Product Description
As France prepares for war against England, Jim Eckert, the Dragon Knight--a twentieth-century college professor transported to an alternate medieval England--discovers that he is all that stands between England and utter destruction. Reprint. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

14th Century grudge match: Dragon vs. serpent? Oh it's on!
No doubt at all that Gordon R. Dickson is celebrated most for his ambitious sci-fi series featuring the Dorsai. But once in a while the man would let his hair down, kick up his feet, and write lighthearted stories about Jim Eckert, a modern day American catapulted to a magical 14th Century. There, Jim finds himself a knight and a Baron (mostly because he lied and said he was) and with the ability to shapeshift into a dragon. And, under the peevish tutelage of Carolinus, a AAA+ rated mage, Jim sallies forth on adventures fraught with enchantment and derring-do. THE DRAGON AT WAR is the fourth book in the Dragon Knight series, and it stays pretty much true to formula: Sir James Eckert righting wrongs, deflecting villainous plots (mostly from the sneaky French), using his contemporary knowledge to come up with innovative uses for his magic, and trying not to foul up too much in the ways of knighthood.

THE DRAGON AT WAR picks up almost right where The Dragon on the Border leaves off, and has that extra kick of being more action-packed than THE DRAGON ON THE BORDER. Jim Eckert has just arrived home from his adventures in Northumbria, having helped to exterminate the Hollow Men, having vanquished a loathly Worm, and thus averted an invasion by Scotland and France and temporarily wrecked the Dark Powers' insidious plotting to offset the balance between the natural forces of History and Chance. But Jim - or as he's known in these Middle Ages: Sir James, Baron of Malencontri et Riveroak - had hardly taken a breath when he's already embroiled in another quest, this time brought about by renowned knight Sir John Chandos and an ailing Carolinus.

France just won't give up in its attempt to conquer England. This time the plot involves an Italian sorcerer and thousands of fearsome sea serpents mobilizing on England's shores. Recently promoted to Class "C" status as a magician, Jim is tasked with unearthing the mastermind behind France's latest scheme. This mission will lead him to a perilous underwater adventure and a consultation with a Kraken, a stealthy excursion into the innermost chambers of the enemy, and a no-holds-barred tussle with pirates on the high seas.

It all culminates with Jim and his friends defending Castle Malencontri and, by extension, England from the sea serpents' onslaught. It's interesting to note that while dragons are some of the most feared creatures on land, they don't measure up to sea serpents in terms of sheer mass and intimidation. That dragons and sea serpents are mortal enemies plays into Jim's off-the-cuff strategies to ward off France and the sea serpents. Still, the main event features Jim all by his lonesome, in his dragon form, engaged in single combat with the head sea serpent.

THE DRAGON AT WAR is a rollicking medieval adventure with heaps of fantasy elements piled on. As usual, part of the fun lies in that Jim Eckert - a contemporary dude, a graduate student, and an assistant college instructor - continues to adapt to the 14th Century, its casual brutality and rigid social customs. As ever, Jim is more the thinking man and doesn't do so well with the martial aspects of knighthood. This, to me, makes him a more intriguing protagonist.

Jim's cast of regulars are back. His wife Angie is back and you can't blame her for getting upset that Jim is gone so much, out gallivanting and adventuring while she's forced to mind the castle and run roughshod over the castle servants. Jim's best pals - the very capable but near destitute Sir Brian Neville-Smythe and the peerless Welsh bowman Dafydd Ap Hywe - pretty much accompany him in all his quests, and again they prove invaluable. Brian once again proves his fighting stones by taking on the impressive pirate chief Bloody Boots. There's a new twist with Secoh, the diminutive but feisty dragon, who this time isn't always a dragon. Sir Giles, another of Jim's friends, shows up but then disappears halfway thru the book, only to casually resurface, as if he'd been there all along (and, to be honest, this threw me off). The mage Carolinus, by the way, is even more unreasonably cranky than the norm. Maybe it's because he's forced into a magical duel with an Oriental magician? The implacable English Wolf Aargh - one of my favorite characters in the series - is also somewhere here and still scoffing at our silly human ways.

Dickson also introduces a neat new semi-recurring character in the form of Rrrnlf, the gigantic, inversely proportioned sea devil who seeks his stolen Lady. Rrrnlf would play a crucial role in the story.

The previous novel in the series, THE DRAGON ON THE BORDER, came skimpy with the action and had a more measured pace, even though it was still a good read. THE DRAGON AT WAR makes for a nice change of pace. It features plenty of nicely-detailed battle sequences, magical encounters, and harrowing situations, all this underscored by Dickson's knack for droll narrative and a touch which is lighthearted but thankfully never too silly. I think it's one of the best books in the Dragon Knight series.

