Lensman FAQ

Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
From: gharlane@nextnet.csus.edu (Gharlane of Eddore)
Subject: LENSMAN FAQ (updated version 2)
Message-ID: <1993Jan9.194918.5246@csus.edu>
Keywords: zwilnik, fontema, fayalin, thionite, tape, flit, indetectable.
Organization: Evil Beings From Planet Eddore, Inc.
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 19:49:18 GMT
Lines: 322

Subject: LENSMAN FAQ (semi-final, pre-penultimate version 2A)

Source:   gharlane@nextnet.ccs.csus.edu   (C) 1992

warning:   This sucker is 325 lines

CONTENTS:

QUESTION #0:   WHAT IS THE "LENSMAN" SERIES?
QUESTION #1:   HOW MANY BOOKS ARE THERE IN THE 'LENSMAN' SERIES?
QUESTION #2:   WAS ANOTHER BOOK PLANNED AFTER 'CHILDREN OF THE LENS?'
QUESTION #3:   ISN'T  "MASTERS OF THE VORTEX"  PART OF THE SERIES?
QUESTION #4:   WHAT OTHER BOOKS HAVE BEEN ADDED TO THE "LENSMAN" UNIVERSE?
QUESTION #5:   WHAT ABOUT THE "LENSMAN" MOVIE and COMICS?

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QUESTION #0:    WHAT IS THE "LENSMAN" SERIES?

   The "Lensman" series is a set of books concerning the most noble
 set of Good Guys ever to run loose in Science Fiction.  A Lensman
 is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
 cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent; and well-educated,
 athletic, and noble to boot. 
   The "Lens" is an artifact worn on the wrist; it's a telepathic
 amplifier and universal translator, and it's keyed to the individual
 Lensman who owns it; it will kill anyone else who tries to put it on.
   Lensman fight the arch-villains of the universe, and each time they
 eradicate a big, bad set of villains, they discover the villains
 they've just vanquished were merely fronts for bigger, badder villains;
 this goes on until they identify, and extirpate, the Evillest Villains
 In Two Universes, leaving both universes safe for Truth, Justice, and
 Civilization.

    The series was created by Edward E. Smith, PhD ( 2 May 1890 --
 1 Sep 1965).  Smith's primary education took place around the
 turn of the century, and his writing style reflected this.
 His use of language might be considered florid by modern standards,
 but his unabashed command of vocabulary and complex sentence structure
 are quite enjoyable, particularly when you realize that what he was
 writing was, by Victorian standards, leaned-down and Hemingwayesque.

    The Lensman series was originally contracted for by F. Orlin
 Tremaine, then editor of "ASTOUNDING" magazine, in 1937.  Due to
 staff changes, the series was actually edited by John W. Campbell,
 Jr, who, along with EES' cohorts, the "Galactic Roamers," contributed
 no small amount to the series.


QUESTION #1:    HOW MANY BOOKS ARE THERE IN THE 'LENSMAN' SERIES?

   The "Lensman" saga was specifically designed as a 400,000-word
 novel, to be broken into FOUR segments.
   Smith knew exactly where he was going with the four books,
 had a complete outline, and actually wrote the ending of the
 fourth book before he began work on the first one.
   EES submitted his detailed outline, which was as long as some
 short novels, to F. Orlin Tremaine, the editor of "ASTOUNDING,"
 in early 1937.  Just prior to his departure from the editorial
 helm, Tremaine committed "ASTOUNDING" to buying and printing
 the entire package.  (The new editor was John W. Campbell, who
 would use the impetus of stories by Heinlein, Smith, and Van
 Vogt to drive "ASTOUNDING" to the forefront of the field and
 keep it there for the next three decades.)

 The FOUR lensman novels were:

 "GALACTIC  PATROL,"    serialized in "ASTOUNDING," Sept '37-Feb '38;
                        Fantasy Press hardbound, 1950.

 "GRAY LENSMAN,"        serialized in "ASTOUNDING," Oct '39 - Jan '40;
                        Fantasy Press hardbound, 1951.

