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The Demon Breed James H Schmitz 9780441142446 Books

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The Demon Breed James H Schmitz 9780441142446 Books

This is one of the best novels I've ever read. It's labeled science fiction and it is but the writer focuses on creating interesting characters and putting them into tough situations to see what happens. At under 200 pages this is a short read that you can finish in one weekend - why this has never been made into a movie I couldn't tell you. Written in the 1960's Schmitz was great at writing, intelligent and tough female heroes and this is his best work!


Tags : The Demon Breed [James H. Schmitz] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Classic science-fiction: heroine trapped on island...Parahuans, believed wiped out 70 years ago, preparing to take over the planet...heroine and sidekicks,James H. Schmitz,The Demon Breed,Ace Books,0441142443

The Demon Breed James H Schmitz 9780441142446 Books Reviews

There was a type of story closely associated with _Astounding/Analog_ under the editorship of John W. Campbell, Jr. If there was a conflict between humans and aliens, Campbell wanted the ornery but likeable humans to emerge triumphant. Well, we are all more sophisticated nowadays. We know that this view is ethnocentric. We know that not only do we sometimes fail, we know that we frequently don't _deserve_ to win. Yes, indeedy.

But let us be honest. Given a choice, which would you rather read-- a literate, world-weary, black comedy or a well-crafted Campbellian space opera? How many times do you really _want_ to watch humanity go down the drain? How many novels do you _want_ to read that tell the stark truth about the Human Condition? We _say_ that we religiously watch _Masterpiece Theatre_... but in our heart of hearts, we know that we watch _Desperate Housewives_. In short, there is still a place for the old-fashioned _ASF_ story.

James H. Schmitz's _The Demon Breed_ is an _ASF_-type story, and a good one. It was serialized in _Analog_ in 1968 under the title, "The Tuvela." It was accompanied by a marvelous John Schoenherr cover depicting Nile Etland and her mutated otter companion, Sweeting.

Now in novels of this sort, a few conventions are usually followed. First, the hostile aliens must appear to have all the advantages at the outset of the novel. Second, the aliens must have a psychological weakness. It might be an overly literal way of thinking, it might be a superstition, it might be an overly ritualistic behavior pattern. Whatever it is, the plot of the novel shows how the humans sieze upon that weakness and manipulate it until the enemy is defeated. These novels might be called "guerrilla warfare novels." [Some novels in this tradition include Eric Frank Russell's _Wasp_ (1957), Poul Anderson's _The High Crusade_ (1960), Randall Garrett's _Anything You Can Do_ (1963), and William R. Burkett, Jr.'s _Sleeping Planet_ (1965).]

The aliens are a race of demonic creatures who are attempting a test invasion of an aquatic planet populated only by a female biologist and a few companions. (Schmitz has developed the ecology of this planet in loving detail.) The weakness of the aliens is their belief that the actual rulers of the Hub in the past were superhumans called the Tuvela. The heroine, anything but a superwoman, must find a way to convince the aliens that the Tuvela (who never really existed) still exist. The title has a double meaning, of course. It refers to the alien invaders, but it also refers to the real "demon breed"-- the humans. I will not reveal the details of how the adventure spins out. Suffice it to say that Schmitz does a masterful job of telling his tale. It's a first-class piece of entertainment.
James H. Schmitz was one of the most popular writers in the John W. Campbell Jr. stable, and The Demon Breed (published as The Tuvela in Campbell's magazine, Analog) offers the Campbell formula in its most exciting and attractive form, with some variations that were Schmitz's trademark. That formula, simply put, was an ethnocentric view of humanity's expansion throughout the galaxy, during which we would encounter aliens that might at first prove nastier or more powerful, but which would eventually succumb to mankind's resourcefulness and combative intelligence. Schmitz's penchant for tough yet vulnerable heroines elevated his work to the top of the Campbell pack, and it is on full display here with Nile Etland, a scientist fighting a one-woman guerrilla campaign against an advance guard of Parahuans, an amphibious race that has clashed with humanity before and may be using an oceanic world as the staging area for a fresh attack. Along with Nile and her assistants -- a pair of highly intelligent mutant otters ready to wreak havoc at a moment's notice -- the novel's greatest draw is the setting a pelagic world dotted with floating islands of vegetation, an environment as lovingly detailed as any in the genre, where the heroine's scientific knowledge provides the crucial edge against the technically superior invaders. Though the dry political lecture at the end brings everything to a dead halt (a frequent liability with Campbell school writers) for much of its length The Demon Breed is terrific, fast-paced reading.
Product is exactly as described, but it sure took a long time to get to me from New Jersey. word
the book is missing pages 21-40 , pages 121-140 were substituted for the missing pages
Very good, buy it!
I have owned a paperback copy since about 1970 or 1971, in high school, and I still read this book and my other James H. Schmitz title, 'Witches of Karres,' about once a year. My old copy is getting yellow, though, so time for a new copy. The female protagonist is a scientist working on a water world of floating plant islands, which has been invaded by aliens who think she is superhuman. Schmitz has created an entire ecosystem of plants and animals for his planet, with an engaging survival story.
I have read this book several times over the last 40 years and enjoyed it every time!
This is one of the best novels I've ever read. It's labeled science fiction and it is but the writer focuses on creating interesting characters and putting them into tough situations to see what happens. At under 200 pages this is a short read that you can finish in one weekend - why this has never been made into a movie I couldn't tell you. Written in the 1960's Schmitz was great at writing, intelligent and tough female heroes and this is his best work!