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The Hub
The Hub: Dangerous Territory
The Federation of the Hub: thousands of rough, ornery and tough-minded human worlds with only the subtlest of governments holding them together. It's prime real estate for criminals, unscrupulous corporations, and invaders from beyond Federation space. But in Hub space, a citizen is expected to stand up for herself, blaster in hand; so when Trouble comes Hubward in large doses, there's an armed citizenry waiting for it.
473 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 2001
32 people are currently reading
389 people want to read
About the author
James H. Schmitz
240 books92 followersJames Henry Schmitz (October 15, 1911–April 18, 1981) was an American writer born in Hamburg, Germany of American parents. Aside from two years at business school in Chicago, Schmitz lived in Germany until 1938, leaving 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 ran a business which manufactured trailers until they broke up the business in 1949.
Schmitz is best known as a writer of space opera, and for strong female characters (including Telzey Amberdon and Trigger Argee) that didn't fit into the damsel in distress stereotype typical of science fiction during the time he was writing. His first published story was Greenface, published in August 1943 in Unknown. Most of his works are part of the "Hub" series, though his best known novel is the non-Hub The Witches of Karres, concerning juvenile "witches" with genuine psi-powers and their escape from slavery. Karres was nominated for a Hugo Award.
In recent years, his novels and short stories have been republished by Baen Books (which bought the rights to his estate for $6500), edited (sometimes heavily edited) and with notes by Eric Flint. Baen have also published new works based in the Karres universe.
Schmitz died of congestive lung failure in 1981 after a five week stay in the hospital in Los Angeles. He was survived by his wife, Betty Mae Chapman Schmitz.
Schmitz is best known as a writer of space opera, and for strong female characters (including Telzey Amberdon and Trigger Argee) that didn't fit into the damsel in distress stereotype typical of science fiction during the time he was writing. His first published story was Greenface, published in August 1943 in Unknown. Most of his works are part of the "Hub" series, though his best known novel is the non-Hub The Witches of Karres, concerning juvenile "witches" with genuine psi-powers and their escape from slavery. Karres was nominated for a Hugo Award.
In recent years, his novels and short stories have been republished by Baen Books (which bought the rights to his estate for $6500), edited (sometimes heavily edited) and with notes by Eric Flint. Baen have also published new works based in the Karres universe.
Schmitz died of congestive lung failure in 1981 after a five week stay in the hospital in Los Angeles. He was survived by his wife, Betty Mae Chapman Schmitz.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 25, 2009
This is volume four of the collected works of James H. Schmitz. I paid fifteen pounds for a battered, dirty copy of this book, to complete my seven-volume set, and it was absolutely worth every penny. If I hadn't already found that copy, after reading the previous three books I would have paid whatever it took to acquire this one.
The highlights are the two Nile Etland stories: Trouble Tide (a novella) and The Demon Breed (a novel). Both are tremendously entertaining. Schmitz had a rare knack for combining thrilling action with hard, soft and pseudo science, not to mention a genius for creating strong, independent, intelligent and capable women (of which Etland is yet another example) and believably alien psychologies. Both stories also save gently amusing twists for their closing pages, another Schmitz signature.
Having read the other stories quite a while ago (before losing the book for a while), I don't have much to say about them now. They weren't quite Schmitz's best, but they were good. I got stuck on "Balanced Ecology" - and then, weirdly, got stuck on it in Bug Eyed Monsters as well - but after gritting my teeth and forcing myself to focus (it's a tough one to read late at night) it turned out to be one of the best stories I read all year.
Reading the back of this book, it's easy to be put off: "thousands of rough, ornery and tough-minded human worlds ... when Trouble comes Hubward in large doses, there are an awful lot of armed citizens waiting for it..."
But don't be! It may sound like recommended reading for right-wing libertarians, but Schmitz makes it clear that there's a price to pay for that liberty: ordinary, non-violent people can't rest easy. They are plagued by villains and cut-throats, with no interplanetary police force to come to the rescue. And that's where Schmitz's heroes come in!
I very, very rarely think this about books any more, having so many still to read, but I would say it's a virtual certainty that I'll be reading this book again.
I'd like to express my immense gratitude to Eric Flint and Guy Gordon for putting this series of collected works together. They've done a wonderful service to this reader (and many others I'm sure), but also paid the most perfect tribute to a very special writer.
