A few years back, I felt the need to go to the roots of space-opera science fiction.  As I'd never read any of EE "Doc" Smith's work, and Robert Heinlein himself spoke well of the man's work (and told a wonderful story of how Smith tested a used car before Heinlein purchased it), I figured it was a slam dunk that I'd love it.

I was wrong.  I had never been more disappointed in a book since I found Farnham's Freehold in a used bookstore for a dime... and later felt ripped off.  Look, I'll admit that I was young and stupid when I read Triplanetary some eight years ago, but I felt the plot of the book was hackneyed and ridiculously over-used.

Of course it has, but that's not the author's fault.  Considering that Doc Smith for all intents and purposes invented the space-opera genre of science fiction, of course the book is hackneyed now... hundreds upon thousands of books and movies owe Smith their very existence.  But I didn't read the book when they were originally published (in pulp serial form), I read it in the 21st Century... and found it boring.  Dull.  Poorly written.  Uninteresting.

Shortly after I finished Triplanetary, my brain made the connection: the book was dull and cliched because it was the FIRST to do all the things that make space-opera space-opera.  Grand battle fleets tearing themselves apart with ray guns?  Hyperspace?  Shields?  All of that and more can be found in Smith's books...

...and I can't read them as novels.  Historical documents, yes, but not novels.  My brain, steeped in science fiction for 30 years (I started reading SF around the age of 10), just can't make the jump to read them in-period.  I might be missing out on a lot, but I can't do it.  They're just so...

Victorian.

I appreciate the chivalry that Steven speaks about in the post that generated this one.  I still hold doors open m'self, and so forth.  But Triplanetary does take it to an extreme... not even a darned chaste kiss to be seen, which seems unrealistic even for the 1930s.

There's one other thing missing from the book that really kills it for me, and that's a sense of humor.  It's so bad that Triplanetary can't come near books that have funny bits without killing them altogether... I placed it next to James Lileks' Mommy Knows Worst and haven't laughed at it since.  It's not that the jokes fall flat in Triplanetary, it's that there's no humor in the book anywhere.  I'm sorry, but that's a deal-breaker for me.  If a book or series is so darn serious that it can't laugh at itself even a little bit, I can't stand it.

So there you are.  I tried, I really did... but for this duck, the Doc is definitely out.

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1

Unfortunately, Triplanetary isn't the book to start with. It was written later, kind of as a prequel, and frankly it's far from being my favorite of the series.

I found First Lensman, the second book of the series, to be tedious, partly because Virgil Samms, the protagonist, is a stuffed shirt.

The real story of the series is about Kimball Kinnison, and that begins in Galactic Patrol and runs through Gray Lensman, Second Stage Lensman, and Children of the Lens.

And there's a seventh book in the canon called The Vortex Blaster (later renamed to Masters of the Vortex) which is about an entirely different character. That one's actually my favorite.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at September 27, 2012 08:57 PM (+rSRq)

2 I started with Galactic Patrol, which is the book he wrote first. It is much better than Triplanetary.

Posted by: Matt Harris at September 27, 2012 10:11 PM (CW9/R)

3 I don't think I read any Doc Smith when I was a wee lad who'd just received permission to raid the grownup shelves in the local library, but I gleefully devoured all the dusty pulp SF they had, much of which would make Triplanetary look like A Fire Upon The Deep.

Seriously, I just found the Kindle edition of one of those ancient novels, Manly Banister's The Scarlet Saint. I can't describe how much worse it is than the magical adventure my 9-year-old self experienced.

As the saying goes, "What was the Golden Age of Science Fiction? Twelve." :-)

-j

Posted by: J Greely at September 28, 2012 01:18 AM (2XtN5)

4 Have to agree with you, Wonderduck.  While there is better "Doc" Smith and worse "Doc" Smith, coming to his works after reading years of later space opera is kind of a hollow experience.

Posted by: Ben at September 28, 2012 09:20 AM (/Mdmg)

5 The man started his sf career in the Edwardian era, and didn't feel he handled romance plots well. But if you read the later books, there's plenty of action going on in the background, no worries.

But first off, you should never read any of the introductions on your first read-through. They are the fix-up connecting the Lensman version of the older, non-series novels (like Triplanetary, which bears many traces of its original 1934 form) with the Lensman novels. Once you've read the stories already (as the magazine readers would have, which was why they were ever published as books at all), the intros are fun. Before that, they are spoilers.

Second, you should start the series where it really starts, with Galactic Patrol (1937-193 . Don't read the intro. The series starts with that scene in the Academy describing the seniors getting ready for graduation.

My understanding is that the intros started showing up in the magazine version of Gray Lensman (the second novel, 1939-1940), but my single copy of a magazine version has a very funny intro with the author explaining about his interview with Kinnison. I don't think these have ever been reprinted, which takes a lot of flavor out of the later intros that Smith put in for book publication. Anyway, keep reading with Second Stage Lensman and Children of the Lens, and then cut back to read the others if you wish.

I grew up reading space opera, but I found the Lensman series still very fresh and fun and fast-paced. I hope you will try it again.There are some pretty good audiobooks available from Books in Motion or through Audible, albeit it's hard to skip intros and forewords with an audiobook.

