James H Schmitz's "Undercurrents" (novella, property dispute, free): Foiling a murder plot

Close family & friends own a firm, with rules of incorporation such that holding will remain within the group, even in the event of death of one of them. One of them a greedy evil member. Over the years, she gets various other members killed, grabbing their share on the cheap.

Now she's after the last significant share holder other than her. To kill her in a way that won't be traceable to culprit. Telzey Amberdon, with help & a lot of telepathic handwave, will help foil the plan.

Fact sheet.

First published: Analog, May/June 1964 (as a 2-part serial).
Download full text from Baen Books.
Rating: B. 
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campebell.
Related: Stories of James H Schmitz.

James H Schmitz's "The Star Hyacinths" (novelette, space opera, free): A detective solves a robbery case

The title is the name of a kind of very precious gem, the kind that the robbers took from Dosey Asteroids Shipping Station after killing everyone there with ... well, no one could figure out with what kind of weapon. 6 years down the line, the case still lies unsolved.

But detective Wellan Dasinger of "Kyth detective agency in Orado" is now on the tail of a bunch of crooks that will eventually help solve the case.

Fact sheet.

First published: Amazing Stories, December 1961.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg, Manybooks, Baen Books.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of James H Schmitz.

James H Schmitz's "Poltergeist" (short story, free): Exorcising an unusual ghost

This ghost haunts not a place but a man, & has made his life miserable. Telzy Amberdon, budding telepath, will help him get rid of it...

See also.

1. James Schmitz's "Sour Note on Palayata" (download). Similar idea in a more colorful setting.

Fact sheet.

First published: Analog, July 1971.
Download full text from Baen Books.
Rating: B. 
Among the stories edited by John Campbell for Astounding/Analog.
Related: Stories of James H Schmitz.

James H Schmitz's "Trigger & Friends" (ed Eric Flint) (collection, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Nothing really extraordinary here, though "Forget It" & "Sour Note on Palayata" have cool ideas.

Whole collection is available at Baen CD here, but contains substantially edited versions of "Legacy" & "Forget It". Links with the stories below go to original unedited versions.

List of contents below is in order of my preference, rather than ToC order.

1. [novelette] "Forget It" aka "Planet of Forgetting" (B); download; Galaxy, February 1965: An unusual animal defense against predators.
2. [novelette] "Sour Note on Palayata" (B); download; Astounding, November 1956: An unusual evolution of brain.
3. [ss] "Aura of Immortality" (B); download; If, May/June 1974: Criminals are after the immortality potion the scientist has.
4. [novel] "Legacy" aka "A Tale of Two Clocks" (B); download; 1962; space opera: Lot of parties are after "plasmoids", artificial-life agricultural robots left by apparently long dead "Old Galactics". Currently in care of government, sundry villains are after the loot.
   This story is a sequel to "Harvest Time".
5. [novelette] "Harvest Time" (B); download; Astounding, September 1958: Ancient galactic fortune hunters on a new-to-man virgin world. An evil government officer hell bent on claiming booty discovered by someone else gets justice.
6. [novella] "Lion Loose" (B); Analog, October 1961; adventure: Villains, comprising of two mutually mistrusting gangs, have taken control of a space station that is about to receive some valuable cargo. They plan to rob cargo & fly away, after bombing away the space station to avoid leaving evidence. Hero will get them justice & protect the space station.
   See also: Murray Leinster's "Checkpoint Lambda": Very similar plot - hero must save the space station from its hijackers who plan to loot valuable cargo expected soon & who also intend to destroy the space station before leaving.

Related: Stories of James H Schmitz.

James H Schmitz's "Sour Note on Palayata" (novelette, mystery, free): An unusual evolution of brain

I'm not sure of the factual accuracy of the thesis of this story - I know little about psychology. Central idea here is: of the two minds we have - conscious & unconscious - conscious is the smarter one; unconscious is relatively dumb.

Aliens in this story have the opposite: conscious is intelligent but relatively dumb; real smart alien lives in the unconscious - leading to curious behavior. And author gives us a good reason why evolution chose to structure these aliens like this.

Plot itself is structured as a mystery: there seems to be more to Palayatans than meets the eye, something far smarter, an unknown factor - call it X. Investigators need to figure out if X indeed exits, & whether it is a threat to humanity.

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, November 1956.
Download full text from Baen CD.
Rating: B.
Among the stories edited by John Campbell for Astounding/Analog.
Related: Stories of James H Schmitz.

James H Schmitz's "Legacy" aka "A Tale of Two Clocks" (novel, space opera, free): Many groups are after the ancient treasures

One of the more mundane works of Schmitz, though an action packed one.

Story summary.

A star-traveling humanity has discovered a treasure left on some world by long gone "Old Galactics". Treasure comprises of a number of "plasmoids" - a kind of artificial-life agricultural robots. They can produce so much food, we'll never have to worry about it, etc. But the process of human acquisition of them had shut them off, & no one knows how to turn them on again.

