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Editorial Review Product Description
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. ... Read more Customer Reviews (24) 
The grand daddy of all space operas--from 1928. Yee-HAW!!!
This is vintage stuff.
Back when T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia) was still tootling around Britain on his motorcycle, E. E. Smith, Ph.D* was writing of another motor cycle-riding chap, this one named Richard Seaton, who was stumbling upon a super-dooper power source. Well, naturally, he and a buddy and a couple of girlfriends load it onto their own home-built space ship** and blast off to visit the moon, or maybe Mars, or Jupiter. Anyway, things go a little wrong and they end up in deep intersteller space.
Almost before you can say Jack Robinson, the boys and girls are up to their necks in a war of planetary extermination waged between their allies (who look and talk and think just like good old, reliable, green-skinned Anglo-Saxons) and the no-good, nasty villains (who don't.)
As if that weren't enough, the motor cyclist has an earth-born rival, one Marc C. "Blackie" (of course) DuQuesne, who is just as bright, a lot more ruthless and has this little plan to make himself Emperor of the Universe--or maybe just the galaxy***, I forget.
Grab your spacesuits, boys, check the batteries of your blasters and jump on board.
Hoo-BOY!!!!
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*E. E. Smith, Ph.D, yes, that was the form of the name the man used in his fiction, was a genuine chemist with a spectacularly soaring imagination and somewhat less high-flying literary skill.With the "Skylark" series and then the "Lensmen" series, he was probably the most popular and influential of all the pulp science fiction (or "scientifiction") authors of the 1920s, 30s and even into the 40s.
** They christen it "Skylark."Hail to thee, blithe spaceship.
*** It should be kept in mind that in 1928, the astronomical world was only slowly emerging from the debate over whether the Milky Way Galaxy was the only "island universe" in all of space.
First Flight into the Cosmos
Skylark of Space (1928) is the first SF novel in the Skylark series.It is set in the era of its publication;i.e.. the 1920s.Despite the theories of Einstein, the speed of light does not limit the velocity of the spacecraft in this story.
In this novel, Richard B. Seaton is a chemist working for the Rare Metals Laboratory in Washington, DC.He is a tennis player, playing as a doubles team with Crane.Dick is also recently engaged to Dorothy Vaneman.
M. Reynolds Crane is a very rich man.Since he has been the target of many aspiring wives and matchmakers, Martin avoids women.But then he meets Dorothy and learns the value of a good woman.
Marc C. DuQuesne is another chemist working for the Rare Metals Lab.He is also a psychopath, without any conscience.He has moonlighted for the World Steel Company on various deals of a criminal nature.
In this story, Seaton has been working on a container of heavy metal waste.He separates out several valuable metallic elements, but an unknown metal remains.Then he learns that the metal is an almost stable transuranic element.He calls the element "X" metal.
In his processing, Seaton has a small accident with the waste.While electrolyzing the solution, a little waste spills into the copper steam-bath.He snatchers up the beaker, but the heavy bath plows through his lab apparatus and disappears out the window at high speed.
The accident makes an exciting bit of gossip in the Lab.The next day, Dick tries to recreate the incident with a piece of copper wire, but nothing happens.The Lab folk begin to talk about his overstrained mind and go back to work.
Seaton considers the circumstances surrounding the incident and decides that the main difference was that a device designed by DuQuesne was not operating during the second try.He waits until DuQuesne turns on his device and notices that the characteristic color change appears on the copper wire.He puts an electric current through the wire and it goes through the brick wall.
Seaton talks to Dorothy after the first incident.She is supportive, but doesn't really understand.After the second incident, Dick goes to Crane with the story.Martin advises that they purchase the solution, so Seaton returns it to the chief clerk for auction.
After buying the solution, Martin immediately forms a new corporation: the Seaton-Crane Company, Engineers.Then they call the first meeting of the board.Afterward, Seaton starts analyzing the properties of the unknown element.