 "SECOND-STAGE LENSMEN,"  serialized in "ASTOUNDING," Nov '41-Feb '42;
                          Fantasy Press hardbound, 1953.

 and "CHILDREN OF THE LENS," serialized in "ASTOUNDING," Nov '47-Feb '48.
                             Fantasy Press hardbound, 1954.

 --The book dustjackets and interior illustrations are credited to Ric
   Binkley, and strongly derived from the earlier "ASTOUNDING" artwork,
   primarily by Hubert Rogers.

 It should be noted that there are textual differences between the
 serialized versions and the hardbacks; in the magazine versions,
 the Eddorians aren't even known to exist until the last book.
 In fact, at the end of "SECOND-STAGE LENSMEN," EES uses such a hoary
 old plot device to end the book that some of his fans were more than
 a little put out.  EES was concerned over this, even in his original
 outline, because he knew he needed a strong "phony ending" for a break
 between SSL and COTL, while the Children grew to maturity, and he couldn't
 come up with one that he really liked.

   When Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, the owner of Fantasy Press, set up his deal
 with EES to publish the four books in hardbound, he came up with the
 entrepreneurial inspiration of conning EES into rewriting an earlier book,
 "TRIPLANETARY," to fit into the "Lensmen" universe; and writing a "bridge"
 novel, "FIRST LENSMAN," to connect it onto the beginning of the series.
 ( The earlier, *non*-"Lensman" version of "TRIPLANETARY" first appeared
 in "AMAZING" magazine, Jan '34 - Apr '34.)
  Since the Fantasy Press printings of EES' "Skylark" novels were already
 selling like hotcakes on a cold morning during the potato famine, Eshbach
 had no trouble selling two "new" EES books as an introduction to the main
 "Lensman" series.
   This is why there are six books in the post-1950, post-Eshbach,
 series, and why the first book is so unlike the rest in style and
 content.  Those "first" two FP "Lensman" books are:

 "TRIPLANETARY,"    Fantasy Press hardbound, 1948;   and
 "FIRST LENSMAN,"   Fantasy Press hardbound, 1950.

 --Dustjacket paintings and interior illustrations are credited to
   A.J. Donnell.

   ( Fantasy Press ran off a batch of boxed, leather-bound sets of the six
 books, and marketed them under the title "THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION."
 If anyone knows the location of one of these that's for sale, I'd be
 interested in hearing the price-tag on it.)

   Almost all Fantasy Press books were reprinted in second print runs
 with the original plates, using slightly less expensive bindings and
 paper; these are the Gnome Press editions, which show up a lot at
 library and estate sales.  They're not as valuable, but are nice to
 have.


QUESTION #2:    WAS ANOTHER BOOK PLANNED AFTER 'CHILDREN OF THE LENS?'

   EES had a plotline in mind for what occurred after the last book,
 but, as far as I can find out, never had any intention of writing it.
 Heinlein reports discussing it with him in some detail, but says
 he's unaware of any of the book ever having been written or even
 outlined on paper.
   EES made references to it on two occasions when I encountered him
 in person, but declined to discuss it in detail.
   It's fairly obvious, since the encapsulation of the last book
 ("CHILDREN OF THE LENS") is addressed to any third-level entity
 capable of obtaining it and reading it; this implies the existence
 of third-level folks besides Kim and his sisters...... which means
 that either Kim & Co. have replaced the Arisians and are guiding
 other civilizations into producing third-level minds, or have
 founded a new race of third-level intellects themselves.  (Since
 they are genetically perfect, as EES keeps reminding us, inbreeding
 wouldn't be dangerous; there are no dangerous recessive genes to be
 expressed.)


QUESTION #3:  ISN'T  "MASTERS OF THE VORTEX"  PART OF THE SERIES?

   *NO*.

