James Henry Schmitz was an American writer born in Hamburg, Germany of American parents. Schmitz is best known as a writer of so-called "space opera", and for strong female characters (such as Telzey Amberdon and Trigger Argee) that didn't conform to the damsel in distress stereotype typical of science fiction during the time he was writing. His first published story was "Greenface", published in August 1943 in Unknown