His investigations show that the unknown element catalyzes the release of the total energy of the copper.It can be channeled into motion or release the energy as an explosion.The element also has some other strange properties.
Meanwhile, DuQuesne deduces the nature of the incident and informs a World Steel executive of the discovery.He wants to kill Seaton, steal all the solution, and gather up any available documents.The executive refuses to allow a direct attack on Seaton or Crane, but has a thief break into the mansion to steal half the waste and replace it with water.
DuQuesne states his terms for working on the new element, but the World Steel executive declines.Instead, the executive has another scientist explore the properties of the element.The hireling leaves a two mile crater where the town of Bankerville, West Virginia, had been.
Seaton-Crane issues an order with World Steel for construction materiel, but Crane correctly suspects that the company will deliver flawed goods.He issues another secret order to an independent steel mill that has proved dependable in the past.Seaton-Crane publicly builds the flawed craft -- which they call Old Crip -- while constructing another, larger ship in a hidden location.
This tale involves Seaton and Crane in a covert war against World Steel and its minions.But their true adversary is DuQuesne.When DuQuesne abducts Dorothy with his own spaceship and flees into space, Seaton and Crane soon follow in the newly finished Skylark.
Seaton and Crane accelerate continuously after the fleeing ship.Soon they exceed the speed of light.They travel far out into the cosmos.
Dorothy is strong minded woman in this story, but her role in the novel is to be protected rather than as an active partner.The author treats her more kindly than others of his day, but the publishing industry believed that strong heroines would not sell SF novels.Others -- including female SF authors -- eventually overcame that restricted viewpoint.
This novel made the author the leading writer of space operas for the period.Although others wrote such SF, Doc Smith wrote the stories that people anxiously awaited.He set the standard for decades.
You may wonder why Seaton was making major discoveries in physics at the Rare Metals Laboratory.Mainly because the author was a chemist.Moveover, in those days, the difference between chemists and physicists was not as wide as it is today.Modern physics had been formulated over the previous twenty years, but only theorists were working on exotic aspects such as relativity and quantum mechanics.
Since chemists and physicists -- indeed every scientist and engineer -- learned both classical physics and chemistry in the pursuit of their degree, chemists were fully capable of separating heavy metals using physical methods.Indeed, many of the scientists in the Manhattan project were chemists -- not physicists -- even though their major task was separating heavy metals.
The author had a doctorate in chemistry -- hence his nickname of "Doc" -- and worked in this field for decades.He is better known in SF for the later Lensman series.Apparently much of the plot of the prequel to that series is based on his experiences as a chemist during the second World War.
This series continued for three more volumes.The next installment is Skylark Three.Read and enjoy!
Highly recommended for Smith fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of scientific discovery, space adventures, and old-fashioned romance.This work is included in The Complete Skylark.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Cringe worthy in science, cast and love
It may have been that the Golden Age of Science Fiction (published in 1928) was aimed at juveniles and it may have that the pioneering authors weren't exactly literary geniuses. I was born in 1980 so I can't attest to the look and feel of that entire era of SF. Heed this as I'm reviewing this book on that basis.
Easily put, the lexicon used in the book is cringe worthy and induces much eye rolling. The literary standards of the early 21st century were high (Robert Frost, Huxley, H.G. Wells) so why couldn't a science fiction novel meet those standards? If Skylark was aimed at the white male juvenile demography, it simply can't live as a science fiction classic through the years without drastic editing. Much of the science is dated, impossible and just silly:
1) Rare platinum from a single asteroid called `substance X' sheathed over common copper and induced with electricity produces faster than light speed.
2) A slap-it-together four foot thick steel hull withstands superluminal speed.
The bad science doesn't make a bad book, but the bad and predictable love story drags the story down. The characterization, or lack thereof, doesn't support the building of a love story. Dick and Dorothy are shoved together and the flow of the plot insists they get married in the end. Martin and Margaret are in the same place at the same time so they, too, must fall in love and marry. All the while, the baddie DuQuesne is the loner and dismissed in the end even though he had shown dramatic change of character, unlike anyone else in the cast.
