Everything about E E Smith totally explained
E. E. Smith, also
Edward Elmer Smith, Ph.D.,
E.E. "Doc" Smith,
Doc Smith,
"Skylark" Smith, and (to family)
Ted (
May 2,
1890 -
August 31,
1965) was a
food engineer (specializing in
doughnut and
pastry mixes) and early
science fiction author who wrote the
Lensman series and the
Skylark series, among others. He is sometimes referred to as the "father of
Space Opera."
Biography
Family and education
Edward Elmer Smith was born in
Sheboygan, Wisconsin on
May 2 1890 to Fred Jay Smith and Caroline Mills Smith, both staunch
Presbyterians of British ancestry. His mother was a teacher born in Michigan in February 1855; his father was a sailor, born in
Maine in January 1855 to an English father. They moved to
Spokane, Washington the winter after Edward Elmer was born, where Mr. Smith was working as a contractor in 1900. In 1902 the family moved to
Seneaquoteen, near the
Pend d'Oreille River, in
Kootenai County,
Idaho. He had four siblings, Rachel M. born September 1882, Daniel M. born January 1884, Mary Elizabeth born February 1886 (all of whom were born in
Michigan), and Walter E. born July 1891 in
Washington. In 1910, Fred and Caroline Smith and their son Walter are living in the Markham Precinct of Bonner County, Idaho; Fred is listed as a farmer.
E. E. Smith worked primarily as a manual laborer until he injured his wrist, at the age of 19, while escaping from a fire. He attended the
University of Idaho, where he was installed in the 1984 Class of the University of Idaho Alumni Hall of Fame; he entered its
prep school in 1907, and graduated with two degrees in
Chemical Engineering in 1914. He was president of the Chemistry Club, the Chess Club, and the
Mandolin and Guitar Club, and captain of the Drill and Rifle Team; he also sang the bass lead in
Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. His undergraduate thesis was
Some Clays of Idaho, co-written with classmate Chester Fowler Smith, who died in California of
tuberculosis the following year, after taking a teaching fellowship at Berkeley. It isn't known whether the two people were related.
On
October 5 1915, in
Boise, Idaho he married Jeanne Craig MacDougall, the sister of his college roommate, Allen Scott (Scotty) MacDougall. (Her sister was named Clarissa MacLean MacDougall; the heroine of the
Lensman novels would later be named
Clarissa MacDougall.) Jeanne MacDougall was born in
Glasgow, Scotland; her parents were Donald Scott MacDougall, a violinist, and Jessica Craig MacLean. Her father had moved to
Boise, Idaho when the children were young, and later sent for his family; he died while they were en route in 1905. Her mother worked at, and later owned, a boarding house on Ridenbaugh Street.
The Smiths had three children, Roderick N., born
June 3 1918 in the
District of Columbia (employed as a design engineer at
Lockheed Aircraft); Verna Jean (later
Verna Smith Trestrail), born
August 25 1920 in
Michigan, his literary executor until her death in 1994 (her son Kim Trestrail is now the executor); and Clarissa M.(later Clarissa Wilcox), born
December 13 1921 in
Michigan. In 1930 the Smiths were still living in Michigan, at 33 Rippon Avenue in Hillsdale.
Chemical career
After graduating from college, he worked as a junior civil service chemist for the
National Bureau of Standards in
Washington, D.C., working on standards for butter and oysters. He apparently served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Cavalry in World War I, but in what capacity isn't known.
Smith received a master's degree in
Chemistry from
George Washington University in 1917, studying under
Charles E. Munroe. He earned a doctorate in
Chemical Engineering, in 1918, emphasizing
food engineering with a thesis entitled
The effect of bleaching with oxides of nitrogen upon the baking quality and commercial value of wheat flour
, which was published in 1919. Warner and Fleischer instead give the thesis title as
The Effect of the Oxides of Nitrogen upon the Carotin Molecule --- C40H56, which is difficult to explain. Moskowitz instead gives the date of the degree as 1919, which may result from confusion with the publication date.
In 1919 Dr. Smith took a job as chief chemist for
F.W. Stock & Sons of
Hillsdale, Michigan, at one time the largest family-owned mill east of the Mississippi, working on doughnut mixes.
