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Fantasy. Fiction. HTML: NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED . . . Captain Pausert thought his luck had finally turned�but he did not yet realize it was a turn for the worse. On second thought, make that a turn for the disastrous . Unlucky in love, unsuccessful in business, he thought he had finally made good with his battered starship Venture, cruising around the fringes of the Empire and successfully selling off odd-ball cargoes which no one else had been able to sell. He was all set to return home, where his true love was faithfully waiting for him ... he hoped. But then he made the fatal mistake of freeing three slave children from their masters (who were suspiciously eager to part with them). They were just trying to be helpful, but those three adorable little girls quickly made Pausert the mortal enemy of his fiancee, his home planet, the Empire, warlike Sirians, psychopathic Uldanians, the dread pirate chieftain Laes Yango�and even the Worm World, the darkest threat to mankind in all of space. And all because those harmless-looking little girls were in fact three of the notorious and universally feared Witches of Karres. A rollicking novel from the master of space adventure. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management)..… (more)
User reviews
It’s amusing that coffee and cigarettes are still part of the morning ritual 300,000 or more years from now, when earth is now a dimly remembered legend. Probably re-engineered to bring out the klatha power.
Maybe today some might detect a hint of pedophilia – there seems to be an expectation that Goth will marry Captain Pausart when she “comes of age.” Schmitz is probably aware of this; after all, the Captain’s initial dilemma regarding Maleen has to do with the legal and social ramifications of returning to his home planet of Nikkeldepain “with a pretty girl-slave,” where human trafficking is outlawed. Some of the narrative construction could be read as a workaround to the potential sexualizing of the witches. Although under age pubescent Maleen (14 yrs) initiates the Captain (played by Colin Hanks?) into the Karres community, she is moved offstage early on and assigned a fiancé. Middle sister Goth (prepubescent, about 9?) takes over for much of the book. This could potentially be even more problematic, but any implicit sexuality is deflected to the mature charms of the nefarious ship chandler Sunnat of Uldune and the gun totin’ Empire agent Hulik do Eldel (Goth is unconscious when she shows her stuff). Not that there isn’t resistance the other way; it’s Goth who punishes Sunnat, and one of her talents is the ability to shape shift into a mature female. On the other hand, if the Witches universe can ignore Einstein, it can ignore Freud as well.
I love Schmitz’s Dickens-like ability to coin memorable words and names for his universe: I still remember grazeem – it would make a fine call to order when the president is announced -- relling (has a kind of Madeline L’Engle echo) -- Laes Yango and his Sheem Robot, Megair Cannibals, the Leewit. Of course Goth didn’t have the association in 1966 with the term for a certain morose attitude associated with kids today; when she’s awake she’s bright eyed and bushy tailed even if she looks like a weasel.
Bless Mr. Schmitz for creating this wonderful universe, that I need to visit again and again and again!!
The three little girls are witches from the planet of Karres, after returning them to their home, the captain’s adventures continue and one of the witches accompanies him. It’s quickly apparent that she is the brains of the operation, despite being only 10 years old. They are able to induce the powerful Sheewash Drive that can instantly transport their ship to a different location, but this is also what is attracting the attention of others, all of whom want to have this magical technology for themselves. As they travel through the dangerous space wilderness of Chaladoor they encounter many page-turning challenges.
The Witches of Karres was originally published in novel form in 1965, this edition has been slightly edited to remove certain dated references but it is still full of action, adventure and humor. This isn’t a book with a deep message or philosophy, it is simply a good old fashioned space opera that doesn’t take itself or it’s science too seriously.