Best fantasy series of all time
I highly recommend this book and all the "Dragon and the George" sequels. IT was a wonderful series, written by an amazing SciFi/Fantasy author!

Best book in the series
If you have only read the first three of the series you must keep going. This book continues the saga of Jim, Brian,Daffyd,Giles, Secoh, Carolinusand more.The ending of this book over takes all the others in the series. If you can't find this book here keep looking becuase it is well worth it. This has the only ending in which it is possible to guess and makesrealistic sense.This is the one book that really involves every charaterin a major role and has a most impressive ending.Read this book if youliked any of the other at all.

The Dragon At War
This Book I felt was one of the best books'.Before I tell You about about how I felt how the book was, I would first like to give you a breif Summary of this book.It is about This person by the name of Sir James Eckert, Baron de bois de Malencontri et Riverroak.In this book It was About these seaserpents who wanted two kill the Dragons on england ( Also Sir James Who Has The Power to turn into a dragon at the wave of a hand ).These Searpents were not all that were in this book, No there Was Things like a giant Squid Who wanted to take controle of all the magickians in this world, And a BIG Freindly Seadevil by the name of Rrrnlf. Anyway These magickians were all over the world but one of the most renoun and best loved as a freind by jim is Carolinus.Carolinus Is one of three AAA+ Magickians in this magical domain.He is jim's mentour and advisor as a junior magickian. Now enough about the book before I tell you everything ( I geuss you will have to just read the book for yourself!!!)This book ( One of seven in a series ) is to me one of the best books that I have ever read.It contains More Magickians,Dragons,Kinghts in armour and a 1000 things Than any other book that you have ever read.It has a very intriging plot to this story.What I find is that gordan trie to enter in a few jokes here and there that I believe help perkin up a good book. Thats all that I have to say, and if your intreseted in these types of books here are the names of them. 1. The dragon and the George 2. The dragon Knight 3. The dragon on the boarder 4. The dragon at war 5. The dragon, the earl, and the troll 6. The dragon and The djjin( last word might be wrong!) 7. The dragon And the Gnarly King.These fine books you can find Right here on Amazon.com ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

So I ask again, why is this out of print?
This is a rant I haven't done in a while.More and more I find that the best SF books out there are kept out of print for whatever reason, leaving us fans to discover these lost treasures by scouring bookstores, hardly even aware of their existences.I found this one by sheer chance and it turns out to have been a happy find.Dickson is mostly known for his Childe cycle (sidenote on that, it says in the author bio that after he finishes the "futuristic" part of said Cycle, he was going to do a bunch of historical type novels as a prelude . . . any idea whatever happened to those?) among other things but this has been unjustly forgotten.Told in first person narration by a man named Marc, it deals with world set slightly in the future where the Earth is ravaged by shifting lines of time.His only companions are a very friendly jaguar and a very silent girl.That's how it starts.Where it goes you'll never be able to guess.Half the fun is watching Dickson constantly twist the reader's expectations inside out, taking the story in abrupt curves just when you think you know where it's going.It's almost like a whole series of books in one, part survival tale, part metaphysical journey, part SF world building and part philosophical musing.His characterization of Marc is key as well, here we have one of his more complex characters, Marc is basically a decent guy that you want to root for, but at the same time he's tightly focused almost to the detriment of everyone around him.And yet he feels more real than most characters I've seen lately.Fortunately Dickson helps by surrounding him with a multifaceted cast of characters and constnatly switching the situation.Sometimes it may get a littel bit too metaphysical for my tastes, but at least it's far from ordinary.People coming in thinking it's just an average time travel novel are going to be (hopefully) pleasantly surprised.It's an underrated classic that deserves to be back in print.

Multidimensional and Fun!
I love this book. I have read it 3 times, and I never read anything more than once. Dickson has written a fantastic story about time travel, multidimensionality, and the versatility of the human being. Dickson has the ability to make his characters come completely alive, and the plot is versatile, imaginative and interesting. This is NOT your typical time travel story; in everything Dickson writes there is a deeper message. This is a writer that knows how to convey meaning on many levels of consciousness. Besides, it's just a GREAT read, and a lot of fun too!

A Memorable book
This is a book I've read more than once.It is full of suprising characters.A mute girl, a crazy lepoard, a displaced stock broker, and a world gone mad.

Set in some indeterminate time (SF)it is the story of agroup of people who come together when their world is swept away by'timestorms'.These are waves of time which drift across the worldchanging the land and the people who live in it as at a seemingly randomway.

It's also the story of how, by working together these people managedto survive in this newly harsh world and even triumph.

It's a story whichsticks in your mind long after you have read it. If you come across a copysecond hand,pick it up.It's a good read. ... Read more

Product Description
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 by a time storm. Reprint. AB. PW. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

It's like listening to an egomaniac for 400 pages...
I'm trying to decide whether my dislike for this book is simply because, ironically, the main character did not stand the test of time.

