaining. It takes up the saga of the psionic experts after the North American political election, but rather than follow that thread in detail he instead builds up a fascinating parallel civilization with a richly detailed culture, which will eventually encounter that of Earth. The plot is classic Smith, with the forces of First (Earth) Space and Second Space having to combine to meet the threat of the Garshan empire, which is native to Second Space. All in all, a worthwhile read.

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The spaciest space opera ever

Skylark DuQuesne
E. E. "Doc" Smith
Manufacturer: Pyramid
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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ASIN: B000BJ5TME

Product Description

Combination Hi-Tech/Fantasy Science Fiction from the 1960's. Very interesting in that it asks some questions that are still being asked in 2005 about different dimensions of existence.

Customer Reviews:

The spaciest space opera ever.......2006-04-22

Science fiction can be a serious examination of social issues, or a study of human character in a changing world, or a simple tribute to the majesty of all that we know and all that we don't.

Then there's Doc Smith. His super-powered Frat Boys in Space, Seaton and Crane, leap with ADHD attention span from one world-shattering cataclysm to the next - including the ones they cause themselves. They vanquish the evil-doers of the universe from their planet-sized battlewagon, but make sure there's a white picket fence in there somewhere for The Little Woman. They save the downtrodden good guys on planets everywhere, and we know they're good guys because they look Earthian right down to reproductive compatibility. Caucasian, too, in case anyone wondered whether they really were good guys. They aren't prejudiced by the standards of when these books were written, though. Some of those otherwordly humans are green (not their fault, y'know, can't hold it against them) and some Asians from earth, because only Earth has non-anglo faces on it and because every grand hero needs a housekeeper.

The finale has The Earth Guys getting rid of The Bad Guys by crashing something into their galaxy and ruining the property values. They were careful to evacuate all of Our Sort, of course. It was a pretty big galaxy, with billions of inhabited planets to evacuate and/or destry, so the job took two or three guys the whole afternoon. Phew - they were afraid it might have been a tough one.

By being true to its 1950s spirit (despite 1960s authorship), this will offend modern sensibilities in a half-dozen ways. I sure don't want those days back, but that quaint naivete is part of the series's charm. If anything it's even more alien to a modern reader than all those improbable beings from unfriendly planets.

-- wiredweird

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George Orwell meets Ayn Rand meets Doc Smith
E.E. "Doc" Smith's best book!

Subspace Explorers
E. E. Doc Smith
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

George Orwell meets Ayn Rand meets Doc Smith.......2006-11-12

If you're silly enough to allow any deeper meaning for this space opera, then bear with me. It's clearly a product of its mid-60s, mid-cold-war era. The bad guys (as in Atlas Shrugged) are the leeches sucking the life out of industrial creativity, both union organizers and tax-wielding agents of the corrupt government. The other bad guys include The Nameless One, a mysterious and insane eastern potentate eager to rain nuclear he11 down on anyone who interferes with his fantasies - now that Kim Il Jong has demonstrated his nuclear flatus, it's a prescient image. The other-other bad guys are the robber-barons of industry, who've gone so far as to hide their new planetary slave camp, well into its seventh generation of social strangulation and serfdom. The other-cubed bad guys, this being the Cold War at its searing coldest, are the Soviets of New Russia, and that says all that matters.

Of course, in the midst of all these baddies, we have the good guys, a mere ninety planets or so against these schemers against all that's good, free, democratic, and based on hard currency. (I did mention Rand, didn't I?) Among other things, their super-psychics have the knack of finding planetary masses of uranium or any other useful ingredient for their super-scientists - who, being so very intelligent, must necessarily be good guys since being bad guys would be dumb, right? (Rand again.)

Having lasted well into the 1960s, Smith was forced to deal with women as powerful, capable people - kicking and screaming, maybe, but he did it. In an early scene, the two babes each take out a would-be assassin, who the menfolk promptly shred with bullets to save the little ladies from the upsetting thought that they'd have to take credit for their own kills (bare-handed, by the way). And, although some of the weaker sex are almost the equal of the square-jawed men in many respects, that highest level of super-psi-something or other is a mens club, ladies not admitted. The females have their own figures of merit, though, and not just the classic three measurements that summarize everything a fratboy wants to know. No, because they are such potent beings, these women seem to consider the "cat in heat" as the highest exemplar of their womanly values. Although a bit vague about details, frequent pregnancies figure heavily (pardon the pun) into how womanly they really are.

