''Subspace Encounter'' is a 1983

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

novel by American writer

E. E. Smith Edward Elmer Smith (May 2, 1890 – August 31, 1965), publishing as E. E. Smith, Ph.D. and later as E. E. "Doc" Smith, was an American food engineer (specializing in doughnut and pastry mixes) and science-fiction author, best known for the '' ...

, a posthumously published sequel to his '' Subspace Explorers''.

Plot summary

The book describes two "spaces" that exist simultaneously in the

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. ...

, each of three spatial dimensions, and each occupied by human beings of roughly equal technological standing. The people in the two "spaces" have no awareness of each other, but each has developed

faster-than-light Faster-than-light (also FTL, superluminal or supercausal) travel and communication are the conjectural propagation of matter or information faster than the speed of light (). The special theory of relativity implies that only particles with zero ...

transportation that relies on navigation through a fourth dimension that the two spaces share. Through their joint use of the fourth dimension, psychics (called "psiontists") in the two spaces become aware of each other, and meet to exchange technologies. The residents of one of the spaces use their superior weaponry and psychic abilities to help the residents of the other defeat a

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

-like leader who plans to kill or enslave all those who do not belong to his "Garshan" race. The book was published almost twenty years after Smith's death, and edited by

Lloyd Arthur Eshbach Lloyd Arthur Eshbach (June 20, 1910 – October 29, 2003) was an American science fiction fan, publisher and writer, secular and religious publisher, and minister. Biography Born in Palm, Pennsylvania, Eshbach grew up in Reading in the sa ...

.Smith, E.E. ''Subspace Encounter''. Edited and with an introduction by

. Berkley Books, 1983. .

Reception

Dave Langford David Rowland Langford (born 10 April 1953) is a British author, editor, and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science fiction fanzine and newsletter ''Ansible'', and holds the all-time record for mos ...

reviewed ''Subspace Encounter'' for ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes ...

'' #57, and stated that "one doesn't read Smith for literary graces, but this one is far inferior to the equally awfully written Lensman books because our hyperbrained Earthlings have it all too easy. Kim Kinnison used to suffer for his victories (eg erethism, amputation, infection with hideous alien fungi): this lot gets their on a plate."

Reviews

*Review by W. D. Stevens (1985) in ''

Fantasy Review ''Fantasy Newsletter'' was a major fantasy fanzine founded by Paul C. Allen and later issued by Robert A. Collins. Frequent contributors included Fritz Leiber and Gene Wolfe. Publication history The first issue appeared in June 1978, and Allen ...

'', January 1985

References

1983 American novels Novels by E. E. Smith American science fiction novels 1983 science fiction novels Novels published posthumously {{1980s-sf-novel-stub