In January 1936 Dr. Smith took a job, for salary plus profit-sharing, as a food technologist (a cereal chemist) at the
Dawn Doughnut Company of
Jackson, Michigan. This initially entailed almost a year's worth of eighteen-hour days and seven-day workweeks. Individuals who knew Dr. Smith confirmed that he'd a role in developing mixes for doughnuts and other pastries, but the contention that he developed the first process for making powdered sugar adhere to doughnuts can't be substantiated. Dr. Smith was reportedly dislocated from his job at Dawn Doughnuts due to pre-war rationing in early 1940.
Dr. Smith worked for the US Army between 1941 and 1945. An extended segment in the novel version of
Triplanetary, set during World War II, suggests intimate familiarity with explosives and munitions manufacturing. Some biographers cite as fact that, just as Smith's protagonist in this segment lost his job over failure to approve sub-standard munitions, Smith did as well. Smith began work for the J. W. Allen Company (a manufacturer of doughnut and frosting mixes) in 1946 and worked for them until his professional retirement in 1957.
Skylark series
One evening in 1915, while the Smiths were visiting his former classmate from the University of Idaho,
Dr. Carl Garby, who had also moved to Washington and lived near the Smiths in the
Seaton Place Apartments in Washington D.C. with his wife
Lee Hawkins Garby, a long discussion about space travel ensued. Mrs. Garby suggested that Dr. Smith write a story set in outer space. Smith said that he'd do so if Mrs. Garby would handle the love interest. The two had completed about a third of
The Skylark of Space by the end of 1916, when they gradually abandoned work on it. The Smiths were the basis for the Seatons in the novel, and the Cranes were drawn from the Garbys.
Late in 1919, after moving to Michigan, one evening Smith was baby-sitting (presumably for Roderick) while his wife attended a movie, he resumed work on
The Skylark of Space, finishing it in the spring of 1920. He submitted it to many book publishers and magazines, spending more in postage than he'd eventually receive for its publication. He received an encouraging rejection letter from Bob Davis, editor of
Argosy, in 1922, saying that he liked the novel personally, but that it was too far out for his readers. (According to
Warner, but no other source, Dr. Smith began work on the sequel,
Skylark III, before the first book was accepted.) Finally, upon seeing the April 1927 issue of
Amazing Stories, he submitted it to the magazine; it was accepted, initially for $75, later raised to $125.
It was published in the August – October 1928 issues. It was such a success that managing editor
T. O'Conor Sloane requested a sequel before the second installment had been published.
Mrs. Garby wasn't interested in collaborating further, so Dr. Smith began work on
Skylark Three on his own. It was published in the August through October 1930 issues of Amazing. This was as far as he'd planned to take the Skylark series; it was praised in Amazing's letter column, and he was paid 3/4¢ per word, surpassing
Amazing's previous record of half a cent.
The 1930's: Between Skylark and Lensman
Dr. Smith then began work on what he intended as a new series, starting with
Spacehounds of IPC, which he finished in the autumn of 1930. In this novel he took pains to avoid the scientific impossibilities which had bothered some readers of the
Skylark novels. Even in 1938, after he'd written
Galactic Patrol, Dr. Smith considered it his finest work; he later said of it, "This was really scientific fiction; not, like the Skylarks, pseudo-science"; and even at the end of his career he considered it his only work of true science fiction. It was published in the July through September 1931 issues of
Amazing, but with unauthorized changes by
Sloane. Fan letters in the magazine complained about the novel's containment within the
solar system, and Sloane sided with the readers. So when
Harry Bates, editor of
Astounding Stories, offered Smith 2¢/word—payable on publication—for his next story, he agreed; this meant that it couldn't be a sequel to
Spacehounds.
