E. E. Smith 3 hr 27 min read

Aboard the space-liner Hyperion, Captain Bradley frowns at his instruments as space pirates close in, the opening of a super-science epic that will span from ancient Atlantis to the stars.

E. E. 'Doc' Smith's 1934 serial is the original version of the Lensman saga's first book. Epic, sweeping, gloriously super-scientific. Read it for the magazine original of Triplanetary, space pirates, super-weapons, and interplanetary war on a titanic scale, from the founding master of space opera, later expanded into the overture of his immortal Lensman series.

In its time

Published in 1934, during the 1930s, space opera soars.

Reading it

3 hr 27 min read (a novel-length work, settle in).