The Best of James H. Schmitz

by James H. Schmitz, Mark Olson (Editor)

Mischief in the Spaceways (intro by Janet Kagan)
Grandpa
Lion Loose...
Just Curious
The Second Night of Summer
Novice
Balanced Ecology
The Custodians
Sour Note on Palayata
Goblin Night
Bibliography (from the Whole Science Fiction Database)

Genres: Science Fiction

244 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1991

About the author

James Henry Schmitz (October 15, 1911–April 18, 1981) was an American writer born in Hamburg, Germany of American parents. Aside from two years at business school in Chicago, Schmitz lived in Germany until 1938, leaving before World War II broke out in Europe in 1939. During World War II, Schmitz served as an aerial photographer in the Pacific for the United States Army Air Corps. After the war, he and his brother-in-law ran a business which manufactured trailers until they broke up the business in 1949.

Schmitz is best known as a writer of space opera, and for strong female characters (including Telzey Amberdon and Trigger Argee) that didn't fit into the damsel in distress stereotype typical of science fiction during the time he was writing. His first published story was Greenface, published in August 1943 in Unknown. Most of his works are part of the "Hub" series, though his best known novel is the non-Hub The Witches of Karres, concerning juvenile "witches" with genuine psi-powers and their escape from slavery. Karres was nominated for a Hugo Award.

In recent years, his novels and short stories have been republished by Baen Books (which bought the rights to his estate for $6500), edited (sometimes heavily edited) and with notes by Eric Flint. Baen have also published new works based in the Karres universe.

Schmitz died of congestive lung failure in 1981 after a five week stay in the hospital in Los Angeles. He was survived by his wife, Betty Mae Chapman Schmitz.

Reviews

[Jamie Jonas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This marks my second reading of this Schmitz collection. I see I previously gave it four stars, and I'll leave it with that rating now, in spite of the fact that in my well-educated view this is NOT the best the man had to offer. Yes, most stories included are great, in one way or another, but I'll go on record as saying that the Eric Flint-edited collections, published by Baen Books, leave all others in the shade. By far the best stories here are those featuring Schmitz' greatest character-creation, the young Telzey Amberdon. The two featuring her are "Novice" and "Goblin Night," and I challenge any lover of action plus literal sci-fi mind-games to find any fault with these. "Lion Loose," is also a great story, but unfortunately is very dated by silly phrasings like 'big boy' and 'doll' used in the main characters' dialogue. We can thank the 50's for absurdities like those.

The worst story of the collection is "Sour Note on Palayata." It has immense potential, and is an EXTREMELY ambitious tale, but in my view needed to be written as a full-length novel rather than a short story. Schmitz couched some grand, even cosmic, ideas within 'Palayata,' but it suffers from over-complexity and an almost complete dearth of action. An unusual number of printing errors in the book as a whole are also a--begging your pardon--sour note.

Redeeming the collection's deficiencies are an absolutely brilliant, downright lovable (for a Schmitz fan) foreword by Janet Kagan, herself an accomplished science fiction author. I'm positive I will never hear a better eulogy than hers of this great, and too often undersold, mind in the sci-fi genre.
There is also a stellar bibliography at the end. These two features make the book as a whole worth keeping on my shelf.

[Sara]

Gablin night
telepath many moment
echo of moment and sea
sorow love and dream
even y far away
i drink y in my day
yr thoght cut my life
telepath the air near me
sea of hope and moving
even i know my enemy
still there many unnaked
telepathy the top of wood
many joy vibirate there
love stuck my eyes
fear still there in war time
stone of home call me
black and white till me
hunt the strang thought
soft wind take me over many vally
love wind flay over photo and window
the sun laugh over my home and though
over many ailin hold there
telepathy the talking of love
dusty the sorrow
and milky the event
but still want to forget all
and live my fog