Author | Edward E. Smith, Ph.D. |
---|---|
Cover artist | Ric Binkley |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | Lensman series |
Genre | Science fiction |
Publication date | 1937 |
OCLC | 1059230 |
Preceded by | First Lensman |
Followed by | Gray Lensman |
Galactic Patrol is a science fiction novel by American author E. E. Smith. The novel was originally serialized in the magazine Astounding in 1937. The stories in this volume were the first parts written of the original Lensman saga. It was later published in book form in 1950 by Fantasy Press.
Although portions of Triplanetary were written earlier, they were not originally part of the Lensman story and were only later revised to connect them to the rest of the series. First Lensman was written later to bridge the events in Triplanetary to those in Galactic Patrol.
Galactic Patrol introduces Kimball Kinnison, who will be the hero of the next three books - Gray Lensman , Second Stage Lensmen and (to a lesser extent) Children of the Lens . Kinnison and Clarissa MacDougall are the penultimates of the human breeding program the Arisians set up many eons earlier.
The book deals with the earliest stages of Kinnison's career, starting with his graduation as a Lensman from the Patrol's academy. Organized pirates, known as Boskonians, have gained a great advantage with a new type of space drive, making their ships far faster than anything the Patrol can build. That is, with the exception of one ship, the Britannia. New and experimental, built to be the fastest thing in space, she has abandoned the traditional ray armament of a space ship for an offensive weapon much older - explosive artillery, fired at an opponent held in place by unbreakable tractor beams. Her mission is to capture a Boskonian ship of the new type intact enough to get the secret of her speed (hence the artillery, which the scientists of the patrol think can damage another ship enough to disable it without destroying the information they require). The experimental nature of her weapon means that she would be useless to a man experienced only in using the standard weapons of the time, so she is given to the inexperienced Kinnison to command.
Kinnison is successful in capturing a ship, but must flee the converging pirate raiders. Much of the first third of the book is taken up with his efforts to evade his pursuers and return the priceless information to Tellus (Earth). In the process, Kinnison finds and frees a previously unknown, mentally enslaved race (the Velantians) from their masters (the Delgonian overlords), making valuable allies and adding a new member race to civilization. He also destroys several pirate ships, completely frustrates the main villain of the book "Helmuth speaking for Boskone" and deduces the location of one of the pirates' secret bases.
Kinnison successfully returns to Earth in a captured pirate ship and is promoted to the exalted rank of Unattached Lensman. Unattached Lensmen (commonly called "Gray Lensmen" because their uniform is made of plain gray leather) are endowed with virtually unlimited power and authority. He immediately sets out to infiltrate what he believes to be an important pirate base. Unfortunately, Kinnison is in over his head and the telepathically capable "Wheelmen" who man the base discover and almost kill him before he can escape. While in the hospital recovering, Kinnison is assigned the pretty, but tough, nurse Clarissa MacDougall. He behaves badly and is rude and condescending to her, blindly lashing out because he blames himself for his abject failure with the Wheelmen. Kinnison, once recovered, goes to Arisia to learn how better to use his Lens. Kinnison is the first Lensman to be accepted for further training by the Arisians, and leaves weeks later many times stronger and with numerous additional capabilities. He is now a Second Stage Lensman.
For practice, Kinnison tries out these capabilities by infiltrating a Patrol base and trying to control the mind of a base member from a distance. After he reveals himself to the base commander, he is asked to judge a murder case that the local authorities have been unable to solve. He then reads the minds of the two accused men, finds which one is guilty, and using his mental powers, executes the culprit.
Using the information that Kinnison brought back about the new space drive, the Galactic Patrol quickly rebuilds its ships and goes out pirate hunting again. The Boskonians are being beaten back with the new ships when suddenly all Boskonian ships disappear from space. When they appear again, they have also been rebuilt and are now equal to the best that Civilization has to offer. The bloody war goes on. Every time Boskone and Civilization meet, ships and men die but neither side can gain a decisive advantage.
Kinnison locates the headquarters of Helmuth who “speaks for Boskone” and, with the help of the Grand Fleet of the Galactic Patrol, destroys it and kills Helmuth.
New York Times reviewer Basil Davenport declared that Galactic Patrol was "far above the interplanetary cowboy and Indian school" because of "Smith's ability to create planets with truly original climates and inhabitants" as integral parts of his story. [1] P. Schuyler Miller, reviewing the same 1950 edition favorably for Astounding, declared that "What John Ford is to horse-opera -- Grade A, homogenized -- Doc Smith is to space-opera." [2]
Edward Elmer Smith was an American food engineer and science-fiction author, best known for the Lensman and Skylark series. He is sometimes called the father of space opera.
The Lensman series is a series of science fiction novels by American author E. E. "Doc" Smith. It was a runner-up for the 1966 Hugo award for Best All-Time Series, losing to the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov.
