[TML] Traveller pulp roots and related literature; was: The SRD is out for Traveller at the mongoose site.

[shadow at shadowgard.com]

On 6 Jul 2008 at 21:12, Brad Rogers wrote:

> On Sun, 06 Jul 2008 15:46:15 -0400
> Mark Urbin <eclipse at urbin.net> wrote:
> 
> Hello Mark,
> 
> > In addition to Space Viking, and Mr. Piper's other fine works, also
> > try E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensmen series.
> 
> Probably the quintessential Space Opera, IMO.

The Skylark series is harder to find, but possibly a better starting 
point.

There are four books and the order can be confusing:

1. The Skylark of Space
2. Skylark Three
3. Skylark of Valeron
4. Skylark DuQuesne

The fourth book was written decades after the first three. It shows a 
bit. It also has what is arguably the biggest "battle" in any space 
opera.

Spoiler
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

In the climatic battle Seaton & company destroy an entire *galaxy*. 
Technically two galaxies. By teleporting stars from one galaxy into 
close proximity to the stars of the target galaxy while 
simultaneously transporting huuman occupied worlds into a third 
galaxy.

So in the target galaxy, all the those new stars are colliding with 
the existing stars. Creating nova to supernova level explosions. 

The "soiurce" galaxy winds up practically bare of stars. (while it's 
not mentioned, one must assume that any inhabited planets where eith 
moved to the third galaxy or had their star left alone).

And in the third galaxy all the new planets have been palaced in 
stable orbits around new stars. 

The bad guy aliens in the target galaxy get fried (they don't live on 
earthlike worlds, so there's no worry about getting them mixed with 
the humans that are being saved.

All of this is done in around a day...

Oh yeah, the ship this was being done from is large enough that when 
an attack "whittled it down to a nub" the *thousand kilometer* 
(diameter I assume from context) "setting circles" for aiming the 
sixth-order projector are still safe and undamaged.

In other words this ship is big enough to have a UPP!! Shades of 
Dahak from a certain David Weber series... 




--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at shadowgard dot com