Subject: Review of _The Best of James H. Schmitz_

From: [email-masked]
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 '70s.   
        
        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