
The Skylark of Space - solarengineer
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20869/20869-h/20869-h.htm
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solarengineer
Summary: The Skylark of Space is considered to be one of the earliest novels
of interstellar travel and the first example of space opera. Originally
serialized in 1928 in the magazine Amazing Stories, it was first published in
book form in 1946 by the Buffalo Book Co. The novel was followed by three
sequels, beginning with Skylark Three.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Skylark_of_Space?wprov=sft...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Skylark_of_Space?wprov=sfti1)

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eesmith
When reading this, compare also Smith's writing style - fast-paced and rarely
even pausing to slow down - with older, more plodding SF styles. Verne could
go for pages listing fish species or minutia of scientific apparatus. Wells
was more ponderous, with Significant Questions about Man.

A couple of comments:

""What's happened, Doctah?" asked the dusky assistant. ... Here he lived alone
save for an old colored couple who were his servants. ... the colored man who
had been secured to take his place"

The lovely systemic racism of the era.

"If it were done instantaneously it would probably blow the entire world into
a vapor, and might force it clear out of its orbit"

That didn't seem right at all, so I worked it out: 100 lbs of copper, assuming
pure antimatter, is equivalent to a gigaton of TNT, or about 20 Tsar Bomba
explosions.

"I gather that an ounce or so will be plenty. ... Ten thousand tons of
nitroglycerin"

60 megatons, according to the earlier estimate.

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galaxyLogic
"one of the great space flying stories"

