| Article: 313
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews
From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig)
Subject: REPOST: Belated Reviews #2: James H Schmitz
Organization: Pacific * Bell
Date: Wed, 28 Jul 1993 16:04:40 GMT
Sender: djdaneh@pbhyc.PacBell.COM (Dan'l DanehyOakes)
Belated Reviews #2: James H Schmitz
James Schmitz wrote from the forties to the seventies. He is noted
for his use of strong female characters in a time when this was
uncommon in sf. The milieus in which these characters act tend to be
somewhat anarchic (high-tech) societies overseen by high-handed but
generally benign governments. They're not designed to stand much
analysis, and serve primarily as stage settings. The strengths of his
novels and short stories are in interesting characters and well-told
yarns. Perhaps for this reason, much of his writing has stood up well
over the years.
"The Witches of Karres" (****) is a light space fantasy, and is unlike
his other books. Pausert, a merchant space captain, impulsively
rescues a child from a beating, only to discover that it is the most
expensive impulse he has ever had. She and her sisters are from the
prohibited world of Karres, and in undertaking to get them home, he
finds himself up to his endangered neck in spies, pirates, monsters,
elementals, and extra-dimensional nogoodniks. It's a delightful book.
Schmitz apparently wrote a sequel, "Venture of Karres", but the
manuscript was lost when he moved.
"Agent of Vega" (***) is a fixup space opera, and consists of linked
stories about Zone Agents. Zone Agents are roving trouble-shooters
for a secretive governmental agency. Their job is to unobtrusively
take care of awkwardnesses such as genocidal pirates and invading
aliens from other galaxies. Good fun.
"The Lion Game" (**) features Telzey Amberdon, a teen-aged psi of
remarkable power, who is accidentally enmeshed in the feuding of
high-psi humanoids who are contemplating an invasion of the Hub (the
interstellar federation in which much of Schmitz's work is set).
Shorter stories following this character make up "The Universe Against
Her" (**) and "The Telzey Toy" (*). Any of these can be read independently.
Not featuring Telzey, but set in the same milieu, are "Legacy" (*+),
also titled "A Tale of Two Clocks", and "The Demon Breed" (**). The
latter is about a woman who must prevent an impending invasion by
pretending to be superhuman. (Schmitz seems to have had a fondness
for impending alien invasions.)
%A Schmitz, James H.
%T The Witches of Karres
%T Agent of Vega
%T The Lion Game
%T The Universe Against Her
%T The Telzey Toy
%T Legacy
%T The Demon Breed
Standard introduction and disclaimer for Belated Reviews follows.
Belated Reviews cover science fiction and fantasy of earlier decades.
They're for newer readers who have wondered about the older titles on the
shelves, or who are interested in what sf/f was like in its younger days.
The emphasis is on helping interested readers identify books to try first,
not on discussing the books in depth.
A general caveat is in order: Most of the classics of yesteryear have not
aged well. If you didn't encounter them back when, or in your early teens,
they will probably not give you the unforced pleasure they gave their
original audiences. You may find yourself having to make allowances for
writing you consider shallow or politics you consider regressive. When I
name specific titles, I'll often rate them using the following scale:
**** Recommended.
*** An old favorite that hasn't aged well, and wouldn't get a good
reception if it were written today. Enjoyable on its own terms.
** A solid book, worth reading if you like the author's works.
* Nothing special.
Additional disclaimers: Authors are not chosen for review in any particular
order. The reviews don't attempt to be comprehensive. No distinction is
made between books which are still in print and books which are not.
-----
Dani Zweig
dani@netcom.com
'T is with our judgements as our watches, none
Go alike, yet each believes his own. - Alexander Pope
|
| Article: 447
From: fwilson@coral.bucknell.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews
Subject: Review of _The Best of James H. Schmitz_
Date: 30 Nov 93 02:53:18 GMT
Review of The Best of James H. Schmitz
This is a selection of stories by an old SF hand who got his
start back at the end of the "golden age" of science fiction (the
period dominated by the likes of Heinlein and Clarke and Asimov and
DeCamp), and continued to develop his craft into the 1970s.
James H. Schmitz died in 1974, but his work has retained a
solid following among readers of science fiction. He was a writer of
carefully plotted, subtle, and wittily ironic stories built upon the
"space opera" tradition, as represented by the story with which he
first achieved prominence ("Agent of Vega," _Astounding_, July 1949).
(Though perhaps many of his recent or younger readers have come to
him through his more comic E. E. Smith-like novel _The Witches of
Karres_, (1966; reprinted 1988), an expansion of his 1949 story of the
same title.) In terms of contemporary parallels, the writer who
perhaps most resembles Schmitz is probably C. J. Cherryh, particularly
in regard to their similar interests in the spatial expansion and
cultural growth of human societies, their tendency to use the
viewpoints of alien species to illuminate human characteristics, and
their fondness for combat and cats. (I can't help but think that
Schmitz would have particularly enjoyed Cherryh's "Chanur"/Trading
Compact stories centering on the lion-like hani.)
