The Skylark of Space

The Skylark of Space was first published as a serial in Amazing Stories in 1928. It was published in book form in 1946. I heard an audiobook version that I'm sure must have been based on the 1946 edition. And I think it must have been edited to update it because I found a number of references that seemed unlikely in a 1928 science fiction story that wasn't set in the future. There were mentions of: atomic bombs, fusion, fission, radiation; a TV station; helicopters; supersonic planes; night glasses; guided missiles.

Frederick Pohl compared its influence to that of the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne. I would compare it in style more to Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars. It's been called the seminal space opera. Isaac Asimov wrote that "It had adventure of an unprecedented kind ... the first great 'classic' of American science fiction", but "As literature, it was a total flop." This was my first Doc Smith. The witing is definitely pulp - its a little silly, a little outlandish - but it's fun.