Our protagonist, Marc Despard, is one of a relative handful of survivors after Earth is ravaged by a "time storm" - Marc's coined phrase.Literally, the planet is divided by walls of mist into different periods from the past, present, and presumable future.Roads end abruptly where the time storm has passed through, and inhuman creatures roam in their own pockets of time.Now Marc must lead his growing clan of survivors to - where?Or when?

The premise was enough to lure me in, and some of the alternate realities are really intriguing.However, the main drawback to the book is that it is narrated by Marc Despard in the first person, and, unfortunately, I hated Marc Despard.

Marc's personal journey leads him to realize he is not like "normal" people in many ways.He has ultra-honed observational skills, particularly in pattern recognition, but no empathy or emotional connections.He withdraws from his surroundings for days, weeks, or years, to stuggle with his issues.By today's standards, he probably would have a diagnosis somewhere in the ASD range.

He is also arrogant, abrasive, and repetitive, especially when talking about how right he is all the time.It is just that much more annoying having it told in the first person.

The other big downside to the book for me was the overuse of hyperbole, mainly in describing Marc's journeys through the time/space continuum.Not only is every experience "indescribable" but it is darker / blacker / lonlier / brighter / more exhilarating than has ever been known.It just seems that a lot of space was used to describe why what Marc was seeing was indescribable.

Maybe Marc's mannerisms were more acceptable in the angry 1970s, but I kept thinking to myself, if I heard this blowhard telling this story in person, I'd find literally any reason to walk away from him.

A Natural Genius
Time Storm (1977) is a standalone SF novel.The world is divided into a patchwork of different times by the time storm.Moving mistwalls contain time-change lines that shift the landscape behind them into the past or future.Stationary mistwalls separate adjacent zones of differing times.

In this novel, Marc Despard is overrun by a moving mistwall and doesn't know what hit him.At first, he thinks that he has had another heart attack, but gradually he learns the true cause of his confusion and overwhelming emotions.He finds a squirrel felled by the same time-change and picks it up.The creature seems to imprint on him and follows him around as he explores the area.He finally loses contact with it in his ramblings.

As Marc is walking through the woods south of the Twin Cities area, he stumbles over a young black male leopard, who reacts in the same manner as the squirrel.Marc names the leopard Sunday and it follows him thereafter.Later Marc and Sunday run into the girl and she reacts to Sunday much like the leopard behaves toward Marc.The girl doesn't talk, so Marc doesn't know her name.

Marc is obsessed with the time-change lines.He finally decides to check the other side of a pair of stationary lines that have apparently collided with each other.He firmly orders Sunday and the girl to stay on their side of the line and then enters it himself.

Marc experiences the same kind of overwhelming emotional reactions within the mistwall as he had experienced previously, but this time his reactions seem to be less powerful. On the other side of the line is a pack of dogs and the remains of a house.At first, the owner of the house -- Marie -- threatens him with a rifle and the dogs, so Marc tries to reason with her.

Marie and Wendy -- her daughter -- have been waiting for her husband to return from the nearby town, but Marie decides to accompany Marc when he moves on.Heading to the nearby town, they run into Tek and his gang.After Marc and the dogs outmaneuver them, Tek and the others fade back into the woods and disappear.

Later, Marc encounters a large concrete building on the other side of another mistwall.The facility is a military testing center with only one inhabitant:Bill Gault.After discussing the situation, Bill asks to join Marc and they stock up on equipment and weapons, then return across the time-change line.

Marc and Bill continue crossing mistwalls looking for someone from a future society who can help them understand and alleviate the time storm.Finally, they find an area with future buildings and encounter an alien -- Porniarsk Prime Three -- who is an avatar of the original Porniarsk.Although Porniarsk has better instruments that Marc and Bill, he is himself only studying the time storm.They must find someone from the far future to provide them with any assistance.

Eventually, Marc becomes the center of a community studying the time storm.Porniarsk has been using his equipment to extrapolate the time storm patterns to the far future.Then Paula and her army show up to conquer his town.

In this story, Marc has internal conflicts from his childhood.Because of his dysfunctional family, he believes that everyone is self-involved, only appearing to love other people out of self-interest.Unfortunately, he keeps forgetting his role and lets his old habits of expressing love get into his relationships.

A major element in this story is the series of epiphanies that Marc experiences in his relationships with others.At first Marc is obsessed with finding his ex-wife and resuming their relationships.Then he has to deal with the girl and Sunday leaving the group after Marie and Wendy join them.Later, he rethinks his relationship with the Old Man.After each epiphany, Marc expands his worldview and open himself more to others.

