The Skylark of Space
E. E. “Doc” Smith
Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022)
The novel begins with the accidental discovery, in a Government laboratory in Washington D. C., of a form of clean nuclear power. Our hero, Dr. Richard Seaton, uses this power to build first a flying belt and then an interstellar spaceship. He later discovers that the process operates by generation and manipulation of gravity fields.
When his government coworkers do not believe him, Seaton acquires rights to his discovery from the government and commercializes it with the aid of his friend, millionaire inventor Martin Crane. A former colleague, Dr. Marc DuQuesne, joins with the unscrupulous World Steel Corporation to try to steal Seaton's invention. The resulting conflict escalates, as Seaton and Duquesne develop greater and greater technical capabilities and enlist more and more powerful alien races as allies.. (Summary by Wikipedia) (9 hr 22 min)
Chapters
01 - The Occurrence of the Impossible | 6:49 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
02 - Steel Becomes Interested | 23:51 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
03 - Seaton Solves the Problem of Power | 35:23 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
04 - Steel Liberates Energy Unexpectedly | 29:44 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
05 - Direct Action | 26:50 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
06 - The Object Compass at Work | 30:32 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
07 - The Trial Voyage | 30:44 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
08 - Indirect Action | 17:39 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
09 - Lost in Space | 43:55 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
10 - The Rescue | 30:12 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
11 - Through Space into the Carboniferous | 48:32 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
12 - The Mastery of Mind Over Matter | 22:31 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
13 - Nalboon of Mardonale | 35:07 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
14 - Nalboon Unmasked | 32:53 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
15 - The Escape from Mardonale | 37:20 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
16 - An Osnomain Marriage | 40:24 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
17 - Bird, Beast, or Fish? | 28:54 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
18 - The Invasion | 29:13 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
19 - The Return to Earth | 12:02 | Read by Richard Kilmer (1942 - 2022) |
Reviews
Skylark #1 first, last and always!
SGL
This is wonderful classic SciFi..Crane and Seaton, after. tangling with World Steel (WS a facless, ruthless and greedy multinational corporation ) have finally completed there second larger, safer space craft the Skylark. Unfortunately instead of there planned extended shake down flight and well general skylarking about, they have save Dorthy from the clutches of Blacky Du-Caine and World Steel! There's action, corruption and look at one mans vision of space flight and relationships/with other interstellar species. also a peak back at the prevailing social and racial conditions that were.the norm at the time the story was written. There's no way around it, this is well written and insightful. Both which makes it one of those books that is a must read ( in this case hear) !
What a lark is “The Skylark of Space”!
Dave
What a lark is “The Skylark of Space”! The story alternates from hard sci-fi of the time (circa WWI) to laughable fantasy. But fun nevertheless, and worth a listen for a window into our swashbuckling Edisonade sci-fi past. There was more science behind it then Star Wars, so if you could suspend your disbelief and watch those movies, you will likely enjoy this. Morally, well it is a product of its times. Genocide does seem to be considered an acceptable solution to a warlike race. A few other things might receive warnings, But then there are the basic threads of loyalty to others, romantic fidelity, and a desire for justice and fair play. So chew on the meat and spit out the bones. Have fun!
VERY INVENTIVE
AVID READER
The various new scientific things described are phenomenal, especially considering this work is a century old. Modern scifi writers do not normally introduce so many creations even though they have much knowledge of space flight. They also have many years of scifi writing on which to build, while Smith did not. Smith also combined scifi adventure with romance and love. In doing this he proved that he was a good writer of scifi only. Usual fine read by RK.
old style SF
bahamajohn08
other reviews did a good job explaining the story. I found it as old fashioned old style fun science fiction story. The characters were well defined and fit their parts exactly. if you have it jaded mind on science fiction and are looking for something up to date This isn't the story for you. at best it is very early rocketry and very fanciful. and I stayed with it to the end.
Decent
Bung
The biggest science flaw is they would turn to a thin paste under those accelerations. Has magic gizmos and a brief visit of the rays for everything. The romance is boring. Has dull chapters. Good story to listen to once because there are sequels. Not bad.
A LibriVox Listener
I found this to be a very interesting blast from the past. Though the heroes and villains were kind of wooden, I enjoyed the story thoroughly. Many of the dated concepts gave me a real view of how people of the time saw the world.
Good old scifi
Sherie Black
Enjoyed the story. Lots of grand optimism about great adventure. I enjoyed the verbage from the time period it was written. The reader did a fairly good job but it was distracting his facilitating in pronouncing Seaton as "sea"ton or "satan"
should have nerfed the romance
H. C. Jensen
this story only gets ⭐⭐⭐ because the romance is unnecessary and quite icky. the narrator is good. (no mark nelson, but good). i hope the next one has much less romance.