TRIPLANETARY - E. E. "Doc" Smith

CLASSIC SCI-FI WEEK


Nevia is a planet many light years away from Earth. The planet is running out of iron - an essential source of energy for the aquatic inhabitants. The Nevians have developed technology that can pull the iron out of just about anything ... including human blood.

The Nevians attack an unsuspecting Earth - a planet rich with their needed resource - destroying the city and surrounding area of Pittsburgh, and then head back to their planet with a load of ore and three human captives. Among the prisoners is Conway Costigan, an undercover agent with the Triplanetary Patrol. His difficult job is to assess any Nevian weaknesses and get information back to Earth and the Patrol. But simply staying alive will be his biggest challenge.

I've been reading science fiction for nearly 50 years and while I've heard about and been casually familiar with E. E. "Doc" Smith and the Lensman series, I'd never read anything by Smith prior to this.  Something about the age of the book and my passing familiarity with other writers of this era (such as Hugo Gernsback, Olaf Stapleton, et al) had me not particularly interested, but but the Kindle edition was next up in my Kindle queue of classics, so I settled in to give it a read.

This was, frankly, an exciting science fiction adventure that was not dominated by over-the-top, undefeatable, heroic humans.  The conflict here was bitter and tough and more than just a bit gruesome. It has a real sense of authenticity which I hadn't expected.

I've seen this book described as the godfather of 'space opera.' I can see that, but I felt that this was more akin to military sci-fi, ala Jerry Pournelle or Fred Saberhagen.

Looking for a good book? Triplanetary, by E. E. "Doc" Smith is the first volume in the Lensman series and is considered a classic in the science fiction genre, for very good reason.

4 stars

* * * * * *

Triplanetary

author: E. E. "Doc" Smith

series: The Lensman #1

publisher: Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Kindle Edition, 238 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

KIM STANLEY ROBINSON: APPRENTICESHIPS IN NARRATIVE - Andrew Rowcroft

Image
I am a sucker for anything by or about Kim Stanley Robinson. Since I first read The Gold Coast sometime in the late 1980's or early 90's; I haven't missed any of his books since. So, when I see a book about Robinson, or examining his work, I'm all in. What I don't like, is reading a research paper, a university-style thesis, posing as a book. In classic research paper tradition, we begin with an introduction that tells us what we are going to read. Chapter by chapter, taking up nearly 15% of the book's pages, author Andrew Rowcroft tells us what we're going to read in. In detail. With 114 endnotes. There are six chapters .... well, five chapters and a coda ... dealing with different aspects of Robinson's work. But first ... what does "Apprenticeships in Narrative" even mean? In his introduction, Rowcroft notes: "This book argues that one of the most striking aspects of Robinson’s fiction is his concern with literary apprenticeship." ...
Read more

STAR TREK: YEAR FOUR - THE ENTERPRISE EXPERIMENT - graphic novel

Image
I am one of those faithful Star Trek fans who will gladly read stories (stories, novels, graphic novels) featuring the original Star Trek cast/crew.  When you add in an author such as D.C. Fontana, who wrote for the original series, and the excitement level for a book like this is high. The book reads like a classic Trek episode. Here, while the Enterprise is testing a new cloaking device (having stolen such a device from a Romulan ship) Kirk and Spock find themselves boarding the ship from a shuttlecraft  only to discover that they are out of 'phase' with the rest of the ship's crew. Only Lt. Arex is slightly visible to Kirk and Spock (due to some technical, fortuitous accident). It is during this time that the Romulans arrive, with Ambassador Sarek, and an old-fashioned pistol (phaser pistol) fight may ensue in the corridors. I will almost always have fun reading new adventures from my favorite starship crew, and I definitely enjoyed this, but scribe Fontana does some...
Read more

LAP DANCE LUST - Rachel Kramer Bussel

Image
WARNING: THIS BOOK AND REVIEW CONTAIN WORDS AND THEMES OF A SEXUAL NATURE I debated, a LOT, over whether or not I would even publicly post a review of this book. I mean, it's kind of embarrassing to admit to reading erotica. And yet the genre is one of the best selling subjects these days (thanks, in part, I'd guess, due to the anonymity that digital books afford) so why not read it (and, to be very honest, I was equally embarrassed to admit to reading Louis L'Amour westerns the first time I posted one of those reviews). I am not familiar with author Rachel Kramer Bussel so I'll trust Goodreads' quote that she is "one of the biggest names in the literary world of erotica." With nearly 200 works attributed to her name (many as editor) she's certainly got some experience with the genre. Overall I was impressed with the quality of the writing.  I have to admit to going into this expecting some really cheesy writing with the sole goal of getting the reader...
Read more