This story is built around Marc's talent for finding patterns in seemingly random events.Naturally, his paranormal genius is the key to solving the underlying problem.In many respects, this talent is much the same as the intuitive abilities of Donal Graeme in the Dorsai series.

Highly recommended for Dickson fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of abnormal events, unusual talents, and fractured relationships.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Head Trippy 70's Science Fiction Fun
I found this 70's science fiction tale among the crowded stacks of of my favorite used book store. It's theme of mass disappearance of humans due to a disruptions of time interesting, so I grabbed it thinking it would be nice light reading. Well, it's far from light. Here Dickson takes us on a 70's head trip of physics and philosophy. Ther first half of the book is a strong Post Apocalytic tale of a man, a teenage girl and a leopard traveling through a broken, disjointed land where Time Storms have switched large chucks or land with land of the past and the future, and where traveling Mistwalls threaten to displace the travelers themselves. The second part of the book is hard science fiction where the main character battles the very physical forces of nature which are causing these problems. In the end this book is a tale of love, and finding what's inside a person by stepping out of their own body, and their comfort zones and looking at things in a way one would never conceived. Beware of some weird 70's new-age corniness, but enjoy.

One of the best time travel books ever...
maybe THE best, though I can't claim to have read them all.This book was my introduction to Gordon Dickson, who has been one of my favorite SFauthors ever since.This is a deeply plotted story that develops with thecharacters.The scope begins at a simple, personal level and builds togalactic proportions.The narrator/main character is a gruff, usuallystoic individual (like other Dickson main characters), but his emotionsnevertheless come out reluctantly in the telling.I reread it every coupleof years and it always seems new.Well worth the time.

A story that sweeps you away
This is the story of a world destroyed by time. It's a memorable and haunting book, with characters that have an interesting mix of the mysterious and sympthatic.I've read a lot of time travel books before, but really nothing like this.

If you can it a copy it's a good read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

R-57
I don't usualy like "early" science fiction as well as more current books; I read the The R-Master mostly beacause I like Gordon R. Dickson.It was a little dry, and I don't think the emotions and characters were handled very well, but like many of Dickson's books, the political intrigue was fascinating.The way it was written seemed very similar to Asimov's Foundatinon series.The plot twisted and turned, and when you thought you almost understood what was going on, something new and unexpected shifted your entire view.Although The R-Master could have been better, it was overall a very good book. ... Read more

Product Description
In the middle of the Earl of Somerset's lavish Christmas feast, the fortress is attacked by an army of land-hungry trolls and a band of traitors, and brave Dragon Knight Sir James undertakes a mission that no one can win. Reprint. LJ. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Used book came in great shape and on time.
The book was in almost new condition and was here in a couple of days after ordering.

Happy
This book was in excellent condition, professionally prepared for delivery and arrived sooner than expected. I was very happy with this vendor.

Good story but...
I haven't read any of the others in this series, though after reading this one I intend to hunt them down. This was a really good, unique story in my opinion. A lot of good, unexpected turns in this book.

The only thing I can fault this book for is how long and drawn out everything was. A lot of the time, it would take an entire page or two to describe something that could have been written in a sentence or a paragraph. It took forever for me to get through the book and I really only hung in there because the story was so good that I needed to find out what was going to happen!

If you have patience, I do recommend this book. Otherwise it might be to drawn out for you.

Another great book in the series.
Yet another great one by Dickson.Read this and enjoy!

How long can you "dragon" this out?
The first book I read in this series was the Dragon Knight and I loved it. I found out that there were several in the series. I bought all of them. I am not sure how many senerios Dickson can come up with. This is the thrid that I have read. This one wasn't bad although. Sir Jim and Angie, along with Brian and his true love go to a 12 day Christmas get together. Any one who is anybody is there. The biggest problem, although not the only one is that there is a 1800 year old Troll, who doesn't appear ready for retirement in Miami yet, who is shaking down the castle from his layer in the basement.
Now it wouldn't be worth our noble knight's effort to don his armor or change into his dragon shape for just one troll. Dickson throws in a lot of trolls, a whole bunch of other dragons who want to be part of the Christmas period and several other problems for our hero to solve.
The one thing that I did like about this book was the fact he allows Angie to become an important part of the story instead of the shadowy figure she has been before. Also Sir Jim gets to use some very interesting magic through the story. There is a nice twist towards the final chapters of the book, but the ending is a bit corney. WAIT! - flying dragons, talking wolfs, hob goblins, 1800 year old trolls? Maybe the end fits.
If you like the Dragon Knight series you'll enjoy this book. But I'm not sure how many more things Dickson can put our hero into before it becomes more boring then soaring. ... Read more

Product Description
Bleys Ahrens is now a political power on the planet Association, home of the Friendlies. His people--his Others, not Dorsai or Friendly or Exotic, but hybrids--are in place on all the new worlds, and are ready to take his message to the greater human public.