Posted by: Maureen O'Brien at September 29, 2012 09:42 AM (cvXSV)

6 1938, that would be.

Posted by: Maureen O'Brien at September 29, 2012 09:43 AM (cvXSV)

7 Edwardian as in the first publication of The Skylark of Space.

Posted by: Maureen O'Brien at September 29, 2012 10:26 AM (cvXSV)

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I've heard people describe caviar as the best thing ever.  There are some who believe that a Chicago-style pizza is better than anything.  Or perhaps your tastes run towards fresh-grilled New York Strip and potatoes?  Fresh lobster dunked in garlic butter has been known to trip some triggers in the gastronomic world, no?  Or maybe something International is more your style?  Some pot au feu, mayhap?  The delicate taste of sushi or sashimi has many followers, as does the stronger tandoori chicken from India.  Pastas and the like from Italy?  A good sauce makes all the difference.  Or maybe it's something I haven't even mentioned.  I'm here to tell you that it all pales in comparison to the greatest food in the world.  Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present to you...

...apple cider donuts from Edwards Apple Orchard in Poplar Grove, IL.  "Eddie's," as I've always called it, has been an annual staple of my life for decades, as have their apple cider donuts.  Believe me when I say this... I would happily eat these things every day morning, noon and night.  Which is why I limit myself to just a single bag of them every year, and I don't even eat all of that: I give some away.  Today, Ph.Duck stopped into the Duck U Bookstore bearing a dozen still-warm donuts.  I ate one, gave away six, leaving me with five.

Five glorious pieces of heaven.  Okay, three now, but it's the thought that counts.  Om nom nom nom nom...

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If you grew up in the '70s and '80s in the Chicago area, you knew WLS.  The Great 89, the only radio station worth listening to.  Of course, I grew up in that time in that place, and of course, WLS was my go-to station.  In the morning, as I was getting ready for school, I made sure to make time for Good Ol' Unka Lar' and his sidekick, Lil' Snotnose Tommy for some Animal Stories!

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I can't fathom that it's been three years since that hideous time.  It's been a rough three years.  I miss her every day, and still occasionally wonder why my phone doesn't ring at 7pm for our nightly chat.  One keeps on going, but it's not easy sometimes. 

I'm going back to bed.

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Yar.

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If you're a fan of the National Football League, there's every chance in the world that, in some way, Steve Sabol got you there.  Y'see, Steve and his father Ed were the creators of NFL Films, what became the official PR division of Pro Football.  Seen a commercial for the NFL?  The Sabols invented the style used.  Any of the hundreds of documentaries, or team season highlight packages?  NFL Films did it.  In the process, the Sabols created a dramatic style that works brilliantly for football, and has been blatantly stolen by just about every sport since.  It's colloquially known as "Tight On The Spiral," because of the use of a zoomed-in camera shot on a football in slow-motion.  Throw in dramatic music, isolation shots on the "hidden game", and a sense of the ridiculous, and you get... well, this:

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...when leaving a link to a website in comments, USE THE LINK BUTTON.  I will delete any comment that has a raw URL in it; they're ugly, they set the spam klaxon to screaming, and are generally bad juju all around.

If you don't know how to use the Link button, there is a step-by-step tutorial located right here.  Please, I beg you... don't make nervous F1 reporter guy any more scared than he already is.

We cool?  Good show.  Thank you.

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Back in June, I was contacted by one of the various organizations located on the Duck U campus, letting me know that we had A Big Name speaking here in September.  A rather well-known politician from the Northern Flatland/Southern Cheddarland vicinity, there'd be two booksigning events and would the Bookstore like to be in charge of that part?  Of course, the answer was "Yep, can do!" 

And who was this paragon of politicianism?

more...

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You may remember some weeks ago, I was all happy and giddy about some little clip-on lights I found in a dump table.  Reader Ben of Midnight Tease fame thought they'd be just the ticket for a little problem he's had, namely photographing his anime figures.  After searching through eight other stores, and finding only one more set of them (which I greedily claimed for myself), I admitted defeat.  Then I found something cheaper, more flexible (literally), and probably better off all-around for his purposes.

more...

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So shortly after I put up the last post, the lights went out here at Pond Central.  "Huh," I thought, "I wonder why that happened."  Which might tell you just how well insulated Pond Central is when the windows and everything is closed up, because THIS is what was going on:

Yep, the one thing you never want to see if a red crescent-shape to your thunderstorm... Bow Lines usually means high wind and lots and lots of violence, which is exactly what we got.  Not much rain, but lots of lightning and a ton of wind.  The power kept flickering... it was bad enough that I unplugged the my computer equipment, but not bad enough to not watch the new episode of Doctor Who.  Really weird how the TV and DVR didn't lose power while everything else was flickering and failing.  Oswin must have had something to do with it.

Oh come now, The Pond is nice.

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1 Nice to see you have your priorities straight.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at September 04, 2012 10:47 PM (PiXy!)

2 She will always be Melia to me...

Posted by: cxt217 at September 04, 2012 11:04 PM (0n6f7)

3 Wait, there's a new Episode?  EZTV, you have failed me again!

Posted by: Mauser at September 05, 2012 02:25 AM (cZPoz)

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