The highlights are the two Nile Etland stories: Trouble Tide (a novella) and The Demon Breed (a novel). Both are tremendously entertaining. Schmitz had a rare knack for combining thrilling action with hard, soft and pseudo science, not to mention a genius for creating strong, independent, intelligent and capable women (of which Etland is yet another example) and believably alien psychologies. Both stories also save gently amusing twists for their closing pages, another Schmitz signature.
Having read the other stories quite a while ago (before losing the book for a while), I don't have much to say about them now. They weren't quite Schmitz's best, but they were good. I got stuck on "Balanced Ecology" - and then, weirdly, got stuck on it in Bug Eyed Monsters as well - but after gritting my teeth and forcing myself to focus (it's a tough one to read late at night) it turned out to be one of the best stories I read all year.
Reading the back of this book, it's easy to be put off: "thousands of rough, ornery and tough-minded human worlds ... when Trouble comes Hubward in large doses, there are an awful lot of armed citizens waiting for it..."
But don't be! It may sound like recommended reading for right-wing libertarians, but Schmitz makes it clear that there's a price to pay for that liberty: ordinary, non-violent people can't rest easy. They are plagued by villains and cut-throats, with no interplanetary police force to come to the rescue. And that's where Schmitz's heroes come in!
I very, very rarely think this about books any more, having so many still to read, but I would say it's a virtual certainty that I'll be reading this book again.
I'd like to express my immense gratitude to Eric Flint and Guy Gordon for putting this series of collected works together. They've done a wonderful service to this reader (and many others I'm sure), but also paid the most perfect tribute to a very special writer.
June 17, 2024
ENGLISH: James Schmitz's aliens are the most original and often the scariest I've ever seen. Energy beings made of billions of entities connected through radio waves, capable of consuming a human being in a fraction of a second. Strange symbiotes, harmless while separate, but deadly when coupled together. Intelligent ecologies. Ruthless alien invaders. And so forth. All of these appear in this volume.
The demon breed stresses the reader's belief capacity a little too far. When the planet Nandy-Cline is invaded in secret by over twenty alien space ships who are trying to conquer it, a single human being (the young female biologist Nile Etland) is capable of disabling the invasion by herself, with the only help of a mutant intelligent otter...
I have read this book three times now. From this reading I got the idea for a new paper for my popular science blog.
ESPAÑOL: Los extraterrestres de James Schmitz son los más originales y, a veces, los más aterradores que he visto. Seres compuestos de energía, formados por billones de entidades conectadas a través de ondas de radio, capaces de consumir a un ser humano en una fracción de segundo. Extraños simbiontes, inofensivos cuando están separados, pero mortales cuando están unidos. Ecologías inteligentes. Invasores alienígenas despiadados. Todos estos aparecen en este volumen.
La raza demoníaca pone a prueba la credulidad del lector. Cuando el planeta Nandy-Cline es invadido secretamente por más de veinte naves extraterrestres que intentan conquistarlo, un solo ser humano (la joven bióloga Nile Etland) es ella sola capaz de impedir la invasión, con la única ayuda de un nutria mutante inteligente...
He leído este libro tres veces y me ha proporcionado la idea de un artículo nuevo para mi blog de divulgación científica.
The demon breed stresses the reader's belief capacity a little too far. When the planet Nandy-Cline is invaded in secret by over twenty alien space ships who are trying to conquer it, a single human being (the young female biologist Nile Etland) is capable of disabling the invasion by herself, with the only help of a mutant intelligent otter...
I have read this book three times now. From this reading I got the idea for a new paper for my popular science blog.
ESPAÑOL: Los extraterrestres de James Schmitz son los más originales y, a veces, los más aterradores que he visto. Seres compuestos de energía, formados por billones de entidades conectadas a través de ondas de radio, capaces de consumir a un ser humano en una fracción de segundo. Extraños simbiontes, inofensivos cuando están separados, pero mortales cuando están unidos. Ecologías inteligentes. Invasores alienígenas despiadados. Todos estos aparecen en este volumen.
La raza demoníaca pone a prueba la credulidad del lector. Cuando el planeta Nandy-Cline es invadido secretamente por más de veinte naves extraterrestres que intentan conquistarlo, un solo ser humano (la joven bióloga Nile Etland) es ella sola capaz de impedir la invasión, con la única ayuda de un nutria mutante inteligente...
He leído este libro tres veces y me ha proporcionado la idea de un artículo nuevo para mi blog de divulgación científica.