But within his inner circle is Henry McLean, Soldier of God, and a True Faith-Holder. Henry fears for the soul of his nephew Bleys, and while he guards, he also watches, and judges.

And beyond Bleys Ahrens' control is Hal Mayne: the one man in all the human worlds who might successfully challenge Bleys in his bid for power. For Hal Mayne is the true culmination of the Cycle's grand design. Bleys would give anything to convert Hal Mayne to his cause--or failing that, to destroy him.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Extremely Disappointing
After many good or excellent books in the series, Dickson falls flat on his face.Final Encyclopedia was excellent; Young Bleys was decent; Other frankly sucks.

I came very close to just giving up on the book, but I kept reading to find out what happens to characters I know.It wasn't worth it.

The book itself is a slow-moving jumble that never really goes anywhere.At least Bleys gets laid.

A slight anti-climax, but readable
To the best of my knowledge, Dickson never followed this book up and thus never really completed the Childe Cycle, which is an incredibly disappointing thing because it was heading toward an ending of some sort.However, I'm not sure if Dickson knew what kind of ending he was going to go with, since he totally stopped the series' momentum after the Chantry Guild (not the most exciting book to begin with) and started to backtrack and discuss the life of Bleys Ahern.This book picks up where "Young Bleys" left off and parallels more or less The Final Encyclopedia.Fortunately for the reader, Bleys is an interesting character in that he's supposed to be the villain but he's not truly evil, he has his own viewpoint which he intends on pursuing as far as he can take it.So exploring his personality in greater detail was a smart idea to some extent but Dickson seems to be just treading water, keeping the story light on any sort of action and high on political manipulation.The only problem is that with Bleys around it basically chucks all suspense out the window because he succeeds in everything he tries, once or twice in the story Dickson pulls out an "aha-ha!" moment but there's not exceptionally memorable that happens.He introduces one interesting subplot where Bley's Uncle Henry, a decent warrior in his own right, decides to take along to save his nephew's soul from Satan.This hints at a confrontation that never really occurs and the book is the worse for it.Also, it was hinted in the Final Encyclopedia that something not so good happened to Bleys' brother Dahno, but nothing is noted about that either.So instead the book just sort of chugs along in a connect the dots fashion, with Bleys moving from one planet to another, forming a plan and enacting it and then forming another plan somewhere else and doing the same.The one honest to goodness action sequence drags, much like it did in The Chantry Guild, by going on for way too long until you're not sure what the point is anymore.Otherwise it's all talk, talk, talk, more often than that expository in nature.So while the book is readable and entertaining to some extent, this almost total lack of drama or suspense very much hamstrings the book and destroys whatever momentum it has, you keep turning the pages through essential inertia and not because of the burning need to see what happens next.Worst of all, the book continues the annoying Dickson trend of simply ending with almost nothing resolved, doubly frustrating because Dickson never went further than this book with the Cycle.In the end, people who want to read for pure enjoyment should stick with the first few books in the cycle, up to the Final Encyclopedia.Those who want to see what kind of potential this series had should move on to the rest and wonder about what might have been.

A Disappointment In The Childe Cycle
Gordon R. Dickson's Childe Cycle, sometimes called the 'Dorsai novels' is truly one of the great works of Science Fiction.The early novels begin an exciting series that continue through Dickson's masterpiece 'The FinalEncyclopedia.'The next two novels in the series, 'Young Bleys' and'Other' fall far short of the series' first novels.'Other,' in particularlacks much of the kinectic drive the was a prevalent device in the otherDorsai novels.All of the novels take place in a wonderfly drawn universeof many worlds and cultures.What made the first novels of this serieswork was the amazyingly complex combination of fast-paced adventure andwell thought out interworld politics.While 'Other' holds the politicalintrigues in abundance it sorley lacks the excitment and exhileration ofthe other novels.'Other' does have it's good points however; it is fullof the multi-dimensional characters that are a Dickson trade mark and hasjust enough reference to the events of 'The Final Encyclopedia,' (the twonovels take place simultaniously,) that it is not a complete waste of time. This is one for die-hard fans only and not a great introduction to theseries.

a needful development of the villain of the series...
....who in the other books was a mysterious if cardboard bad guy.In OTHER you find out more about who he is and why he's a match for Hal Mayne.

Continuing the Childe Cycle
The novels "Young Bleys" and "Other" tells the story of Bleys Ahrens, founder of the Others, who has set himself against Hal Mayne and his plan to unite the splinter cultures.Both novels are verylong with not that much happening.If they were cut considerably andcombined in one book, it would have been a lot more interesting. ... Read more

Product Description
On the sixteen colonized worlds, mankind had changed, evolved into something that was slightly more than human...and slightly less. Men of War on the Dorsai worlds, men of Faith on the Friendly Worlds of Harmony and Association, men of Science, the Exotics of Kultis and Mara, and the Splinter cultures which had produced even stranger new talents.

