Space Suits: Being the Selected Legal Papers of Waldo Burmeister & Henry Carver, Attorneys-at-Law

by Charles Sheffield

Lawyers in Space?! Well, yes. It's a terrifying thought. But there are lawyers and lawyers. And then, there are Henry Carver and Waldo P. Burmeister. Sometimes it's not clear if their greatest skill lies in getting their clients out of trouble -- or in getting themselves into it. Whether it's Waldo doggedly trying to escape The Dalmation of Faust or Henry's grim internal struggle against Parasites Lost, or the two working together, because so much is riding With the Knight Male, their adventures are sure to entertain every reader -- and lead most to consider a long time before daring to seek legal representation.

Genres: Science Fiction

188 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2001

About the author

Charles A. Sheffield (June 25, 1935 – November 2, 2002), was an English-born mathematician, physicist and science fiction author. He had been a President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and of the American Astronomical Society.

His novel The Web Between the Worlds, featuring the construction of a space elevator, was published almost simultaneously with Arthur C. Clarke's novel about that very same subject, The Fountains of Paradise, a coincidence that amused them both.

For some years he was the chief scientist of Earth Satellite Corporation, a company analysing remote sensing satellite data. This resulted in many technical papers and two popular non-fiction books, Earthwatch and Man on Earth, both collections of false colour and enhanced images of Earth from space.

He won the Nebula and Hugo awards for his novelette "Georgia on My Mind" and the 1992 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for his novel Brother to Dragons.

Sheffield was Toastmaster at BucConeer, the 1998 World Science Fiction Convention in Baltimore.

He had been writing a column for the Baen Books web site; his last column concerned the discovery of the brain tumour that led to his death.

He was married to writer Nancy Kress.

Reviews

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I own a paper copy of this collection (which is great) -- and noticed one of the stories is available online: "MARCONI, MATTIN, MAXWELL"
http://www.baen.com/Chapters/97816182...
Not one of my favorites, but if you've missed the Burmeister & Carver stories, here's a free trial.
And here's another: http://www.baen.com/Chapters/06713195...
"With the Knight Male (apologies to Rudyard Kipling)"

This collection is (I think) reprints of all the Burmeister & Carver stories, http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?2...
They vary in quality but all are worth at least a few chuckles. I need to pull down my copy and put it on the bedside table, as these stories are best read a few at a time. I do recall that "The Dalmatian of Faust" would reduce me to helpless laughter every time. But with humor, you never know....

[David Palazzolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book, but not as fun as I was hoping—probably a function of waiting so long to order it after failing to pick it up at a used bookstore a number of years ago. The stories are all loosely connected and it would feel like something of a slightly aimless novel if it were just a little tighter in continuity. As it is we seem to be missing one or two stories because Burmeister and Carver seem to move offices from Deimos to Luna without warning or explanation and there are exploits mentioned that were not played out in the collection. Beyond that the stories are a little hit and miss, but worth a few chuckles and are a wonderful way to spend a couple of afternoons.