May 19, 2019
I pulled this off my shelf to check out one of my favorite Schmitz books, Demon Breed, because my 1968 Ace copy is getting too brittle to handle, and ended up rereading the whole thing, i. e., the nine short stories also collected in this volume. Because the short stories were so hard to get hold of prior to Baen's release in 2001 of the six volumes of Schmitz' work, this is probably only the second time I have read most of them.
February 6, 2012
This collection includes "Demon Breed" which was probably one of the first books I ever purchased from Science Fiction Book Club, back when I was a teenager. Long out of print (too short to be counted as a novel these days), and my copy had disappeared. Very nice to be able to reread it. I like the strong, intelligent, competent female protagonist, particularly when she's outwitting the alien invaders.
December 24, 2021
These stories illustrate that the inhabitants of the Hub are indeed dangerous to anyone trying to invade any of their planets in any manner. Schmitz also continues to advocate for ecological awareness and humanity in his characters. All in all a great read with plenty of excitement, suspense, psi powers, aliens, and the ability of humans to ad lib when faced with the unexpected. Nile Etland is another worthy heroine.
September 28, 2024
Average rating: 3.65/5 stars, including the novel The Demon Breed.
Overall I found Schmitz’s writing to be a bit juvenile. It still was fun, but it had a very surface-level atmosphere to all the stories, even the novel. Almost every single story had me begging for a little more depth in either characters, worldbuilding, plot, or themes.
That said, if you’re into big dumb action stories with (mostly) strong female protagonists, this is your guy.
”The Searcher” - 4/5
Although written in 1966, this novella feels very modern. It stars a badass female protagonist and her equally cool male partner, both of whom are undercover agents aiming to shut down an illegal ring of smugglers. When the smugglers accidentally steal an object that summons an ancient alien being from the depths of space, the two agents must survive this monster as it lurks throughout the depot.
Written like a straight 80s action film, there’s not a lot to hate. It’s just a solid eighty pages. I wish there had been a little more tension, but I still enjoyed it as my first foray into James H. Schmitz’s world of The Hub.
”Grandpa” - 4/5
A young boy has to use his quick-thinking skills and resourcefulness to save his team from the alien life among an uncharted planet.
Another good—albeit shorter—story. The alien life that Schmitz creates feels so otherworldly. They’re unique and full of danger, requiring our protagonists to use their smarts to survive.
”Balanced Ecology” - 3.5/5
A fine story. Nothing amazing. A businessman wants to take over a finely balanced forest on a unique alien planet. He tries to force children—the heirs of aforementioned forest—to give him the rights so he can harvest all the valuable wood.
The kids end up escaping and a deeper consciousness in the forest is revealed. . .
Again, absolutely fine. Not good, not bad.
”A Nice Day for Screaming” - 3.5/5
A reporter for an intergalactic television station shows off mankind’s newest technology that allows them to go into Space Three, another dimension. Only there, they discover something. Or rather. Something discovers them!
The pacing was off on this one. Otherwise, I thought it was fine.
”The Winds of Time” - 5/5
The best short story this far. Full of tension, mystery, and twists, “The Winds of Time” would make a perfect space action thriller.
When a captain’s ship is suddenly thrust into pseudospace, he has to figure out what happened and if his odd passenger may be the reason.
Definitely worth the read!
”The Machmen” - 2.5/5
Short with an ending that fizzles rather than booms. This one was kinda sloppy compared to the other stories in this collection thus far. Even the idea—that cyborgs wanna take over the galaxy—is a little too ham-fisted and clumsy.
It’s not offensively bad, but definitely a neutral one.
”The Other Likeness” - 3.5/5
Something like a spy story, but it doesn’t have enough time to really become something more before the truth behind the undercover mission is revealed.
”Attitudes” - 3/5
An alien tries to pull a fast one on the human Federation, but my guy didn’t even have a chance.
Not bad, not great. Very whatever.
”Trouble Tide” - 3.5/5
A bunch of “sea beef”—basically genetically engineered hippopotamuses—go missing and it’s up to Nile and her friend to figure out what happened. The two eventually discover where they went, why they disappeared, and what’s responsible.
And then they turn into mermaids.
Pulpy and wacky, this novella had a slow beginning that finished with a fun burst of energy. This is science fiction at its cheesiest, which isn’t bad. In fact, I felt the writing was good and the characters were fun. But cheesy SF is not necessarily my cup of tea.
