James Nicoll Reviews

1976’s The Dragon and the George is the first volume in Gordon R. Dickson’s secondary-world fantasy Dragon Knight series.

Jim Eckert’s quest to marry fiancée Angie Farrell faces a number of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, most of which boil down to ​“insufficient income.” Even if they were to combine their resources, medieval historian Jim’s instructor salary and laboratory assistant Angie’s wage wouldn’t pay the rent on the cheapest trailer park domicile in Minneapolis¹. If they cannot afford to combine households, how can they possibly get married?

Psychology graduate student Grottwold, rival for Angie’s heart, provides a solution of sorts when Grottwold inadvertently teleports Angie to another universe. No Angie, no marriage, no need to look for a better job for Jim. Problem solved!

Jim does not see it that way.

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Gordon R. Dickson’s 1967 Soldier, Ask Not is an expansion of his 1964 Hugo-winning novella of the same title. It is part of his Childe Cycle, a series also known as the Dorsai books. 

Tam Olyn and his sister Eileen were orphaned as children, which left them in the dubious care of their abusive uncle Mathias. Tam grows up ambitious and lacking in empathy. His emotional damage is a flaw that will have some nasty consequences.

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Gordon R. Dickson’s 1969 Wolfling is a standalone SF novel. 

UN starships reached Alpha Centauri only to discover that humans already lived there. They are subjects of an immeasurably advanced hundred-thousand-year-old galactic empire. 

The empire believes that Earth must be a lost colony. It might decide to act on that belief. 

The UN must learn more about the empire. It sends James Keil off on a ship to the Throne World. He will pose as a bullfighter and entertain the imperial elite with barbaric spectacle. He will also gather intelligence. 

His superior is having second thoughts about the plan, and the choice of agent, but it’s too late. Keil is en route. 

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1969’s Hour of the Horde is a standalone science fiction novel by Gordon R. Dickson.

Polio cost Miles Vander the use of an arm but did not dent his determination. He insists on recreating himself as an artist. So far, his efforts have come to naught. His doting girlfriend suspects that his surly isolation is to blame. Miles disagrees.

The looming alien invasion may make these differences of opinion moot.

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Mission to Universe is a comparatively obscure Gordon R. Dickson novel. I chose it over more famous alternatives like the Dorsai series¹ or the Dragon Knight series, both available in many installments. I chose 1965’s Mission to Universe because sentiment. It wasn’t my first Dickson², but the 1977 edition was in the first stack of Del Rey books I ever bought. In the 1970s I was a huge fan of Del Rey books.

I may have chosen poorly.…

Four! Billion! People! share an overcrowded Earth. More than fifty nations have armed themselves with nuclear weapons of stupendous power. Nobody wants a nuclear war, but nobody can see a way to safely disarm. All they can do is watch each other nervously while waiting for some crisis to trigger the final war. 

Benjamin Shore thinks America’s newly developed phase ship, able to bridge interstellar distances in an instant, could be humanity’s salvation. Habitable worlds around other stars could provide a much needed release valve for Earth’s population. Shore’s superiors disagree; they worry that the phase ship could itself be the spark needed to set off World War Three.

Following the delivery of covert orders from Washington, Shore hastily assembles a crew and takes the Phase Ship Mark III into deepest space. Once there, he reveals a heavily redacted copy of their orders: to boldly go search the sky until the Phase Ship Mark III finds a new home for humanity!

What Shore’s crew cannot know is that Shore’s redactions conceal the truth; the President never ordered the ship into space. The mission is a fraud.

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