Triplanetary, First in the Lensman Series: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Triplanetary, First in the Lensman Series, credited to E. E. “Doc” Smith, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Triplanetary, first in the Lensman Series by E. E. "Doc" Smith. Read by Phil Chenevert. Triplanetary was first serialized in Amazing Stories in 1934. After the Lensman series became popular, Smith took his Triplanetary story and turned it into the first of the Lensman series, using it as a prequel to give the back story for the protaganists in the Lensmen series. He added 6 new chapters, doubling it in size and it's really a different book from the serialized novel, being published 14 years after the first. It was put into Gutenberg just last year. The novel covers several episodes in an eons-long eugenics project of the super-intelligences of the Arisia. This alien race is breeding two genetic lines to become the ultimate weapon in Arisia's cosmic war with their arch enemy, the Eddore. The initial chapters cover the Kinnison genetic line during the fall of Atlantis and Nero's (Gharlane of Eddore) reign in Rome. These tales were inserted into the novel following the serialized release, along with chapters covering members of the Kinnison line in World Wars One, Two and Three. The final chapter of Triplanetary tells of the discovery of the inertialess drive that allows faster than light travel. Patrolman Conway Costigan and his friends engage in a space battle with Gray Roger the pirate gangster. This conflict is complicated by the arrival of the technologically superior, extra-Solar, amphibian-like Nevians, resulting in the first interstellar war involving humans. In this story Virgil Samms and Roderick Kinnison, two very important members of the eugenics project, are introduced. They will play the leading roles in the next story, First Lensman. (Summary by Wikipedia and Phil Chenevert)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Triplanetary, First in the Lensman Series
• Author credits: E. E. “Doc” Smith
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 19
• Listed recording duration: 10:31:09

Catalogue topics

• science fiction
• sci-fi
• eugenics
• doc smith

Track guide

1. 01 - Arisia and Eddore — 22:09
2. 02 - The Fall of Atlantis — 49:53
3. 03 - The Fall of Rome — 36:53
4. 04 - 1918 — 28:32
5. 05 - 1941 — 47:12
6. 06 - 19—? — 27:30
7. 07 - Pirates of Space — 41:17
8. 08 - In Roger's Planetoid — 38:12
9. 09 - Fleet Against Planetoid — 26:23
10. 10 - Within the Red Veil — 44:43
11. 11 - Nevian Strife — 40:37
12. 12 - Worm, Submarine, and Freedom — 15:54
13. 13 - The Hill — 27:14
14. 14 - The Super-Ship Is Launched — 24:21
15. 15 - Specimens — 10:01
16. 16 - Super-Ship in Action — 32:24
17. 17 - Roger Carries On — 46:19
18. 18 - The Specimens Escape — 38:28
19. 19 - Giants Meet — 33:10

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.