TNT: Telzey Amberdon & Trigger Argee Together (Federation of the Hub, 2) [Mass Market Paperback]

James H. Schmitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2000

A powerful xenotelepath and a crack shot have separately fought crime for most of their lives, but when an evil force threatens the "Hub" civilization, they team up to save the galaxy. Original.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Baen; First Edition edition (July 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671578790
• ISBN-13: 978-0671578794
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #740,148 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #85 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Short Stories

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dynamite Heroines Take On Galaxy, June 29, 2000

By 

avoraciousreader (Somewhere in the Space Time Continuum) - See all my reviews

This review is from: TNT: Telzey Amberdon & Trigger Argee Together (Federation of the Hub, 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

Telzey Amberdon is the scion of an ultra-rich, politically connected family on the central world of Orado. She lives an outwardly normal life as a privileged college student, studying and taking exams, or accompanying a friend to a luxurious body remodeling resort planet. She is also one of the galaxy's most powerful and versatile psi talents (especially regarding alien beings), essentially a loner but cooperating informally with the shadowy yet powerful Psychology Service. Telzey was featured in the first volume of this Baen reissue series.

Trigger Argee comes from much humbler, possibly hardscrabble, origins, and though a latent psi, as we find out in this volume, relies on quick thinking, resourcefulness, a champion level ability with her beloved Denton pistol, and a wide range of personal connections (she seems to know and work with just about every major character of Schmitz's galactic Hub universe). We'll find out more about Trigger in the third volume.

James H. Schmitz wrote a series of stories about each of these engagingly competent heroines in the 1960's and early 1970's, and brought them together in two tales included in this second volume ("Compulsion" and "Glory Day"). A third tale, "The Symbiotes," is primarily Trigger's, though Telzey does appear briefly; sadly, this was the last significant work by Schmitz, and we'll never find out the results of Trigger's decision at the very end to develop her psi powers. The rest of the seven stories (short novels, really, at over 50 pages each) are devoted to Telzey.

Baen is to be devoutly thanked for their project bringing much of Schmitz's work (the stories set in a human dominated "Hub") back into print. Devotees have for too long been forced to lurk in used book stores, waiting for the rare tattered paperback. Schmitz writes with vigor and verve, and absolute clarity. The characters are well realized, including the truly alien aliens who are among the best ever. Though there are plenty of twists and turns (one can never be too sure who the good guys and bad guys are), the reader never feels cheated.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Ending and a Beginning, July 23, 2000

By 

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

This review is from: TNT: Telzey Amberdon & Trigger Argee Together (Federation of the Hub, 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

This second reprint volume of Schmitz's Hub tales lives up to the promise of the first. It finishes up the Telzey stories and introduces Trigger Argee, an agent for the Psychology Service. Schmitz was finally hitting his stride with the Telzey stories in these tales, and this volume includes what I regard as some of the best. Resident Witch, Company Planet, Ti's Toys, and Child of the Gods are much better than most of the prior Telzey stories, with only Goblin Night being their equal. She meets Trigger in Compulsion and their relationship is developed further in Glory Day, and The Symbiotes. That is the last Telzey story Schmitz wrote, and I wonder what he might have done further with her character. Her Matri twin, Gaziel, from Ti's Toys, certainly offered opportunity for more story lines. Trigger, by contrast, is not an active psi, and relies on wit, cunning, intelligence, training, and pluck to get out of predicaments. In many ways she is a much more mature, complex, and interesting character. While Telzey is fascinating, powerful (in more ways than one) and has what Flint calls a "solitary splendor" Trigger is more humanly fallible, and humanly competent, despite her latent psi ability. The next volume will feature her, her husband (a married Sci -Fi Heroine? How unusual, human, and normal.) and various associates, and I look forward to it.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great stories, but the cover...!, November 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: TNT: Telzey Amberdon & Trigger Argee Together (Federation of the Hub, 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

I read my parents' copies of these stories in the seventies and eighties. They have long been among my favorite short stories, and I'm definitely a James Schmitz fan. I'm glad to see that the stories are being republished. In this collection, I was also glad to see the pairing of Schmitz's "Pork Chop Tree" and "Compulsion" into the single story they are, especially because "Pork Chop Tree" is so hard to find.

This series has definitely been edited, and the more anachronistic technical elements of Schmitz's stories (microfilm, etc) have been suppressed. Other than that, the stories are as Schmitz wrote them.

My one major complaint are the covers, which are a big letdown, especially compared to the covers of the '80s editions. And T'Nt! Give me a break! These books should be packaged to attract new readers to Schmitz's work. The title of this volume strikes me as a cheesy in-joke that will attract people who already know about the stories but which will repel everyone else. These stories are truly classic SF, and they should have classier jackets!

Other than that, buy this book!