Ham Sandwich

Schmitz, James H., 1911-1981Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.1

Word count: 52K words
Chapters: 6

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Ham Sandwich by James H. SchmitzAuthor: Schmitz, James H., 1911-1981,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Dec 26, 2009

Editor's review

Ham Sandwich is a short science fiction work by James H. Schmitz published in the mid-twentieth century, now recirculated as a free ebook by Project Gutenberg. Schmitz excels at embedding extraordinary premises in everyday settings; this piece likewise opens from a light angle, runs short but tightly paced, and typically closes with a twist. Its value lies not in a grand worldview but in showing the typical shape of Golden Age science fiction magazine narrative: spare characters, clear conflict, and one small idea driving the whole story. For readers who want to understand the American short science fiction tradition or encounter early science fiction in the original English, it is a friendly, low-threshold sample. It can be finished on a commute or in half an hour before bed, and works well as English extensive reading material or a conversation starter for a science fiction reading group. Note that this is a public-domain electronic text with no modern introduction or notes, so the reading experience is rather plain.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers new to Golden Age American science fiction who want to start with a short story
Learners who need short original English texts for extensive reading practice
Organizers of science fiction reading groups looking for lightweight discussion texts
Readers interested in Schmitz's work and the style of early science fiction magazines

Not a good fit for

Hard science fiction readers expecting long-form worldbuilding and complex setups
Beginner readers who need modern annotations, introductions, and translations
Readers who prefer literary fiction with finely drawn characters

Reading tips

Read it in one sitting first to feel the rhythm of the twist, then go back to the foreshadowing planted at the start.
As English extensive reading material, read a small section each day and note new words and colloquial expressions.
After reading, compare it with other short stories by the same author to observe his habitual everyday entry points.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a short story?

It is a short science fiction story, not long, usually finishable in one or two readings and suitable for fragmented time.

Do I need a science fiction background to understand it?

No. The setup is simple and the language straightforward, so even readers who rarely read science fiction can follow the plot; only readers familiar with Golden Age science fiction style will more easily appreciate its flavor.

Does the electronic edition have notes or an introduction?

This edition comes from a public-domain electronic text on Project Gutenberg and mainly presents the original text; it generally contains no modern editor's introduction or detailed notes, so background questions require outside reference.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Schmitz, James H., 1911-1981 Author

James H. Schmitz (1911–1981) was an American science fiction writer. Public information about him is limited, and details of his life are especially scarce in the Chinese-speaking world. The library holds eleven of his works, including The Winds of Time, An Incident on Route 12, Legacy, The Star Hyacinths, Lion Loose, Watch the Sky, Novice, and Ham Sandwich. Judging from their titles and themes, his writing often revolves around the interplay of interstellar adventure, future technology, and the human condition, presenting encounters and suspense of the space age with compact plots and a brisk tone. He was skilled at creating unexpected twists in short stories, with characters frequently facing choices in unfamiliar environments; his work combines entertainment with a gentle reflection on a technological society. Though not among the best-known science fiction authors, Schmitz occupies a place in the mid-twentieth-century American science fiction magazine landscape, and his short stories have offered some inspiration for later space-adventure tales.