Apparently these stories were written in the 60s, but I never would have guessed that, they come off very modern. Telzey has a habit of breezing into a situation and setting up everything to suit her without much trouble, but the stories are fun and action-packed and nuance isn't really necessary. ( )

A group of short stories, originally published in magazines. Novice - lovely as usual, I like Tick-Tock. Undercurrents - she's gotten a lot more picky, though I suppose her aunt did earn modification... Poltergeist - poor guy, and a nudge toward the Psychology Department. Goblin Night - scary, less for the hunt and more for...misinformation. Leads on to Sleep No More - strange alien in park, which (along with Poltergeist) leads to Telzey cooperating with the Psychology Department, which leads to The Lion Game - which I did not remember nearly as well as I thought I did. I remembered lion aliens and an honor game; did not remember that she'd had allies (and not-quite-allies) and that she's not even the primary actor in the honor game. I'd completely forgotten the end; the disguise is rather neat. Star Hyacinths - mildly enjoyable adventure, the detective is protagonist not Telzey. One of the few that the editing is quite visible and a noticeable improvement, I think. And Blood of Nalakia, a weird little story that's background for The Lion Game and otherwise - yet more of "people aren't what you assume they are", another regular Schmitz theme. ( )

A lot of very readable and entertaining SF is grounded in Clarke's observation that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." A character who pops what looks like an aspirin tablet into what looks like a microwave and then retrieves and eats a vindaloo is behaving as realistically as I am when I order a pizza. If the character then steps into a time machine, he or she needn't know any more about how it works than I need to know what really happens when I turn on the lights. In fact, I'd worry about the success of a book that said "Gwen's knowledge of farming and baking enabled her to eat a pizza, and since she understood the principles of electrical transmission, she was able to eat it with the lights on." If anything, I think that too many SF books try to explain made up science that their characters, if real, would probably just take for granted.

Some of the best Golden Age writers sometimes had little formal education; on the other hand, we fail to recognise that some of the best SF writing is not very technical at all (not exactly Vintage SF, but “Neuromancer” springs to mind.) I'm thinking here of the likes of Philip K. Dick, or Walter M. Miller, who tried to make philosophical points about humanity and our past and future without alienating readers with scientific mumbo jumbo. The technocratic side of SF is all well and good, but it isn't the whole story either. Remember the Telzey series anyone? I believe only SF geeks would have heard about Telzey and Trigger! I still have most of my collection of Analog Science Fact and Fiction (plus earlier Amazing Stories). Every so often I get a period when I re-read them - all. Analog’s stories were NOT all about Aliens. Lots of them postulated other "social" systems (usually that had gone or were going wrong; Poul Anderson, and Christopher Anvil spring to mind.) Or "studies" in human reactions under odd stresses (deep dive I think it was called), Or just a modernized version of "detective" type novels. Some were just funny. But thinking about it, it was all very morally prim and proper, apart from the cigarettes. After a bit the BEMs got a bit boring (bug-eyed monsters), and see one teleporter, transmogrifier or faster than even light, and you have seen them all. As it was the actual story that counted (don't seem to remember LEDs, but "cold light was mentioned several times though). Was it blasé even at the time? Not sure. Science HAS come up with most of the things mentioned on “Star Trek” as I pointed out somewhere else. But maybe the difference is between the "written" versions and film, the latter being less imaginative at first (for the spectator). Modern Film SF has at least progressed from Flash Gordon to Avatar, with only small stops for the X-men and other "ordinary kids from the neighborhood".

(Bought in 2000)

Some of my reading buddies question me: should I read stuff like this? There’s so many Nabokovs out there to re-read they imply...this begs the question: "Should SF do more than entertain?" This headline conjures up for me some soberly dressed parson with a cane intent on making sure your art only Serves God - or an ideologue with an AK-47 ensuring it only Serves The Party. No. There is a place for candy (or fruits), and a place for meat and potatoes (or whatever your preferred protein source). We must trust readers to balance their diets with select servings from all the food groups, not stand over them demanding political correctness in their choices. This trust must be extended to writers as well. If I want to write a mindless sitcom I should have that right. If I want to read Telzey (“Telzey Amberdon”) or Trigger Argee (“T'nT: Telzey and Trigger”) rather then reading a Nabokov’s book I will. Schmitz was one of the first Golden Age writers to depict “strong female characters” in his novels, which was virtually unheard of for SF of the time; it's also great to have these stories back in print and in order; I remember well my confusion in the 80s as I tried to sort this out from the previous books. The truth of this hinges on “Better”. Not everyone agrees on what is “Better”. Some may focus on the style of a story, the paint strokes and chiaroscuro and such. Some may focus on the substance conveyed by the style, the "painted" seen THROUGH the window of the "painting". Others, sometimes, just want a mindless SF romp!

Telzey and Trigger rule! These two cut a swathe through the bad guys of the Hub worlds like no other. If you want badass female characters from Back-in-the-Day-SF, Telzey and Trigger deliver! (I love using exclamation points even when the purists say they’re a big no-no!)

Anyway, we are still screwed up when we have: on my right - the climate change and science deniers, Even further right - the arms industry, GM foods and TSA databases from body scanners, and right off the chart financial CDO's, Flash crashes and stuxnets. Most of that is REAL-fi.

More importantly: we still don't really know what is at the bottom of the ocean.

SF = Speculative Fiction. ( )

A fun collection and good introduction to both Telzey Amberdon and Schmitz's Hub universe. These tales are part of a collective and cohesive thread that feature many imaginative situations. For a fifteen-year old, Telzey is almost unbelievably self-possessed but it's easy not to focus on that point too much as the narratives carry the reader along at a good clip. Despite telepathy/mind-control being a science-fiction trope that I don't much care for, this was an enjoyable read. ( )

I read this so long ago I don't remember much about it. But I did love it back then. ( )