But the Porlumma authorities give chase, so the three girls use their powers to engage what they call the Sheewash Drive, making the ship fly much faster than normal. Her intention is to repay Pausert for freeing them. Goth causes trouble for Pausert by using her teleportation powers to steal jewellery from her old master, teleporting it into Pausert’s spaceship. The Leewit: whistling, which causes things to break and understanding and speaking any language.Maleen: premonitions, and giving people stomach-aches.These girls – Maleen (aged about 14), Goth (about 9 or 10) and the Leewit (about 5 or 6), who are sisters – turn out to be from the planet Karres, whose inhabitants have strange paranormal powers, and are therefore known as witches.

On the planet Porlumma, he buys three young girls out of slavery. Pausert, merchant captain of the spaceship Venture, has been travelling through space belonging to the Empire. “The Witches of Karres” (1966) by James H Schmitz The later authors have kept the flavour of the original novel, keeping the same characters and universe setting. Subsequently he has adventures in space, usually accompanied by two of the girls, all using their paranormal powers to defeat their enemies. The witches of Karres can do this through the use of a cosmic energy called klatha.Īfter returning the girls to their home planet, Pausert himself is drawn into Karres society, and finds that he too has paranormal powers. These girls turn out to be from the planet Karres, whose inhabitants have strange paranormal powers, and are therefore known as witches. It follows the adventures of a spaceship captain, Pausert, who buys three young girls out of slavery. The series is an old-fashioned space opera series, with elements of the paranormal.

The series has been continued, with “The Wizard of Karres” (2004), written by Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint and Dave Freer, “The Sorceress of Karres” (2010), written by Eric Flint and Dave Freer, and “The Shaman of Karres” (2020), written by Eric Flint and Dave Freer. James H Schmitz originally wrote “The Witches of Karres” in 1949 as a novelette.

The witches of karres series