Triplanetary

Edward Elmer SmithProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.6

Word count: 541K words
Chapters: 55

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.Triplanetary by E. E. SmithAuthor: Smith, E. E. (Edward Elmer), 1890-1965,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jun 6, 2010

Editor's review

Triplanetary is an important early space opera by E. E. Smith, later revised and incorporated into the prehistory of his Lensman series. Set against the confrontation between two ancient galactic civilizations, the book links interstellar war, the rise and fall of civilizations, and the setting of three planets in the solar system. It is brisk and wide-ranging, a direct sample of the style of American science fiction's Golden Age in the 1930s. Smith's prose emphasizes spectacle and world-building, and his scientific explanations bear the marks of their era; readers may treat the book as a document of science fiction history rather than hard-SF extrapolation. This is the free Project Gutenberg electronic edition, suitable for fragmented reading on electronic devices and for use as discussion material in science fiction courses or reading groups, to observe the early forms and narrative conventions of the space opera subgenre.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Science fiction readers interested in the American Golden Age and the origins of space opera
Teachers and students who need free public-domain English science fiction texts
Fans of genre fiction who enjoy grand settings such as interstellar war and civilizational conflict
Readers doing research on science fiction history or genre literature who need early textual samples

Not a good fit for

Readers who seek rigorous scientific world-building and a contemporary hard-SF feel
Those unaccustomed to the pacing and style of early twentieth-century English popular fiction
Readers who want a complete standalone story rather than a series prehistory

Reading tips

Read a chapter or two first to get a feel for the style and setting, then decide whether to read the whole book
While reading, note the civilizational setting and interstellar war descriptions, and compare them with later space opera works
Read alongside an overview of science fiction history to understand the work's place in the genre
The English original can be read in installments; when you meet unfamiliar old-fashioned expressions, skip them for now and keep the plot flowing

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

What is the relationship between this book and the Lensman series?

Triplanetary was first published as a standalone space opera; Smith later revised it and incorporated it into the Lensman series as that series' prehistory and background. The book therefore involves the civilizational-conflict setting of the later series, but it is more a grand prologue than a complete standalone series story.

Can I read this public-domain book if my English is not good?

This is the English original, and its language carries the expressive habits of early twentieth-century popular fiction: sentences tend to be long and there are many setting-specific terms. Readers with a college-level English reading foundation can work through it with a dictionary; those with less reading experience may prefer to start with a Chinese translation or introductory material and then compare it with the original, so as not to be stopped by dense unfamiliar words.

What is special about this edition?

This is the free electronic edition provided by Project Gutenberg, based on its public-domain text, and it is easy to obtain and search on a computer, phone, or e-reader. It is not an annotated scholarly edition and has no modern introduction; readers who need background explanation should use it together with science fiction history materials or course lectures.

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About the author

Edward Elmer Smith Author · American · 1890–1965

Edward Elmer Smith (1890–1965), known as "Doc Smith," was an American science fiction writer and is regarded as one of the pioneers of space opera. Trained as a chemist with a doctorate, he long worked in food technology and wrote science fiction in his spare time; twelve of his works are included in this collection. His best-known series, the Skylark series (such as The Skylark of Space and Skylark Three) and the Lensman series (such as Triplanetary and First Lensman), are famed for interstellar travel, faster-than-light ships, and grand galactic warfare, with sweeping scenes and brisk pacing that deeply influenced later space opera. His works focus on space adventure and galactic conflict; although public biographical detail is limited, their pioneering place in the history of the genre is widely recognized.