And this turned out to be a bit of a problem. Schmitz stopped publishing in about 1974, and died in 1981. Most of his work had been short stories published in magazines like Analog, which meant Schmitz' stories seemed less than likely to be reprinted.

By hunting around and keeping an eye out in second hand bookshops, I managed to collect several Schmitz books over the next few years. And recently, the stories have been collected and reissued by Baen books, so they are available again (though lightly edited by Eric Flint - well edited in the most part I think, but I'd still rather have them as they were). Schmitz' stories are brilliant, and I highly recommend that any sci-fi fan give them a try. In particular, I was impressed by the way Schmitz handled descriptions of psionic abilities. He was the first (I believe) to tackle the idea in depth, and still has the best handling of telepathy I've read.

Exactly what it is about his work that makes it so good is hard to define. Magazines have serious space restrictions, so editing can be brutal. Working in such an environment encouraged Schmitz to develop a tight style, and he rarely branches off to explain why something works, or what the Federation of the Hub is all about. The clever thing is, he manages to write in a way that adds to the readers belief in the story. I suspect it's because he presents things in a way that makes the reader feel they are already familiar with them. To do this while still maintaining the feeling of being involved in an alien society is the mark of a great writer.

Schmitz was more interested in people than in sci-fi gadgets. As a result the stories wear well. There is no hackneyed 1960's idea of what computers would be like to challenge the modern readers sense of belief for example. On the other hand, characters occasionally make use of the "CommWeb" using desktop or portable devices. The CommWeb is used to research information, and can be used for video conferencing, ideas which should now seem very familiar! Some dialog is a bit dated, but fortunately it's rare to find a section that jars with modern perceptions. This in itself is quite an achievement, considering many of these stories are over 40 years old.

How the Federation itself works is also interesting. Schmitz (an American born in Germany) felt that no government should force its members to behave in a particular way. The Federation is presented as a very loose governrment which tries to gently guide it's members rather than regulate them. Private wars and vendettas are allowed. In one of the stories you gain the definate impression that the Federation deliberately allows this level of anarchy because it wants to keep people in a slightly dangerous environment. This encourages innovation and stops the races from stagnating.

My favorite Schmitz character is still Telzey Amberdon, but Schmitz had a multitude of interesting characters. The recently republished stories have been grouped by the lead character, so it's easy to follow their careers. Telzey has a book of her own (called Telzey Amberdon), and shares another with Trigger Argee. Trigger is another good Schmitz character who had her own stories as well as becoming a good friend and adventuring partner of Telzey. The stories of the two girls together are collected in TnT:Telzey and Trigger, also by Baen books.

Before the stories were collected and reprinted, the most famous of Schmitz' books were the Witches of Karres and Agent of Vega, neither of which I think are particularly good. I've been flamed on discussion groups for saying so, but that's my opinion and I'm yet to be convinced otherwise!

Several Telzey stories are available to read on the web here .

Links to sites about James H Schmitz or his characters can be found in several places. One I strongly recommend as a starting point is by Guy Gordon, who was involved in some of the editing for the recent reprints. The site is here. A very good bibliography with short outlines of key stories is here. And finally, there is a long and interesting interview with James H Schmitz here.