The Demon Breed - 4/5
Unlike the rest of these, this is a novel. Most famously released as “An Ace Science Fiction Special”,The Demon Breed follows the main character from the last novella, Nile from the last novella.
This felt a lot smoother than his other works, aside from ”The Winds of Time”. Perhaps that’s because Schmitz had more pages to explore with. Or maybe it was a more “out of the box” idea than his other stories in this collection.
From the very beginning, the main idea is funny and interesting: a warlike alien species was crushed by humanity 70 years ago. Rather than admit defeat, they believe humans are secretly super-powered. Now, they return to uncover the truth. Nile Etlund, a skilled, intelligent, but ordinary woman, must play along with their myth to outsmart them and save humanity from these little creatures.
And she does. She completely demolishes them. It’s silly but played completely straight, which I loved.
I think the highlight are the mutant otters that call Nile friend. Just fun imagery of them ripping around these little frog aliens.
This isn’t a masterwork, but it is fun.
Overall I found Schmitz’s writing to be a bit juvenile. It still was fun, but it had a very surface-level atmosphere to all the stories, even the novel. Almost every single story had me begging for a little more depth in either characters, worldbuilding, plot, or themes.
That said, if you’re into big dumb action stories with (mostly) strong female protagonists, this is your guy.
”The Searcher” - 4/5
Although written in 1966, this novella feels very modern. It stars a badass female protagonist and her equally cool male partner, both of whom are undercover agents aiming to shut down an illegal ring of smugglers. When the smugglers accidentally steal an object that summons an ancient alien being from the depths of space, the two agents must survive this monster as it lurks throughout the depot.
Written like a straight 80s action film, there’s not a lot to hate. It’s just a solid eighty pages. I wish there had been a little more tension, but I still enjoyed it as my first foray into James H. Schmitz’s world of The Hub.
”Grandpa” - 4/5
A young boy has to use his quick-thinking skills and resourcefulness to save his team from the alien life among an uncharted planet.
Another good—albeit shorter—story. The alien life that Schmitz creates feels so otherworldly. They’re unique and full of danger, requiring our protagonists to use their smarts to survive.
”Balanced Ecology” - 3.5/5
A fine story. Nothing amazing. A businessman wants to take over a finely balanced forest on a unique alien planet. He tries to force children—the heirs of aforementioned forest—to give him the rights so he can harvest all the valuable wood.
The kids end up escaping and a deeper consciousness in the forest is revealed. . .
Again, absolutely fine. Not good, not bad.
”A Nice Day for Screaming” - 3.5/5
A reporter for an intergalactic television station shows off mankind’s newest technology that allows them to go into Space Three, another dimension. Only there, they discover something. Or rather. Something discovers them!
The pacing was off on this one. Otherwise, I thought it was fine.
”The Winds of Time” - 5/5
The best short story this far. Full of tension, mystery, and twists, “The Winds of Time” would make a perfect space action thriller.
When a captain’s ship is suddenly thrust into pseudospace, he has to figure out what happened and if his odd passenger may be the reason.
Definitely worth the read!
”The Machmen” - 2.5/5
Short with an ending that fizzles rather than booms. This one was kinda sloppy compared to the other stories in this collection thus far. Even the idea—that cyborgs wanna take over the galaxy—is a little too ham-fisted and clumsy.
It’s not offensively bad, but definitely a neutral one.
”The Other Likeness” - 3.5/5
Something like a spy story, but it doesn’t have enough time to really become something more before the truth behind the undercover mission is revealed.
”Attitudes” - 3/5
An alien tries to pull a fast one on the human Federation, but my guy didn’t even have a chance.
Not bad, not great. Very whatever.
”Trouble Tide” - 3.5/5
A bunch of “sea beef”—basically genetically engineered hippopotamuses—go missing and it’s up to Nile and her friend to figure out what happened. The two eventually discover where they went, why they disappeared, and what’s responsible.
And then they turn into mermaids.
Pulpy and wacky, this novella had a slow beginning that finished with a fun burst of energy. This is science fiction at its cheesiest, which isn’t bad. In fact, I felt the writing was good and the characters were fun. But cheesy SF is not necessarily my cup of tea.
The Demon Breed - 4/5
Unlike the rest of these, this is a novel. Most famously released as “An Ace Science Fiction Special”,The Demon Breed follows the main character from the last novella, Nile from the last novella.
