John W. Campbell wrote this for a blurb for this tale when it appeared in Analog: He contracted for a charter trip -- but the man who hired his spacer wasn't quite a man, it turned out -- and he wanted more than service!
James H. Schmitz was a heck of a writer, and this story -- "The Winds of Time" -- is fascinating stuff. Star ships, aliens from the future, time travel, romance, cannibalism, pet humans, and mute-but-brilliant aliens. . . . and, of course, it's got a hero who solves every problem by being smarter and trickier and better-prepared than we'd ever imagine being. But what would you expect? This story first appeared in John W. Campbell's Analog. Analog heroes did it with their brains. Us? We have to work.

James Henry Schmitz (1911 - 1981) was an American science fiction writer born in Hamburg, Germany of American parents. Schmitz is best known as a writer of "space opera" and for his strong female characters who didn't conform to the "damsel in distress" stereotype typical of science fiction of the time.