Masters of the Vortex

At the time that E.E.Smith originally published his Lensman series in Magazine Serial form he was criticized for too much romance and sex (no, not descriptive sex: the times were much more innocent then).
This book humorously enough has plenty of both, without being graphic. The hero is a super-intelligent scientist who sets out to solve a problem that has become common and deadly - atomic plants spontaneously exploding into deadly self-sustaining vortexes of energy. (This is later found out to be how an alien species is breeding and raising it's young, making the hero an inadvertent murderer of children, a fact that does cause him some anguish).
Amusingly enough, he also acquires a crew of females, all of whom have affection for him, show more including a cat-girl that is delightfully written. The hero eventually falls for a human female scientist with whom he bonds psionically - a pivotal point in the novel, as this leads him to communicate with the aliens that are causing the problems.
As an interesting aside, note that although the hero had lost his family to a "vortex", and the aliens lost young to his efforts to destroy the vortices, there is no thought of revenge or retribution - in E.E.Smith's writings, if you have sex you have families - and if you have families, you learn compassion and love. show less

“Golden Age” science fiction, first published in 1960. E.E. Smith was one of the few science fiction authors of that era with an advanced degree – but it was a PhD in Food Science; he was reported to have invented a new method of putting powdered sugar on donuts. At any rate, Smith’s novels are “space operas”, with square jawed heroes defending pneumatic women in wispy garments from alien horrors.
However, on rereading, it’s not really that bad. It’s true that the women are portrayed to appeal to prepubescent boys, who were assumed to be the standard audience for this sort of thing, and there does seem to some sort of intergalactic law requiring space women to dress in lingerie, but they are not brainless bimbos – the show more exotic feline Vesta from Vega is a linguist, the Tomingan Tommie, from a heavy-gravity world, is “built like a Diesel truck” but cleans up nicely and is an expert atomic engineer, and the Earth lady Joan Janowick is a chess grandmaster, a PhD in cybernetics, and a DSc in symbolic logic. And telepathic, which our hero Neil Cloud finds out makes her an interesting date.
The story is set in the Lensman universe (see https://www.librarything.com/work/40382/reviews/66085063) but Lensmen only play a minor role; most of the time Cloud is flitting around the galaxy with his eclectic but mostly female crew blasting “Vortices”, which are self-sustaining nuclear reactions that apparently appear out of nowhere and which can only be extinguished by accurately placed explosives. Which they do.
Fun scifi nostalgia. show less

Physicist Neal “Storm” Cloud loses his family to an atomic vortex, which was attracted to his new house by a series of lightning rods on the roof. Rather than setting his home on fire, the vortex detonated like a bomb, leaving no survivors. Later, another atomic vortex manifests a short distance from his lab and after convincing his superior that he has a way of destroying it, Cloud sets out in a short range aircraft with a new type of explosive called duodec.

“The Vortex Blaster,” published in Comet Stories magazine (July 1941), is a fun but plodding side adventure set in E.E. “Doc” Smith’s Lensman universe.

Man has been fooling about with nuclear power and now all civilisation is threatened by nuclear vortices. Only one man, Storm Cloud the Vortex Blaster, can save the galaxy from FRANKENSCIENCE!

Smith of course mucks it up but this is by far the best of the Lensman series. It lacks the disjointedness of Triplanetary, though having been assembled from short stories there is an episodic nature. It also lacks Kimball Kinnison. The hero is actually quite likable - at least he doesn't deliberately murder uncounted billions of innocents and feel justified.

In Masters of the Vortex our hero (Neal "Storm" Cloud) actually isn't a Lensman, instead he is a nuclear engineer with an amazingly mathematical mind. Cloud's family is tragically killed in a freak accident by a "flying vortex of atomic destruction" -- these vortices have been a side-effect of the wide-spread use of nuclear energy, and are terrorizing planets around the universe. Devastated by the loss of his family, Cloud takes a leave of absence from the Galactic Patrol, only to be struck with an idea for "blowing out" a vortex and stopping its path of destruction. It is rather technical (and Smith is soooo good at writing the technical stuff in a fun way), but the general idea is that Cloud's brain works so fast that he can calculate show more exactly where the center of the vortex will be at a moment in time and then hit it with a bomb that is set at the exact strength to dissipate the charge and save the world.

As you might expect, this works, and it makes Cloud a very popular guy.

Cloud's new job as the universe's one and only vortex blaster takes him from planet to planet where he and his (totally awesome) crew (of aliens) battle wits against drug dealers and freaky life forms, and where his heart eventually begins to heal and his eyes turn toward his sexy, super smart, and self-taught psychic co-worker.

This book is a very fun read and stands alone from the other Lens books (so no need to read them first if you haven't already).

[full review here: http://spacebeer.blogspot.com/2008/01/masters-of-vortex.html ] show less

Fun as always - I find Kimball Kinnison boring, so I read the first three Lensmen stories and this one. Somehow Storm isn't as bad, even though he develops amazing power...maybe because there isn't a PURPOSE for it (or the Purpose is relatively minor and doesn't tie him up forever). Hmmm, dunno. It's very sexist of course - hey! There's a bit missing from this edition (Pyramid 1970) - where Helen points out she can outshoot Joe! Hmmmph. Need to hunt up a _better_ edition, then - one that's the full story. And I wonder what else is missing...

This is supposed to be another Lensman series novel, but it really isn't. Its not nearly as good as the Lensman books, and its odd place as a single novel makes it feel out of place and incomplete.