Piratas do Espaço

Lord Tedric #2

by Gordon Eklund, E.E. "Doc" Smith, Maria Nóvoa (Translator)

Lorde Tedric, o Senhor dos Céus, voltou. Desta vez comandando uma rebelião para arrebatar o poder da coroa à diabólica família Carey,
Ajudado pelos seus fiéis aliados - o Wykzl de pêlo azul; Philip Nolan, o aristocrata rebelde; um sub-homem com ascendência canina; KT294578 Wilson, o extraordinário robot anarquista e uma princesa raptada -, Tedric luta quase até à morte. E isto é apenas o começo.
Enquanto se trava a batalha, uma força ainda maior e mais malévola ameaça a galáxia e Lorde Tedric começa a compreender com clareza esta situação.
Eis o melhor da fantasia espacial, numa aventura cheia de acção, com todo o suspense que tornou as odisseias do mestre E.E. "Doc" Smith tão popular e apreciadas.

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

137 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 30, 2012

About the author

Gordon Eklund is a Nebula Award-winning, American science fiction author whose works include the "Lord Tedric" series and two of the earliest original novels based on the 1960s Star Trek TV series. He has written under the pen name Wendell Stewart, and in one instance under the name of the late E. E. "Doc" Smith (1890-1965).

Eklund's first published SF short story, "Dear Aunt Annie", ran in the April 1970 issue of Fantastic magazine and was nominated for a Nebula Award. Eklund won the Nebula for Best Novelette for the 1974 short story "If the Stars Are Gods", co-written with Gregory Benford. The two expanded the story into a full-length novel of the same title, published in 1977.

In his teens, Eklund was a member of a Seattle SF fan club, The Nameless Ones, and in 1977, Eklund was a guest of honor at the 1977 SF convention Bubonicon 9, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Cushing Memorial Library of Texas A&M University has a "Gordon Eklund Collection" housing the typed manuscript of the story "The Stuff of Time".

Eklund has retired from a long career with the U.S. Postal Service, and is considering writing full-time again. He's a member of the Fantasy Amateur Press Association and the Spectator Amateur Press Society.

Reviews

[DiscoSpacePanther · Rating 1 out of 5]

Where to begin? First of all, this book was not written by E.E. "Doc" Smith, but rather by Gordon Eklund in the "style" of Smith. It succeeds in aping the worst aspects of Smith—the passive female characters, the superlative-laden writing—but it has none of the creativity or imagination of Smith's genre defining works. The plot that seems to be a smooshed together jumble of things happening because the author just wanted to get on to the next scene of cardboard characters standing-and-talking. There is talk of a Manichean struggle between "Scientists" and demonic powers, but it is so crudely forced into the narrative that it adds nothing to the story, and detracts mightily by destroying any sense of agency from anyone but the author. The storytelling feels like a comic book from the Silver Age, but without any arresting visual imagery to supplement the bare-bones prose.

Weirdly, this book reads like a kid's Babylon 5 fanfic repurposed as an "original" story, only somehow being published 15 years before Babylon 5 debuted. And with none of the intelligence, compassion or deconstruction of the genre tropes that Babylon 5-creator J. Michael Straczynski built his story with. No, here the tropes are played utterly straight and bald, and without anything compelling or new to add flavour.

Yeah—it is clearly a novel meant for kids or perhaps a YA audience—but just because it is for teens doesn't mean it has to be drivel.

Not worth anyone's time nowadays, and was probably not worth anyone's time in 1979 when it was published.

[Philipp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Random find at the used book store (Bella Books, Osborne Park, Perth, highly recommended!! A 'classic' used-book store with stacks of books on the floor) [1].

I haven't really read anything by E.E. Doc Smith so I can't tell how similar this is to his earlier works; Wikipedia (not the book itself!!!) tells me this wasn't actually written by Smith, but by others using Smith's name and characters after Smith's death.

We have Tedric of the human empire, a decadent and dying thing, who was sent to 'this' galaxy from a different one by The Scientists (not a band!) to influence events. Tedric joins up with space pirates led by a fun robot, they kidnap the last emperor's blind and quasi-telepathic daughter, she pulls off a Patti Hearst, and most of the plot concerns itself with the Space Pirates' efforts to topple the new usurper-emperor (they cease being pirates and instead become rebels).

It's space opera on a not-so-large scale, clearly written as part of a series as there are constant allusion to the other novels in the series; especially the larger plot around The Scientists and their counterparts is set up for later. Lots of mary-suing, fun space-explosions, some battles, but marred by having most outcomes pretty much pre-ordained. It's all lopsided, but still quick fun.

[1] bought for $4.50, fun example of inflation: it was sold new for $2.75 in 1979.

[Robert D · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is book two in the Lord Tedric series. Conceptually it has an interesting plot. The Terran Empire has declined in power and the elite rich, mostly personified in the Carey family have been partly the cause as they solidify their own wealth and power. The protagonist have turned space pirates to try and thwart their power.

Unfortunately the book is poorly executed. There's not a lot of character development. There are times when the plot is held together by the flimsiest of circumstance and coincidence.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eklund manages an old-school sci-fi tone (40s-60s) without descending to the tedium that sometimes accompanies that style. It's a pretty fluffy adventure all things told; not a whole lot of depth to be found here. Seems to be part of the post Star Wars space opera boom, but without the strong explanation of the mystical aspects that we would eventually get from that franchise. Maybe that comes later in the Lord Tedric series, but what we have so far at this point feels much less resonant. I guess I'll have to keep my eyes open for the other installments.

[Aidan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great

[Richard Palmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an odd little story. I bought it because I thought it was actually by EE 'Doc' Smith, and so I was a bit confused by the copyright date of 14 years after the author's death! Of course it turns out that it wasn't written by Smith at all, but by another author much later in the style of the legendary 'Doc'. It's an interesting tale in its own right but the plot is a bit thin and contains some quite bad errors - a girl who is described as blind on one page and who then 'sees' things on the next. A robot who can propel a man across a room with a mere touch on one page and then claims not to be built with strength enough to move a large stone on the next - that sort of thing. Needed a bit of editing really, but short and pleasant enough to while away the time on a train journey.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Classic SF in the old school