Lensman saga

E. E. Smith’s seminal saga was the longest to come out of the prozines and contributed many expressions to fanspeak. Doc Smith was ever popular with fans, and in this space opera series he surpassed himself.

The novels are:

• Triplanetary (Amazing Stories, January–April, 1934; later expanded and published in book form in 1948 by Fantasy Press).
• First Lensman (Fantasy Press, 1950).
• Galactic Patrol (Astounding, September 1937–February 1938).
• Grey Lensman (Astounding, October 1939–January 1940).
• Second Stage Lensman (Astounding, November 1941–February 1942).
• Children of the Lens (Astounding, November 1947–February 1948).

It's difficult today to appreciate the importance of the Lensman series to sf and sf fandom, since E. E. Smith’s writing was never more than adequate, but the best brief comment is from John Clute: "...any revisit to his work should be made in the loving awareness that he is a creature of the dawn."

See:

• Entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
• Lensmen FAQ.
• The Universes of E. E. Smith.
• Language in the Lensman Series.

Lensman Fanspeak

• Arisia — Home to the elitist superpowers of the series: the Arisians were always using their superior mental powers to thwart attempts by the forces of Boskone to bring fun and prosperity to the galaxy. The Arisians was a NY club in the mid-1940s. Arisia is now the name of the second series of Boston area conventions.
• Bergenholm — An inertialess drive which allowed faster-than-light travel.
• Bolega — An Aldebaranian alcoholic spirit similar to whisky.
• Boskone — The bad guys: Boskonia is a sort of totalitarian empire made in the image of what naive Democrats believe totalitarian empires are like — with caste systems, whip-wielding overlords in palaces, ktp; it derives its name from the Council of Boskone, the ruling body of the Eich, who direct operations during the second thru fourth volumes. Boskonian biggies used the command-line "speaking for Boskone". The Futurians held that Boskonia was more desirable than what Doc Smith had described of Civilization, hence the gag-line, "Wollheim, speaking for Boskone." Now the name of a Boston-area con.
• Clear ether! — A greeting or farewell. SEK3 used it as a fanzine title.
• DeLameters – Rayguns, the standard sidearm.
• Duodec — An explosive, aka duodecaplylatomate, “the quintessence of atomic destruction.”
• Eddore — Source of Boskonian culture, a planet of malignant immortal amoeboids, materialistic opposites of the Arisians. Gharlane of Eddore was a famous villain and David G. Potter’s online pseudonym.
• Eich — One of the middling races in the ladder of the Enemies of Civilization which ended with Eddore.
• Fayalin — “A stimulating, although non-intoxicating beverage prepared from the fruit of a Crevenian shrub, Fayaloclastus Augustifolius Barnstead; much in favor as a ceremonial drink among those who can afford it.”
• Galactic Civilization — The good guys, relieved of governmental troubles by virtue of the absolute trustworthiness of the Lensmen and by implication a kind of utopia — note the tacit assumption that there exist True Principles of Honest Government, Accept No Substitutes.
• Grand Base and Prime Base — Boskonian and Patrol HQs.
• Grey Lensmen — The elite of the Galactic Patrol. They wear grey uniforms and are responsible only to the Galactic Council; the Grey Lensman is Kimball Kinnison, hero of the last four volumes, and an uncommonly powerful superman.
• Helmuth — A Boskonian villain who’s lent his name to at least a couple of fanzines.
• Jarnevon — Home planet of the Eich. It was destroyed by crushing it between two "loose" planets. Little Jarnevon was a New York slan shack.
• Klono — A god who is "a combination of Noshabkeming, some of the gods of the ancient Greeks and Romans, all three of the Fates, and quite a few other things as well.... He's got so much stuff — teeth and horns, claws, and whiskers, tail and everything — that he's much more satisfactory to swear by than any other space-god I know of." Klono is remarkable for the number of his anatomical appurtenances (all formed of some alliterative metal: carballoy claws, gadolinium guts, tungsten teeth, etc.), which are things to swear by. Fannish use tends to be ribald: “By Klono’s brass balls!” ... “golden gonads!” ... “titanium testicles!” ... &c.
• The Lens — A semi-living telepathic transceiver, provided by their super-mentalities of Arisia to the Galactic Patrol. Special officers of the Patrol who by a training of Gothik rigor have Proved Their Worthiness are entrusted with these gadgets, and designated as Lensmen.
• Noshabkeming — A space god second to Klono in adherents. He is said to bring luck to spacemen.
• On green — "Of course" or "on target." ...And on Green was another SEK3 zine.
• Ploor – A planet of baddies higher up in the hierarchy (used fannishly as an exclamation, or as a euphemism for any far-away place like Savannah, Georgia).
• Primary beams — Ships' main armament; they were produced by overloading a normal ray-projector to the point of blowout, creating a beam against which nothing can stand.
• QX — "OK" in the stories. It was sometimes used in fandom, but usually as a deliberate reference to the Lensman stories and not as fanspeak as such. It was the name of at least a couple of fanzines.
• Red Lensman — Clarissa MacDougall Kinnison, Kimball Kinnison's wife, a tuckerization of Doc Smith’s sister-in-law.
• Wide-open three-way (WO3W) — Complete telepathic contact among three persons, used in fandom to describe regular correspondence among a trio of fen, with all three receiving copies of the missives.
• Zwilniks — Evil-minded folk generally, tho the word originally meant "any entity connected with the [interstellar] drug traffic."

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

(E. E. Smith) The Lens is a semi-living telepathic transceiver, provided by the super-mentalities of Arisia to the Galactic Patrol [our side]. Special officers of the Patrol who by a training of Gothik rigor have Proved Their Worthiness are entrusted with these gadgets, and designated as Lensmen. Doc Smith was ever popular with fans, and in this series he surpassed himself. The saga (Triplanetary, First Lensman, Galactic Patrol, Grey Lensman, Second Stage Lensman, Children of the Lens) is the longest to come out of magazine science-fiction, and contributed many expressions to Fanspeak: Delameters, the standard sidearm; Grand Base and Prime Base, Boskonian and Patrol HQs; "free" (inertialess) faster-than-light flight; and superexplosive duodec. Clean-minded heroes swore by Klono, a god remarkable for the number of his anatomical appurtenances (all formed of some alliterative metal: brazen bowels, tungsten test tentacles, etc). Primary beams were ships' main armament; they were produced by overloading a normal ray-projector to the point of blowout, creating a beam against which nothing can stand (Campbell anticipated the obvious objection by pointing out that if Doc Smith knew how the ray projector worked before being overloaded he'd be writing for the Patent Office, not ASF). A Grey Lensman [they wear grey uniforms] is one responsible only to the Galactic Council; the Grey Lensman is Kimball Kinnison, hero of the last four volumes, and an uncommonly powerful superman. Galactic Civilization, the good guys, is relieved of governmental troubles by virtue of the absolute trustworthiness of the Lensmen and by implication is a kind of utopia -- note the tacit assumption that there exist True Principles of Honest Government, Accept No Substitutes. Boskonia [the baddies] is a sort of totalitarian empire made in the image of what naive democrats believe totalitarian empires are like -- caste systems, whip-wielding overlords in palaces, ktp; it derives its name from the Council of Boskone, the ruling body of the Eich, who direct operations during the second thru fourth volumes. For the same reason Boskonian biggies used the command-line "speaking for Boskone". [The Futurians held that Boskonia was more desirable than what Smith had described of Civilization, hence the gag-line, "Wollheim, speaking for Boskone".] Jarnevon was the home of the Eich; Ploor was a planet of baddies higher up in the hierarchy (now used as an exclamation, or as a synonym for any far-away place like Savannah, Ga); Eddore was the source of Boskonian culture, a planet of malignant immortal amoeboids, materialistic opposites of the Arisians. And Zwilniks were evil-minded folk generally, tho the word originally meant "any entity connected with the [interstellar] drug traffic".

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Publication

1948—1960

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