Gordon R. Dickson

My favorite Dickson novels are the ones from the "Childe Cycle,"  especially,  "Tactics of Mistake."  This is another book I read to pieces.  The second copy I purchased was eaten by my dog.  I don't miss the dog. I do miss the book and the last time I checked, "Tactics of Mistake" was out of print, but that was a while ago.     
SF writer Gordon R. Dickson died early on the morning of January 31, 2001.

Canadian-born and long-time resident of Minnesota, Dickson published over 100 stories and 55 novels, including several in collaboration. His first story was a collaboration with Poul Anderson, "Trespass!", published in Fantastic Story Quarterly in 1950, and his first novel was Alien from Arcturus in 1956. His most noted works were a series of novels known as the "Childe Cycle" or "Dorsai" series, describing mankind's expansion into the Galaxy.

These included The Genetic General (1960, also titled Dorsai!, 1976, and a Hugo nominee in its 1959 magazine form), Necromancer (1962), Soldier, Ask Not (1967), The Final Encyclopedia (1984), and The Chantry Guild (1988).

The novelette version of "Soldier, Ask Not" (1964) won the Hugo Award; Dickson also won double Hugos in 1981 for novelette "The Cloak and the Staff" and novella "Lost Dorsai". He won the Nebula Award for the 1966 novelette "Call Him Lord". Other notable short works included "Steel Brother" (1952), "Black Charlie" (1954), "Dolphin's Way" (1964), "Computers Don't Argue" (1965), and a series of "Hoka" stories (and novels) written with Poul Anderson from 1951 through 1983.

Dickson won the British Fantasy Award in 1977 for The Dragon and the George, the first of a series of "Dragon Knight" novels, including Dickson's last-published book, The Dragon and the Fair Maid of Kent, published in December 2000. He also won a Jupiter Award for the novelette version of "Time Storm" (1978). He served as President of the SFWA from 1969 to 1971.

(c) Locus Online News

Series

Hoka



Earthman's Burden

Hoka!

Hoka! Hoka! Hoka!
Stephen Hickman

Hoka Polkas!

Earthman's Burden (1957) with Poul Anderson
"The Sheriff of Canyon Gulch"
 "Don Jones"
 "In Hoka Signo Vinces"
 "The Adventure of the Misplaced Hound"
 "Yo Ho Hoka!"
"The Tiddlywink Warriors"
 Star Prince Charlie (1975) with Poul Anderson
Hoka! (1983) with Poul Anderson
"Joy in Mudville"
"Undiplomatic Immunity"
"Full Pack"
"The Napoleon Crime"
Hoka! Hoka! Hoka! (1983) with Poul Anderson
The Interbeing League had been formed to make contact with new intelligent races in the galaxy and offer them membership. But when the League encountered the Hokas, furry creatures strongly resembling the teddy-bears of Earth, the League's agent, Alexander Jones, could have been excused for wishing he had a simpler assignment than making sense out of the Hokas — such as singlehandedly stopping an interstellar war.
Not that the fuzzy aliens were unfriendly. In fact, they loved everything about humans, and adopted various Terran cultures wholesale and in every little detail—but with a bit of confusion about the differences between fact and fiction. So if the Hokas suddenly started acting out the parts in a rip-roaring, shoot-em-up western, or brought to life the London of Sherlock Holmes, complete with a pipe-puffing, deerstalker-wearing Hoka, or suddenly decided to fly the Jolly Roger and lead a life of adventure and piracy on the high seas, matey, that was only to be exptected. And as the Hokas threw themselves wholeheartedly into progressively wilder worlds from Terran history and fiction, Jones could be excused for feeling that his grip on reality was hanging by a single, think increasingly frayed thread...
Hoka Polkas (2000) with Poul Anderson
When a human thinks he's Napoleon Bonaparte, it's time to get out a straitjacket. But when a Hoka thnks he's Napoleon Bonaparte, you'd better believe it! Particularly since there'll be hundreds of other Hokas around who know for a fact that they're the French army, mon amis, even if they're on another planet light years away from Earth, and the forces they're facing aren't the British but very nasty warlike aliens who by all reason should be expected to make mincemeat out of the Hokas.
But when it comes to Hokas, reason does not compute. These friendly, fuzzy aliens who resemble large Teddy bears have a very vivid imagination and have never quite grasped the difference between human fiction and reality, or (in the present case), between past history and the much later and rather different present. Always bet on the Hokas. Even when a young lad and his Hoka tutor find themselves stuck on a planet where they seem to be scheduled to fulfill an ancient (and lethal) prophecy that neither of them had ever heard of until now, Hokas as usual find that reality is merely optional and the good guys — and bears — always win, quicker than you can say Hokas Pokas!

