The Skylark of Space

Before Star Wars, before Star Trek, there was The Skylark of Space. E.E. "Doc" Smith dreamed up the template for interstellar adventure in the 1920s, and nothing in science fiction has been quite the same since. When chemist Richard Seaton accidentally propels his copper steam-bath into the cosmos with a newly discovered cosmic power source, he kicks open the door to the stars. But proving his discovery to a skeptical world proves almost as dangerous as what awaits in the void. With his loyal friend Martin Crane at his side and a villainous former colleague scheming to steal his work, Seaton must protect his invention and then journey farther than humanity has ever dreamed. What follows is pure, uncut adventure: space battles, alien worlds, high stakes, and the kind of reckless heroics that made science fiction the literature of wonder. This is the novel that birthed a genre.