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Seetee Ship

(Seetee #1)

Jack Williamson

3.21 · Rating details · 70 ratings · 8 reviews

Will Stewart [Jack Williamson]. Seetee Ship. New York: Gnome, [1951]. First edition, first printing. Octavo. 255 pages.

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Paperback, 192 pages

Published June 1st 1989 by Bart Books (first published 1951)

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Dec 11, 2018 Joe Santoro rated it liked it

Shelves: hard_sf

An interesting mix of sci fi and a Romance.. the first 1/2 of the book is very reminiscent of the Space Merchants. We have our main Character,Rick, going to work for the big evil corporation instead of his dad to try to make a difference, only to get disenchanted when his work gets turned to weapons. The 2nd half is mostly a romance between the actual main character, Anders (who was Rick's boss and was chasing him) and the spunky girl secretary/pilot for Rick's dad's company. The setting is very ...more

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May 18, 2009 Manny rated it did not like it

The "Seetee" in the title means "Contraterrene", an old-fashioned word for anti-matter. This inordinately tedious story features a bunch of cardboard stereotypes running around in a creaky, implausible plot, chasing a piece of anti-matter that it's impossible to believe in or take seriously.

I can't write any more about this piece of crap. I think I'll go watch Angels and Demons instead. It has to be better, right?
...more

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Jun 13, 2017 Gina Andrews rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, 1950s-sci-fi

Rick Drake is a young man who has just graduated from college. Although his plan was to go back and join his father's company on the asteroid from where he came, he is convinced to stay on Earth and work for Interplanet for a year, the company that controls almost everything. He reports to Captain Paul Anders, who rejects most of his ideas for harnessing "seetee" power. Towards the end of the one year contract Rick finally turns in a schematic that might work, but when Anders admits the truth of ...more

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Jun 07, 2017 Chris Faircloth rated it liked it · review of another edition

Read this many years ago. enjoyed rereading it but a very different style from todays authors

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Jan 23, 2013 Roddy Williams rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, antimatter, space-opera, mars

‘Late In The 22nd Century

The great Cataclysmic Drift of Seetee – antimatter menaces the universe. Yet certain sky wanderers, reckless men of vision, dare to harness seetee’s unlimited powers for creation.

Rich Drake, celestial pioneer, spurred by his love for highborn lady of space, uncovers seetee’s awesome secret, battles the imperial forces of the mighty Mandate and endures a staggering War of Time.’

Blurb from the 1979 Jove omnibus paperback edition.

Rich Drake returns from Earth to the asteroi ‘Late In The 22nd Century

The great Cataclysmic Drift of Seetee – antimatter menaces the universe. Yet certain sky wanderers, reckless men of vision, dare to harness seetee’s unlimited powers for creation.

Rich Drake, celestial pioneer, spurred by his love for highborn lady of space, uncovers seetee’s awesome secret, battles the imperial forces of the mighty Mandate and endures a staggering War of Time.’

Blurb from the 1979 Jove omnibus paperback edition.

Rich Drake returns from Earth to the asteroid Pallas with his newly-earned Spatial Engineering degree, Rich is the son of Jim Drake, who for some time has been experimenting with CT (seetee), contraterrene or anti-matter. In Williamson’s future it is discovered that space is full of seetee matter. A special Seetee Patrol has been set up to map the seetee distribution and ensure that normal matter (including normal space traffic) does not come into contact with it and unleash the awesome destructive power and consequent radiation.
After Rich saves Karen Hood (daughter of the High Commissioner of Interplanet, a corporate concern which more or less controls Earth) he is recruited by Interplanet to help with their own research into creating a seetee bedplate, the elusive grail which will allow matter and anti-matter to be joined, and so control the energy of seetee which will provide free unlimited power for the entire Solar civilisation.
Interplanet’s interests are less philanthropic. As the main supplier of power from uranium and other dwindling sources they would want to suppress any free power supplies, but would be interested in the creation of seetee bombs.
Then Drake senior and his partner, Rob McGee, discover a seetee asteroid with unusual properties. Rich receives an odd message from Captain McGee telling him to be ready to be picked up at the space port, a message which McGee, when he arrives, denies sending.
Captain Anders of Interplanet, has intercepted the message, sent from the region of the anomalous asteroid, and both parties set out for the area to uncover the mystery.
What follows is a convoluted time-paradox tale in which an ancient seetee ship is found composed of terrene and contraterrene matter, which may provide the secret to creating a functioning seetee ‘bedplate’.
This is a vast improvement on Williamson’s earlier work, particularly since he has this time given due consideration to practical matters of gravitation and atmosphere. Asteroids, for instance, are made habitable by the use of ‘paragravity generators’ which produce localised Earth gravity conditions with some interesting effects and consequences.
It is also interesting that Williamson – in the middle of World War II, has written what is effectively an anti-war and particularly anti-militaristic novel.
The Martians, who are a very minor aspect of this book, are Nazis, and we learn in passing that Mars culture is an Aryan Reich. For readers of the time this must have been a topical and perhaps chilling aspect, and the very subtlety of its use renders it all the more effective.
Williamson must also be applauded for the inclusion of a female character who does rather more than scream and stand about waiting to be rescued. Anne O’Banion is a feisty female engineer/pilot who eventually thaws the heart of the Interplanet Captain, Paul Anders. ...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Manosthehandsoffate rated it it was ok

This paperback was an omnibus with both ""Seetee Ship"" and ""Seetee Shock"" in it. Both are Golden Age Sci Fi published within a year of each other (1949 and 1950). Neither was especially good. ""Ship"" was the better novel -- faster paced and a more interesting story. ""Shock"" was too talky. I probably won't be seeking more Williamson any time soon. ...more

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Aug 21, 2016 Brian rated it liked it

Showing its age I'm afraid.
On the positive side of the ledger there's a couple of interesting characters, and the background is intriguing and plausible.
On the other side, the"science" gets very fifties handwavy fast, and once you have figured out the central premise it gets old and obvious fast.
Recommended for fans of the author and/or historical sci fi only. ...more

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Feb 09, 2016 Mark Palmer rated it liked it · review of another edition

A friend in college turned me on to this. At the time, it was definitely a story unlike anything else I had read.

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About Jack Williamson

Jack Williamson

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John Stewart Williamson who wrote as Jack Williamson (and occasionally under the pseudonym Will Stewart) was a U.S. writer often referred to as the "Dean of Science Fiction".
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