 His first published work, "The Skylark of Space" ("Amazing Stories", August–October 1928), written in collaboration with Lee Hawkins Garby, is often called the first great space opera.It merges the traditional tale of a scientist inventing a space-drive with planetary romance in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs.Smith's later "Lensman" series and the works of Edmond Hamilton, John W. Campbell, and Jack Williamson in the 1930s and 1940s were popular with readers and much imitated by other writers.