Most of his novels are still in print, but many of his short
stories, even those reprinted a number of times in other collections
(as many were), are difficult to find. For this reason, as well as
for the homage to his work which it represents, it is a pleasure to
applaud the NEFSFA's initiation of their new "NESFA's Choice" series
with this volume.
The collection consists of nine stories, nearly all of which
easily qualify as among Schmitz's best, together with a spritely and
entertaining Introduction by Janet Kagan. There is also a
Bibliography, as well as a brief "character key" chart for Schmitz's
"Federation of the Hub" series compiled by the editor. In an
uncommonly self-effacing move, the editor has provided no preface of
his own, and partly because of this the basis for the selection of the
stories is not clear to the reader, nor is the reason for the order of
their presentation in the collection. The most reasonable principle
of selection, one is led to suspect, is probably a desire to distribute
the choices somewhat representatively over the span of Schmitz's career.
The stories "Grandpa" and "Balanced Ecology," as well as "The
Second Night of Summer," are near-classics of Schmitz's style, and are
thematically similar in their focus on problems of human interaction
with the often unpredictable and sometimes dangerous inhabitants of
ecologies on alien planets. In content they tend to be more from the
early period of Schmitz's writing. (The same theme is present, though
not as occurring on an alien planet, in Schmitz's first published
story, a "swamp monster" tale with romantic interludes printed in
_Unknown_ in 1943.)
Most of the remaining stories deal with his "Federation of the
Hub" series. Two of them ("Novice" and "Goblin Night") are samplings
of the Telzey Amberdon thread in that series, about the efforts of a
young genius level xenotelepath and psionic to learn to control her
abilities and survive potentially lethal competition with other psis
while avoiding the efforts (largely benevolent, but nonetheless
despotic and occasionally ruthless) of the Hub authorities to control
her life. The other two ("Lion Loose" and "Sour Note on Palayata")
explore the functionings of various institutional arms of the Hub
Overgovernment, and center around the doings of Quillan of Space Scout
Intelligence and Pilch of the Psychology Service, respectively.
(These are recurring characters in other stories of the Hub series.)
The remaining novella, "The Custodians," while not a part of
the Hub series, could (like a number of other stories and novels by
Schmitz, e.g., _The Eternal Frontiers_) be read as taking place in the
early period of human interstellar expansion prior to the formation of
the Hub Federation. (Though Schmitz has given no explicit "future
history" scheme in his stories, of the sort developed by Heinlein,
Anderson, Niven, Cherryh, and others, he has deftly sketched in broad
strokes as historical background the periods of human expansion into
the galaxy and the establishment of the Hub civilization in the course
of these stories.) Motivationally rather weak in terms of its
characterization, "The Custodians" is a tale of attempted space piracy
and mercenary assault operations, set in the framework of a somewhat
didactic examination of the political and economic intrigues occurring
in the period when mankind was breaking out of a civilization centered
on Earthplanet and developing a more wide-ranging galactic culture.
Finally, the "odd man out" in this collection is a curiosity
entitled (aptly enough) "Just Curious," a brief piece originally
published in _Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine_ (December 1968).
It is a Black Mask style mystery which intriguingly combines a
Hammettesque setting and plot (industrial espionage, entrepeneurial
combat) with science fiction themes (telepathy, communication with the
dead, etc.) about which we are all curious. While nicely understated
and cunningly built up to the kicker at the end, it is probably the
weakest of the volume's tales, and its inclusion lends support to the
notion that the editor's purpose is to representatively display the
variety of Schmitz's writings.
Janet Kagan's Introduction, enchantingly titled "Mischief in
the Spaceways," deserves special mention. She takes her task to be
that of conveying her own enthusiasm for Schmitz's writings, and of
giving some of her reasons for that, and in the short compass of seven
pages she does a marvelous job of enticing the reader into the stories
and providing a helpful overview. She sees Schmitz's writings as
exhibiting a "mischievous" outlook on the hackneyed conventions and
cliches of the "space opera" tradition, maintaining that many of his
artistic choices stem from an interest in overturning and rethinking
such "default settings" or uncritically accepted assumptions of the
literature or even the culture of the time. Kagan backs up her
contention nicely with shrewd (and thoughtfully "spoiler"-free)
observations on Schmitz's treatment of heros, villains, monsters,
family and friends, and his style and plots. Her brief but insightful
remarks about Schmitz's writing strategies and style illuminate new
aspects of Schmitz's work for old fans, as well as providing guidance
and stimulation for new readers of Schmitz. I hope that in the future
Ms. Kagan develops her views on Schmitz further, showing as they do
that he is not a mere "formula" writer, but a disciplined and
imaginative artist with both literary and philosophical depth. Mark
Olson, the editor, is to be commended for his choice of her to write
the Introduction.
The cover art is by Frank Kelly Freas, the renowned
science-fiction illustrator, and in fact was originally the cover for
the issue of _Analog_ (December 1968) in which "The Custodians"
appeared. (There is no mention of this on the book jacket or in the
book itself, and many a reader might find the relevance of the scene
depicted a matter for mild puzzlement until they have read the
stories.) Again, the choice of Freas as cover artist is a splendid
move by the editor, especially since he has done a number of other
covers for _Astounding_/_Analog_ dealing with Schmitz stories. In
addition, Mr. Olson has included three new interior illustrations by
Merle Insinga which nicely depict the varieties of interplay between
humans and some of Schmitz's alien pets and threats.
While each reader will have his or her fondly remembered
favorites among an author's stories, and as editor Mr. Olson must be
allowed the prerogative of his own preferences, I confess some
disappointment that my personal choices, "Gone Fishing" and "The Other
Likeness," are not to be found in a volume entitled _The Best of James
H. Schmitz_. I would rank them the equals of any of the other titles
in the present volume. Other candidates that might have been chosen
would include: "The End of the Line," "Trouble Tide," "The Winds of
Time," "The Searcher," "Beacon to Elsewhere," and even "Greenface." I
list these titles primarily to indicate that there is enough material
of comparably high quality available for a second volume of _The Best
of James H. Schmitz_. (Indeed, it is startling to observe, on the
basis of the Bibliography, how large a proportion of Schmitz's total
production is of such high quality. He was clearly a conscientious
craftsman who did not simply grind out his product for the magazines
as quickly as he could.). In passing, then, I would suggest that
possibility to Mr. Olson and NEFSA for future consideration.
Another suggestion I would broach is to seek out for such a
volume, or for a separate tome, appreciative, critical, and analytical
pieces on Schmitz's work, in which the literary ingenuity and
philosophical range of his fiction indicated by Kagan's essay would be
explored in greater detail. My own experience of reading and
re-reading Schmitz over the years has convinced me that there is much
material for fruitful critical discussion, literary and otherwise,
contained in Schmitz's writings, which students and scholars might
profitably pursue. (The bearing of Kant's and Mill's moral
philosophies on his thought, or of Machiavelli's writings, or the
implications for it of Aristotle's conception of politics, or more
recently of Rawls' work in political philosophy, are a few philosophical
topics which come readily to mind as worthy of investigation.)
As mentioned above, I also felt the absence of an editor's
preface, in which the compiler of the anthology would talk to us about
how and why the work came to be as it is, and where we would meet him
as more than merely a cypher behind a name on the title page, i.e., as
a living, thinking individual making known his own point of view.
Such a preface would have nicely complemented Janet Kagan's
Introduction, and given more of a sense of the rationale and structure
of the collection. An editor's preface is not indispensable to an
anthology like this, to be sure, but having one goes a long way toward
giving the reader an idea of the editor's perspective on the work.
Perhaps as part of such a preface, furthermore, or even as a
separate essay, some remarks on Schmitz's biography and writing
career, as well as on the reasons for the continuing interest in his
work, could have been included. The inside flap of the back book
jacket does contain a brief sketch of Schmitz's life and works,
perhaps written by the editor. But still, little is known about the
details of his personal life, though what few facts are known suggest
an intriguingly cross-cultural background and cosmopolitan outlook.
The Bibliography of Schmitz's complete sf writings is
"extracted from the Whole Science Fiction Database" (p. 236), and
contains the size, date and source of original publication, and
reprintings and revisions of each of his writings. The editor has
included, after the Bibliography, a brief account of Schmitz's two
main series and a helpful chart marking the stories in which the main
characters of the series appear.
(One question arises upon scanning the chart: Is "Beacon to
Elsewhere" really part of the Hub series? Though there is mention in
that story of the "Overgovernment," it is not clear that this refers
to the same "Overgovernment" present in the Hub stories. Events in
that story seem to take place at a more technologically and socially
undeveloped stage than in the Hub series. Perhaps if this story is
regarded as occurring during the early period of formation of the Hub
civilization, when ties with Earth were more central, it can be placed
compatibly in relation to the Hub series, as could "The Custodians"
and _The Eternal Frontiers_, but the story itself seems to contain
little explicit evidence that it belongs to the Hub series of Pilch,
Telzey, Holati Tate, Trigger and Quillan, etc.)
The book is handsomely produced, with a durable binding and an
attractive bookjacket, and is printed on acid-free paper in readable
type. All in all, this collection is an excellent volume with which to
introduce a reader to James H. Schmitz's science fiction, or as a gift
for an established reader, and constitutes an admirable tribute to his
memory and lasting influence from readers who have clearly enjoyed his
work.
%A James H. Schmitz
%B The Best of James H. Schmitz
%E Mark L. Olson, editor
%I New England Science Fiction Association (NEFSA) Press
%C Cambridge, MA
%D 1991
%G ISBN 0-915368-46-3
%P xii + 243 pp.
%O $18.95 hardcover
%S NESFA's Choice
%V No. 1 in series
|