This book would be
Triplanetary, "in which scientific detail wouldn't be bothered about, and in which his imagination would run riot." Indeed, characters within the story point out its psychological and scientific implausibilities, and sometimes even seem to suggest self-parody. At other times they're conspicuously silent about obvious implausibilities. The January 1933 issue of Astounding announced that Triplanetary would appear in the March issue, and that issue's cover illustrated a scene from the story, but Astounding's financial difficulties prevented the story from appearing. Dr. Smith then submitted the manuscript to
Wonder Stories, whose editor,
Charles D. Hornig, rejected it, later boasting about the rejection in a
fanzine. He finally submitted it to
Amazing, which published it beginning in January 1934, but for only half a cent a word. Shortly after it was accepted,
F. Orlin Tremaine, the new editor of the revived
Astounding, offered one cent a word for
Triplanetary; when he learned that he was too late, he suggested a third
Skylark novel instead.
In the winter of 1933-4 Dr. Smith worked on
The Skylark of Valeron, but he felt that the story was getting out of control; he sent his first draft to Tremaine, with a distraught note asking for suggestions. Tremaine accepted the rough draft for $850, and announced it in the June 1934 issue, with a full-page editorial and a three-quarter page advertisement. The novel was published in the August 1934 through February 1935 issues. Astounding's circulation rose by 10,000 for the first issue, and its two main competitors,
Amazing and
Wonder Stories fell into financial difficulties, both skipping issues within a year.
Dr. Smith had been contemplating writing a "space-police novel" since early 1927; once he'd "the Lensmen's universe fairly well set up," he reviewed his science fiction collection for "cops-and-robbers" stories. He cites
Constantinescue's "
War of the Universe" as a negative example, and
Starzl and
Williamson as positive ones. Tremaine responded extremely positively to a brief description of the idea.
Once Dawn Doughnuts became profitable in late 1936, Dr. Smith wrote an eighty-five page outline for what became the four core
Lensman novels; in early 1937 Tremaine committed to buying them. Segmenting the story into four novels required considerable effort to avoid dangling loose ends; Dr. Smith cites
Edgar Rice Burroughs as a negative example. After the outline was complete, he wrote a more detailed outline of
Galactic Patrol, plus a detailed graph of its structure, with "peaks of emotional intensity and the valleys of characterization and background material." He notes, however, that he was never able to follow any of his outlines at all closely, as his "characters get away from me and do exactly as they damn please." After completing the rough draft of
Galactic Patrol, he wrote the concluding chapter of the last book in the series,
Children of the Lens. Galactic Patrol was published in the September 1937 through February 1938 issues of
Astounding; unlike the revised book edition, it wasn't set in the same universe as
Triplanetary.
Gray Lensman, the second book in the series, appeared in
Astounding's October 1939 through January 1940 issues. (Note that the frequent British spelling “grey” is simply a recurrent mistake, starting with the cover of the first installment; Moskowitz's usage,
“The Grey Lensman,” is even harder to justify.)
Gray Lensman (and its cover illustration, above) was extremely well received.
Campbell’s editorial in the December issue suggested that the October issue was the best issue of
Astounding ever, and
Gray Lensman was first place in the
Analytical Laboratory statistics “by a lightyear,” with three runners-up in a distant tie for third place. The cover was also praised by readers in
Brass Tacks, and Campbell noted, “We got a letter from E.E. Smith saying he and
Rogers agreed on how Kinnison looked.”
Dr. Smith was the guest of honor at
Chicon I, the second
World Science Fiction Convention, held in
Chicago over
Labor Day weekend 1940, giving a speech on the importance of
science fiction fandom entitled “What Does This Convention Mean?” He attended the
convention’s masquerade as
C.L. Moore’s
Northwest Smith, and met fans living near him in
Michigan, who would later form the
Galactic Roamers, which previewed and advised him on his future work.
Retirement and late writing
After Dr. Smith retired, he and his wife lived in
Clearwater, Florida in the fall and winter, driving the smaller of their two trailers to
Seaside, Oregon each April, often stopping at
science fiction conventions on the way. (Dr. Smith didn't like to fly.) Some of his biography is captured in an essay by
Robert A. Heinlein, which was reprinted in the collection
Expanded Universe in 1980. There is a more detailed, although allegedly error-ridden, biography in Sam Moskowitz's
Seekers of Tomorrow.
