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QRM-Interplanetary
George Oliver Smith (April 9, 1911 - May 27, 1981) (also known by the pseudonym Wesley Long) was an American science fiction author. Smith was an active contributor to Astounding Science Fiction during the Golden Age of Science Fiction in the 1940s. His collaboration with the magazine's editor, John W. Campbell, Jr. was interrupted when Campbell's first wife, Doña, left him in 1949 and married Smith. Smith continued regularly publishing science fiction novels and stories until 1960. He was given the First Fandom Hall of Fame award in 1980. He was a member of the all-male literary banqueting club the Trap Door Spiders, which served as the basis of Isaac Asimov's fictional group of mystery solvers the Black Widowers.
50 pages, Paperback
Published January 6, 2026
7 people want to read
About the author
George O. Smith
215 books11 followersGeorge Oliver Smith (April 9, 1911 - May 27, 1981) (also known as Wesley Long) was an American science fiction author. He is not to be confused with George H. Smith, another American science fiction author.
Smith was an active contributor to Astounding Science Fiction during the Golden Age of Science Fiction in the 1940s. His collaboration with the magazine's editor, John W. Campbell, Jr. was interrupted when Campbell's first wife, Doña, left him in 1949 and married Smith.
Smith continued regularly publishing science fiction novels and stories until 1960. His output greatly diminished in the 1960s and 1970s when he had a job that required his undivided attention. He was given the First Fandom Hall of Fame award in 1980.
He was a member of the all-male literary banqueting club the Trap Door Spiders, which served as the basis of Isaac Asimov's fictional group of mystery solvers the Black Widowers.
Smith wrote mainly about outer space, with such works as Operation Interstellar (1950), Lost in Space (1959), and Troubled Star (1957).
He is remembered chiefly for his Venus Equilateral series of short stories about a communications station in outer space. The stories were collected in Venus Equilateral (1947), which was later expanded as The Complete Venus Equilateral (1976).
His novel The Fourth "R" (1959) - re-published as The Brain Machine (1968) - was a digression from his focus on outer space, and provides one of the more interesting examinations of a child prodigy in science fiction.
Smith was an active contributor to Astounding Science Fiction during the Golden Age of Science Fiction in the 1940s. His collaboration with the magazine's editor, John W. Campbell, Jr. was interrupted when Campbell's first wife, Doña, left him in 1949 and married Smith.
Smith continued regularly publishing science fiction novels and stories until 1960. His output greatly diminished in the 1960s and 1970s when he had a job that required his undivided attention. He was given the First Fandom Hall of Fame award in 1980.
He was a member of the all-male literary banqueting club the Trap Door Spiders, which served as the basis of Isaac Asimov's fictional group of mystery solvers the Black Widowers.
Smith wrote mainly about outer space, with such works as Operation Interstellar (1950), Lost in Space (1959), and Troubled Star (1957).
He is remembered chiefly for his Venus Equilateral series of short stories about a communications station in outer space. The stories were collected in Venus Equilateral (1947), which was later expanded as The Complete Venus Equilateral (1976).
His novel The Fourth "R" (1959) - re-published as The Brain Machine (1968) - was a digression from his focus on outer space, and provides one of the more interesting examinations of a child prodigy in science fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 7, 2022
From 1942, and it shows. The technology is archaic - the three mile long relay station it is set on has a total throughput of 1100 words per minute, or less than one kbps, for the entire solar system - and the social stuff is even more so. Apparently the author could imagine an enormous space station at Venus' leading Trojan point, but couldn't imagine that managers wouldn't be men, and secretaries women. But the story is actually about something that never changes: managers. And that makes it actually quite entertaining in spite of its flaws.
August 1, 2022
I don't even know what I read, how I read or why I read it. I dont even know if I actually read it. I feel like my eyes just became empty and googly for an hour and then there was nothing.
Some old sci-fi is good. Some is just... Ctrl+alt+delete from the annals of history.
There have to be better things to read. Save yourself the time.
Some old sci-fi is good. Some is just... Ctrl+alt+delete from the annals of history.
There have to be better things to read. Save yourself the time.
December 7, 2024
It was ok. It is less a sci-fi story, more of a commentary on how middle management can destroy a working system by trying to cut costs, it's just set in space instead of a regular Earth company.
September 4, 2025
A tale of bureaucratic incompetence and corruption- nothing new there. Narration is magnificent.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews