Space Opera Fans discussion

The author cited most often as the true father of the Space Opera genre is E. E. "Doc" Smith. His first published work, The Skylark of Space (August–October 1928, Amazing Stories) is often called the first great space opera. It merges the traditional tale of a scientist inventing a space-drive with science fantasy or planetary romance in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Much of E.E. Doc Smith's work is now in the public domain and available for *FREE* at Project Gutenberg. Here are some of his works:

*****

The Skylark of Space by Edward Elmer Smith



Finding that his government laboratory coworkers do not believe his discovery of a revolutionary power source that will enable interstellar flight, Dr. Richard Seaton acquires rights to his discovery from the government and commercializes it with the aid of his friend, millionaire inventor Martin Crane. When a former colleague tries to steal the invention, not only the future of Dr. Seaton and his allies, but ultimately the entire world hangs in the balance!

The first of the great "space opera" science fiction novels, The Skylark of Space remains a thrilling tale more than 80 years after its creation.

Available for *FREE* in all formats at: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20869

*****

The Spacehounds of IPC by E.E. Smith



Marauders in outer space! It was a routine passenger flight to Mars. Everything on course, until...the gigantic ship gave a slight shiver and fell apart at midsection. The Arcturus, invincible cruiser of the void, was being sliced into pieces by blinding planes of light! Steve and Nadia, cut off from the rest of the ship, watched in horror as the lethal scissors of light came closer and closer to their hiding place. They were trapped in space by a frightful enemy, the super-scientists of Jupiter!
A thrilling novel of cosmic adventure.

Available for *FREE* in all formats at: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20857

*****

Triplanetary by E.E. Doc Smith



Eddore and Arisia fought desperately to control the Universe. The ultimate battleground was a tiny, backward planet in a remote galaxy--Earth. And only a few Earthmen knew of the titanic struggle--and of the strange, decisive role they were to play in the war of the super-races.


Available for *FREE* in all formats at: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32706

Wow, thank's for this! I didn't realise these were on Gutenberg.org. I've wanted to read these for a while.

Pete wrote: "Wow, thank's for this! I didn't realise these were on Gutenberg.org. I've wanted to read these for a while."

You're welcome! A lot of 'classic' sci-fi is now out-of-copyright. I plan on digging up more of them and posting them, along with little bios, in the near future (after I finish up this beast of a project that's got me bogged down at the moment).

You're a busy lady!

Remember that you can get Triplanetary free everyone! We've got it up again for a BOTM nomination.

Thanks!

*

Agreed that Doc Smith and ERB are the fathers of Space Opera.

The Lensman series is on my repeat read list. I agree that Smith is the father of Space Opera. The quality difference from the Skylark series is noticably higher. It is one of my favorite series, even though the technological descriptions often feel dated. If this series was revised to reflect a semiconductor, integrated circuit world, it might attract a new group of fans.

It's a series I read in the 1970's when published in the UK by Panther paperbacks - alas I no longer have them. I would love to reread the series.

I recently purchased a Nook book from Barnes and Noble that included the 7 Lensman volumes and 3 Skylark volumes together for very little.

The Definitive E.E. "Doc"
NOOK Book $2.99
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/ee-sm...

Many thanks for the information - I just purchased the ebook from the Nook UK store for £1,91 to read on the Nook App on the iPad - a fabulous bargain

Many thanks for the information - I just purchased the ebook from the Nook UK store for £1,91 to read on the Nook App on the iPad - a fabulous bargain

If you enjoy E.E. Doc Smith, we have amongst our community as one of our members his co-author on some of his post-Lensman stories (Family D'Alembert), Stephen Goldin, whose got a multi-book series called Tsar Wars. I enjoyed his work immensely. It has that same campy, good fun feeling that E.E. Doc Smith's work has and the technological references have been updated to the 21st century. And you can get the first book in his series free. AFTER you finish reading Lensman, of course!

Thank you for the information Anna. When they were first published I read the first three or four volumes of the Family D'Alembert series a if memory serves me correctly there were 10 in total. I haven't read or come across any others works by Stephen Goldin.

I loved the Lensmen books when I was a teen :) I think I'll have to go and find them again and re-read them.

@David - Stephen Goldin's website is HERE with all his latest works: http://parsina.com/

@Leonie - a lot of E.E. Doc Smith's books are out-of-copyright, so if you have an e-reader you can pick most of them up for free. The links are at the top of the page. Though some of the books I couldn't find.

Anna wrote: "@David - Stephen Goldin's website is HERE with all his latest works: http://parsina.com/

@Leonie - a lot of E.E. Doc Smith's books are out-of-copyright, so if you have an e-reader you can pick mo..."

Oooh! Thanks, Anna!

Have just downloaded all the ones I could find :)

Just a thought that maybe we should consider a group read or two of a Doc Smith - we could do the a Skylark series over 4 months and the Lensman series over 7 months - almost a year of a doc Smith

David wrote: "Just a thought that maybe we should consider a group read or two of a Doc Smith - we could do the a Skylark series over 4 months and the Lensman series over 7 months - almost a year of a doc Smith"

For BOTM club I go with what's nominated, but you're welcome to start a 'E.E. Doc Smith Buddy Read' thread right here in the classic space opera folder if you want? Go for it!

David wrote: "Just a thought that maybe we should consider a group read or two of a Doc Smith - we could do the a Skylark series over 4 months and the Lensman series over 7 months - almost a year of a doc Smith"

I would consider an organized Lensman read through. Probably not Skylark though.