This felt a lot smoother than his other works, aside from ”The Winds of Time”. Perhaps that’s because Schmitz had more pages to explore with. Or maybe it was a more “out of the box” idea than his other stories in this collection.
From the very beginning, the main idea is funny and interesting: a warlike alien species was crushed by humanity 70 years ago. Rather than admit defeat, they believe humans are secretly super-powered. Now, they return to uncover the truth. Nile Etlund, a skilled, intelligent, but ordinary woman, must play along with their myth to outsmart them and save humanity from these little creatures.
And she does. She completely demolishes them. It’s silly but played completely straight, which I loved.
I think the highlight are the mutant otters that call Nile friend. Just fun imagery of them ripping around these little frog aliens.
This isn’t a masterwork, but it is fun.
January 23, 2021
One of our legendary SF groundbreaking authors who deserves nothing but respect for his ability to merge science fiction with fantasy. So glad I found this 4th volume of Short Stories by James H. Schmitz that were wonderfully written he takes you right into the spaceship with his characters and brings us all along for the ride. These 10 stories from The Federation of the Hub are just a great bunch of fiction. No two are really alike even though they might be about the same world or the same area in space ruled by those Federation Councilors and their Deputies and some of their foes. Sections of the book don't seem to be related but once you remind yourself these weren't written to become a novel, but for the only options open to publication at the time of pulp fiction. Hence the short stories must be great on their own without having to find the previous publications to follow the storyline. Great authors who can condense a great story into a few pages are harder to find nowadays but these original pulp fiction authors brought us a treasure trove of great fiction and they show new readers and writers how it can be done.
May 15, 2017
It took me about a year to finish this collection of short stories and novellas, reading a few stories at a time. My early reading of James Schmitz was among his books that can be described as charming. These are in the Horror category. I especially remember an alien of fire chasing our heroes through the streets of a city, melting through walls when it has to to reach its victims. The problem-solving of his main characters is clever. The penultimate story "The Demon Breed" is a good example, and less horror-filled, so I enjoyed it.
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February 16, 2025Decent nostalgic read. A little dated
The Witches of Karres is by far Schmitz's best work with a fantastic depth of world building that engaged me as a young reader. The Hub stories, whilst interesting, do not live up to Karres standards.
The problem might be that rereading the stories back to back demonstrates the plot similarities and reuse of themes that were probably less obvious when published months apart in Astounding magazine. Many of the characters are interchangeable.
Now that's not to say the tales are bad. Far from it. They just wear thin after a while
The Witches of Karres is by far Schmitz's best work with a fantastic depth of world building that engaged me as a young reader. The Hub stories, whilst interesting, do not live up to Karres standards.
The problem might be that rereading the stories back to back demonstrates the plot similarities and reuse of themes that were probably less obvious when published months apart in Astounding magazine. Many of the characters are interchangeable.
Now that's not to say the tales are bad. Far from it. They just wear thin after a while
June 11, 2023
Interesting Ideas - worth reading!
May 19, 2024
Short stories from the universe of Telzey Amberdon
March 2, 2014
This is the fourth and last of the Hub series being reprinted by Baen Books. James Schmitz was a science fiction writer of the 1950s-1970s known for his skill at characterization, interesting ideas, and a delightful style. In this volume, we encounter intelligent otters (The Demon Breed), horrible monsters (The Winds of Time), and an award-winning short story whose main character is an ecology (Balanced Ecology). Although this volume will be popular with long-time science fiction fans, everyone will enjoy his style.
April 8, 2010
I read this book online to find out what's a 'machman' from the Gary Newman song "Down in the Park."
I must have read about the wrong machmen because they didn't kill by numbers.
In any case, this was some decent science fiction short stories but nothing that would blow your mind.
I must have read about the wrong machmen because they didn't kill by numbers.
In any case, this was some decent science fiction short stories but nothing that would blow your mind.
September 7, 2011
I could only get through the first story and it was a mess. The pace of the book and the lack of back story just made for a fast push to the purple energy monster. Could not stomach it.[return][return]Not recommended!
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January 9, 2010baen ebook
April 17, 2011
A nicely varied collection of stories centered around the theme of genetic manipulation and similar bio-themes. Well worth reading.
December 2, 2014
nice reading.all the stories were interesting.I read about other volumes from the same author and I will certainly read them.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews