Gordon R. Dickson (1923–2001)

Dickson, Gordon R. The Dragon and the George. 1976. Preface by David Drake. Dragon Knight No. 1. Start, 2013.
I can scarcely believe that it has been two decades since Gordon R. Dickson died. I somehow keep expecting another Dorsai or Hoka story to appear any day now. Dickson had a dry wit that one does not usually find in writers of adventure fantasy and military science fiction. But The Dragon and the George, the first novel in the Dragon Knight series, has it aplenty. Consider its premise: show more Jim, a struggling teaching assistant in the English department of a small Minnesota college, has to try to rescue his fiancé Angela when an astral projection experiment in the psychology lab where she works runs amok and teleports her who knows where. He straps himself into the machine and soon finds his consciousness inhabiting the body of a large dragon in a cave where Angela is being held by other dragons. So, Jim is a dragon and Angela is a George because to dragons all human beings are Georges. Let the adventure begin. Not only is there more wit than one expects but stronger character development. In his heroic quest to free Angela, Jim finds that he and the dragon have similar character flaws, including anger management issues. I enjoyed reading this one again. show less

Cal Truent is a dedicated soldier in an interstellar human army, conquering new worlds. During a battle on the third planet from Arcturus, he takes a hit and wakes up with a sixteen-hour hole in his memory.

Haunted by this missing time and facing exclusion from active combat duty due to his superiors' fears of what he might have forgotten, Cal becomes obsessed with recalling those sixteen hours. He joins the Contact Services, a diplomatic unit that handles the aftermath of conquests, a job he show more previously despised.

Through this experience, he confronts the brutality of Earth's expansionist methods, leading to a profound shift in his worldview and a rejection of the only good alien is a dead one mentality.
Cal journeys toward empathy, culminating in a decision to prevent the further destruction of an alien species, the Paumons on Bellatrix, effectively turning against his former military masters. show less

The clue is in the name - Hoka. This is in fact hokum - a humorous stringing together of a series of formulaic stories about a planet of 'teddy bear'-like creatures who are highly intelligent but lose themselves completely in what amount to earth-inspired role-playing games.

Yes, behind it is a satire of the Star Trek type (pre-Trekkie since the collection was published in 1957) of benign Federation-type Earthling imperialism and so, ultimately, of the actually existing United Nations and US show more of the day, but it is mostly just a rather amusing romp.

What is more interesting than the satire perhaps is that Anderson, the highly intelligent 'teddy bear' of post-war science fiction who was never averse to straddling the scifi/fantasy or any other divide for that matter, has anticipated RPG culture and the complete seriousness of its 'play'.

The binding framework is a young ensign whose success with handling the Hoka is the source of the satire as he gets into a series of colonial pickles that could be career-ending but actually keep moving him up the bureaucratic ladder because the Hoka flummox everyone else.

But the fun lies in the stories which do have some laugh-out loud moments as the Hoka pick up some bit of Earthling popular culture (as seen from the 1950s) and then create a complete world out of it which they then insist on acting out as if it was real.

Since earthling popular culture is itself wish-fulfilment fantasy (cowboys and injuns, the plots of the opera, 'space patrol', sherlock holmes, pirates and 'beau geste') something close to disaster nearly ensues rescued only at the last minute by the hero's ability to manipulate the game.

It is a fun and enjoyable book. It only fails to get a higher rating because it is not a coherent novel but just a series of similar adventures. My recommendation is that you read it but separate the stories out and enjoy them individually in sequence over a longer period of time.

If you only have time to read one story, read the one dedicated to the Hoka's discovery of 'Space Patrol', the 1950 kids' version discovered by the Hoka because they were only allowed to watch children's TV by the Earthling administration lest they start to make serious RPG mischief.

The unintended consequences of Earthling paternalism as Earth tries to build its 'colonies' into something like a Commonwealth (led by Earth, of course. The final official communique (no spoiler) at the end of the book suggests just how doomed the project is.

Needless to say, the Hoka do manage to make serious mischief regardless (in space as in every story). The hapless attempts of the hero Jones to manage the chaos only make things worse until some stroke of manipulative genius that requires in every story he enter into Hoka expectations.

In the 'space patrol' case, the Hoka almost cause and then end an intergalactic war without having any notion that their fantasy world has had any real universe consequences which rather strikes me as a good analogy for the conduct of international relations in any case.

It could be argued that, especially with the involvement of largely unaccountable psychological operations unit, the current Ukraine crisis is the result of our political elites being terribly serious RPG players not much different from the Hoka.

There is much amusement and satire to be had in these stories, not excluding the inevitable moment when Jones is forced to become Watson to a Hoka Sherlock Holmes or the quite hilarious application of the plot of 'Don Juan' to poor Ensign Jones' misunderstood love life.

Personally, I found the book fitted my own and many other's 'wish-fulfilment fantasy' (never to be achieved) - the prospect of being able to live like a 'teddy bear' Hoka (their appearance is part of the humour) in a viable RPG in which reality could be shunted entirely to one side.

From that point of view Anderson creative realisation is close to genius - taking the impulse towards fantasy away from specific narratives 'out there' in texts or films and bringing it into the world. Again, he is prescient since is the internet not bringing this closer to possibility?

It is the implementation that stops it from being one of the greats of fantasy (frankly, it is only pretending to be science fiction) because there is no development although Anderson writes exceptionally well and engagingly.

One amusing coincidence showing that God is perhaps a jester, Anderson's daughter is married to another science fiction ... Greg Bear!

As someone who really does not like his science fiction mucked up with comedy and is wary of too much of it in fantasy, this is one of the few works that have won me over to its possibilities. It has certainly encouraged me to read more Anderson, although not, I am afraid, more Hoka. show less

Well this was unexpected find. I knew it was situated at the very beginning of the Dickson's Childe Cycle but I was not expecting it to be origin story of the Malcador the Sigilite :)

Humanity is at the cross-roads, expansion to outer space is starting up and several factions start to appear, technocrats that are using AI (or is it other way around?) to provide people with all they need but it seems that ultimate result is to make a docile, compliant mass out of people; Chantry Guild that show more speaks in very strange terms of magic and new-age like topics, and see only future of humanity through utter destruction of existing society, and finally religious zealots that are against all the others.

In this messy situation, at the critical point in time, steps in our hero, man with what you might call sixth sense [that maybe something more in the end]. As such he attracts the attention of all parties because he is anomaly and as such he either needs to be controlled or removed from the board. But they are all in for a quite a surprise.

I truly enjoyed this book. Author's view of humanity's future is very contemporary, especially AI that is so beautifully portrayed as completely in-human-like in its reasoning but devastating and unrelentless when it comes to achieving its goals. As a matter of fact portrayal of the society in the book is very very contemporary (AI algorithms, "anomalies", marching people, oh my.....).

Same as Dune, book sees future of humanity not as homogeneous species but as a set of various "branches" that need to be given breathing room to develop and not stifle each other. Actions of our hero are very similar to actions of Emperor Leto II - after the existing civilization is brought to violent end (what you might call end of its natural life), humanity is released and allowed to spread uninhibitedly among the stars thus creating basis for Dorsai universe society.

If you enjoy W40K this book might be read like birth of Malcador, The Sigillite :) it is uncanny how story resonates even with that fictional world.

Highly recommended. show less