Third Planet

Leinster, Murray, 1896-1975Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 55K words
Chapters: 6

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.Third Planet by Murray LeinsterAuthor: Leinster, Murray, 1896-1975,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jul 14, 2016

Editor's review

Murray Leinster was an important American author of science fiction and popular fiction, known for crisp concepts and brisk pacing. Third Planet continues his familiar vein of interstellar adventure, building its imagination around Earth's position as the "third planet" and carrying the technological optimism and exploratory spirit characteristic of Golden Age science fiction. The work is short, its premise clear, and its conflict advances directly, making it well suited to sampling the typical flavor of mid-twentieth-century American magazine-style SF. As a Project Gutenberg public-domain ebook, it is easy to obtain and works both as a brief trial read for SF newcomers and as a look back at genre origins for veteran readers. Pay attention to how the author handles the relationship between "Earth people" and unknown civilizations, and how scientific speculation serves the plot; expectations about the limitations of Golden Age SF will make for a smoother reading experience.

Who it's for

A good fit for

New readers who want a quick taste of Golden Age American science fiction
SF fans who enjoy interstellar adventure, clear premises, and shorter works
Students who need public-domain English SF texts for extensive reading or genre study

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting the rigorous scientific extrapolation and complex worldbuilding of contemporary hard SF
Readers sensitive to the gender and racial expressions of mid-twentieth-century SF who find its period limitations hard to tolerate

Reading tips

Treat it as a short genre excursion; reading it in one sitting makes the pacing and suspense easier to grasp
While reading, note how the author develops the "third planet" premise and observe how the SF idea drives the plot
If reading the English original, skip period expressions at first and look them up after finishing the chapter

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

Does "Third Planet" refer to Earth?

Judging from the title and Leinster's common SF premises, "the third planet" usually means the third planet from the sun in the solar system, i.e., Earth. How it is developed in the story should be confirmed against the text itself.

Is this work suitable as an introduction to science fiction?

Fairly suitable. Leinster's narration is direct, the work is short, and the premise is clearly laid out, making it a lightweight introduction to the flavor of Golden Age SF; readers expecting the complexity of contemporary SF may find it simple.

Why read the public-domain electronic edition?

The Project Gutenberg edition is free and easy to obtain, suited to trial reading and extensive reading. The electronic edition also allows adjustable font size and word lookup, lowering the barrier to reading the English original and making excerpts and comparisons convenient.

Comments

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About the author

Leinster, Murray, 1896-1975 Author

Murray Leinster (1896–1975) was an American science fiction writer whose real name was William Fitzgerald Jenkins. He was a prolific author of short stories and novels, and this site holds thirty-nine of his works, including The Mad Planet, The Pirates of Ersatz, The Machine That Saved The World, The Forgotten Planet, The Wailing Asteroid, The Invaders, The Runaway Skyscraper, and Scrimshaw. His science fiction often deals with interstellar adventure, strange planets, and technological speculation, with tightly plotted, boldly imaginative narratives that also reflect on human society and the conditions of survival; some works are also categorized as inspirational growth. Public information is limited, making biographical details difficult to describe, but the surviving works show his important place in twentieth-century American popular science fiction and his influence on later writers in the genre.