Currently they're in custody of the government, but sundry other groups want them too. And what will happen when varied groups begin doing their own underground tinkering to revive these ancient living machines...

See also.

1. James H Schmitz's "Harvest Time" (download): The story where "plasmoids" were first discovered.

Fact sheet.

First published: 1962.
Download full text from Baen Books, Project Gutenberg, Manybooks.
Download audiobook from Internet Archive, LibriVox.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of James H Schmitz.

James H Schmitz's "Forget It" aka "Planet of Forgetting" (novelette, free): An unusual animal defense against predators

An intelligence agent, carrying a secret coded (paper?) file to another world, is captured by the enemy on the way. Story is of him outwitting the entire enemy ship taking him to their world. Features telepathic plants capable of moving around.

Fact sheet.

First published: Galaxy, February 1965.
Note: "this cover story was mistakenly listed as "Planet of Forge" on Galaxy's TOC."
Eric Flint on online version I've linked in download link below: 'we changed the name of the hero, did some rearranging of paragraphs in the early sections of the story, somewhat modified a few paragraphs of background material to make it fit the Hub setting, and cut a short "trick ending" that wasn't really part of the story itself and wouldn't fit the Hub setting.'
Download full text from BaenCD.
Rating: B.
Nominated for Nebula Award 1966 in novelette category.
Related: Stories of James H Schmitz.

James H Schmitz's "Aura of Immortality" (short story, mad scientist, free)

Prof Mantelish, well known inventor, has just returned to Maccadon after a research stint to Tang among its native hominid aliens. He's returned with several liters of their immortality potion, & is careless enough to mention it on TV immediately on landing. So, of course, criminals want it...

Fact sheet.

First published: If, May/June 1974.
Download full text from Baen CD.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of James H Schmitz.

James H Schmitz's "The Hub: Dangerous Territory" (ed Eric Flint) (collection, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Whole book is online at Baen Books. Includes one novel & nine short stories.

Table of contents (10 stories, best first).

1. [novel] "The Demon Breed" aka "The Tuvela" (A); download; Analog, September/October 1968: Humanity has secret super-human rulers!
2. [novelette] "Grandpa" (A); download; Analog, February 1955: A group of early explorers on a newly opened world is trapped by a local lifeform. Only the ingenuity of our teenage hero can save the group's life...
3. [novelette] "Trouble Tide" (A); download; Analog, May 1965: Detectives burst a smuggling operation.
4. [novella] "The Searcher" (B); download; Analog, February 1966: Human heroes fight off an evil alien.
5. [ss] "Balanced Ecology" (B); download; Analog, March 1965: A jungle world knows how to defend itself against greedy humans.
6. "The Other Likeness" (B); download; Analog, July 1962: A small band of humans thinks redesigned, human-looking, aliens have penetrated the human worlds - to destroy the human civilization. So they're doing what they can to catch the aliens...
7. "Attitudes" (B); download; F&SF, February 1969: Sole survivor of an accidentally destroyed human world has has come to civilization seeking help - he's carrying brain dumps of a lot of his dead compatriots. He wants Federation to supply him with many artificially created human bodies which he will animate with his dead friends. He also wants help colonizing a new world with this crowd. Federation helps, but someone is wondering...
8. "The Machmen" (B); download; Analog, September 1964: "Machmen" are machine-men, some medically-induced transformation that turns them into "Homo
   Superior". Only, it's illegal & unsafe. One of the would-be victims being chased for forcible transformation into machman turns out to be someone more capable than strongmen expected.
9. [novelette] "The Winds of Time" (B); download; Analog, September 1962: A man & a woman are trapped, kidnapped, & ... harassed ... by ... aliens.
10. [ss] "A Nice Day for Screaming" (B); download; Analog, January 1965: One of the early exploration ships in "pseudospace", a kind of parallel space, is chased by ... something.
    

Related: Stories of James H Schmitz.

James H Schmitz's "Trouble Tide" (novelette, smuggling, free)

Last third is action packed, but first two thirds is a much better read - a detective story that pieces together several apparently disjointed data sets on a human settled non-earth world:

1. A sea animal herd ("frayas") suddenly dies during its annual migration.
2. A coastal sea animal herd ("sea beefs") is behaving in a very weird way - a lot of animals have simply vanished; others that need to come up to surface for breathing every few minutes now seem to have developed some equivalent of gills.
3. Flow rate of a sea current somehow ties up the relative times of the two events.
4. ... 

Collected in.

1. James H Schmitz's "The Hub: Dangerous Territory".

See also.

1. L Sprague de Camp's "The Merman": Another story where mammals transform into fish.

Fact sheet.

First published: Analog, May 1965.
Download full text from Baen Books.
Caution: This is a long novelette - nearly novella length.
Rating: A.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of James H Schmitz.

3 stories of James H Schmitz

All are colorful in their own way (but "Balanced Ecology" is more colorful than others). List is in order of my preference, best first.

