Conference noted::sf

    The _Skylark_ Series:
    
    A Skylark of Space
    Skylark Three
    Skylark of Faleron
    Skylark DuQuense
    
    The _Lensmen_ Series:
    
    Triplanetary
    First Lensman
    Galactic Patrol
    Gray Lensman
    Second-Stage Lensmen
    Children of the lens
    
    Not part of the "series," but in the same universe and associated
    with it is _Vortex Blaster_ set [I checked this with Doc] between
    the events of _Second-Stage Lensmen_ and _Children of the Lens_.
    
    The _Subspace_ series:
    
    Subspace Explorers
    Subspace Encounter
    
    This last was published posthumously: originally, it was intended
    to be two books, but the interim (single) manuscript survived.
    
    Single books:
    
    The Spacehounds of IPC
    The Galaxy Primes
    
    There are several books, such as the Family D'Almenbert Series,
    that were built off of Doc's stories, but these aren't pure Doc.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr 
    

>    Skylark of Faleron

I believe it's 'Valeron'

>    Skylark DuQuense

'Duquesne' ?

    Re .3:
    
    I normally don't speak in an accent. :-D
    
    Blacky Duquense, by the way, has to be one of the most interesting
    characters, not just in science fiction, but in literature.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    
    P.S.:  An interesting anecdote about _Skylark of Valeron_.  When
    Doc wrote _Skylark III_, he killed Blackie Duquense as dead as a
    character could be killed.  The reason?  He felt through with the
    series (which he didn't consider _real_ science fiction anyway:
    he spelled this out in _Of Worlds Beyond_, by the way; you don't
    have to take my word that Doc didn't consider the series SF).  But
    Doc was a real "hot property," and there was _enormous_ pressure
    put on him for a sequel.  So, he spent agonizing weeks trying to
    "undo" what he'd done, making the story Duquense's for quite a chunk
    of the book.  (He vowed he'd never leave himself without such a
    loophole again in that series, but that's another story.)  Anyway,
    he ended up with a second- or third-draft manuscript that didn't
    fully please him.  He contacted the editor of _Astounding_ (Tremaine
    or Campbell; I forget which), saying he was unhasppy, though the
    story was essentially complete.  Whoever the editor was suggested
    that Doc send him the draft so that he could perhaps give him some
    suggestions.
    
    Doc did.
    
    However, the editor published the draft!
    
    It's for that reason that, among other things, when the _Skylark
    II_ gets translated into the fourth dimension by "rotating beams
    of electricity," Shiro isn't heard of again in the story (well,
    not until the next book, which was written decades later). 
    
    -sk

    re:.3	(and you can pay attention, too, Steve)
    
    It's neither "DuQuense" or "Duquesne", it's "DuQuesne"
    
    --- jerry

    
    
    Thanks so far...
    
    	How about Lord Tedric (sorry if its not spelt correctly) ?
    	
    
    	Another story which I read many years ago which I have been
    	looking for but I do not know the name -
    
    	A bunch of off-worlders picks up a preserved human corpse from
    	a space ship orbiting earth.  The corpse brain is installed
        into a type of robots body and they wander the galaxy, as they
    	to are installed in robot type bodies...              
    
    	If you know of any more I would be interested
    
    	Chris

    Re .6:
    
    "Lord Tedric" was a novella that was to be the first of a series,
    but it never caught on.  After his death, someone "expanded" it...
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    
    P.s.:  Jerry; you're right; but it was from memory...

< Note 518.6 by OPG::CHRIS >

>   	A bunch of off-worlders picks up a preserved human corpse from
>   	a space ship orbiting earth.  The corpse brain is installed
>       into a type of robots body and they wander the galaxy, as they
>   	to are installed in robot type bodies...              

        This is a series, "Professor Jameson Space Adventures", written
        by Neil R. Jones.  The professor left secret instructions for
        his nephew that his body be placed in an orbiting radium-powered
        capsule he had invented; the nephew dutifully removed the
        professor's body from the grave, and so forth.
        