   F. Orlin Tremaine, the editor who'd left "ASTOUNDING" in 1938,
 was working on a new magazine, "COMET," which was having major
 financial and circulation problems.  Tremaine asked Smith if he
 could help out.  Since Smith couldn't sell a "Lensman" novel
 to a competitor of "ASTOUNDING," he came up with the idea for
 a different series, set in the same universe.  Unfortunately,
 Tremaine's ballyhooing of the new EES series didn't get the
 magazine out of the red in time.  "THE VORTEX BLASTER" appeared
 in the the *last* issue of "COMET", in July, 1941.
 This story is about the first 25 pages of the hardbound book.
   John Campbell, the editor of ASTOUNDING, took a dim view of
 this situation, since Tremaine had bragged, in print, about how
 he was going to drive "ASTOUNDING" out of business.  (Campbell
 felt that EES's loyalty to a friend who wasn't that good an
 editor was mis-placed, and constituted a kind of underhanded
 use of "ASTOUNDING"'s material to support the competition.
 While Campbell loudly supported competition, it's noteworthy
 that EES made almost no subsequent sales to "ASTOUNDING."
 My records list only "SUBSPACE SURVIVORS" in July, 1960.)

  Short stories, "STORM CLOUD ON DEKA" and "THE VORTEX BLASTER MAKES
 WAR," appeared in "ASTONISHING STORIES" in June and October of 1942.
   With no major markets paying full rates for the V.B. stories,
 EES telescoped the multi-volume outline into something that would
 fit into one book.

   That book is "THE VORTEX BLASTER," which first appeared in hardback
 from Gnome Press in 1960.  (According to LAE, the normal printing
 schedule was inverted, so the Fantasy Press edition, with the better
 binding and paper, was actually the *second* printing! )

   At some point in the early sixties, a paperback story collection
 was published under the title "THE VORTEX BLASTER" or "THE VORTEX
 BLASTERS."  (I don't have access to my collection to verify which.)
 It based the title use on the fact that it contained the original EES
 V.B. story; since you can't copyright a title, no one contested it.
   This meant that, when Pyramid got around to printing a paperback
 edition of the novel, they wanted to use a different title; that's
 where "MASTERS OF THE VORTEX" came from.

 Question 3(A):  Where does "V.B." fit into the "Lensman" sequence?

   Although the "VORTEX BLASTER" novel is not specifically dated,
 and does not appear to refer to specific events during the final
 part of the Arisian-Eddorian war, the relative quietness of the
 galaxy seems to indicate that it takes place subsequent to "SSL."
 
 Scott Drellishak (sfd@soda.berkeley.edu) points out that VB
 definitely dates after GL by at least a few months, and probably
 after SSL, on the basis of the following points:

   After GL:
   In Chapter 6 of VB, there are references to superdreadnoughts
 and primary beams, both of which were developed during GL.
   When Cloud gets an arm shot off, it is regenerated using the
 Phillips Process, also developed during GL.  Availability of
 this treatment to a civilian employee of the Galactic Patrol
 implies at least a few months have passed since GL.

   After SSL:  (?)
   Lensman Phil Strong says "You're the most-wanted man in the
 galaxy, not excepting Kimball Kinnison."   This implies Kinnison
 is now a public figure, Coordinator Kinnison of Klovia, no
 longer a secret agent.

   Drellishak also points out that VB characters always speak of
 one galaxy, not two, which might date it before SSL.  (I feel
 this just means the other galaxy isn't yet public information.)

   Dani Zweig ( dani@netcom.com ) adds that it does look like
 Kinnison is already Galactic Coordinator.  "The fact that he
 can undertake a search for someone to help or replace Storm is
 more telling than the fact that he is the most wanted man in
 Civilization."

 Ron Ellik has observed:
 "The events of 'The Vortex Blaster' are not decidedly before or
  after "Children Of The Lens" -- Kim appears as an executive, not
  merely as The Lensman, and Haynes is still at his desk although
  we know that Raoul LaForge had been appointed Port Admiral by the
  time of the Battle of Ploor.  Nothing conclusive -- the important
  thing is that VB forms a parenthesis in the stories of the Lens
  universe, as it is not concerned with the Eddorian conflict."

 The best interpretation I can see at this date is that VB
 occurs at some point between   SSL   and  COTL.

QUESTION #4:  WHAT OTHER BOOKS HAVE BEEN ADDED TO THE "LENSMAN" UNIVERSE?

