SF Gateway Omnibus of the Week: The Skylark Omnibus by E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith
‘What’s this?’ I hear you cry, ‘We’ve already had the ‘Doc’ Smith as Omnibus of the Week! What gives?’
Well, what gives is the time over the weekend usually spent updating the website and writing blog posts was instead spent trying to rebuild the crashed hard drive on my Macbook. (Result uncertain at the time of writing. Thanks for asking.) So, in the interests of having something new on the blog (this statement true for sufficiently imprecise values of ‘new’), I thought I’d re-run an old favourite.
And, let’s face it, when we hear the term ‘classic science fiction’, battered old paperbacks bearing majestic Chris Foss depictions of massive spaceships is what most of us think of. So . . .
From the ground-breaking digital initiative, the SF Gateway, the four novels of the Skylark sequence by the prolific E. E. ‘Doc’ Smith. A perfect introduction to the father of modern space opera.
This omnibus forms an ideal sample introduction to the fantastic work of E. E. ‘Doc’ Smith, one of the most influential authors of the pulp era. Working with legendary Astounding Science Fiction editor, John W. Campbell, Smith revolutionised space opera, giving it many of the tropes still evident today. This volume reprints the four novels of his classic Skylark series: The Skylark of Space, Skylark Three, Skylark of Valeron & Skylark DuQuesne.
You can find more of Doc Smith’s work via his author page on the SF Gateway website, and read more about her in his entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
