The Vortex Blaster

Cover Notes

One man against the basic energy of the universe, unleashed in ravening fury that was “Storm” Cloud. Unique was the only way to describe him, yet alone in his single-handed battle. The appalling destructiveness of a loose atomic vortex could be cancelled out only by destroying the vortex itself. While not even the most massive and modern of electronic computers could figure out how to destroy a loose vortex, “Storm” Cloud could and did.

To Galactic Civilization, the loose vortices were just one menace among many. It was “Storm's” unique brain, itself a computer with fantastic powers that enabled him to select and direct a duodecaplylatomate bomb with exactly the right energy to snuff each vortex out of existence. The day a runaway vortex exploded in his home was the day “Storm” Cloud became the Vortex Blaster!

Not part of the ‘rest’ of the series, it seems that it fits in between Second Stage Lensman and Children Of The Lens.

Smith planned to write a number of novels set in the Lensman universe but outside of the history that ran from Triplanetary to Children of the Lens. Ultimately, he finished only one, The Vortex Blaster. He intended to sell it to Comet Magazine to help its financial & circulation problems, instead of Astounding, to whom the rest of the series had been sold. It was the last of Smith’s novels published during his lifetime.

Publication History

The first part of the book was originally published in the form of short stories.
The Vortex Blaster was published in Comet in July 1941?
Storm Cloud on Deka was published in Astonishing Stories? in June 1942?
The Vortex Blaster Makes War was published in Astounding Stories in October 1942?

The Vortex Blaster was first published as a hardback by Gnome Press in 1960? and
First published in paperback by Fantasy Press in 1960?