Pro
by Gordon R. Dickson
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Professional... that was Harb Mallard. A hardened pro, able to shift the direction of developing alien cultures any way he needed to, with just a few well-placed punches to the tender spots. The Expansion Service depended on men like Mallard to boost potentially useful planets out of the Dark ages, and they put an even dozen backward worlds into his capable hands. Eleven of them were doing just fine under the supervision of Mallard's subordinates. But the last one needed something extra - show more the kind of dangerous action that coudl only be risked by a real PRO.cepted their robot-like existence. Either way, the human race was doomed! show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Sociological experimentation goes really wrong when Harb Mallard tries to manipulate the natives of an alien planet so that his management record won't get tarnished.
Enjoyable pulp science fiction with a message.
Enjoyable pulp science fiction with a message.
Here, let me show you how to take over a group of people.
This book is weird. There's a very thin sci fi plot that is mostly just an excuse to write a book from the bad guy's point of view. Interesting, but ultimately forgettable.
This book is weird. There's a very thin sci fi plot that is mostly just an excuse to write a book from the bad guy's point of view. Interesting, but ultimately forgettable.
This book explores the difference between the amateur and the professional, when two anthropologists dispute the best way to move an alien species forward in their technological and social development.
Idealists mugged by reality.
Lovely short book; needs to be a movie.
Lovely short book; needs to be a movie.
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Lacks Critical Equipment in Good Show Sir! — bad science fiction and fantasy covers (November 2025)
Author Information
293+ Works 33,334 Members
A naturalized American who was born in Canada on November 1, 1923, Gordon Rupert Dickson is a popular science fiction writer. Dickson graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1948 and made his home in Minneapolis. Among his many novels, especially notable is Soldier, Ask Not, which won the Hugo Award in 1965. For many years, Dickson's most show more engrossing project was his Childe Cycle, a series of novels about humanity's evolutionary potential, which included a group of futuristic books that are popularly known as the Dorsai Cycle. Dickson also wrote hundreds of short stories and novelettes including Call Him Lord, for which he received a Nebula Award in 1966. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Is an expanded version of
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- Original publication date
- 1978
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- 233
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- 139,651
- Reviews
- 4
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- (2.89)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 3
- UPCs
- 1
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