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NESFA Press

Hardcover (Trade)

Published May 1991
Hardcover (Trade) price: $18.95
Weight: 1.58

ISBN-13: 978-0-915368-46-4
ISBN-10: 0-915368-46-3
Page count: 255
Book Size: 5-1/2" x 8-1/2"

Hardcover (Trade)

1st edition, 3rd printing, December 2000
Hardcover (Trade) price: $22.00
Weight: 1.58

ISBN-13: 978-0-915368-46-4
ISBN-10: 0-915368-46-3
Page count: 255
Book Size: 5-1/2" x 8-1/2"

The Best of James H. Schmitz

This text relates to the 1st edition • Hardcover (Trade)

by James H. Schmitz

This is the first of the “NESFA’s Choice” series.

Table of Contents

  • Mischief in the Spaceways (intro by Janet Kagan)
  • Grandpa
  • Lion Loose...
  • Just Curious
  • The Second Night of Summer
  • Novice
  • Balanced Ecology
  • The Custodians
  • Sour Note on Palayata
  • Goblin Night
  • Bibliography (from the Whole Science Fiction Database)

James H. Schmitz was born 1911 in Germany of American parents. They spent WW I in the United States, and then returned to Germany. Schmitz came back to the US permanently in 1938 as WW II loomed. During the war he served in the Air Force in the Pacific. After the war he made his home in California where he lived until his death in 1974. Schmitz's first story, "Greenface" was published in Unknown in 1943, but his career as an SF writer really didn't begin until the early 50's. He wrote primarily for Astounding/Analog, and most of his work appeared between 1960 and 1974. Schmitz left a body of work of eight novels, several collections and fifty stories. Probably his best-known stories are "The Witches of Karres", "Grandpa", and "Balanced Ecology".

Three interior illustrations by Merle Insinga:

Schmitz-Insinga-1-215.jpg (16835 bytes)Schmitz-Insinga-2-215.jpg  (16111 bytes)Schmitz-Insinga-3-215.jpg (14950 bytes)


Printing History

LC card number: 91-61064, originally $18.95, later raised to $22.00

First Printing, May 1991

Third printing, January 2001

Edited by Mark L. Olson
Cover art by Frank Kelly Freas
Interiors by Merle Insinga