James H. Schmitz

50
James H. Schmitz bigraphy, stories - American writer

James H. Schmitz : biography

1911 – 1981

James Henry Schmitz (October 15, 1911–April 18, 1981) was an American science fiction (SF) writer born in Hamburg, Germany of American parents.

Life

Schmitz was educated at the Realgymnasium Obersekunda in Hamburg, and grew up speaking both English and German. The family spent World War I in the United States, and then returned to Germany. He traveled to Chicago in 1930 to go to business school, then switched to a correspondence course in journalism. Unable to find a job because of the Great Depression, he returned to Germany to work with his father’s company. Schmitz lived in Germany until 1938. He worked for the International Harvester Company, in various cities in Germany, from 1932 until 1939; his family left before World War II broke out in Europe in 1939.

During World War II, Schmitz served as an aerial photographer in the Pacific for the United States Army Air Corps. After the war, he and his brother-in-law managed a business which manufactured trailers until they ended the business in 1949.

After the War, he made his home in California, where he lived until his death.

Schmitz died of congestive lung failure in 1981 after a five-week stay in hospital in Los Angeles. He was survived by his wife, Betty Mae Chapman Schmitz.

Novels

Listed by title, with chronological publishing list.

  • The Demon Breed (retitle of The Tuvela)
    • Hardcover, 1968, Ace Books/SFBC
    • Paperback, 1968, Ace Books
    • Hardcover, 1969, MacDonald
    • Hardcover, 1971, UK SFBC/Newton Abbot
    • Paperback, 1974, Orbit Books
    • Paperback, 1979, Ace Books/SFBC
    • Paperback, 1981, Ace Books
  • The Eternal Frontiers
    • Hardcover, 1973, G. P. Putnam’s Sons
    • Paperback, 1973, Berkley Books
    • Hardcover, 1964, Sidgwick & Jackson
    • Hardcover, 1976, Sidgwick & Jackson (in a 3-in-1 compilation titled Special 18)
  • Legacy (retitle of A Tale of Two Clocks, paperback, 1979, Ace Books)
  • A Tale of Two Clocks
    • Hardcover, 1962, Torquil Books/SFBC
    • Paperback, 1965, Belmont
  • The Universe Against Her (novelized version of Novice and Undercurrents.)
    • Paperback, 1964, Ace Books
    • Paperback, 1979, Ace Books
    • Hardcover, 1981, Gregg Press
  • The Witches of Karres
    • Hardcover, 1966, Chilton
    • Paperback, 1966 (twice), Ace Books
    • Paperback, 1977, Ace Books
    • Paperback, 1981, Ace Books
    • Paperback, 1988, Gollancz
    • Hardcover, 1992, Baen Books/SFBC

Related books

  • The Wizard of Karres, by Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint and Dave Freer
This is a sequel of The Witches of Karres which follows the continuing adventures of Captain Pausert, Goth, and the Leewit.

Legacy

Prefacing the Schmitz tale "The Second Night of Summer", in which humans on the planet Noorhut face an attack from aliens and are, unbeknownst to themselves, saved by the actions of a single woman with psi powers, Granny Wannattel, with the sole help of a friendly alien she calls her pony, Dozois wrote,

With his popular equality-between-the-sexes fiction, Schmitz eased the way for later writers such as Joanna Russ, James Tiptree, Jr., Kit Reed, Connie Willis, Sheri S. Tepper, and other science fiction authors who used female protagonists and feminine point-of-view more than half the time. Of "The Second Night of Summer", Dozois went on to write, "the hero of the piece is not only a woman, but an old woman … a choice that most adventure writers wouldn’t even make now, in 1998, let alone in 1950, which is when Schmitz made it!"

Writing

Schmitz wrote mostly short stories, which sold chiefly to Astounding Science-Fiction, which later became Analog Science Fiction and Fact, and to Galaxy Science Fiction. Gale Biography in Context called him "a craftsmanlike writer who was a steady contributor to science fiction magazines for over 20 years."