        40 million years later, Earth is visited by explorers from
        Zor, who had achieved immortality by placing their brains
        into machine bodies.  They find a lifeless planet, with an
        enigmatic capsule... they place the professor's brain in
        a Zorome body and revive it, and off he goes with them on
        Great Adventures.
        
        I have Professor Jameson Space Adventure #4 (Twin Worlds,
        copyright 1967); the book mentions #s 1 (The Planet of the
        Double Sun), 2 (The Sunless World) and and 3 (Space War).
        They were published by Ace.
        
        Though I haven't read the book in many years, I have fond
        (though vague) memories of it.   At least, being unable to
        remember author, title, or character name, I was able to
        recognize the book within about 2 seconds from the rather
        large and disorganized stacks which comprise my "library"...
        
        	/dave

    re:.6
    
    In addition, to the four books Dave mentioned, there was a fifth
    volume, DOOMSDAY ON AJIAT. All five books were collections of
    individual stories that appeared in AMAZING SCIENCE FICTION and
    ASTONISHING STORIES in the 30's and early 40's. There were
    another half-dozen in the series that appeared in the late 40's
    and early 50's in SUPER SCIENCE STORIES and remain uncollected.
    
    --- jerry

    
    
    	Thanks for the information... It seems that I have a few
    	storys of EEDOC Smiths to read.
    
    	If anyone has intresting storys about the DOC or his books
    	let me know....
    
    
    	Thanks
    
    	CHRIS

    re .10:
    
    Since I was fortunate enough to become a friend of Doc's before
    his untimely death (if he lived to be 1,000, his death would still
    have been untimely), I could go on for hours about Doc stories.
    
    However, I will tell one.
    
    In addition to writing SF, Doc tried his hand at a (yet unpublished)
    detective novel, and a story about logging.  When he was working
    his way through school (college), he spent the summer lumberjacking.
    One of his admirers, who happened to be a publisher, suggested he
    write a novel around lumberjacks, since he obviously had expertise
    in the area.  So, he did, and sent the manuscript to the publisher.
    The publisher rejected it, saying there just wasn't enough sex in
    it.
    
    Doc, irritated, said, "That's the way it _is_ with lumberjacks."
    [I'm unqualified to judge this; he was speaking of when he was lumber-
    jacking, around the turn of the century].
    
    "Well," said the publisher, "when they came into the logging towns,
    didn't they visit prostitutes?"       
    
    "A few did," said Doc.  "But most just got good and drunk.  It was a
    better investment.  It lasted longer." 
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    Help!  Any ideas on where I might be able to locate copies of the
    first six books in the Lensmen series?  I've tried a few book stores
    and have gotten responses from "Try a used book store" to "My
    distributor has some but won't send them to me".  The latest Lensman
    additions by Kyle I'm assuming are relatively recent and may still
    be asy to locate.
    
    Any suggestions?

    The additions by Kyle are non "canonical."
    
    If you're after the paperbacks, these probably can be encountered
    in any of several used bookstores.  If we knew your geographical
    location, someone might be able to help.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    
    P.S.:  Doc gave only one person (whose name escapes me) "official
    permission" to write stories in his Lensman universe.  The story
    appeared in the early 1960s in _Analog_ [possibly as it was phasing
    over from being _Astounding_] and as a preface to the story was
    a copy of Doc's endorsement.  This was before John Campbell's death,
    of course.  I remember the story had to do with a lunar base the
    Boskonians (early version) wanted to have surrender, just about
    the time Rod Kinnison was running for President.

    Your memory's slipping, Steve. :-)
    
    The story you're thinking of was "Moon Prospector" by William
    B. Ellern, in the April 1966 ANALOG (*well* after they changed
    over from ASTOUNDING). The story was later incorporated into a
    novel called NEW LENSMEN, which has seen print only in the UK.
    A second Lensmen novel by Ellern was serialized in, of all
    places, PERRY RHODAN, after Forry Ackerman turned that series
    into a "paperback magazine". I'll dig out the numbers.
    
