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ISBN: 0671318470

ListPrice: $7.99

Summary: I have an original Pocket paperback of Agent of Vega. It came out in 1962, which makes my copy more than seven years older than I am. I found it on the shelf of a mechanic's office in Pickens, Mississippi, while waiting with my father for the overhaul of some cotton picker parts. I was 8 or 9. I started reading the book, and then begged to have it. My father was angry, but the mechanic was amused and let me have it.That book has been loved. Not only by me, but I have loaned it to many people.If this volume was nothing but a reprint of that earlier one, it would be enough for me to jump with joy and give copies to all my friends who love science fiction. But it is better than that. The four stories that comprise Agent of Vega are only about one third of this volume. The other two thirds are stories I have NEVER seen before.Schmitz was one of THE most popular SF writers of his time. Unfortuantely for posterity, his work was mostly at shorter lengths. Even his only full length novel, the wonderful Witches of Karres, was an expansion of an earlier novella. Kudos to Baen for reissuaing in seven volumes the complete works of this master. Schmitz was one of the first SF writiers to have female characters who not only solved their problems without male assistance, but were "total badasses" on their own.Which brings me to my favorite story in this book, called "The Second Night of Summer." Not only is the undercover galactic agent female, not only is she unflaggingly competent, she is also old enough to be a grandmother. How many SF writers even now would risk this, let alone in the fifties when the story was written?If you are a fan of classic science fiction, you owe it to yourself to check out these reissues of one of the masters.

ISBN: 0915368463

Edition: 1st ed.

Dimensions: 23 cm

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ISBN: 0671319841

ListPrice: $6.99

Summary: These are nice collections of the works of James H. Schmitz. Some of the stories Eric Flint came up with for this series are new to me. So if you already have a few Telzy Amberdon's and the Witches of Karres floating around, this is still a useful addition. If you haven't read him, then prepare yourself for a treat. What can I call it but intelligent space opera? The Miles Vorkosigian stories come to mind, and Jo Clayton's "Diadem" books, perhaps certain Keith Laumer... If you want a well-told, involving, and exciting tale showing tough intelligent people being tested to their limits, well, Schmitz is that story-teller. You like the "one man army" exploits of Ahnold and Van Damm? Take a look at how a young marine biologist wages a devastating one-woman battle of psychological warfare against an alien invasion ("The Demon Breed"). And then there is the battle of wits as the captain of a tramp freighter has to defend against an alien rather more intelligent than he is ("The Winds of Time.") At the risk of being misunderstood, I'd like to call the writings of James H. Schmitz "Golden Age as it should have been." Oh yes...and track down the "Witches of Karres"; one of the most perfect and delightful SF books ever written.

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ISBN: 0671578510

ListPrice: $7.99

Dimensions: 0.75 by 4.25 by 6.75 in.

Summary: James Schmitz is perhaps the classic SF author who is simultaneously most important and least remembered by the average modern fan. Schmitz began his writing in 1943, when many of the other greats were just starting out. Clearly influenced by Doc Smith in some areas (his "Agent of Vega" series even has some definitely Smithian prose), Schmitz was best known for the fact that he wrote stories featuring strong, believeable, effective female lead characters, in an era when many SF stories -- even those by the greats such as Heinlein and Asimov -- rarely even acknowledged the existence of women except by an occasional reference to a character's mother or a token girlfriend. Schmitz' characters, by contrast, lived in a world populated equally by men and women, and had no trouble interacting with either sex (any more than they do in the real world, at any rate). In the Telzey Amberdon stories, we get to see all three of the things Schmitz became known for: strong female characters, an interesting and consistent use of psionic powers, and solid universe design. Telzey's adventures take place in the Hub, perhaps Schmitz' best known setting and certainly his most detailed. Often the Telzey stories are criticized for making her a superwoman, but I think this is often a reaction without consideration. She is no more superior to her opposition than many a male hero, and as a general rule is much more in need of subtlety and caution than male heroes common in the SF of the time. Not to say you couldn't call her a superwoman -- she's certainly got enough talent, power, and so on to qualify -- but her opposition is always formidable enough to REQUIRE a superwoman to defeat. These stories have been somewhat edited from their original form; for the most part the editing involved minor terms, removal of redundant punctuation (which Schmitz himself tended to do upon re-issues), and so on. A few have had noticeable changes. Personally I do not agree with a few of them, but the resulting stories are still clearly Schmitz' work, and the overall volume is more than merely worth the money; this is an excellent collection, and all the ones in the Schmitz re-issue series are must-haves for any SF fan.

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ISBN: 0671578790

ListPrice: $6.99

Dimensions: 1 by 4.25 by 7 in.

Summary: I've always enjoyed this author's book "witches of Karres" so it has been interesting to read some of his other, long out of print works. This book should be read after the first book in this series "Telzey Amberdon" to bring it into perspective.Essentially, this is a series of linked short stories and novelettes. The writing sytle is simple and easy to read. All the main characters are polite, even the the bad guys! They would easily be suited to younger readers. This second book introduces the readers to Trigger Argee, who doesn't have the mental "super powers" that make Telzey such a striking figure, but who is never-the-less very capable.These books have been enjoyable so far, but really bring home how much SF has changed in recent decades. These characters are much less introspective than most modern SF characters, even in short stories, and the emphasis is definitely on action!I also agree about the cover. "TNT" is really on the corny side - ignore it and concentrate on the contents.

ISBN: 0671319663

ListPrice: $6.99

Dimensions: 1.25 by 4 by 7 in.

Summary: This third volume of the Hub Stories reveals more of Trigger Argee and those around her. Heslet Quillan is here. He's a sixties sort of wise-cracking secret agent gunman transported to the Hub Universe. He first appears in Lion Loose and tangles with a monster and two mobs of the Interstellar Underworld. The story is basically a gangster story but the monster is interesting, one of Schmitz's more interesting ones. Schmitz did good monsters. He reappears in Legacy, along with Trigger. Legacy is a complex story with interesting, unusual, and believable aliens. It also gets into the inner workings of the Federation and the lives of the people who live in it, work in it, and keep it going. An interesting look. The Hub was one of the more interesting backgrounds in Science Fiction, and it's fun to visit. A good Saturday afternoon read.

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ISBN: 0973820306

ListPrice: $10.00

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ISBN: 0312861745

ListPrice: $21.95

Edition: 1st ed

Summary: When a misfired practical joke gets him kicked out of school, Rick Luban thinks he has nowhere to go but down. Instead, he gets a second chance--and a whole new life--when he signs up for a career in asteroid mining.But life in space proves more challenging than Rick expected. Competition is intense and the harsh realties of space allow no room for error. On his way to a brighter future, Rick faces ever more demanding tests, as well as the very real dangers of sabotage and murder.

ISBN: 0553378937

ListPrice: $13.95

Summary: In 2026, the Earth faces an unexpected disaster. A supernova in the nearby Alpha Centauri system has apparently wiped out nearly every electronic component on the planet, leaving human civilization paralyzed. Phones don't work, transportation grinds to a halt, and essential services such as medical care are thrown back into the Stone Age. As the world tries to cope with this technological cut-off, a man dying of cancer begins a journey to save his life and that of his fellow patients, a master criminal escapes a sentence of "judiciary sleep," a returning Mars expedition faces what looks like certain death, and U.S. president Saul Steinmetz strives to keep his country from falling apart. Author Charles Sheffield has taken a classic hard-SF concept, applied it to the real world, and created a gripping story of survival. "--Craig E. Engler"

ISBN: 074343613x

ListPrice: $7.99

Summary: At the dawning of the enlightenment, Dr. Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles Darwin, stands as a voice of reason. England is beset with rumor of the supernatural--vampires, werewolves, and demons. Darwin approaches everything with an open-minded skepticism. Together with his treasure-anxious sidekick, Colonel Jacob Pole, Darwin delves deep into the mysteries that confront 18th century England finding, among other things, the Loch Ness Monster, Bonnie Prince Charlie, and a forgotten race of humans.
Author Charles Sheffield has created a charming set of stories of a past not too different from our own. Darwin contains the best of Sherlock Holmes as well as the gluttony of Nero Wolfe. I suspect that Sheffield meant his novel to be a reminder to us, in the 21st Century, to always remember to look to rational and scientific causes before we ascribe whatever we see to the supernatural or unexplainable. It is easy to see why Sheffield, a scientist, would choose Erasmus Darwin as his hero.
THE AMAZING DR. DARWIN is both powerful and amusing. Darwin is fallible enough to be sympathetic, and Pole is sympathetic without being completely brainless.

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ISBN: 0345344324

ListPrice: $3.95

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ISBN: 0441795595

ListPrice: $3.50

Summary: If you liked the brother and sister duo in the Socery Within you will like this book. With its new main charater Torem and the old brother and sister duo, it's a good read without much complexcity.

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