But, c'mon. Those great Bogart movies are scarcely more enlightened in their views of women, but good stories anyway. These stories (or at least their author) come from the same era, and Smith is to be applauded for the little bit that he was able to change with his times. He is to be applauded more loudly for dragging the Flash Gordon sense of heroism from the 1930s to the 60s without looking wholly antiquated doing it.

This is among his latest books, the last in his true spirit (and I deliberately omit the D'Alemberts from that list). I can't use the word "great" on any one these pot-boilers, but his ouvre as a whole reeks of squeaky clean, saturday afternoon, nickel-cinema greatness. A generation that can't sit back and wallow in these stories is a generation that has lost something happy and precious.

//wiredweird

E.E. "Doc" Smith's best book!.......1998-03-19

There are some that swear by the Lensman series, others by the Skylark series, but personally, I go for the single books like Subspace Explorers.

Unlike many of E.E. "Doc" Smith's books, this book actually has women as capable, thinking (and of course, loving) beings. It even contains references to sex! The story line is great, although of course fantastical, and altogether a rollicking read.

Masters of the Vortex
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Masters of the Vortex
E. E. Doc Smith
Manufacturer: Pyramid Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000H0FQ8E

Gray Lensman
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Read this second!

Gray Lensman
E.E. "Doc" Smith
Manufacturer: Pyramid
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JI4RZC

Customer Reviews:

Read this second!.......2007-02-28

I (and many others) believe the best place to start with Doc Smith's "Lensman" series is Galactic Patrol; and as I've said why, at length, in my review of that opus, I won't repeat it here.

"Gray Lensman" begins where "Patrol" left off, and never flags, from the start to the finish.

Smith at this point is a massively improved writer from the author of the earlier "Skylark" series, and much more confident in his characters: Richard Seaton, for instance, never has the moments of self-doubt that trouble Kinnison, and would certainly never burst into tears (as the latter does when his nurse won't feed him beefsteak in hospital!).

Even more unexpected is the development of an impish sense of humour, manifested in several places, but most notably in the exploits of Wild Bill Williams of Aldebaran II, in the present volume -- surely one of the most entertaining episodes in the whole of Golden Age SF.

I've never understood critics -- including the normally-perspicacious Brian Aldiss* -- who say that Smith couldn't write. True, he probably never gave T.S. Eliot (his exact contemporary) any sleepless nights, and better authors have certainly stood on his shoulders; but the Lensman series is F-U-N, and without it the SF world would be a much duller place.

*in Billion Year Spree, later revised as Trillion Year Spree.

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Good guys finish first

Galactic Patrol (Lensman Series)
E. E. "Doc" Smith
Manufacturer: Pyramid
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Customer Reviews:

Good guys finish first.......2007-02-28

First in the crushing (but fair) load of the Patrol academy, then in the early promotion to the left seat of the coolest spaceship around, then on to the the heart of The Evil Empire, via its lower intestine. Kimball Kinnison finishes first in everything, whether or not there was a second place.

It's 1930s science with a 1950 copyright date. That means, for example, that a milliwatt was an inconceivably small amount of power back then. Just for the heck of it, "Doc" Smith, went a thousand times beyond the conceivable, down to the microwatt range. Chicos and chicas, that is just so lame today. As of this writing (not next years!), the capacitative regions within DRAM chips store millions of times less energy that Smith's instruments could notice. In fact, I overheard a serious proposal recently to do milliwatt-range connections from current cellphones direct to the comm satellites directly, as long as the minimum number of GPSS/comm satelites were all in the sky at one. That's nanowatts received at the satellite, or less.

It was written to be big, bold, and all about the way men and women are supposed to get along. It's not actually wrong, but charmingly antiquated on all counts. I love it.

//wiredweird

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