Those who knew said it was the Dorsai who supplied soldiers to the sixteen worlds. The Friendlies supplied cannon fodder, common soldiers who could be relied on to obey orders at all times.

But even cannon fodder can sometimes produce genius. Jamethon Black is a true soldier, and a true man of faith. Now he must face a deadly enemy--an enemy whose defeat will forever separate Black from the only woman he has ever loved.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Heavy handed, obtuse and arrogant
I hesitate to review a book that I couldn't bring myself to finish, but I think that in this case it is merited.

This book is so boring and awful, I literally cringed at some of the horrible writing.

The main character is a completely unsympathetic and unrelatable person. He is a unlikeable person. He ruins his sister's engagement, for no better reason than to test out his "powers" and spite his uncle, and manipulates his way through the rest of the novel. He is arrogant and has a strange sense that his life is an epic, and narrates the story that way. Which reminds me of another point - the first person point of view is a awful way to tell the story.

His "super power" is that he can manipulate people easily. SNOOOOOOOOOOOOZE FEST. The kicker? It rarely works. I got through half the novel and he was able to use it to his advantage one time. It failed him multiple times however, and other times he was in a situation where words were useless, like when he was getting shelled from artillery kilometers away.

I ended up hating the main character, and being totally ambivilent to the remaining one dimentional characters. Don't care about his snooty sister, don't care about her boring and dialogue-less husband, don't care about the main antagonist who hadn't made an appearance at 50% of the way through the book, unless you consider a brief intro in the beginning.

1 star for deceptively cool cover art

Psychotic narrative about reporter Tam
At the grunt of uproaring universe, there is a man, Tam, who doesn't realize carrying a destroyer seed within him: meet the originator of powerful Final Encyclopedia which is later discussed the following books of this series.

The story is about a haunted man who refuses to dig deep enough to understand his special abilities. Those which only bring chaos to the humankind's destiny: where partial specialized races on other planets are to be united for us to evolve. We're lead to follow the psychotic man, news reporter Tam, who uses his hidden abilities to bring him might for the wrong reasons. There is no Dorsai story in the book. The battlefield explorations Tam takes are just a stage to keep the story going. This is unconventional chapter in Dickson't universe and takes a different angle than that of the Dorsai military world, We meet to understand the Church of the God followers a little better and the inners of Tam to be prepared for the 'The Final Encyclopedia', the conclusion leading to mankind's future.

Two (2) stars. Plot is regrettably underwhelming. Read this book only if you want to know background story about the founder of the Encyclopedia. Otherwise this book is not essential to the Dorsai universe. The military, strategy choices, romance or planetary politics are not present in this book which is more like a soul search of a lost person.

One of Dickson's better works.
"Soldier, Ask Not" is one of Dickson's "Childe Cycle" novels.It is set in a time period in which humankind has recently acquired interstellar travel and established itself among new worlds in nearby stellar systems.

In Dickson's hypothetical future (the "Childe Cycle") humanity has "splintered" into various Splinter Cultures in which various human traits have reached extremes.The Dorsai world breeds the best professional soldiers, the so-called Friendly Worlds breed people of religious faith, the Exotic Worlds are masters of the psychological sciences, and there are others.This story is about a protagonist who, among other things, acquires a vendetta against the Friendly Worlds, and sets out to cause their destruction.

Of all the Childe Cycle novels, this one seems to most fully flesh out the interstellar politics and issues that characterize Dickson's "Childe Cycle" stories.It builds on "The Tactics of Mistake" and "Dorsai" and takes the politics that those two novels create to the next higher level.Happily, this novel does this without bogging down as some of the later Childe Cycle novels do -- this one moves along smartly, and holds the reader's interest, perhaps aided by the fact that it is written in the first person from the protagonist's point of view.

Fans of Dickson's "Childe Cycle" should not pass this one up.

Super Reader
This book is a little different, in that the superman depicted is in this case a supervillain. With his basic supermanipulationcharisma abilities he isn't throwing cars around, but can cause some really bad military conflicts.

Set in the 23rd century, that are quite a few colonised worlds and a few different cultural/political groupings for him to cause havoc on as the Dorsai and others try to stop him.

ok read
This was an ok read. I liked it and it went pretty fast, but I was left feeling like I missed something. The character was somehow flat. But I would recommend it as an OK sci fi book. ... Read more

Product Description

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.... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Not his best effort....
...and that's what really [bothered me] about this novel. I was [pulled] in by an amusing title concept and having read some of his other work took it on faith that this novel would be as enjoyable as all of his others....WRONG....

