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Sci Fi Focus > Encyclopedia > E. E. "Doc" Smith
Edward Elmer Smith, phD. (1890-1965) was an American science fiction author best known for his Skylark and Lensman series which were the first modern Space Operas.
Remarkably, in the 1930s, he foreshadowed modern military concepts including AWACS, the Strategic Defense Initiative, and Stealth. In The Skylark of Space (originally written 1915-1920 with Mrs Lee Hawkins Garby) he also described a Cold Fusion process, almost identical to the one described by Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons in 1989.
Robert A. Heinlein noted that E. E. Smith's supposedly unrealistic heroes, were remarkably like E. E. Smith himself and his wife. Heinlein even began to suspect that Smith might be a superman of some sort, when Smith improvised a process for testing a car: by driving at high speeds, pressing their heads against roof columns, and listening for chassis squeaks using bone conduction!
Smith was an extremely influential science fiction author (many of his original ideas have been so frequently re-used by other authors that they have become clichés - though of course they weren't clichés when Smith first wrote them!). Additionally his Lensman series is said to have inspired both Spacewar (one of the first computer video games, originally developed in 1962), and George Lucas (who went on to create Star Wars).
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E. E. "Doc" Smith
By J.K. Rowling
Scholastic
Released: 1999-09-08
Hardcover (448 pages; 1)
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For most children, summer vacation is something to look forward to. But not for our 13-year-old hero, who's forced to spend his summers with an aunt, uncle, and cousin who detest him. The third book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series catapults into action when the young wizard "accidentally" causes the Dursleys' dreadful visitor Aunt Marge to inflate like a monstrous balloon and drift up to the ceiling. Fearing punishment from Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon (and from officials at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who strictly forbid students to cast spells in the nonmagic world of Muggles), Harry lunges out into the darkness with his heavy trunk and his owl Hedwig. As it turns out, Harry isn't punished at all for his errant wizardry. Instead he is mysteriously rescued from his Muggle neighborhood and whisked off in a triple-decker, violently purple bus to spend the remaining weeks of summer in a friendly inn called the Leaky Cauldron. What Harry has to face as he begins his third year at Hogwarts explains why the officials let him off easily. It seems that Sirius Black--an escaped convict from the prison of Azkaban--is on the loose. Not only that, but he's after Harry Potter. But why? And why do the Dementors, the guards hired to protect him, chill Harry's very heart when others are unaffected? Once again, Rowling has created a mystery that will have children and adults cheering, not to mention standing in line for her next book. Fortunately, there are four more in the works. (Ages 9 and older) --Karin Snelson |
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By Edward E. (Doc) Smith
Old Earth Books
Hardcover (731 pages)
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Volume 2 contains the last 3 books of The Lensmen Books. Gray Lensman - Second Stage Lensman - Children of the Lens. With the Lensmen books, "Doc" Smith set the standard for all space opera to come. Chronicles of the Lensmen, Vol.2 completes the famous series, taking you behind the front lines of a titanic struggle for control of the Universe. |
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By E. E., 'Doc' Smith
Aegypan
Paperback (204 pages)
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One of the most fascinating mysteries of the heavens is the comet. It goes through space, gets near enough to the earth to be seen, and then goes off and disappears in celestial distance. Often it has a hyperbolic orbit, which would make it impossible to come back. Yet it may return -- apparently contradicting the geometry of conic sections. This only goes to prove once more that it is risky to say anything is impossible. . . . A good many of us who are now certain beyond a doubt that space travel will forever remain in the realm of the impossible, probably would, if a rocket that were shot to the moon, for instance, did arrive, and perhaps return to give proof of its safe arrival on our satellite, accept the phenomenon in a perfectly blasé, twentieth century manner. Dr. Smith, that phenomenal writer of classic scientific fiction, seems to have become so thoroughly convinced of the advent of interplanetary travel that it is difficult for the reader to feel, after finishing Spacehounds of IPC, that travel in the great spaces is not already an established fact. Dr. Smith, as a professional chemist, is kept fairly busy. As a writer, he is satisfied with nothing less than perfection. For that reason, a masterpiece from his pen has become almost an annual event. We know you will like Spacehounds even better than the Skylark series. |
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By Edward E. ("Doc") Smith
Pyramid Books
Mass Market Paperback
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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. |
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By Edward E. ("Doc") Smith
Pyramid Books
Mass Market Paperback
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The beginning of the War for the Universe. This is a 1970s Pyramid printing. |
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By E E "Doc" Smith
Pyramid Books
Mass Market Paperback (191 pages)
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By E. E. "Doc" Smith
Bison Books
Paperback (159 pages)
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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. |
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By E.E., 'Doc' Smith
Aegypan
Hardcover (164 pages)
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They were four of the greatest minds in the Universe: Two men, two women, lost in an experimental spaceship billions of parsecs from home. And as they mentally charted the Cosmos to find their way back to earth, their own loves and hates were as startling as the worlds they encountered. Here is E.E. Smith's great novel. . . . |
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By E.E. "Doc" Smith
Science Fiction Book Club
Hardcover
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Includes all four of the Skylark Series, Skylark of Space, Skylark Three, Skylark of Baleron, Skylark Duquesne |
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By Edward E. ("Doc") Smith
Pyramid Books
Mass Market Paperback (238 pages)
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