Masters of the Vortex

The back of the book says, "A churning nuclear fireball, appearing out of nowhere, bringing utter destruction-and countless numbers of them were menacing planets throughout the Galaxy! "Storm" Cloud, nucleonic genius, set out in his spaceship Vortex Blaster to track and destroy the mysterious vortices-and embarked on a saga of adventure, discovery and conflict among the far stars that could have been told only by the incomparable "Doc" Smith!