Gray Lensman

Sometimes, I'm a fool. I thought, perhaps, that the "so called" golden age of sci-fi before Heinlein would be as painful to read as the old Jules Verne. I even tried to read the first ten pages of the first book of the Lensman of E. E. Smith PHD and cringed down to my soul. I was thinking that nothi......more

Although the events of Book 4 in E. E. "Doc" Smith's famed LENSMAN series, "Gray Lensman," pick up mere seconds after those of its predecessor, "Galactic Patrol," this latest installment actually first appeared over 1 ½ years later. Whereas "Galactic Patrol" had initially appeared as a six-part seri......more

Evil Minions Shocker! Two Planets Plastered as Armada Annihilated! "We've gotta hire better help." - The Eddorian Elucidator. For the most part, this story was unputdownable, and that's rare for me, but I have quite the quibble with it. Smith positions a cultural war between 'Civilization,' as exempli......more

The continuing tale of Boskone and Kimball Kinnison. In the opening, he recounts to the Admiral and another high official that he does not know if Boskone was annihilated by their attack. The rest is the somewhat episodic adventures of working out that they did. And fighting onward. Eichlan speaks for......more

Recently I have been revisiting some of the classic science fiction that I read as a teenager via audiobook. I remember the Lensman series fondly and so was looking forward to revisiting the worlds of the Tellurians and Boskonians. I one way it's still the same. Heroic men and gorgeous women. Space w......more