Operation Distress

Del Rey, Lester, 1915-1993Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 24K words
Chapters: 3

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Operation Distress by Lester Del ReyAuthor: Del Rey, Lester, 1915-1993,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Feb 10, 2016

Editor's review

Operation Distress is a science fiction work by Lester Del Rey, released by Project Gutenberg as a free ebook and classified under American and Canadian literature. Del Rey was a twentieth-century American science fiction author, and this book is short, carrying the typical feel of early science fiction magazine fiction: it unfolds around a crisis or operation, moves at a brisk pace, and lets its setting serve the plot. As a public-domain electronic text, its value lies in giving readers low-cost access to early science fiction short fiction and to how that era imagined technology, organization, and crisis. It suits fragmented reading time such as commutes or before bed, and works as a light choice for science fiction fans filling in early works. Note that the book is in the original English, and early science fiction's narrative habits differ from contemporary work; readers should come with an eye to the genre's history rather than judge it by the complexity of modern novels.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Science fiction fans who want low-cost access to early American science fiction short stories
Readers interested in twentieth-century science fiction magazine-era works
English learners who need English-language science fiction short stories as light reading material
Readers who enjoy tight plotting and want a story they can finish in fragmented time

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer the complex worldbuilding and deep settings of contemporary long-form science fiction
Readers who need a Chinese translation and are not used to reading original English texts
Readers with little patience for early science fiction's narrative pace and expression

Reading tips

Read the opening paragraphs first to gauge the language difficulty and narrative pace, then decide whether to finish it in one sitting or in segments.
Treat it as a sample of early science fiction's genre landscape, and after reading, briefly note its setting and how it handles crisis.
If using it for English study, read through for plot first, then revisit vocabulary and sentence patterns rather than checking every word.
Read it alongside other public-domain early science fiction short stories to get a sense of the common themes of that era.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a short work?

The information suggests it is a science fiction work by Del Rey of relatively light length, suitable for reading in one sitting or over a few sessions. For the exact length, check the actual ebook content and plan your time after seeing the text length.

Can someone with no science fiction reading background read this book?

You can try. Early science fiction short stories usually have fairly direct plot lines and do not rely on vast worldbuilding. As long as you have basic English reading ability and accept early science fiction's expressive habits, the entry threshold is not high.

Why is this book classified under American and Canadian literature?

Project Gutenberg organizes ebooks by language and literary classification; as an American science fiction author, Del Rey has his works placed under American and Canadian literature. This classification reflects a bibliographic arrangement and does not change the work's science fiction nature.

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About the author

Del Rey, Lester, 1915-1993 Author

Lester Del Rey (1915-1993) was an American science fiction writer, with 11 of his works held in this collection. Public information is limited, and details of his life are difficult to verify, but the surviving works show that his writing spanned novels and short stories, often dealing with space adventure, the ethics of technology, and catastrophic crises. Representative works include Badge of Infamy, No Strings Attached, Dead Ringer, Let ‘Em Breathe Space!, The Sky Is Falling, Operation Distress, Earthbound, and Victory. These titles suggest a concern with social order, identity, and the human condition, with narratives that carry reflections on the consequences of technology through tight plotting, in a popular style that nonetheless retains tension. His works had a certain influence among mid-twentieth-century American science fiction readers, and some pieces are still selected for science fiction anthologies, offering readers a view of the genre in that era.