    --- jerry

    re .12  Are you saying you cannot find the Lensman Series in paperback
    in your local bookstores ???  I haven't looked lately, but assume
    they are still being reprinted.  Mine get replaced every ~5 years
    from being worn out/binder glue disintegration (damned DeLameters),
    etc.
    
    Where the heck are you ?  I'll check the local bookstores to verify
    they're still available (Boston & MetroWest area); if they are,
    and you can't get the series (Triplanetary through Children...)
    let me know.  Maybe a commissioned purchase ;}).
    
    Dwight

	I'm pretty sure these are in reprint. I got some at the ASPENGLOW
	bookstore in Colorado springs but I think they are a chain and are
	in other states. 

	EE was a product of his times though and the women (when they
	appear at all) don't impress me. They are a fun read however.
	liesl

    Re .12:
    
    Tch, tch.  I've seen them in the bookstores around here, Frank.  Ask
    me off line and I can probably point you to them.  In fact I HAVE
    them and might consider borrowing them to you (unless you want them
    to keep of course).
    
    
    --  Barry

    re .-1
    
    Thanks Barry.  I am looking for a set to keep.  
    
    re .-the rest
    
    1.  I am in Delaware.
    
    2.  I was at a local bookstore this weekend and some of the series
    was on the shelves.  The others were out of stock at their distributor
    but it looks like I'll be able to order them before year end.  I
    hadn't seen them in a while and was wondering if they were still
    in print.  Sounds like they are.  Thanks for the replies.

    Speaking of Doc Smith, I'm still looking for THE GALAXY PRIMES....
    
    And, since Neil R. Jones was mentioned, I'm also looking for THE
    PLANET OF THE DOUBLE SUN to complete the series.
    
    						Don
    
    Trivia: THE VORTEX BLASTER used to be called MASTER OF THE VORTEX.
            Why was it changed?

    re:.19
    
    Well, wouldn't *you* rather be referred to as Master than a Blaster?
    
    --- jerry

    Re .19:
    
    >Trivia: THE VORTEX BLASTER used to be called MASTER OF THE VORTEX.
    >        Why was it changed?  
    
    Incorrect trivium brought about by marketing.  The Niel Cloud stories
    originally appeared as separate shorts; these were gathered together
    and released, as a hardcover book, titled _The Vortex Blaster_.
    Although in the Lensman universe (with occasional walk-ons by lensmen),
    the stories were separate and apart from the Saga of the Lens; nor
    was _The Vortex Blaster_ published by the same publisher (Fantasy
    Press) that did the Lensmen epic.  Consequently, it had only fair
    sales; I guess when it was ready for paperback publication, the
    publisher decided to change the title to _Master of the Vortex_,
    which, in the context of the story, was misleading.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    

    Before the p-back titled "THE VORTEX BLASTER (formally titled MASTER
    OF THE VORTEX)" was issued Sam Moskowitz published one called MASTERS
    OF THE VORTEX.  (And I'm not sure if it was the same publisher; I 
    think it was not.)  Otherwise there would have been a similar occurance
    to TIME AND AGAIN by Finney vs. TIME AND AGAIN by Simak.
                        
    						Don
    
    

    There are 4 books written in the "LENSMAN senerio by another author
    (Kyle) that take place around "grey lensman" timeframe. Each is
    about 1 of the 4 "alien" second-stage lensman. I only remember the
    title
    of one - "DRAGON LENSMAN", although a recent STARLOG issue mentions
    all 4.
    
    ANYBODY GOT THE OTHERS? I can find them anywhere and I'd love to
    borrow them?
    

    Well, it's been a year since I posted "-.1" and no replies; I take it
    that no one has the books? I could still use them.
    
    
    						Keith

Re .16 (liesel):

>EE was a product of his times ...

As aren't we all? :-)

However, Doc evolved as he wrote throughout his life.  If you take a look at
the originally published version of _A Skylark of Space_ (where he had Lee
Hawkins Garby do the romantic stuff) compared to his rewrite of it when it
was republished in the 1960s, you can see the difference.