 Childe Cycle

 Underseas



Secret Under the Sea
Secret Under Antarctica
Secret Under the Caribbean

Secret Under the Sea  (1960)
Secret Under Antarctica (1963)
Young Robby wants to join his father on a research project in Antarctica and find the mythical sea monster, the kraken. Then secret agent Lillibulero uncovers a fanatical plot to explode the Ross Ice Shelf.
Secret Under the Caribbean (1964)
Young diver Robby Hoenig finds adventure durning underwater excavation of 18th century Spanish sloop, La Floridana sunk in 1733.

 Dilbia


Spacial Delivery
Space Paw

The Right to Arm Bears
Bob Eggleton

Spacial Delivery (1961)
Spacepaw (1969)
The Right to Arm Bears (2000)
HUMANS OR HEMNOIDS:
AN UNBEARABLE CHOICE!
Planet Dilbia is in a crucial location for both humans and their adversaries, the Hemnoids. Therefore making friends with the Dilbians and establishing a human presence there is of the utmost importance, which may be a problem, since the bearlike Dilbians stand some nine feet tall, and have a high regard for physical prowess. They're not impressed by human technology, either. A real man, er, bear doesn't need machines to do his work for him.
But Dilbians are impressed by sharp thinking, and some have expressed a grudging admiration for the logical (and usually sneaky) mental maneuvers that the human "shorties" have used to get themselves out of desperate jams. Just maybe that old human craftiness will win over the Dilbians to the human side. If not, we lose a nexus, and the Dilbians will learn just how unbearable Hemnoids can be....

Sea People


Space Swimmers
Home From The Shore
James R Odbert
James R Odbert
Illustrations  by Steve Fabian





The Space Swimmers
Home from the Shore

The Dragon and The George

Novels



Arcturus Landing/Alien from Arcturus
(1956)
Mankind on the Run
Ed Valigursky
(1956)

Time To Teleport
Ed Emshwiller
(1960)
Delusion World
Ed Valigursky
(1961)


Naked to the Stars
(1961)
Paul Lehr
Mission to Universe
Thomas Kidd
aka The Alien Way

None but Man
(1967)
Don Maitz
Wolfling
(1969)

Hour of the Horde
(1970)
Greg Theakston
Sleepwalker's World
(1971)
Frank Kelly Freas

Outposter
(1982)
Thomas Kidd

The Pritcher Mass
(1972)
Frank Kelly Freas

The R-Master
(1973)
Jack Gaughan
Alien Art
(1973)

Time Storm
The Far Call
(1978)

Pro
James R Odbert
Steel Brother
Alan Gutierrez?

