When "The Skylark of Space" was published in AMAZING STORIES in 1928 it gave the science fiction fraternity

the road to the stars. It also had a profound effect on other writers, notably John W. Campbell, who took their cue

from Smith.

TO THE FAR REACHES OF SPACE, a complete - in itself excerpt from the famous novel, records this initial leap

beyond the solar system. Told with verve and gusto, the narrative admirably shows Smith's panache in handling vast

distances and strange alien worlds.

As "The Skylark of Space" shattered the confines of the space story in 1928, so ROBOT NEMESIS widened the

frontiers of the robot story when it first appeared (under another title) in 1934. Robots in the early days of science

fiction were usually clanking monstrosities who threatened their scientist creators. In this story Smith's illimitable

imagination postulates a future wherein robots actually threaten to supplant mankind as the Lords of Creation.

Smith's writing was never better than in the opening chapters of ""Triplanetary." The complex structure of the pirate

base, a self-contained world in space, comes across with absolute credibility in the complete segment PIRATES

OF SPACE.

THE VORTEX BLASTER is definitive Smith, with its skillful intermingling of super-science and human interest.

The tragedy of Neal Cloud immediately grips the reader who easily identifies with Cloud in his fight against the

atomic horror responsible for his wife's death.

In TEDRIC (1953) and LORD TEDRIC (1954), the reader is offered two lost gems which were originally pub-

lished in two of the rarest magazines in the field. Here one finds a fascinating blend of sword and sorcery and the

paradoxes of time travel, in the inimitable Smith style.

SUBSPACE SURVIVORS (1960) is a compelling novelette written in the modern tradition which marked Smith's

triumphant return to the pages of ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION after a thirteen year absence.

THE IMPERIAL STARS (1964) marks the high watermark of the final phase of Smith's work. Whilst presented in

the slick, modern manner, it evokes the old magic of the Lensman series, with its galactic agents and star-spanning

intrigues. Intended as the first in a new series, later parts are said to exist in outline and may yet appear in some

form or other.

 That is something to look forward to. Meanwhile you will find encompassed here the best of "Doc" Smith, eight

stories spanning an incredible five decades of science fiction history, by its best-loved pioneer.

                          Philip Harbottle, Wellsend, March 1975.