In the early Doc years, the basic audience was, well, young males.  There were
basttles, generally involving superhuman foes and suoperweapons.  A real power
trip.  This is evident in the early Skylark stuff.  By the first Lensman story (I
mean as puiblished .. _Galactic Patrol_ .. not the book order), things got
more complex.  Yes,. there were space battles, but there were other actions
taking place, including sympathetic nonhuman species, etc.

The ultimate digest of all this stuff is theobscure _Galaxy Primes_.  It is, in
some fashion, SF in miniature.  Is starts out as an exploration using a New 
Invention (the Gunther-space-model exploration craft), then went to contact
with aliens, fighting space battles, and solving the problem of getting back
home.  At that point, the book was half over!  After that, further exploration,
developing a new culture and philosophy, and finally, developing a series of 
insights about the Universe.

In that sense, the book is a recapitulation of the phylogenesis of SF.

Steve Kallis, Jr.

    805.41 describes some new books as "feminist parodies" of the Smith's
    books.  I remember that one of the many politically incorrect things
    about the original Lensman series was that, except for the Red Lensman
    and her daughters, all human lensmen were male; they once proposed a 
    woman for a lens but the Arisians turned her down for reasons I do not 
    remember clearly, but were more like biochemical incompatibility than 
    any lack of intelligence, initiative, or moral rectitude.
    
    But there were lots of lensmen who were "men" only in the broadest
    Aristotelian definition of "man is a rational animal."  Some were
    multi-eyed draconians, or betentacled barrels, or four-dimensional
    indescribables.  Did this sex bias apply to all females of whatever 
    species?  Were all lensmen males, or were some of them nonhuman females,
    neuters, hermaphrodites, or something else?
    
    Earl Wajenberg

    Re .26 (Earl):

    > ........................................... they once proposed a 
    >woman for a lens but the Arisians turned her down for reasons I do not 
    >remember clearly, but were more like biochemical incompatibility than 
    >any lack of intelligence, initiative, or moral rectitude.

    That was Virgillia Samms in the (after-the-serialized-fact) novel,
    _First Lensman_.  She visited Arisia with Conway Costigan, Mason
    Northrop and the younger Kinnison (Roderick's boy).  She was given to
    understand that lenses were "as masculine as whiskers" and that there
    would be a lady Lensman someday, "but she'll be something of a freak."  
    Naturally, the Children of the Lens didn't count, because, due to the
    Arisian eugenics program, they didn't count as human at all.

    >But there were lots of lensmen who were "men" only in the broadest
    >Aristotelian definition of "man is a rational animal."  Some were
    >multi-eyed draconians, or betentacled barrels, or four-dimensional
    >indescribables.  Did this sex bias apply to all females of whatever 
    >species?  Were all lensmen males, or were some of them nonhuman females,
    >neuters, hermaphrodites, or something else?

    Apparently, if the species had a clear male/female dichotomy, the
    lensbearers were male; where gender was less specific, then it
    broadened.  (The Palainians apparently had multiple sexes; one of their
    processes, "emfoozing" if memory serves, was related to reproduction,
    but the differences were so great that there was no way to translate
    the concept).

    Steve Kallis, Jr. 

    Re .27:  Thanks.  Ah, yes, "emfoozing."  There was also, I think,
    "dexitrobopping," which related to nutrition but was otherwise not
    translatable.  Considering the translation was telepathic contact
    through a lens, this meant a very great degree of alienness.  I think the
    Palanians were one of the 4-D indescribable races.  There home world
    resembled Pluto, and life there had developed four-dimensional features
    in order to cope with the rigors of the climate.  Apparently even
    hyperspace is more comfortable than Pluto.
    
    Earl

    Re .28 (Earl):
    
    > ......................................................... I think the
    >Palanians were one of the 4-D indescribable races.  There home world
    >resembled Pluto, and life there had developed four-dimensional features
    >in order to cope with the rigors of the climate. ...
    
