Smith E
Список книг автора Smith EThe Galaxy Primes - The Original Classic Edition
Belle Bellamy (green-haired super-babe) and Clee Garlock (super everything else) are the two people on Earth with the highest innate degree of that amazing psionic-thingie. With it, their minds can hurl them between star systems, detonate nuclear blasts, and do lots of other neat tricks. In their interstellar gadding, they discover other intelligent and psi-capable humans. In fact, those others are so human-like that they are reproductively compatible. And, since the Earthian guys are obviously such superior beings, offers to test that compatibility come often. <p> Its not all good times and spread-the-genes, though. Dozens of star systems harbor human life, and psionic Primes, all at nearly identical levels of development social (except that some have decidedly inferior tobacco). Unfortunately, theyre not all as easy-going and altruistic as Earths Primes. As a result, Earths Primes need to rough them up in their easy-going and altruistic way, to unify them under the newly-designed Galaxian banner. The Galaxian inner council consists of one Prime pair from each of those dozens of planets, in Noah-like male/female couples. How do we know theyre the finest of each star system? Well, for one thing, the ladies of those planets are super-babes, too. Not only are they as mighty of mind as their men, they are also mighty in their womanliness and eager to prove it by racing the others to a demonstration of fecundity. <p> This is a wonderful artifact of its time, as close to Buster Crabbes Flash Gordon as it is to the current day or maybe closer. It has all that cowboy exuberance and technological optimism, with gender relations a bit past the neolithic. (He and she both seem to long for a little more of the caveman/cavegirl between them, but even Doc Smith smelled womens lib in the air.) Despite the cultural imperialism and shallow sterotyping, or maybe because of it, Smith brings us space opera at its very finest.
Triplanetary - The Original Classic Edition
This is one of the most energetic books I have read. Yes, it is pure pulp fiction in the non-Quentin Terantino sense of the word, but it was a powerful page turner. Every page was super-charged, and every chapter left you wanting more! <p> E. E. Doc Smith is one of the giants of SF, and one of its greatest popularizers. He doesnt have the finesse that Asimov of Heinlein. He doesnt have the aura of humor of Niven. Docs strength is his raw energy. This book is like watching Yodas fight with Count Dooku at double-time. He overwhelms at times… <p> Another one of Docs strength is his mixture of science and gadgets. You are immediate placed in a world of sub-ether communicators, atomic weapons, tractor beams, spacer ships, space armor, and all the other props associated with old school SF. I now know where Roddenberry and Lucas got many of their terms and gadgets. <p> This tale is layered, and you can actually smell the intrigue and forces control other forces and nothing is what it seems. Wheels within wheels and plots within plots within plots. At times it can be complex. <p> Sometimes the action runs too fast, and I find myself panting for the characters. At times it is almost a melodrama, or a morality play. <p> While the dialogue might seem old-fashioned today, the stories themselves are timeless. What a wonderful experience awaits the new reader! <p> Highly recommended.