Gordon R. Dickson

Gordon Rupert Dickson
Gordon Dickson lecturing
Born	November 1, 1923(1923-11-01) Edmonton, Alberta
Died	January 31, 2001(2001-01-31) (aged 77) Richfield, Minnesota
Occupation	Novelist, short story author
Genres	Science fiction, Fantasy
Notable work(s)	Childe Cycle

Gordon Rupert Dickson (November 1, 1923 – January 31, 2001) was an American science fiction author.

Biography

Dickson was born in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1923. After the death of his father, he moved with his mother to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1937.^[1] He served in the United States Army, from 1943 to 1946, and received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Minnesota, in 1948. From 1948 through 1950 he attended the University of Minnesota for graduate work.

Dickson is probably most famous for his Childe Cycle and the Dragon Knight series. He won three Hugo awards and one Nebula award.

For a great part of his life, he suffered from the effects of asthma.

Character as an author

John Clute has characterized Dickson as a "gregarious, engaging, genial, successful man of letters", who had not been an introvert.^[2] Clute considers Dickson a science fiction romantic.^[2] The early Canadian years are not thought to have exerted an all-too strong influence onto the author's work.^[1] Nevertheless, Clute stresses in connection to Dickson that science fiction welcomes "images of heightened solitude, romantically vague, limitless landscapes, and an anguished submission to afflatus", due to its origin in Gothic fiction.^[1]

Style

Clute points out that Dickson, like Poul Anderson, with whom he collaborated in the Hoka series, "[tends] to infuse an austere Nordic pathos into wooded, rural midwestern American settings".^[2] His works often have (misogynistic) mercenaries as their protagonists and deal with aliens that are "less deracinated and more lovable than humans" (Clute).^[2] They "are inclined to take on a heightened, sagalike complexion" (Clute),^[2] particularly through the insertion of lyric poetry that is sometimes rather inferior.^[2]

Selected bibliography

Main article: Complete bibliography of Gordon R. Dickson

Childe Cycle

• The Genetic General (1960) (restored variant title: Dorsai!, 1976)
• Necromancer (1962) (variant title: No Room for Man)
• "Warrior" (1965) (short story) included in Lost Dorsai
• Soldier, Ask Not (1967)
• Tactics of Mistake (1971)
• The Spirit of Dorsai (1979)
• Lost Dorsai (1980)
• The Final Encyclopedia (1984)
• The Dorsai Companion (1986)
• The Chantry Guild (1988)
• Young Bleys (1991)
• Other (1994)
• Antagonist (with David W. Wixon) (2007)

Dragon Knight series

• The Dragon and the George (1976)
• The Dragon Knight (1990)
• The Dragon on the Border (1992)
• The Dragon at War (1992)
• The Dragon, the Earl, and the Troll (1994)
• The Dragon and the Djinn (1996)
• The Dragon and the Gnarly King (1997)
• The Dragon in Lyonesse (1998)
• The Dragon and the Fair Maid of Kent (2000)

Hoka series

• Earthman's Burden (1957) (with Poul Anderson) (contents diff in vt: Hoka! Hoka! Hoka!) (1998)
• Hoka! (1983) (with Poul Anderson)
• Star Prince Charlie (1983) (with Poul Anderson)
• Hokas Pokas! (2000) (with Poul Anderson) (includes Star Prince Charlie)

Novels

• Alien from Arcturus (1956) (expanded as Arcturus Landing)
• Mankind on the Run (1956) (variant title: On the Run, 1979)
• Time to Teleport (1960)
• Naked to the Stars (1961)
• Spacial Delivery (1961)
• Delusion World (1961)
• The Alien Way (1965)
• The Space Winners (1965)
• Mission to Universe (1965) (rev. 1977)
• The Space Swimmers (1967)
• Planet Run (1967) (with Keith Laumer)
• Spacepaw (1969)
• Wolfling (1969)
• None But Man (1969)
• Hour of the Horde (1970)
• Sleepwalkers’ World (1971)
• The Outposter (1972)
• The Pritcher Mass (1972)
• Alien Art (1973)
• The R-Master (1973) (rev. as The Last Master, 1984)
• Gremlins, Go Home (1974) (with Ben Bova)
• The Lifeship (variant title: Lifeboat) (1977) (with Harry Harrison)
• Time Storm (1977)
• The Far Call (1978)
• Home from the Shore (1978)
• Pro (1978) (illustrated by James R. Odbert) (Ace Illustrated Novel)
• Masters of Everon (1980)
• The Last Master (1984)
• Jamie the Red (1984) (with Roland Green)
• The Forever Man (1986)
• Way of the Pilgrim (1987)
• The Earth Lords (1989)
• Wolf and Iron (1990)
• The Magnificent Wilf (1995)
• The Right to Arm Bears (2000) omnibus of Spacial Delivery, Spacepaw, etc.

Short story collections

• Danger—Human (1970) (as The Book of Gordon Dickson, 1973)
• Mutants (1970)
• The Star Road (1973)
• Ancient, My Enemy (1974)
• Gordon R. Dickson's SF Best (1978) (revised as In the Bone, 1987)
• In Iron Years (1980)
• Love Not Human (1981)
• The Man from Earth (1983)
• Dickson! (1984) (revised as Steel Brother {1985})
• Survival! (1984)
• Forward! (1985)
• Beyond the Dar Al-Harb (1985)
• Invaders! (1985)
• The Man the Worlds Rejected (1986)
• Mindspan (1986)
• The Last Dream (1986)
• The Stranger (1987)
• Guided Tour (1988)
• Beginnings (1988)
• Ends (1988)
• The Human Edge (2003)

Children's books

• Secret under the Sea (1960)
• Secret under Antarctica (1963)
• Secret under the Caribbean (1964)
• Secrets of the Deep (1985) omnibus of the three above

Awards

Hugo Awards

• "Soldier, Ask Not" for best short story, 1965
• Lost Dorsai for best novella, 1981
• "The Cloak and the Staff" for best novelette, 1981

Nebula Award

• "Call Him Lord" for best novelette, 1966

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} John Clute: Gordon R. Dickson (1923–). In: Richard Bleiler (ed.): Science Fiction Writers. Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York 1982, p. 345
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f} John Clute: Gordon R. Dickson (1923–). In: Richard Bleiler (ed.): Science Fiction Writers. Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York 1982, p. 346

Literature

• "Gordon R. Dickson -- Science Fiction Writer, 77". The New York Times. February 16, 2001. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/16/arts/gordon-r-dickson-science-fiction-writer-77.html. Retrieved April 1, 2010. 
• Kumar, Kavita (February 1, 2001). "Obituary: Gordon R. Dickson, 77, science fiction writer". Minneapolis Star-Tribune. http://www.startribune.com/obituaries/11596816.html. Retrieved April 1, 2010. 
• Levinson, Paul (February 1, 2001). "Gordon R. Dickson (1923-2001)". Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. http://www.sfwa.org/archive/news/gdickson.htm. Retrieved April 1, 2010. 

External links

• Gordon R. Dickson at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Obituary
• Bibliography at SciFan
• Gordon R. Dickson's online fiction at Free Speculative Fiction Online

Persondata
Name	Dickson, Gordon R.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	November 1, 1923
Place of birth	Edmonton, Alberta
Date of death	January 31, 2001
Place of death	Richfield, Minnesota