    Doc called them "quasi-forth-dimensional" creatures that had "an
    extension into the hyper dimension" in order to cope with the degree of
    copldness involved.  They were not full "4-D"; at one point one of the
    Kinnison girls (Kay, I believe) described a strange thought-burst she'd
    gotten from a winter-stage Plooran.  Her description was
    incomprehensible to Nadrek because it was a "purely fourth-dimensional
    thought" that a strictly three-dimensional entity like Kay should've
    been unable to detect; and Nadrek himself would only have been able to 
    sense it fully because of his advanced Arisian training.
                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.  

    Re .29: "quasi-four-dimensional"
    
    Now, if I were sufficiently fanatical, I'd take that and work it into a
    claim that Doc Smith anticipated Hausdorf and Mandelbrot by 30+ years
    and developed a theory of fractal dimensionality...
    
    Earl Wajenberg

    
    I'm pretty sure that the stated reason for there being no female
    lensbeings was that females "lacked the killer instinct." Anyone else
    remember that? Or am I imagining it...
    
    JP
    

    I just finished reading "First Lensman" again.  As I recall Virgillia
    didn't need a Lens she was already pretty mental to begin with and all
    I can remember is that it would work with women.
    
    
    I have to make a comment here about the Lensman series.
    
    I first read this series back in the sixties.  BAck then I thought it
    was pretty good and I recall.  Recently I was in my favorite used book
    store and found all of the Lensman series except for "Triplanetary"
    I said to myself "Self what a great opprotunity to read the series
    again." So I purchased the books.
    
    I just finished "First Lensman" and I have to say that it.. to put it
    bluntly sucked.  This book was terrible writing, terrible story
    telling, and I felt like I was reading the script for a terrible grade
    "B" movie.  I'm going to move on to "Into the Vortex" now. I hope its
    better.
    
    Steve

Article: 331
From: [email protected] (Dani Zweig)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews
Subject: REPOST: Belated Reviews #11: Edward E. Smith
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: 16 Aug 93 23:50:38 GMT
 
		Belated Reviews #11:  Edward E. Smith
 
Some authors were able to make the transition from the largely gadget-
and science fiction of the twenties and thirties to the somewhat more
people-oriented science fiction of the Golden Age, but many were not.
Then there was Edward E. Smith, who pretty much ignored it:  The books he 
wrote in the sixties had much the same gosh-wow feel as what he wrote in 
the twenties -- and still found an enthusiastic audience.
 
E.E. Smith wrote the grandest space operas.
 
It's hard to come up with a clean definition of 'space opera'.  It's a
subgenre of science fiction in which individuals act on a galactic stage,
or larger, and still make a difference.  ("Star Wars" is space opera.)
There's usually a lot of shooting, and the gadgets -- the props -- tend to
get a lot of attention.  In a Smith space opera, tension is often maintained
through an exponential buildup in scale:  In act one a space ship will fight
an enemy ship from the next planet but one, in act two a hundred battleships
are fighting a hundred enemy battleships from another solar system, and by 
act four or five a million superdreadnaughts from this galaxy are fighting
a million superdreadnaughts from *that* galaxy.
 
Those of you who encounter E E Smith's books for the first time now will
probably look upon them as period pieces, and have to appreciate them in
that light, and that's a real pity.  Among his books...
 
The Lensmen series (***).  This is his magnum opus, the work for which he
is, deservedly, best known.  Lensmen are the very best men in the Galactic
Patrol.  (Always men.  Only one woman ever becomes a Lensman.  Sort of like
smurfs.)  They are granted Lenses which grant them telepathic powers, and
use them on behalf of Civilization.  The series is the story of Kim Kinnison,
who first battles space pirates, then discovers and battles the power behind
the space pirates, then discovers the power behind *them*...
 