Way of the Pilgrim
1987
The Magnificent Wilf
Ruth Sanderson
1995


Alien from Arcturus (1956) aka Arcturus Landing (1979)
A story of Johnny Parent, who, with an eccentric young playboy and his pretty but ambitious secretary, become interplanetary blockade runners, plotting the development of a space drive which would lift the Quarantine against Earth and earn Earth its due place in the Universe.
Mankind on the Run (1956) aka On the Run(1979)
Time to Teleport (1960)
Delusion World (1961)
Naked to the Stars (1961)
During an action on the third planet from Arcturus, soldier Cal Truent woke up in the hospital with a sixteen-hour hole in his memory. No one knows what it is that Cal has forgotten, but his superiors can't take the chance that it might be something deadly to his fellow soldiers -- and to Earth. Somehow Cal means to seek out whatever it is that his mind is resisting ...
The Alien Way (1965) aka  Mission to Universe (1965)
One man is mentally linked to an alien who is spearheading an invasion of Earth; a group of soldiers fight to win new space for Earth; and a small group of men fight against a machine that controls all life.
Space Winners (1965)
Ingram Stranded on the Quarantined World of Quebahr, the first high-school students selected to leave Earth for study in the Galactic Federation must overcome their lack of training and learn to adapt and survive.
Planet Run (1967) with Keith Laumer
None But Man (1967)
The Frontier Rebellion has long been won, thanks in part to the efforts of Culihan O'Rourke, the best hijacker the Rebels ever had. When he is greeted upon his return to Earth with beatings, torture, and interrogation, Cully learns the hard way of the ultimatum issued to Earth by the Moldaug: evacuate the Frontier or be destroyed.
Wolfling (1969)
One hundred years into the future, the first expedition from Earth reaches Alpha Centurai III and discovers that all life, including humankind, is governed by the Throne World and Earth is only a primitive outpost, but one man from Earth will show the High-Born something unexpected.
Hour of the Horde (1970)
I read the "Hour of the Horde" many, many years ago.  I believe it can boiled down to one man out-bluffing an entire alien race.
Sleepwalkers World (1971)
Rafe Harald, a cosmonaut, attempts to combat the mysterious power that has put most of the human race into an involuntary sleep.
The Outposter (1972)
Ingram A man who once had witnessed the slaughter of human colonists by an alien race sets out to stop the ongoing raids against Earth's most far-flung outposts.
The Pritcher Mass (1972)
The R-Master (1973)/ The Last Master (1984)
Alien Art (1973)
On the planet Arcadia, a young man and woman and a swamp otter join together to haul the otter's eleven hundred pound statue overland to meet the deadline of a prospective buyer from another planet.
Gremlins, Go Home! (1974)with Ben Bova
Lifeboat  (1976) with Harry Harrison
When an interstellar starship is abandoned, a group of travellers find themselves stuck together in a lifeboat, but not all of the travellers are as they appear.
Time Storm (1977)
Accompanied by a leopard and a nearly autistic young woman, Marc Despard sets out to locate his wife, who, along with the rest of humanity, was swept away a time storm.
The Far Call (1978)
Pro (1978)
Harb Mallard, the ambitious new Sector Chief for the Galactic Expansion Service decides to circumvent Service guidelines and convert the alien inhabitants of world 49381D by taking control of a local warlike faction.
Masters of Everon (1979)
Jef Robini was heading for Everon with a highly controversial cargo. For eight years on Earth Jef had tried to rear the maolot cub which was the final legacy from his brother. But the maolot had failed to grow into the giant cat that was Everon's largest and most dangerous life-form. And now Jef was returning the creature to its natural home, the colonized planet of Everon. He knew the planet was barren. And that he'd have to fight to survive. But nothing had prepared him for the incomprehensible strangeness, the mind-blasting wonder of the true Masters of Everon.
The Man From Earth (1983)
Jamie the Red (1984) with Roland Green
Secrets of the Deep (1985)
Steel Brother (1985)
The Forever Man (1986)
Way of the Pilgrim (1987)
The nine-foot-tall Aalaag, members of a warrior society, use their advanced technology to treat humans like cattle. As one of the few people who can speak the alien language, linguist Shane Evert comes to know and understand the Aalaag even as he hates them. His gesture of protesta graffito of a pilgrim is picked up by the scattered, disorganized Resistance, and before long Shane finds himself leading a worldwide movement for freedom.
The Forever Man (1986)
Starship fighter pilot Jim Wander is manipulated by scientist Mary Gallegher into a mental symbiosis with his beloved ship. Their mission is to gather information about the mysterious aliens, the Laagi, who have been locked in battle with Earth for 200 years.
Way of the Pilgrim (1987)
The Earth Lords (1988)
A hidden labyrinth beneath the Canadian wilderness where dwarfish Lords and Ladies ride humans like horses - and plot the final downfall of mankind. Bart Dybig is a "Steed", but one gifted with mental and physical abilities unsuspected by those who have enslaved him. Soon, he vows, he will surprise the Lords and escape to the world above - if there's a world to go back to. For the Earth Lords are building a doomsday device of unimaginable power to completely destroy mankind. Only Bart and his strange heritage can stop them..
Wolf and Iron (1990)
The U. S. has been devastated by worldwide financial collapse. Civilization as readers know it has disappeared. Marauding bands are terrorizing the countryside, killing and looting. Jeremy Bellamy Walthers' goal is to cross 2,000 miles of ravaged countryside to reach the security of his brother's Montana ranch. En route he befriends a wolf who becomes a partner and companion via verbal and nonverbal communication. The story deals with Jeremy's interaction with the wolf and the other human survivors of the economic collapse. Dickson has created another superior novel; it's colorful, well written, and peopled with well-developed, multidimensional characters.
The Magnificent Wilfe (1995)
When Earth is contacted by a galactic civilization, diplomat Tom Parent and his linguist wife Lucy must prove that Earth is worthy of acceptance by the rest of the galaxy as a civilized world rather than as ward of some more "advanced" species. (Don't take this one seriously, it's a hoot and a half, just let go and enjoy it!)

Collections



Mutants
1973

The Star Road
1973
Eddie Jones

Ancient, My Enemy
Jack Gaughan

Love Not Human
Darrell K Sweet

Danger - Human (1970)
The Book of Gordon R Dickson (1973)
Mutants (1974)
The Star Road (1973)
Ancient, My Enemy (1974)
Three to Dorsai! (1975)
Gordon R. Dickson's SF Best (1978)
In the Bone:The Best Science Fiction of Gordon R. Dickson (1978)
In Iron Years (1980)
Love Not Human (1981)
Planet Run (rev)(1982) with Keith Laumer
The Man from Earth (1983)
Dickson! (1984)
Survival! (1984)
Forward! (1985) with Sandra Miesel
Invaders! (1985)
The Last Dream (1986)
The Man the Worlds Rejected (1986)
Mindspan (1986)with Sandra Miesel
Stranger (1986)
Beginnings (1988)
Ends (1988)
Guided Tour (1988)
The Human Edge (2003)

Gordon R. Dickson



Back to Tirpetz' Tales

This Gordon R. Dickson site
owned by Genevieve Brown
(c) Louis Royo

[ Prev | Skip Prev | Prev 5 | List | Stats
Join | Rand | Next 5 | Skip Next | Next ]
Powered by RingSurf!