Since wasting my hard earned $$ on this cookie cutter assembly of short stories, I've learned to read at least the first chapter of a novel instead of just the back cover. Lesson learned...

Davey Crockett in Space (without much Space)!
As many others probably have been, I was roped into this one by the pretty cover, which has nothing to do with the actual story line. Our poor misinformed Terran heroes, facing the mighty Dilbians (too big to be Hokans, and, really, to be funny) on their own planetary turf, still emerge victorious in several incredible (and slightly implausable) "Rescue the Fair-Maiden" scenarios. But, as an evidently retreaded pulp collection, it's still a decent read for a bad weather afternoon, or, even better, as a late night "read yourself to sleep".

Too big to be funny
The three storrys in this books are neither really funny like the "Hoka" tales, for that the bears here are just too big, nor is there much suspense. Oh, granted, they are all well written and not unpleasant to read. However one would wish that Gordon R. Dicksons last book were more memorable.

Reprint from a Master of SF
For those of you who have yet to collect all you can of Gordon R. Dickson, this volume will make it possible to collect three of his light SF tales inexpensively.

I'm sorry to say I've heard that Gordon R. Dickson died 31 Jan 2001 from asthma complications.He was one of my favorite authors.While his Dorsai SF and Dragon Knight fantasy series were my favorites of his works, pretty much everything he published was worth reading.I hope SF publishers will find some good editors and republish more collected editions of his works.

A bearable read
First, ignore the title and the cover art, however clever and amusing they may be.None of the three stories in this volume has much to do with providing weapons to the ursinoid Dilbians, whose culture shuns the use of weapons (for that matter, they're not so hot with tools either).Second, fans of Dickson should be advised this book is an omnibus edition of three previously released works, "Spacial Delivery", "Spacepaw", and "The Law-Twister Shorty".

I found these stories to be rather entertaining as something of a guilty pleasure, but overall I wasn't terribly impressed with the storytelling or the world-building.The Dilbians were amusing in their backward-thinking, but at times they tended to be a bit too, how should I say it?, "folksey". The manner in which the human characters were identified and thrust into the situations in these stories was too counterintuitive and far-fetched to be believable; nevertheless it did provide for some interesting problems for the human characters to puzzle over as they interacted with the Dilbians.Overall, not a great read but not too bad either. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Awesome book, original and clever.
Too bad this is out of print, it is such a great book, one of the books that made me love reading from a young age.The stories are all in Hoka! Hoka! Hoka!, so I guess a good thing never goes away...

No Burden In Reading This One
"Earthman's Burden" includes a fun series of stories by Poul Anderson & Gordon R. Dickson.The stories included introduce the Hokas, a race which resembles teddy bears and which likes to mimic the behavior they see in Earth entertainment and history.Included in this collection are the first five Hoka stories, and a sixth story written for this book which takes place chronologically between the events of the original first two stories.

"The Sheriff of Canyon Gulch" is a short story which was originally published in "Other Worlds" in May of 1951 under the title of "Heroes Are Made".In this story, Alexander Jones meets the Hokas after crash landing on Toka, a world shared by the Hokas, and the reptilian Slissii who prey on the Hokas.At this point, the Hokas have already adopted the Wild West lifestyle which they got from earlier contact with humans.The easy going Hokas are fighting a losing battle with the Slissii, who they have taken to calling Indians, and Alex is desperately trying to get them to help him get back to the main ship.This story is a good start to the series.

"Don Jones" is a novelette which was written for this collection, and in this story we find Alexander Jones on Earth with the job of entertaining the Hoka delegation.Unfortunately, they have discovered Italian Opera, and specifically Don Giovanni.With a jealous and insecure girlfriend, a beautiful coworker, and a boss who has it in for him, Alexander has his work cut out for him in trying to contain the playful Hokas.Probably the weakest story in the book, but still a fun read.

"In Hoka Signo Vinces" is a short story which was first published in "Other Worlds" in June of 1953.In this story, Alexander Jones is worried about the Pornians, an alien race who has started to build militarily while the rest of the civilized races have disarmed.Meanwhile, the Hokas have taken to playing Space Patrol, using Jones' courier ship, and he finds himself swept away in their role playing.Unfortunately, their game has them headed right towards the Pornians' new dreadnaught.This story is another fun episode in the series.

"The Adventure of the Misplaced Hound" is a novelette which was first published in "Universe" in December of 1953.In this story, Earth is concerned with a smuggler who is hiding on Toka, in an area where the Hokas have mimicked a Victorian lifestyle.Alexander Jones search for the smuggler leads him quite naturally to the Hokan Sherlock Holmes, to which he plays Watson.This story was nominated for the 2004 Retro Hugo for novelettes written in the year 1953, and for good reason.