The space marine, an archetype of military science fiction, is a kind of soldier who operates in outer space or on alien worlds. Historical marines fulfill multiple roles: ship defence, boarding actions, landing parties, and general-purpose high-mobility land deployments that operate within a fixed distance of shore or ship. By analogy, hypothetical space marines would defend allied spaceships, board enemy ships, land on planets and moons, and satisfy rapid-deployment needs throughout space.
The New England Science Fiction Association, or NESFA, is a science fiction club centered in the New England area. It was founded in 1967, "by fans who wanted to do things in addition to socializing". NESFA is currently registered as a non-profit literary organization under IRS section 501(c)(3).
Triplanetary is a science fiction board wargame originally published by Game Designers' Workshop in 1973. The game is a simulation of space ship travel and combat within the Solar System in the early 21st Century.
The Galactic Patrol was an intergalactic organization in the Lensman science fiction series written by E. E. Smith. It was also the title of the third book in the series.
Fantasy Press was an American publishing house specialising in fantasy and science fiction titles. Established in 1946 by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach in Reading, Pennsylvania, it was most notable for publishing the works of authors such as Robert A. Heinlein and E. E. Smith. One of its more notable offerings was the Lensman series.
The inertialess drive is a fictional means of accelerating to close to the speed of light or faster-than-light travel, originally used in Triplanetary and the Lensman series by E.E. "Doc" Smith, and later by Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven, Julian May and Alastair Reynolds.
Galactic Patrol Lensman is a Japanese anime television series based on the Lensman novels by E. E. "Doc" Smith. The 25-episode series aired from October 6, 1984 to August 8, 1985 in Japan.
Port admiral is an honorary rank in the United States Navy, and a former appointment in the British Royal Navy.
The Vortex Blaster is a collection of three science fiction short stories by American writer Edward E. Smith. It was simultaneously published in 1960 by Gnome Press in an edition of 3,000 copies and by Fantasy Press in an edition of 341 copies. The book was originally intended to be published by Fantasy Press, but was handed over to Gnome Press when Fantasy Press folded. Lloyd Eshbach, of Fantasy Press, who was responsible for the printing of both editions, printed the extra copies for his longtime customers. The stories originally appeared in the magazines Comet and Astonishing Stories.
Gray Lensman is a science fiction novel by American writer E. E. Smith. It was first published in book form in 1951 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 5,096 copies. The novel was originally serialized in the magazine Astounding in 1939. Gray Lensman is the fourth book in the Lensman series and the second to focus on the adventures of Lensman Kimball Kinnison.
Triplanetary is a science fiction novel and space opera by American writer E. E. Smith. It was first serialized in the magazine Amazing Stories in 1934. After the original four novels of the Lensman series were published, Smith expanded and reworked Triplanetary into the first of two prequels for the series. The fix-up novel Triplanetary was published in book form in 1948 by Fantasy Press. The second prequel, First Lensman, was a new original novel published in 1950 by Fantasy Press.
First Lensman is a space operanovel by American author E. E. Smith. It was first published in 1950 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 5,995 copies. It is, in terms of internal chronology, the second novel in the Lensman series, but the sixth written by Smith.
Second Stage Lensmen is a science fiction novel by author Edward E. Smith. It was first published in book form in 1953 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 4,934 copies. The novel was originally serialized in the magazine Astounding beginning in 1941. Second Stage Lensmen is the fifth volume in the Lensman series, and the last to feature Kimball Kinnison as the most powerful Lensman in the service of the Galactic Patrol. Second Stage Lensmen also features the first female Lensman, Clarissa MacDougall. The story mainly focuses upon the exploits of the "Second Stage" Lensmen: those who have gone through the advanced Arisian training Kinnison underwent in Galactic Patrol. These four superior Lensmen, Kinnison, Worsel, Tregonsee, and Nadreck, are armed with mental powers allowing them to control the minds of others and see, hear, and feel without using their physical senses. This elite cadre allows Civilization to tip the balance against Boskone as Second Stage Lensmen abilities are ideally suited to spying and information gathering.
Children of the Lens is a science fiction novel by American author E. E. Smith. It was originally serialized in the magazine Astounding beginning in 1947, and was first published in book form in 1954 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 4,874 copies. It is the last book in Smith's Lensman series.
The History of Civilization is a boxed set of science fiction novels by author Edward E. Smith, Ph.D. It contains the six novels of Smith's Lensman series. The set was published in 1961 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 75 copies. Each volume was printed from the original Fantasy Press plates, but with a new title page giving the name of the set. They were bound in red half-leather, numbered and signed by Smith.
Lensman or the Lensman series is a science fiction book series by Edward Elmer Smith
Lensman: Secret of the Lens, known in Japan as Sci-Fi New Century Lensman, is a 1984 Japanese animated film based on the Lensman novels by E. E. Smith. Most of the CGI sequences were created by the Japan Computer Graphics Lab (JCGL). It was dubbed into English and released in the United States in 1990.
This is a complete bibliography of works by the American space opera author E. E. Smith.