Robert A. Heinlein and Dr. Smith were friends. Heinlein reported that E.E. Smith perhaps took his "unrealistic" heroes from life, citing as an example the extreme competence of the hero of
Spacehounds of IPC. He reported that E.E. Smith was a large, blond, athletic, very intelligent, very gallant man, married to a remarkably beautiful, intelligent red-haired woman named MacDougal (thus perhaps the prototypes of '
Kimball Kinnison' and '
Clarissa MacDougal'). In Heinlein's essay, he reports that he began to suspect Smith might be a sort of "superman" when he asked Dr. Smith for help in purchasing a car. Smith tested the car by driving it on a back road at illegally high speeds with their heads pressed tightly against the roof columns to listen for chassis squeaks by
bone conduction—a process apparently improvised on the spot.
In his non-series novels written after his professional retirement,
Galaxy Primes,
Subspace Explorers, and
Subspace Encounter, E. E. Smith explores themes of telepathy and other mental abilities collectively called "psionics," and of the conflict between libertarian and socialistic/communistic influences in the colonization of other planets.
Lord Tedric
Dr. Smith wrote a novelette entitled Lord Tedric, published in Other Worlds in 1952, and which was almost completely forgotten.
Much later, 13 years after Dr. Smith's death in fact,
Gordon Eklund published another novel of the same name about the same fictional character, introducing it as "a new series conceived by E. E. 'Doc' Smith". Eklund later went on to publish the other novels in the series, one or two under the pseudonym "E. E. 'Doc' Smith" or "E. E. Smith". The protagonist possesses similar heroic qualities common to the heroes in Dr. Smith's original novels and can communicate with an extra-dimensional race of beings known as The Scientists, whose archenemy is Fra Villion, a mysterious character described as a dark knight, skilled in whip-sword combat, and evil genius behind the creation of a planetoid-sized "iron sphere" armed with a weapon capable of destroying planets. As a result, Dr. Smith is mistakenly believed by many to be the unacknowledged progenitor of themes that would appear in
Star Wars. In reality, Star Wars predates the Lord Tedric series by two years.
Critical opinion
Smith’s works novels are generally considered to be the classic
space operas, and he's sometimes called the “first
nova” of
twentieth century science fiction.
Dr. Smith expressed a preference for inventing fictional technologies that were not strictly impossible (so far as the science of the day was aware) but highly unlikely: "the more unlikely the better" was his phrase.
Extending the Lensman universe
Vortex Blasters (also known as
Masters of the Vortex) is set in the same universe as the
Lensman novels. It is an extension to the main storyline which takes place between
Second Stage Lensman and
Children of the Lens, and introduces a different type of psionics from that used by the Lensmen.
Spacehounds of IPC isn't a part of the series, despite occasional erroneous statements to the contrary. (It is listed as a novel in the series in some paperback editions of the 1970s.)
Robert A. Heinlein reported that Doc had planned a seventh
Lensman novel, set after the events described in
Children of the Lens, which was unpublishable at that time (the early 1960s). Careful searches by people who knew Doc well (including
Frederik Pohl, Doc's editor, and Verna Smith Trestrail, Doc's daughter) have failed to locate any material related to such a story. Doc apparently never wrote any of it down. Doc told Heinlein that the new novel proceeded inexorably from unresolved matters in
Children, a statement easily supported by a careful reading of
Children.
On
14 July 1965, barely a month before his death, E. E. Smith gave written permission to
William B. Ellern to continue the
Lensman series, which led to the publishing of "Moon Prospector" in 1965 and
New Lensman in 1976. Smith's long-time friend, Dave Kyle, wrote three authorized added novels in the Lensman series that provided background about the major non-human Lensmen.
Influence on Science and the Military
As well as influencing the course of popular culture, Smith was also a huge influence on modern warfare as his books were widely read by scientists and engineers from the 1930s into the 1970s. Literary precursors of ideas which arguably entered the military-scientific complex include
SDI (
Triplanetary),
stealth (
Gray Lensman), the
OODA Loop,
C3-based warfare, and the
AWACS (
Gray Lensman).
An influence that's inarguable was described in an 11 June 1947 letter to Doc from
John W. Campbell (the editor of
Astounding magazine, where much of the
Lensman series was originally published). In it, Campbell relayed Captain
Cal Lanning's acknowledgment that he'd used Smith's ideas for displaying the battlespace situation (called the "tank" in the stories) in the design of the
United States Navy's ships'
Combat Information Centers. "The entire set-up was taken specifically, directly, and consciously from the
Directrix. In your story, you reached the situation the Navy was in — more communication channels than integration techniques to handle it. You proposed such an integrating technique and proved how advantageous it could be. You, sir, were 100% right. As the Japanese Navy— not the hypothetical Boskonian fleet— learned at an appalling cost."
One underlying theme of the later
Lensman novels was the difficulty in maintaining military secrecy—as advanced capabilities are revealed, the opposing side can often duplicate them. This point was also discussed extensively by John Campbell in his letter to Doc. Also in the later Lensman novels, and particular after the "Battle of Klovia" broke the Boskonian's power base at the end of
Second Stage Lensman, the Boskonian forces and particularly Kandron of Onlo reverted to terroristic tactics to attempt to demoralize Civilization, thus providing an early literary glimpse into this modern problem of both law enforcement and military response. The use of "Vee-two" gas by the pirates attacking the
Hyperion in
Triplanetary (in both magazine and book appearances) also suggests anticipation of the terrorist uses of poison gases.
The beginning of the story the
Skylark of Space describes in relative detail the protagonists research into separation of platinum group residues, subsequent experiments involving electrolysis and the discovery of a process evocative of
cold fusion (over 50 years before
Stanley Pons and
Martin Fleischmann). He describes a nuclear process yielding large amounts of energy and producing only negligible radioactive waste—which then goes on to form the basis of the adventures in the Skylark books. Smith's general description of the process of discovery is highly evocative of Röntgen's descriptions of his discovery of the
X-ray.
Another theme of the
Skylark novels involves precursors of modern information technology. The humanoid aliens encountered in the first novel have developed a primitive technology called the "mechanical educator," which allows direct conversion of brain waves into intelligible thought for transmission to others or for electrical storage. By the third novel in the series,
Skylark of Valeron, this technology has grown into an "Electronic Brain" which is capable of computation on all "bands" of energy—electromagnetism, gravity, and "tachyonic" energy and radiation bands included. This is itself derived from a discussion of reductionist atomic theory in the second novel,
Skylark Three, which brings to mind modern quark and sub-quark theories of elementary particle physics.
Literary influences on Smith's Writing
In his essay "The Epic of Space," Dr. Smith listed (by last name only) authors he enjoyed reading:
John W. Campbell,
L. Sprague de Camp,
Robert A. Heinlein,
Murray Leinster,
H. P. Lovecraft,
A. Merritt (specifically
The Ship of Ishtar, The Moon Pool, The Snake Mother, and
Dwellers in the Mirage, as well as the character John Kenton),
C.L. Moore (specifically
Jirel of Joiry),
Roman Frederick Starzl,
John Taine,
A.E. van Vogt,
Stanley G. Weinbaum (specifically Trweel), and
Jack Williamson. In a passage on his preparation for writing the
Lensman novels, he notes that
Constantinescu's "
War of the Universe" wasn't a masterpiece, but says that Starzl and Williamson were masters; this suggests that Starzl's
Interplanetary Flying Patrol may have been an influence on Dr. Smith's
Triplanetary Patrol, later the
Galactic Patrol. The feeding of the
Overlords of Delgon upon the
life-force of their victims at the end of chapter five of
Galactic Patrol seems a clear allusion to chapter twenty-nine of
The Moon Pool; Merritt's account of the
Taithu and the power of love in chapters twenty-nine and thirty-four also bear some resemblance to the end of
Children of the Lens. Dr. Smith also mentions
Edgar Rice Burroughs, complaining about loose ends at the end of one of his novels.
Dr. Smith acknowledges the help of the
Galactic Roamers writers' workshop, plus
E. Everett Evans, Ed Counts, an unnamed aeronautical engineer, Dr. James Enright, and Dr. Richard W. Dodson. Dr. Smith's daughter, Verna, lists the following authors as visitors to the Smith household in her youth:
Lloyd Eshbach,
Robert A. Heinlein,
Dave Kyle,
Bob Tucker,
Jack Williamson,
Fred Pohl,
A. Merritt, and the
Galactic Roamers. Dr. Smith cites Bigelow's
Theoretical Chemistry–Fundamentals as a justification for the possibility of the
inertialess drive. There is also an extended reference to
Rudyard Kipling's "Ballad of Boh Da Thon" in
Gray Lensman.
Sam Moskowitz's biographical essay on Dr. Smith in
Seekers of Tomorrow states that he regularly read
Argosy magazine, and everything by
H.G. Wells,
Jules Verne,
H. Rider Haggard,
Edgar Allan Poe, and
Edgar Rice Burroughs. Moskowitz also notes that Dr. Smith's "reading enthusiasms included poetry, philosophy, ancient and medieval history, and all of English literature." (Dr. Smith's grandson notes that he spoke, and sang, German.) The influence of these isn't readily apparent, except in the Roman section of
Triplanetary, and in the impeccable but convoluted grammar of Dr. Smith's narration. Some influence of nineteenth century
philosophy of language may be detectable in the account in
Galactic Patrol of the Lens of
Arisia as a
universal translator, which is reminiscent of
Frege's strong
realism about
Sinn, that is, thought or sense.
Both Moskowitz and Smith's daughter Verna Smith Trestrail report that Dr. Smith had a troubled relationship with
John Campbell, the editor of
Astounding. It is noteworthy that Dr. Smith's most successful works were published under Campbell, but the degree of influence is uncertain. The original outline for the
Lensman series had been accepted by
F. Orlin Tremaine, and Dr. Smith angered Campbell by showing loyalty to Tremaine at his new magazine,
Comet, when he sold him "The Vortex Blaster" in 1941. Campbell's announcement of
Children of the Lens, in 1947, was less than enthusiastic. Campbell later said that he published it only reluctantly, though he praised it privately, and bought little from Smith thereafter.
Derivative Works and Influence on Popular Culture
Garrett also included a reference to Dr. Smith in his Lord Darcy novels; the badge of the Royal Messengers resembles the Lens, and the spell to activate one was devised by a wizard named Dr Edward Elmer.
Sir Arthur Clarke’s space battle in Earthlight was based on the attack on the Mardonalian fortress in chapter seven of Skylark Three.
Steve 'Slug' Russell wrote one of the first computer games, Spacewar!, with inspiration from the space battles from the Lensman series.
The GURPS role-playing game includes a worldbook based on the Lensman series.
There is a Japanese Lensman anime, but it's more an imitation of Star Wars than a translation of the Lensman novels. Efforts to print translations of the associated manga in the United States in the early 1990s without payment of royalties to the Smith family were successfully blocked in court by Verna Smith Trestrail with the help of several California science fiction authors and fans.
In his biography, George Lucas reveals that the Lensman novels were a major influence on his youth. J. Michael Straczynski, creator of the science fiction television series Babylon 5, also has acknowledged the influence of the Lensman books.
Superman-creator Jerry Siegel was impressed, at an early age, with the optimistic vision of the future presented in Skylark of Space.
Two members of the Green Lantern Corps are named respectively Arisia and Eddore, and the Guardians and the Power Rings are arguably quite similar thematically to the Arisians and the Lens created by them.
Ron Howard's Imagine Entertainment and Universal Studios are in negotiation with the Smith estate for an 18-month film rights option on the series.
Fictional appearances
Doc himself appears as a character in the 2006 novel The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont. The novel describes friendship and rivalry among pulp writers of the 1930s.
He also appears as "Lensman Ted Smith" in the 1980 novel "The Number Of The Beast" by Robert A. Heinlein.
Bibliography
Series
Lensman
Triplanetary (Amazing Stories Jan–Apr 1934, Fantasy Press 1948)
First Lensman (Fantasy Press 1950)
Galactic Patrol (Astounding Stories Sep 1937–Feb 1938, Fantasy Press 1950)
Gray Lensman (Astounding Stories Oct 1939–Jan 1940, Fantasy Press 1951)
Second Stage Lensmen (Astounding Stories Nov 1941–Feb 1942, Fantasy Press 1953)
Children of the Lens (Astounding Stories Nov 1947–Feb 1948, Fantasy Press 1954)
The Vortex Blaster, also known as Masters of the Vortex (Comet July 1941, Astonishing Stories Jun & Oct 1942, Gnome Press 1960)
Skylark
The Skylark of Space (written 1915–1920 with Mrs. Lee Hawkins Garby, Amazing Stories Aug–Oct 1928, Buffalo Book Co. 1946. Paperback edition, heavily revised and without the co-author credit, Pyramid Books 1958)
Skylark Three (Amazing Stories Aug–Oct 1930, Fantasy Press 1948)
Skylark of Valeron (Astounding Stories Aug 1934–Feb 1935, Fantasy Press 1949)
Skylark DuQuesne (Worlds of If Jun–Oct 1965, Pyramid Books 1966)
Subspace
Subspace Explorers (Canaveral Press 1965, Ace 1968; the first 30 pages of the book appeared in Astounding Jul 1960)
Subspace Encounter (1983)
Family d'Alembert (with Stephen Goldin - in fact only parts of the first book are by Smith, the rest is by Goldin based on Smith's novella)
Imperial Stars (1976)
Stranglers' Moon (1976)
The Clockwork Traitor (1976)
Getaway World (1977)
Appointment at Bloodstar, also known as The Bloodstar Conspiracy (1978)
The Purity Plot (1978)
Planet of Treachery (1981)
Eclipsing Binaries (1983)
The Omicron Invasion (1984)
Revolt of the Galaxy (1985)
Lord Tedric (with Gordon Eklund)
Lord Tedric (1978)
The Space Pirates (1979)
Black Knight of the Iron Sphere (1979)
Alien Realms (1980)
Non-Series Novels and Collections
Spacehounds of IPC (Amazing Stories Jul–Sep 1931, Fantasy Press 1947, Ace 1966)
The Galaxy Primes (Amazing Stories Mar–May 1959, Ace 1965. Dr. Smith expressed extreme dissatisfaction with the editing of this novel.)
Masters of Space (1976) (with E. Everett Evans)
Non-fiction
Some Clays of Idaho, (with Chester Fowler Smith) undergraduate thesis, University of Idaho, 1914.
The effect of bleaching with oxides of nitrogen upon the baking quality and commercial value of wheat flour, Ph.D. thesis, George Washington University, 1919, approximately 100 pp.
"A study of some of the chemical changes which occur in oysters during their preparation for market," Bureau of Chemistry, U.S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin 740, 1919, 24 pp.
"Viscosity and Baking Quality," Cereal Chemistry 2, 178-89, 1925.
"Report of the Subcommittee on Hydrogen-Ion Concentration with Special Reference to the Effect of Flour Bleach," Cereal Chemistry 9, 424–8, 1932.
"Catastrophe" (Astounding Science Fiction May 1938).
Worldcon Guest of Honor Speech, originally presented at Chicon I on September 1 1940. To be published in Worldcon Guest of Honor Speeches, edited by Mike Resnick and Joe Siclari, ISFiC Press, August 23 2006.
"The Epic of Space" in Of Worlds Beyond: The Science of Science Fiction Writing, edited by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach (Fantasy Press 1947; includes a biographical sketch).
Introduction to Man of Many Minds by E. Everett Evans (Fantasy Press 1953).
Secondary sources
Contains a biographical sketch on p. 4, which is included in the excerpt at Steve Jackson Games.
Ethan Fleischer Selectively Annotated English Primary Source Bibliography.
Ethan Fleischer Z9M9Z: A Lensman Website
Gharlane of Eddore (1998). Lensman FAQ http://www.chronology.org/noframes/lens/.
Robert A. Heinlein (1979). "Larger Than Life," written for MosCon I, published in
.
Frederik Pohl (1964). "Ode to a Skylark," If, May 1964. Reprinted in Lucchetti, pp. 11-15.
8pp. Reprint of an article in Fantasy Review, 1948. Describes itself as an interview, but is mostly an essay with some extended quotations.
Verna Smith Trestrail (presumably 1979). MosCon I Keynote Speech, unpublished typewritten notes.
Harry Warner (1938). Brief biography in Spaceways Volume 1, #1.Further Information
Get more info on 'E E Smith'.
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