"Yo Ho Hoka!" is a novelette which was first published in "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction" in March of 1955.In this story, Alexander Jones is concerned that the Hokas imitations of Earth history will result in his dismissal as plenipotentiary if Earth hears about their imitating pirates.He sets out to lead the navy against the pirates and put an end to their mischief, but instead finds himself pressed into service.Once again, events seem to spiral out of control, and he finds himself with the name of Greenbeard and acting as the Admiral of the pirate fleet.This story ranks right up there with the previous one.
"The Tiddlywink Warriors" is a novelette which was first published in "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction" in August of 1955.In this story, Alexander Jones finds himself under the watchful eye of Jorkins Brassard, who is the Cultural Development Inspector, and who prevents Alexander from taking action when his wife crash lands on Telko, the planet closer to the Tokan sun, which is inhabited by a very violent tribal race who holds her prisoner.Brassard forbids the use of advanced technology to rescue her, so Alexander is forced to seek out the Hoka version of the French Foreign Legion to help him.As usual, things don't go exactly as planned

This is an easy to read series of stories, and very suitable for light entertainment.The stories are linked together by messages being sent to and from Earth, but those aren't really needed and don't add much to the book.The collection was originally published in 1957, and worth seeking out if you have not read the stories.There is a second collection of Hoka stories titled simply "Hoka!", which was published in October of 1983.

Life imitating art imitating life imitating ...
"Earthman's Burden" is simply hilarious. When Ensign Alexander Braithwaite Jones crash landed on the planet Toka, 500 light years from earth, he encountered the Hokas, a cuddly race of aliens that (would you believe it?) resembled oversized, overstuffed teddy bears. The Hokas had the ability to absorb any trace of Earth culture they encountered, whether it be film, radio, television, music or books and reproduce it with devastatingly unpredictable and laugh-out-loud funny results. You'll see an entire world converted into the rootin', tootin' wild west, boffo grand opera in the Italian style starring Don Giovanni, a gaslit, atmospheric Victorian England featuring Sherlock Holmes stalking Grimpen Mire on the lookout for the Baskerville teddy bear, space patrollers, pirates and French legionnaires.

As I read the opening chapters, my initial reaction was to shake my head, blink twice and ponder whether Poul Anderson and Gordon Dickson had taken leave of their senses. Surely, this couldn't be serious science fiction! But sure enough, there it was ... the pearl - that serious message of biting satire buried under the flesh of a mountainous oyster of vaudeville and slapstick! Jones was appointed ambassador plenipotentiary to Toka and saddled with what an arrogant government top heavy with self indulgent bureaucratic stuffed shirts labeled "Earthman's Burden" - the responsibility "to raise the primitive". Earth's Chief Cultural Commissioner, referring to himself with the ever pompous royal "we", advised Jones:

"to be patient with the innocent sub-civilized being. We shall often find his attitude uncosmic, his mind naively fumbling in its attempts to grasp the nuances of that which we teach him. He gazes at us with clear, unknowing eyes that plead with us to show him the right way - the civilized way."

How delicious - a double-barreled satire! Two targets for the price of one. Anderson and Dickson impales the arrogance of humanity in its estimation of our importance in the universe while, at the same time, lustily lampooning the idiocies of government bureaucracy. Enjoy! You couldn't possibly read this without feeling uplifted and entertained.

Paul Weiss

Sentient Teddy Bears?
In a distant time, spaceman Alexander Jones crashes his ship on a planet...which just happens to be inhabited by a population of sentient...well...Teddy Bears. These creatures call themselves Hoka, and they have a rather peculiar culture.These Hokans possess an unparalleled imagination, and they evolve their culture around what they observe and learn.

For example, this book is actually a collection of short stories, and each story revolves around a cultural theme:In one, the Hokas act like American cowboys in the Old West, after reading Western paperbacks left by previous human visitors.In another, they create an English culture, complete with a Hokan Sherlock Holmes.

Our intrepid spaceman, Alexander Jones, becomes enamored with these creatures (although quite exasperated at times) and takes the highly regarded position of plenipotentiary to the Hokan race, where has to overcome the challenges of a race that can completely change it's culture and lifestyle at a whim.

All in all, an engaging and heartwarming scifi book.

Not only terribly funny, but also incredibly clever!
It makes you laugh when you are alone in your roomto read it.Does that happen often in your reading life?There's only another writer who is able to make me laugh that way and it's Robert Sheckley.If you like comedy inSF, buy this!You'll love the Hokas and their totally unbridledimagination.Or better, their total inability to make a difference betweenfact and fiction.Which is something that happens more and more often inour world, so it could be argued that we're all more or less Hokas, afterall.It is a funny a clever book, and tells you a lot about life in amedia-saturated world. ... