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First Lensman

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First Lensman
Dust-jacket from the first edition
AuthorEdward E. Smith, Ph.D.
IllustratorA. J. Donnell
Cover artistA. J. Donnell
LanguageEnglish
SeriesLensman series
GenreScience fiction novel
PublisherFantasy Press
Publication date
1950
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardback)
Pages306 pp
ISBNNA Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
Preceded byTriplanetary 
Followed byGalactic Patrol 

First Lensman is a science fiction novel and space opera by author Edward E. Smith, Ph.D.. It was first published in 1950 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 5,995 copies. Although it is the second novel in the Lensman series, it was the last written. The novel chronicles the founding of the Galactic Patrol by Virgil Samms, the first sentient being in our cosmos to wear the "Lens", a unique badge of authority which is actually a form of "pseudo-life" and grants telepathic powers to the defenders of civilization.

Plot synopsis

First Lensman picks up more or less where Triplanetary left off. The story follows the doings of the "First Lensman" Virgil Samms. The Arisians know that he is literally incorruptible and is a paragon of bravery and virtue, so they have chosen him to be the first entity to wear the "Lens of Civilization".

Virgil Samms has a dream. He wants to establish the Galactic Patrol to protect civilization from the forces of evil. He needs to have a symbol for the incorruptible men he wants to be in his Patrol. Finally, he is guided by the intuition of one of his trusted subordinates (actually an Arisian living as a human being) to Arisia, a heretofore unapproachable planet where he is greeted by a benevolent and telepathic Arisian who presents him a Lens. The Lens is a device that can only be made by the Arisians using their advanced mental science and that can be worn only by the person that it is exclusively attuned to. It gives its wearer the ability to communicate telepathically with any being or animal with a mind, as well as other powers. The Lens is the focus of all the remaining stories in the series. Samms is charged with locating all "Lens worthy" individuals and directing them to Arisia to have their own Lens bestowed upon them. The Arisian further states that women aren't psychologically able to wear a Lens.

Once he has a cadre of Lensmen available to defend civilization, Samms uses them to begin tracing leads to the major threats to civilization. Crooked politics, illegal drugs, and pirates attacking merchant ships in space. To fight the crooked politics all they can do for the moment is gather evidence and hold it until the campaign and elections which are covered later in the story. The leads to the pirates hit a blank wall and stall (for now). The leads followed to combat the drug traffickers yield the most success. Breaking the drug smuggling turns out to be the key to getting a handle on all the other threats. As the Lensmen trace the trade in "thionite", a mind altering drug, from the beginning to the "end user", they find the different leads all coming together, and all leading straight to the corrupt political machine that was then running North America, and trying to get a strangle hold on all the rest of civilization.

While following the leads, the Lensmen visit alien planets and encounter bizarre life forms (and attempt to recruit representative members of as many species as possible as Lensmen), build a fleet by uniting all the continental fleets of Tellus (Earth) into the “Grand Fleet of the Galactic Patrol”, and engage in a satisfyingly massive space battle in defense of their headquarters, “The Hill”. By this time the upper levels of the Patrol are just starting to play with the idea that maybe the beings that have been calling “pirates” are actually members of another civilization, a civilization at least as big and as powerful as the civilization of the Galactic Patrol. Having beaten off the “pirate” fleet attacking The Hill, traced the drug smuggling from source to user, it was time to cut off the head of the dragon by defeating the corrupt political machine in the next election.

The second half of the book tells of a North American presidential election (Canada, the US and Mexico together form a single nation) fought by the officers of the Triplanetary Service (as 'Cosmocrats') on the right to elect Roderick Kinnison North American President, and the crooked political machine on the left (as 'Nationalist') to keep the corrupt incumbent in office. After a knock down, drag out fight between the two parties, another battle in space even bigger than the first one, and the release of all the evidence of corruption gathered and held on to before, the Cosmocrats win the crucial election that ensures the continuation of the Galactic Patrol and the safety of Civilization (for now).

Publication history

  • 1950, USA, Fantasy Press, Pub date 1950, Hardback
  • 1955, UK, Boardman Books, Pub date 1955 Hardback
  • 1961, Germany, Zimmermann, Pub Date 1961, Hardback, as Die ersten Lensmen
  • 1964, USA, Pyramid Books, Pub date 1964, Paperback
  • 1997, UK, Ripping Publishing ISBN 1-899884-13-0, Pub date July 1997, Paperback
  • 1997, USA, Old Earth Books ISBN 1-882968-10-7, Pub date November 1997, Paperback

References

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