The rest of the book isn't so cringe worthy but doesn't merit any positive comment.
A Deafening Flash and a Blinding Report
E.E. Smith's _The Skylark of Space_ (1928) is at least a nominal classic of science fiction, so perhaps it would not hurt to quickly give a bit of the novel's history. In 1915, a friend of Smith's, Dr. Carl Garby, suggested that he put some of his speculative ideas into the form of a novel. Smith worked on the novel in collaboration with Garby's wife, Lee Hawkins Garby, who was supposed to help him with the romantic scenes. (The Seatons were modeled on Smith and his wife and the Cranes were modeled on the Garbys.) The novel was set aside in 1916. But in 1919, Smith began writing again. He finished in 1920.
As it turned out, it took longer to sell the novel than it did to write it. After eight years of collecting rejection slips, Smith saw a copy of _Amazing_ on the newsstand and mailed the novel in to that magazine. It was promptly bought by editor T. O'Connor Sloane and serialized in the August, September, and October issues. The August issue featured a marvelously garish cover illustration to the novel by Frank R. Paul. Smith's pay for the novel did not even cover the cost of postage he had spent peddling the novel over the years. But it didn't matter. Smith had become famous overnight-- at least in science fiction circles.
John Clute is one of the most perceptive critical observers of Doc Smith. In a 1982 essay on Smith, he states that _The Skylark of Space_ recaptures the childhood fantasy of playing hooky from school, of being completely free. Dick Seaton and his pals "as easy as pie" (130) discover a way to scoot off to the stars, where "everything is shiny new" (130). Clute compares the world of _Skylark_ with that of the Oz books by L. Frank Baum.
With the best will in the world, I have tried to read the novel in this light-- as a kind of classical Edisonade. But I cannot get past the incredible awfulness of Smith's writing. His characters are cardboard, his plot is juvenile, and his style... Well, here are his heroes and heroines in zero gravity:
"Tweet, tweet-- I'm a canary," Seaton said, flapping his arms. "Toss us a line, Mart."
"A Dicky-bird, you mean," Dorothy said.
Crane studied the floating pair with mock gravity. [Noble sentence!]
"That is a peculiar pose, Dick. What is it supposed to represent-- Zeus sitting on his throne?"
"I'll sit on your neck, you lug, if you don't get a wiggle up with that rope!" (78-79)
As for the comparison with Oz, I would like to point out one noteworthy difference. Baum kept the violence in his Oz books to a minimum. In _Skylark_ alone, Smith's heroes slaughter thousands upon thousands of aliens with the intent of exterminating them. To be sure, genocidal heroes of Edisonades were not unusual in those days-- witness the Frank Reade dime novels and Garett P. Serviss's _Edison's Conquest of Mars_ (1898). But it is a trait that has not worn well over time.
Also a bit odious by modern standards are the values of the race of "good aliens" that spring from a religion based on a kind of social Darwinism: "Believing as they do that the fittest must survive, and of course thinking themselves the superior type, it is ordained that Mardondale must be destroyed, root and branch" (127).
Another practice that Dick Seaton seems to approve of is their lack of any liberal Mollycoddling: "They have no hospitals for the feeble-minded or the feeble-bodied; all such are executed" (127). Couples who wish to marry are given a psychic probe. Anybody who fails the test is immediately shot. I believe that if I were living in this society I would have been killed at an early age. It would be no consolation to me that my death would be paving the way for someone else's notion of a super race.
Yes, _The Skylark of Space_ has exuberance. Yes, it gave us the galaxy for a playground. But no, it is not a good novel.
Fun read, but Kindle Edition has the wrong line breaks
The Skylark of Space is classic space opera, and is a window into a different era of science fiction, while still being completely fun.Unfortunately, the Kindle edition has line breaks in the wrong places, making it extremely uncomfortable to read.
This seems to me to just be a sloppy translation, and hopefully it can be corrected.
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Not Martin's best writing