I'd participate in an organised Lensman read through - don't feel qualified to lead it though

I'd reread Lensman or Skylark.

For my money, though the Lensman books are more polished, the best book for wide-open imagination is The Skylark of Space Remember, this was first published (in a magazine) in 1927!

I'd say just Go for it! But that's me. Han Solo was always my favorite Star Wars character, which should tell you all you need to know about my theory of discussing books :-) In my mind, if you love something, just talk, and let the chips fall where they will.

I enjoyed both Lensman and Skylark series back in the '70s, and I've still got the books on my shelf. I re-read Lensman last year. Some aspects can't avoid feeling dated (especially descriptions of technology) but IMO you can't beat it for sheer inventiveness.

BTW, I always consider the Lensman series really ends with Children of the Lens. Masters of the Vortex always felt more like a separate, standalone story that happened to be set in the same universe.

Concluding quotes from the Lensman series:

Kim Kinnison: Children of the Lens, ch. 27, "Who ever heard of the intrepid hero of a space opera as big as this one started out to be getting stranded on a completely Earth-like planet and then have nothing happen?"

Fascinating to me that Smith uses the term "space opera" to describe his series.


Kit Kinnison(?): Children of the Lens, epilogue, "While studying this tape you have become informed that the situation is sufficiently grave to have made it again necessary to force certain selected minds prematurely into the third level of Lensmanship. ... One of us will be en rapport with you as soon as you have assimilated the facts, the connotations, and the implications of this material. Prepare your mind for contact."

As a young teen first encountering this series, that epilogue was provocative. It reminds me of my daughter seriously wondering if she would get a letter from Hogwarts.

An aspect of space opera for me is the creation of a world by a writer that the reader would enter into in a moment if that were possible.

I also loved the epilogue of Children of the Lens... probably why this is my favorite from this series.

Blurry wrote: "Fascinating to me that Smith uses the term "space opera" to describe his series..."

We use Space Opera as a slightly perjurorative term today, but back in the Golden Age real-life opera was considered the 'queen' of art forms because it combined singing, orchestra, theatre, dance, costumes and set design.

One of the most fascinating aspects of EE Smith's Lensman series is the enourmous scope of the metanarrative behind the story. In his portrayal of Arisians as the source of what is all good and right with the cosmos and the Eddorians as the source of evil and wrong, he provides a modern secular interpretation to the older biblical metanarrative of the source of good and evil. Wikipedia reports that his parents were "staunch Presbyterians." In addition the Arisian solution to the invading evil is the development of an incorruptible superhuman designed to eventually succeed the Arisians themselves. This biological solution is placed in contrast to the Eddorian "mechanistic" conquest of the galaxy, which is also their undoing. Again,incredible scope in the metanarrative, which, I guess is why I continue to have interest, despite the shunting of a rheostat into the tube circuit.

thank you for the links to Project Gutenberg! I had no idea that these books were available there - I have the Edgar Rice Burroughs novels and more than a few Westerns but the Doc Smith ones are a wonderful addition. My Lensmen books fell apart years go and I never managed to replace them. Looking forward to renewing my acquaintance with Triplanetary. ;)

Thank you

Ian wrote: "I enjoyed both Lensman and Skylark series back in the '70s, and I've still got the books on my shelf. I re-read Lensman last year. Some aspects can't avoid feeling dated (especially descriptions of..."
You are right about Vortex. The first parts of it were actually published as separate stories. Pretty sure I have the information as to where somewhere in my library but a lot of my stuff is packed away. Smith later added the later material so that the stories could be put into book form. The material in the book is contemporary with some of the Lensman story between the third and fifth books.

I was just going through the listing of what my local library system has ordered in the last few days. I came across an SF book entitled "Grand Central Arema" by Ryk E. Spoor. One of the characters is " darkly enigmatic power engineer Marc C. DuQuesne". If you have read the Skylark books then this may intrigue you as much as it does me. I have put this one on for my for later shelf.

Yes, the Lensman series was pretty instrumental for space opera. Although dated by today's standards, the story is truly epic.

The Lensmen and Skylark books survived the move purge. What didn't when I donated/sold the English Perry Rhodan were the Lensmen stories serialized in those books by william Ellern. I read the David Kyle Lensmen books, but they didn;t work for me.

Haven't read the David Kyle books myself but if I come across them
second hand might be tempted.

Thanks for all the info on Smith. I look forward to reading his work.

A classic work. Some of which was so revolutionary you don't even notice it any more. . . .

You might wonder about the scene in Galactic Patrol where Smith expounds at length about how Kinnison can know that the amazingly different alien was nevertheless trustworthy. That was because the trope was, before that, The War of the Worlds all the time. Peaceful co-existence of alien species was something new.

Interesting.

I've read the Lensman series 2 or 3 times - 20 to 30 years ago.

I would love to re-read the series.

Anna wrote: "If you enjoy E.E. Doc Smith, we have amongst our community as one of our members his co-author on some of his post-Lensman stories (Family D'Alembert), Stephen Goldin, whose got a mu..."

Thanks. I grabbed the first one from amazon for free. I see it's a 10-book series, so that will be fun.

Strangely, I don't think I have ever read the complete Lensmen series, just some here and there. It's expensive on Amazon. I have it on my list to watch for in used book stores. Hopefully, eventually Guttenberg will have the complete series inputted for free.