Agent of Vega & Other Stories
by James H. Schmitz
 

edited by Eric Flint & Guy Gordon
preface by Mercedes Lackey

Baen: New York: 2001

567 pages

This collection includes all four stories of James Schmitz's brilliant Agent of Vega series, previously included in the four-story novel-collection Agent of Vega (1960).

Following these four are seven others which are standalone items (not in that series or in the Federation of the Hub series), ranging from good to excellent. Most of these originally appeared in John W. Campbell's Astounding Science Fiction (later Analog).
  

Aside from the Agent of Vega stories, "The End of the Line" is a particular favorite of mine.

This collection has a nicely personal preface by Mercedes Lackey, "That was an epiphany ....". She refrains from giving away plot surprises, while happily sharing with us how much Schmitz meant to her when young, and still does.
  

The individual stories are or will be reviewed separately at Troynovant, as linked in the list:

• "Agent of Vega"
• "The Illusionists" ("Space Fear")
• "The Second Night of Summer"
• "The Truth about Cushgar"
    
• "The Custodians"
• "Gone Fishing"
• "The Beacon to Elsewhere"
• "The End of the Line"
• "Watch the Sky"
• "Greenface"
• "Rogue Psi"
    

Please see the detailed individual reviews! Agent of Vega & Other Stories is an excellent collection of a great science fiction writer: highly recommended.

© 2005 Robert Wilfred Franson