1. [ss] "Balanced Ecology" (B); download; Analog, March 1965: A jungle world knows how to defend itself against greedy humans.
   Nominated for Nebula Award 1966 in short story category.
2. [novelette] "The Winds of Time" (B); download; Analog, September 1962: A man & a woman are trapped, kidnapped, & ... harassed ... by ... aliens.
3. [ss] "A Nice Day for Screaming" (B); download; Analog, January 1965: One of the early exploration ships in "pseudospace", a kind of parallel space, is chased by ... something.

Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of James H Schmitz.

James H Schmitz's "Grandpa" (novelette, adventure, free)

This appears to be a widely anthologized story.

Story summary.

A group of early explorers on the newly opened world of Sutang is trapped by a local lifeform. Only the ingenuity of our teenage hero can save the group's life...

Collected in.

1. James H Schmitz's "The Hub: Dangerous Territory".

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, February 1955.
Download full text from Webscription.
Rating: A.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of James H Schmitz.

James H Schmitz's "The Searcher" (novella, thriller, free): Human heroes fight off evil alien

This is mostly a fast moving story, though I found later parts a bit draggy.

Story summary.

Two private detectives arrive on a human world called Mezmiali, on trail of a smuggling ring. Suspects include administration of the government depot that is supposed to guard & analyze stray relics picked up all over the galaxy. A deal will soon be spoiled by detectives. A deal involving an alien communications device human explorers had picked up.

Also "goyal", the alien owner of the device, has come to take it back. He's a energy being & a swarm being too.

So our super-resourceful detectives have to outmaneuver both the smugglers & the alien.

Collected in.

1. James H Schmitz's "The Hub: Dangerous Territory".

Fact sheet.

First published: Analog, February 1966.
Download full text from Webscription.
Rating: B.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of James H Schmitz.

James H Schmitz's "The Demon Breed" aka "The Tuvela" (novel, psychological warfare, humor, free): Humanity has secret super-human rulers!

Didn't you know humanity is ultimately ruled by a small population of supermen & superwomen - the Tuvelas? Well, get enlightened.

Very funny story of two very resourceful individuals - a young woman & an older man - vs ruthless invading aliens, on an uninhabited floating island on a remote waterworld.

Collected in.

1. James H Schmitz's "The Hub: Dangerous Territory".

See also.

1. Eric Frank Russell's "Next of Kin": Very funny novel with a similar but even crazier idea.

Fact sheet.

First published: Analog, September/October 1968.
Download full text from Webscription.  [via Bill Garthright @ ClassicScienceFiction]
Rating: A.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of James H Schmitz.

James H Schmitz's "Novice" (novelette, free): Your pet could be smarter than you think

Young Telzey Amberdon with her pet Tick-Tock is sent with her evil Aunt Halet to the human park world Jontarou. Now there is a history behind Tick-Tock: no one knows what kind of cat it is or which world it is the inhabitant of.

Here Telzey will meet intelligent natives humans are unaware of, & will help their civilization integrate into human one.

Fact sheet.

First published: Analog, June 1962.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg, Manybooks, Webscription. [via someone at ClassicScienceFiction]
Rating: A.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of James H Schmitz.

James H Schmitz's "Oneness" (short story, telepathy, free): Moving from autocracy towards something more benign

I've a feeling this is a cold war story about USSR from US perspective of the time, though neither country is mentioned & my reading on the subject is limited.

Story summary.

Earth is run with an iron hand by a political entity called "the Machine" - essentially the rule of a few powerful men, without checks. Political dissent is severely dealt with. A penal colony was set up on Mars, & has a lot of dissidents with good scientific training.

One find day, these "Mars Convicts" develop stardrive & escape. Now, 50 years later, a lone ship of theirs, with a single passenger, is back. The passenger is Rainbolt, "a trained specialist" in the "practical applications" of "the principles of Oneness" they've developed. He's captured, of course.

His magic begins to spread as his interrogation, including torture, begins...

Fact sheet.

First published: Analog, May 1963.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg.
Rating: B.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of James H Schmitz.

Free fiction: James H Schmitz's famous novel "The Witches of Karres"

At Baencd. [via Free SF Reader]

This is probably the most famous work of Schmitz, & is included in Ben Bova's "The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol 2B".

A space opera that's difficult to summarize but fun to read - hero rescues 3 young girls from slavery & the adventure begins. Magic, dimensions-crossing bad aliens, other dangerous aliens, lost people, ...

Free fiction: Poul Anderson, James H Schmitz, Harry Bates

These are 2 or 3 months old links that were lost in my bookmarks.

Poul Anderson's "To Outlive Eternity" at Webscription; download; Galaxy, June 1967 & August 1967.

Two stories from James H Schmitz's "Agent of Vega and Other Stories" at Webscription:

1. "Agent of Vega"; download.
2. "The Illusionists"; download.

Via QuasarDragon: Comic book adaptation of Harry Bates' widely read story "Farewell to the Master" at Diversions of the Groovy Kind. Original text version of this story is already known to be online.