So, after all those new comics, I went back and chose to reread something. Although this might seem an odd choice all things considered, as I pulled The Witches of Karres off the shelf. As a reminder, this is a 1966 science fiction novel by James Schmitz.
Our captain (Pausert by name, though it’s used seldom) is young and on his own for the first time. He’s got his ship Venture courtesy the father of the girl he’s promised to and is out to make a profit and hopefully impress the would-be father-in-law. However, as he’s getting ready to leave a planet with his cargo, he hears a scream and goes to help. Thus he ends up buying a slave, young Maleen of Karres. Who then insists that he buy her sisters, also enslaved on the same planet. The affair starts him in a load of trouble.
Things get stranger when, just as the authorities move to surround his ship as he leaves the planet, a strange drive kicks in, propelling the Venture far beyond the enemy ships’ reach. That’s when the captain learns his new charges are infamous witches of Karres.
But again, that’s only the start of his troubles. He takes the girls home and their people repay him kindly, but when he tries to go to his home he discovers that Karres is interdicted, prohibited, and generally the result of more misfortune for him. Which doesn’t even cover the fact that one of the young witches is still on his ship for reasons of her own.
All the captain really wants to do is the job he determined, as a merchant trader. But because he’s inclined to help when asked, he continues finding himself in more and more trouble. And we readers aren’t the only ones to take a distinct and noticeable interest in him…
There’s good reasons why The Witches of Karres isn’t forgotten more than fifty years after its publication. It’s an exciting ride with genuine humor and emotion. Not to mention the cover art that just…explains everything. Pausert sits in a chair, wearing a spacesuit. Behind him, one of the girls is playing with his helmet. In the foreground the other two are sitting around a fire, though one seems to be doing some kind of magic. The captain himself sits with one fist on his thigh, the opposite elbow on his other thigh, and the corresponding hand sprawled across his face in a timeless pose of “why me?” or “what can possibly go wrong next?” Both are fair questions throughout the book.
Regardless, it’s an enjoyable read that shows a timeless vision of a future. And that is something I do appreciate, for so very many science fiction novels are rooted in technology as we can imagine it when they were written. I did talk about the physical papers C.J. Cherryh employed in her earlier Alliance-Union books, though not the tapes which were just as clearly based on cassettes and videocassettes. Here, there’s nothing of the sort being referenced, which is probably why a fifty year old book likely reads as much the same now as it did then.
And if you’ve been paying attention, you know what’s up for tomorrow’s reading.
mouse Reads Books 