It seems amazing to me that no-one seems to have picked up the first Telzey Amberdon short story, by James H. Schmitz. "Novice":
viewtopic.php?p=1616819#p1616819
One of the few strong female characters in early science fiction, she appeared in quite a few of his short stories,
and in one or two of his Federation novels. I always used to watch out for her when I was subscribing to Analog around 1960-70.
Unfortunately, the stories are out of my reach, living as I do in Europe (at least until Boris Johnson manages to bring us out).
Peter
Telzey Amberdon - Science Fiction
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ChristianLeatherman
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Great suggestion, Peter! These do look interesting and I may be interested in trying my hand at narrating "Novice" to begin. I just took a cursory glance at it to gauge interest so I'll dive into it more when I get off work to confirm I'd like to narrate it. Would you be interested in being the BC?
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Peter Why
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Thanks for taking this on, if you do, Christine, but I think your best bet would be to submit it to the Short Science Fiction collection: viewtopic.php?p=1637334#p1637334
I'm not sure I should be too involved, as Schmitz's work is still in copyright for me.
Peter
I'm not sure I should be too involved, as Schmitz's work is still in copyright for me.
Peter
"I think, therefore I am, I think." Solomon Cohen, in Terry Pratchett's Dodger
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ChristianLeatherman
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Good call! I've submitted my narration of 2BR02B by Vonnegut over there if you wanna give it a listen. Also, just a quick correction that I am in fact a man named Christian, not Christine lol. So hopefully, I can voice Telzey well enough to make it believable haha. Thanks again and I'll update you if I decide to narrate it!
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Peter Why
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My apologies for the name change, Christian; I was distracted by answering your question, and didn't look too closely at your name.
I hope you do have a go at the story; I think it's a perfect introduction to Telzey's later adventures. Thinking of it, I'll have a look at Gutenberg and see if any of her later stories are available yet.
Peter
I hope you do have a go at the story; I think it's a perfect introduction to Telzey's later adventures. Thinking of it, I'll have a look at Gutenberg and see if any of her later stories are available yet.
Peter
"I think, therefore I am, I think." Solomon Cohen, in Terry Pratchett's Dodger
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ChristianLeatherman
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Haha no worries! Any tips on the stories? You seem to be a big fan of the series so any input would be appreciated.
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Peter Why
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Unfortunately, there are no more Telzey stories on Gutenberg yet, although Legacy (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21510) and The Star Hyacinths (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26292) are both set in the same universe.
Trigger Argee (another strong female character of Schmitz's) is the focus of the rather confusing novel Legacy. She's not as well-developed a character as Telzey. Both of them meet in later stories by Schmitz. EDIT: Legacy has already been recorded for Librivox.
Dasinger, who runs a detective agency in the Federation, appears in The Star Hyacinths, a story which I must have missed in the sixties, and which doesn't appear in any of the Schmitz collections that I have. Dasinger plays a big part in Resident Witch, a Telzey story in a collection of stories about her called The Telzey Toy And Other Stories.
EDIT: The Star Hyacinths is a pretty straightforward adventure story. I didn't finish it. It's definitely Trigger and Telzey which give this series their colour.
In Novice, Telzey first develops a telepathic (and xenotelepathic ... communication with non-human minds) ability. In the later stories, this ability develops further in different environments. That's a cold description, but the stories are well thought out, involving, and at times amusing. Very well constructed.
Peter
Trigger Argee (another strong female character of Schmitz's) is the focus of the rather confusing novel Legacy. She's not as well-developed a character as Telzey. Both of them meet in later stories by Schmitz. EDIT: Legacy has already been recorded for Librivox.
Dasinger, who runs a detective agency in the Federation, appears in The Star Hyacinths, a story which I must have missed in the sixties, and which doesn't appear in any of the Schmitz collections that I have. Dasinger plays a big part in Resident Witch, a Telzey story in a collection of stories about her called The Telzey Toy And Other Stories.
EDIT: The Star Hyacinths is a pretty straightforward adventure story. I didn't finish it. It's definitely Trigger and Telzey which give this series their colour.
In Novice, Telzey first develops a telepathic (and xenotelepathic ... communication with non-human minds) ability. In the later stories, this ability develops further in different environments. That's a cold description, but the stories are well thought out, involving, and at times amusing. Very well constructed.
Peter
Last edited by Peter Why on April 18th, 2020, 11:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"I think, therefore I am, I think." Solomon Cohen, in Terry Pratchett's Dodger
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Peter Why
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Thanks, Greg; I'd like to see them available on Librivox, but because I live in Europe (despite the efforts of the British democratic process!), I'm not able to record them myself. But I loved reading them in the sixties and seventies, when I was subscribing to Analog.
Peter
Peter
"I think, therefore I am, I think." Solomon Cohen, in Terry Pratchett's Dodger