Who was the first nova of science fiction? Early writers dedicated to science fiction generally started as pulp fiction writers. Some developed into talented authors. One of these writers was e.e. Doc Smith.
I first became acquainted with Edward Elmer Smith (aka E.E. Smith or E.E. “Doc” Smith) while riding trains in Tokyo. I spent a couple of hours a day commuting on mass transit and discovered Kinokuniya’s, a large bookstore with hundreds of English novels from all sorts of genres. I reread books by Robert Heinlein but wanted something new. What I found was the Skylark Series written by e.e. Doc Smith. He started writing the first of the three books in 1919, but did not get it published until the late 1920s. It was a series of adventure yarns set in space. What I remember most about the books, other than their entertainment value, was the limited breadth of the plot. In the first novel the protagonist saves the Solar System, in the second he saves the Galaxy, and in the third he saves the Universe. Hard to go on from there 😊
In the 1930’s he started an even more popular series, the Lensman series. This series was again a fun adventure series with a space police force. He stopped focusing on scientific futurism and narrowed his target to adventures set in space. They were also fun to read, and better written. In fact, they came in second to the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov as the best science fiction series of all time.
Interestingly, none of Smith’s novels have yet to be converted to the big or small screen. Ron Howard tried to develop a film as late as 2008, but plans were eventually scrapped. Too expensive.