   A writer named William B. Ellern wrote a short piece called
 "MOON PROSPECTOR," set in the Lensman universe.  It was published,
 with EES' knowledge and approval, in the April, 1966 "ANALOG," and
 later expanded into a full-length novel, which has appeared under
 variant titles in various printings.  (One correspondent reports
 a British edition titled "THE NEW LENSMAN.") Reports on quality
 of the book vary from "putrid" to "tolerable."  I haven't read it.

   EES worked with a writers' group called "The Galactic Roamers."
 These folks were fans and scientists, and delighted in tearing apart
 anything vulnerable in EES' works in progress; they were a great help
 in his writing, as well as being good friends.
   One of the Roamers, David A. Kyle, was a long-time collector and fan;
 when he retired, he turned to writing.  Using extant outlines, fragments
 of EES' unpublished work, and years of wrangling, arguments, and
 discussions as his source, he wrote three books EES had discussed but
 never gotten around to.
   The three books are copyrighted by Verna Smith Trestrail, so they
 are owned by the Smith estate.  (Cover paintings, by Bob Larkin,
 start sloppy and get better. <"sloppy" in story detail, not technique.> )

 These are:

 "DRAGON LENSMAN"   (Bantam Books, Sept 1980, ISBN 0-553-13741-7, $1.95);
 
 "LENSMAN FROM RIGEL" (Bantam Books, Oct '82, ISBN 0-553-20499-8, $2.50);
 
 "Z-LENSMAN."       (Bantam Books, Aug '83, ISBN 0-553-23427-7, $2.75).
 
 Since Kyle was feeling his way, the writing is not good in the first
 book, improves in the second, and is actually interesting in the third. 

 Each of these books features one of the non-Terran 2nd-stage Lensmen
 as a primary character.   
 
 I'm only aware of one printing on each of these.

QUESTION #5:    WHAT ABOUT THE "LENSMAN" MOVIE and COMICS?

   Some years agone, a denizen of this and other networks, a sterling
 chap hight Jamie E. Hanrahan, chanced upon a Japanese gentleman at a
 major science fiction convention.   That gentleman happened to be the
 one responsible for the "YAMATO"/"STAR BLAZERS" anime.
   Typically starry-eyed, young Mr. Hanrahan dragged him over to a
 nearby dealers' table and thrust the "Lensman" novels upon him. 
   That's where the Japanese anime version came from.    Since young
 Mr. Hanrahan was unwilling to learn Japanese, relocate to Japan, and
 act as technical advisor to protect our precious heritage, you can
 blame him for Worsel having the wrong number of eyes, and looking like
 a bipedal dinosaur instead of a snaky winged reptile; and for the fact
 that Clarissa MacDougall suddenly stopped being a beautiful redhead.
 Not to mention Van Buskirk's metamorphosis into a guy named "Buskirk"
 and other noxious details, like Kinnison being a farmboy who gets
 his Lens from a crashed Space Hero, etc...... *grin*

 (Bear in mind that there have been many Japanese editions of the
  "Lensman" books over the years; Al Lewis's EES bibliography lists
  "GREI RENZUMAN," from Tokyo Sogensha, a 1966 paperback, for example.
  So we can't presume that it wouldn't have happened without Jamie's
  well-meant gesture; it's just that he's a convenient scapegoat.)

 Comics.   I've been told there are a slew of "Lensman" comic books out
           there.  I'd appreciate it if no one ever shows me one, since
           they are reportedly based on the Japanese anime storyline.

 =========================

 Primary references used in the above compilation have been personal
 knowledge, my own collection, Sam Moskowitz' error-ridden biographical
 sketch of EES, the nearly error-free "THE UNIVERSES OF E.E. SMITH" by
 Ron Ellik and E.E. Evans, Robert A. Heinlein's nearly error-free
 article, "LARGER THAN LIFE," in "Expanded Universe," and insegrevious
 input from the likes of HIGGINS@FNAL.FNAL.GOV (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey).

 Source:   gharlane@nextnet.ccs.csus.edu   (C) 1992
 address comments, queries, flames, idiopathic paeans of adulation, and
                   other such wrangling to  alt.dev.null.  10Q.
                   Genuine additions of information to Source: above;
                   verified addenda will be included in subsequent FAQs,
                   with contributor acknowledgements.