[3OO]≡ Read Skylark DuQuesne by EE Doc Smith Skylark Series Book 4 from Books In Motioncom EE #34 #34 Doc#34 Smith Read by Reed McColm 9781596078932 Books

Skylark DuQuesne by EE Doc Smith Skylark Series Book 4 from Books In Motioncom EE #34 #34 Doc#34 Smith Read by Reed McColm 9781596078932 Books

Download As PDF : Skylark DuQuesne by EE Doc Smith Skylark Series Book 4 from Books In Motioncom EE #34 #34 Doc#34 Smith Read by Reed McColm 9781596078932 Books

Skylark DuQuesne by EE Doc Smith Skylark Series Book 4 from Books In Motioncom EE #34 #34 Doc#34 Smith Read by Reed McColm 9781596078932 Books

Between 1915 and 1921, E. E. Smith worked on this, his first novel, and perhaps the first novel in which interstellar travel was depicted. [Edmond Hamilton was the other pioneer in working out that theme, which has become central to almost all science fiction.] Smith lacked confidence in his ability to write dialogue between the novel's hero, Seaton, and his girl friend, so he asked the wife of a friend to collaborate in producing those sequences. Now here comes the important point. When it finally became possible for Smith to publish the novel in hardcover, in 1946, he went through and removed everything written by his collaborator, Lee Garby, so that the material could be copyrighted solely in Smith's name. EVERY EDITION of the novel since has been the drastically abridged text created by removing Garby's contributions. So here's great news about this attractive trade paperback--- it is complete, based on the original text as published in AMAZING in 1928.

Now for the story: the hero, Seaton, with the help of his incredibly wealthy friend Crane, discovers a way to make a direct conversion of the nuclear energy of metallic copper into linear motion. The two set out to build a space ship, aiming to visit the moon and Mars. But another scientist, "Blackie" DuQuesne, is the mental and physical equal of Seaton, plus being completely amoral and emotionless. He builds his own space ship and kidnaps Seaton's girl friend, the vapid Dorothy Vaneman, threatening to release her only if Seaton turns over to DuQuesne all the secrets of his technology, including a mysterious and necessary catalyst known as X. Plans go wrong, and while Seaton overcomes sabotage, the enemy ship is launched out of control into distant space at speeds far greater than light, with Seaton's main squeeze aboard. In a super ship, the existence of which DuQuesne did not suspect, Seaton and Crane go off (helped by a gadget that locates DuQuesne, no matter how far away he is) to the rescue.

In the second half of the novel, our heroes find themselves hundreds of millions of light years from earth, with no copper to get back on. A search for planets with copper leads them to one inhabited by humans who seem to be based closely on the Barsoomians of Edgar Rice Burroughs. [The Barsoomians are red, these imitations are green.] Our heroes find the green humans divided into an evil nation and a good nation, and quickly take the side of the good nation, getting a new, super interstellar ship as a reward.

Smith submitted his novel to editors fruitlessly from 1921 to 1928, but once published, it was an instant hit, and Smith eventually wrote three sequels, SKYLARK THREE, SKYLARK OF VALERON, and SKYLARK DUQUESNE, between 1929 and 1966.

This edition was clearly scanned from the original pulp magazines, but was carefully proofread, and I found no misprints at all, although weirdly, the captions to the pulp illustrations are included within the text as if they were part of the text, and so is the editor's introduction to the second installment of the novel, again stuck in as if part of the original text.

I wish this version had been accompanied by an introduction or afterword giving the background of the creation of the adventure, and summarizing the incredible impact that this early novel of interstellar exploration has had on all the science fiction written subsequently.


Tags : Skylark DuQuesne by E.E. Doc Smith (Skylark Series, Book 4) from Books In Motion.com [E.E. &#34, &#34, Doc&#34, Smith, Read by Reed McColm] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Dick Seaton & Marc DuQuensne are the deadliest enemies in the Universe--their feud has blazed among the stars & changed the history of a thousand planets. But now a threat from outside the Galaxy drives them into a dangerous alliance as hordes of strange races drive to a collision with mankind. Seaton & DuQuensne flight & slave side by side to fend off the invasion--as Seaton keeps constant,E.E. &#34, &#34, Doc&#34, Smith, Read by Reed McColm,Skylark DuQuesne by E.E. Doc Smith (Skylark Series, Book 4) from Books In Motion.com,Books In Motion,1596078936,Genre Fiction,Literature & Fiction

Skylark DuQuesne by EE Doc Smith Skylark Series Book 4 from Books In Motioncom EE #34 #34 Doc#34 Smith Read by Reed McColm 9781596078932 Books Reviews

I read Doc Smiths books back in the 60's when I was young and was delighted to re-read my favorite series from his work on a tablet! He would have loved the idea of that I think.

This is the first of the Skylark series and what enamored me to his writing style and the science he was trying to bring forward. His unique and sometimes flowery wording of the late 20's is an old school lesson in morals, ethics, communication, and solid foundation to what Alfred North Whitehead talked about in "Adventures of Ideas" regarding Sociology, Cosmology, Philosophy, and Civilization, are all shaped by Ideas. Doc Smith fully embraces these in the Skylarks Series and writes these in a way that science and intellect bring the future of Ideas to fruition that a mass audience can understand and enjoy.

These books have romance, adventure, Science (albeit somewhat tenable 85yrs later), with social and moral implications, and all done in a wonderfully woven thread of storyline. He was quite prophetic in many ways like Jules Verne and some of the other great 19th century writers. One of my favorite things is bringing forward the Idea of 3D imagery when television was in its infancy and here we are today watching 3D movies at home an on the big screen. There are many others that I don't want to spoil for you in the Adventure of these books and what you might glean from them.

I only rated this book as 4, not because of the story...its an 8 in my opinion, but because whoever converted these to E-Book/ included some forward and chapter leads that were not appropriate to me and somewhat took away from the Great Adventure. I am also not sure it was an exact copy of the text. I have the 4 paperbacks and will need to dig them out of storage to verify this...but for Free on this is an incredible gift to the public in this fast pace world and truly hope others get as much out of these as I have!
During the years from age 10 to 18 I read hundreds of Science fiction books. Most were good, but few of them do I re read every other year as I do the Skylark series. I have seen many reviews of the story telling being "Campy" etc, but we must remember they were written in a time that was much nocer than ours and people were less offended by...everything actually. I never had any trouble seeing that as a non issue while enjoying the sheer sense of scale Smith gave to the story and characters. Many writers have more magnificent character development, but few have been able to combine that with the kind of grandeur as Doc Smith.
My great thanks goes out to whoever did the work to make this available as a book. I may buy them all even though I already own the series in paperback, just for the convenience of being able to find them when I want them.
Classic Smith. I understand this is the first book in a series. Not generally a fan of series, but the old authors knew how to tell a story without getting bogged down with the garbage modern writers seem compelled to include, creating bloated narratives that bore me to tears.

Not Smith. He's old school and the adventure is front and center, with occasional "pauses" between the action.

The villain is villainous, but ironically rather honourable... to a point. The hero gets the girl, of course. And the bad guys get stomped bad, naturally.

What more could you ask for?
Between 1915 and 1921, E. E. Smith worked on this, his first novel, and perhaps the first novel in which interstellar travel was depicted. [Edmond Hamilton was the other pioneer in working out that theme, which has become central to almost all science fiction.] Smith lacked confidence in his ability to write dialogue between the novel's hero, Seaton, and his girl friend, so he asked the wife of a friend to collaborate in producing those sequences. Now here comes the important point. When it finally became possible for Smith to publish the novel in hardcover, in 1946, he went through and removed everything written by his collaborator, Lee Garby, so that the material could be copyrighted solely in Smith's name. EVERY EDITION of the novel since has been the drastically abridged text created by removing Garby's contributions. So here's great news about this attractive trade paperback--- it is complete, based on the original text as published in AMAZING in 1928.

Now for the story the hero, Seaton, with the help of his incredibly wealthy friend Crane, discovers a way to make a direct conversion of the nuclear energy of metallic copper into linear motion. The two set out to build a space ship, aiming to visit the moon and Mars. But another scientist, "Blackie" DuQuesne, is the mental and physical equal of Seaton, plus being completely amoral and emotionless. He builds his own space ship and kidnaps Seaton's girl friend, the vapid Dorothy Vaneman, threatening to release her only if Seaton turns over to DuQuesne all the secrets of his technology, including a mysterious and necessary catalyst known as X. Plans go wrong, and while Seaton overcomes sabotage, the enemy ship is launched out of control into distant space at speeds far greater than light, with Seaton's main squeeze aboard. In a super ship, the existence of which DuQuesne did not suspect, Seaton and Crane go off (helped by a gadget that locates DuQuesne, no matter how far away he is) to the rescue.

In the second half of the novel, our heroes find themselves hundreds of millions of light years from earth, with no copper to get back on. A search for planets with copper leads them to one inhabited by humans who seem to be based closely on the Barsoomians of Edgar Rice Burroughs. [The Barsoomians are red, these imitations are green.] Our heroes find the green humans divided into an evil nation and a good nation, and quickly take the side of the good nation, getting a new, super interstellar ship as a reward.

Smith submitted his novel to editors fruitlessly from 1921 to 1928, but once published, it was an instant hit, and Smith eventually wrote three sequels, SKYLARK THREE, SKYLARK OF VALERON, and SKYLARK DUQUESNE, between 1929 and 1966.

This edition was clearly scanned from the original pulp magazines, but was carefully proofread, and I found no misprints at all, although weirdly, the captions to the pulp illustrations are included within the text as if they were part of the text, and so is the editor's introduction to the second installment of the novel, again stuck in as if part of the original text.

I wish this version had been accompanied by an introduction or afterword giving the background of the creation of the adventure, and summarizing the incredible impact that this early novel of interstellar exploration has had on all the science fiction written subsequently.