There are seven books in the Lensmen series:  "Triplanetary", "First Lensman",
"Galactic Patrol", "Gray Lensman", "Second Stage Lensmen", "Children of the
Lens", and "The Vortex Blaster".  The best way to read them is *not* in order,
as this gives away too many spoilers.  To read the story as it originally
appeared, read the middle four novels -- "Galactic Patrol" through "Children
of the Lens" -- *without* reading the prefaces, which were added later,
and give away the back-story.  "First Lensman" is a prequel, which also
came later.  "Triplanetary" is a prequel to the prequel, combined with a
non-Lensmen book that was shoehorned into the Lensmen universe.  And "The
Vortex Blaster" (aka "Masters of the Vortex") is an independent non-Lensmen
book set in the same universe as the main story.
 
The Skylark series (***) came first.  "The Skylark of Space" was written in 
1911, and published in 1928.  Then came its sequels, "Skylark Three", "Skylark
of Valeron", and "Skylark DuQuesne", the last appearing quite late.  When
Richard Seaton stumbles upon a near-perfect energy source, he and a friend
use it to build and power a starship.  As book follows book, they travel
farther and farther afield, meeting increasingly powerful and dangerous
civilizations, and needing increasingly bigger and better starships to defeat
them.  The greatest danger, however, comes from his ruthless nemesis,
DuQuesne, who starts book one plotting to steal Seaton's starship and
graduates to conquering the Earth, and thence to taking on galaxies.
 
Smith's non-series books are equally grand, grandiose, and charming.  My
favorite, for a long time, was "Spacehounds of IPC" (***), about a spaceship
on the Earth-Mars run which is captured by mysterious evil raiders from
Jupiter.  The ship's computer (ie, a man who's very good at math) escapes
and spends much of the novel building a super-radio with which he is able
to contact his fellow scientists, and help them develop the technology
they need to take on the Jovians.  Almost as much fun, in a different way,
is one of his later books, "Subspace Explorers" (***), in which the good guys
are sorts most often cast as villains, such as the people who own the 
galactic energy monopoly and the people who own the galactic metals cartel.
Honorable mention goes to "The Galaxy Primes" (**).  *Dishonorable* mention
goes to the "Family D'Alembert" series, which features Smith's name, but not
his writing.
 
%A  Smith, Edward E
%S  Lensmen series
%T  Triplanetary
%T  First Lensman
%T  Galactic Patrol
%T  Gray Lensman
%T  Second Stage Lensmen
%T  Children of the Lens
%T  The Vortex Blaster
%O  The series proper is "Galactic Patrol" through "Children of the Lens"
%O  "The Vortex Blaster" also appears as "Masters of the Vortex"
 
%S  Skylark series
%T  The Skylark of Space
%T  Skylark Three
%T  Skylark of Valeron
%T  Skylark DuQuesne
 
%T  Spacehounds of IPC
%T  Subspace Explorers
%O  As always, the books appear in numerous editions.
 
Standard introduction and disclaimer for Belated Reviews follows.

Belated Reviews cover science fiction and fantasy of earlier decades.
They're for newer readers who have wondered about the older titles on the
shelves, or who are interested in what sf/f was like in its younger days.
The emphasis is on helping interested readers identify books to try first, 
not on discussing the books in depth.
 
A general caveat is in order:  Most of the classics of yesteryear have not
aged well.  If you didn't encounter them back when, or in your early teens,
they will probably not give you the unforced pleasure they gave their
original audiences.  You may find yourself having to make allowances for
writing you consider shallow or politics you consider regressive.  When I
name specific titles, I'll often rate them using the following scale:
 
**** Recommended.
***  An old favorite that hasn't aged well, and wouldn't get a good
	reception if it were written today.  Enjoyable on its own terms.
**   A solid book, worth reading if you like the author's works.
*    Nothing special.
 
Additional disclaimers:  Authors are not chosen for review in any particular
order.  The reviews don't attempt to be comprehensive.  No distinction is 
made between books which are still in print and books which are not.
-----
Dani Zweig
[email protected]
 
  The surface of the strange, forbidden planet was roughly textured and green,
  much like cottage cheese gets way after the date on the lid says it is all 
  right to buy it.--Scott Jones