Triplanetary

No single phrase can adequately describe "Triplanetary". It might be termed a Galactic Romance, or a Cosmological Fantasy, since it is a work of the imagination with the cosmos as its background. But above all else, it is a story, a story of thinking beings, human, super-human, and alien. Like two opponents in a tremendous cosmic chess game with galaxies as their chessboard, are the incredibly ancient races of Arisia and Eddore. The game begins two thousand million years ago when two galaxies pass through each other; and during the interpassage countless solar systems are born. Centuries pass. Millenia. Cosmic and geologic ages. Planets cool to solidity and stability. Life forms and grows and develops. And as life evolves it is subjected to, and strongly if subtly affected by, the diametrically opposed forces of essentially Earth-like Arisia and utterly alien Eddore. Earth and its peoples, among other promising worlds in the First Galaxy, receive the attention of the cosmic chess players. Atlantis, ancient Rome, World Wars I, II and III -- all pass before your fascinated gaze, seen through the eys of men of each succeeding day -- and Civilization moves on into the future era of the Triplanetary League; and the conflict between the Arisians and the Eddorians mounts toward a climax. This, in brief, is "Triplanetary" -- but no summary can suggest the thrilling incidents which make up this Tale of Cosmic Adventure. From the atomic age in Atlantis, or a bloody Roman arena, you are borne to the watery world of Nevia, remote in space and time. You meet such memorable characters as Gray Roger, an adept of South Polar Jupiter, who is also one of the monstrous Eddorians -- Steve Costigan, agent of the Triplanetary Service -- Virgil Samms, destined to have a momentous influence on the fate of countless worlds -- and others. "Triplanetary" is required reading for every science fiction enthusiast. It is the beginning of a tremendous epic of space, which has become known to the many thousands of readers of Astounding Science Fiction as the famous "Lensman" series. This book follows the original magazine text and not the partially rewritten First Edition book.