Edward Elmer Smith

Triplanetary Edward Elmer Smith Deseret Alphabet edition

Edward Elmer "Doc" Smith (1890-1965), was an American science fiction writer. He was trained as a chemist, receiving his Ph. D. in 1919. During World War II, he worked for the U. S. Army, probably on munitions. After the war, he was employeed by a manufacturer of doughnut and frosting mixes until his retirement in 1957.

Smith was a pioneer of "space opera", rousing adventure stories with a science fiction bent. He is generally considered a master of the form; as such, modern space opera such as Star Wars is deeply indebted to him. Smith's work is replete with manly men, staunch women, fantastic aliens, super science, and, above all, weapons and warfare on a planetary scale.

Triplanetary is the first book (chronologically) in Smith's Lensman series, for which (together with his Skylark books) he is best known.

This book is in the Deseret Alphabet, a phonetic alphabet for the writing of English developed at the University of Deseret (now the University of Utah) in the 19th century.