Trigger & Friends

Rating:
Summary: Welcome Back to a Friend
Review: I am delighted to welcome back these stories by James Schmitz featuring his wonderful character, Trigger Argee, and her friends. James Schmitz had the knack of creating futurescapes and characters which are deep, insightful, and riveting -- especially female characters. Trigger feels like a friend by the time an Argee story ends.

I had promised myself ONE STORY PER DAY, but I could not put this book down. This is the third of four collections featuring the stories of James Schmitz which are edited by Eric Flint -- this one co-edited with Guy Gordon. In this book you will find Trigger and Holati facing off the top eschelon of government. You'll find Quillan, well named "Bad News", getting some bad news of his own. You'll find Professor Mantelish giving one interview too many. All have the flow of a good story -- one that feels like reality and moves at a fast clip.

Fortunately, I can go back to my story-a-day promise. With this book and in these stories, there is always more to discover.

Rating:
Summary: Agents of the Hub
Review: The first two volumes of the Hub series published by Baen Books presented the experiences of the teen-aged Telzey Amberdon. The other volumes gather together stories centered on other characters of the Hub civilization (including in one case an ecology!). Volume 3 presents the adventures of Trigger Argee, Pilch, and Hezlet Quillan, agents of the Hub Overgovernment. In these stories, we have some background filled in and begin to understand how the Hub culture deals with an unfriendly galaxy. Strongly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Interstellar Action & Intrigue
Review: This third volume of the Hub Stories reveals more of Trigger Argee and those around her. Heslet Quillan is here. He's a sixties sort of wise-cracking secret agent gunman transported to the Hub Universe. He first appears in Lion Loose and tangles with a monster and two mobs of the Interstellar Underworld. The story is basically a gangster story but the monster is interesting, one of Schmitz's more interesting ones. Schmitz did good monsters. He reappears in Legacy, along with Trigger. Legacy is a complex story with interesting, unusual, and believable aliens. It also gets into the inner workings of the Federation and the lives of the people who live in it, work in it, and keep it going. An interesting look. The Hub was one of the more interesting backgrounds in Science Fiction, and it's fun to visit. A good Saturday afternoon read.