The Hub : Dangerous Territory [Mass Market Paperback]

James H. Schmitz (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Baen (April 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671319841
• ISBN-13: 978-0671319847
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #404,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great wrap up, August 11, 2001

By 

Raul S Reyes (Berkeley, Ca USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hub : Dangerous Territory (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the last, and in some ways the best of the Baen re-issue of the Hub Stories. The range of stories is impressive. It starts with The Searcher, one of the best Schmitz stories. The Protagonists, Danestar Gems and Corwin Wergard, are from the Keth Interstellar Agency, which is a recurring character in the tales. By the way, Schmitz gave his characters great names. The searcher of the title is one very unusual and interesting monster with plausible motives. The human protagonists also have to deal with some human gangsters and corrupt U-League officials. The pacing is good, the story is fun and complex, and the resolution works. Recommended. A Nice Day for Screaming, Attitudes,The Winds of Time, Machmen, and The Other likeness all deal with five different types of alien invasion and with five different types of outcomes. Schmitz had a penchant for sly twists in his tales. Along with The Searcher, The Winds of Time would make a great horror SF movie. Much better than most of what Hollywood churns out. The other four stories in this book deal with ecology, a recurring theme in Schmitz's stories. Grandpa and Balanced Ecology are both good stories where the environment is a major character. The other two stories, Trouble Tide and The Demon Breed both feature Nile Etland, one of Schmitz's most fascinating characters. She is not psychic or immortal or more than human. Like trigger she depends on wits, courage, intelligence, and her gun skills. She also has a good working knowledge of the local (and dangerous) environment. Trouble tide introduces her, but she comes up to speed in The Demon Breed. The story was originally serialized as The Tuvela in the September and October 1968 issues of Analog. The amphibious invaders are calles Parahuans, the action takes place on a water world far from the Hub cnter called Nandy-Cline, and Nile is a biologist for a pharmaceutical company. One of the things I like about Schmitz's stories is that the characters have lives and jobs and are believable. Nile defeats the invaders with the help of some talking intelligent otters, both domestic and feral. There are interesting sidelights on the quest for immortality as well. The story is one of the best Science Fiction action-adventure stories I have ever read and I highly recommend it. Unlike many other SF writers Schmitz saw action (during WWII). Despite that, or maybe because of it, his stories are not particulary violent. His characters do not merely shoot their way out of trouble, but rely on wits, skills, and brains. Even Heslett Quillan, the wise-cracking gunman/secret agent and husband of Trigger Argee, uses brains and schemes to defeat his enemies. Although he is good with his Miam Devil blaster. In The Demon Breed Nile uses her considerable knowledge of the local ecology to mount a psychological campaign against the invaders and then to defeat them. The story ends with an exciting commando raid and space battle. But the ending really takes place off world, when the Psychology Service and an alien committee independently evaluate the events on Nandy-Cline. They cast a whole new light on the story. I recommend going to the James Schmitz website (after you read the story) for more background on the history of how the ending came to be written. My one quibble with the book is the cover. The original Scheonherr cover on the September 1968 Analog was much superior. I wish it had been used for this book. You can also find it on the website. All in all I heartily recommend this book.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Otters, spooks, and ecologies, April 10, 2001

By 

Harry Erwin (Sunderland, UK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Hub : Dangerous Territory (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the fourth and last of the Hub series being reprinted by Baen Books. James Schmitz was a science fiction writer of the 1950s-1970s known for his skill at characterization, interesting ideas, and a delightful style. In this volume, we encounter intelligent otters (The Demon Breed), horrible monsters (The Winds of Time), and an award-winning short story whose main character is an ecology (Balanced Ecology). Although this volume will be popular with long-time science fiction fans, everyone will enjoy his style. Strongly recommended.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars High time Schmitz was rediscovered, October 15, 2002

By 

Michael D. Sweeney (Berkeley, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Hub : Dangerous Territory (Mass Market Paperback)

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.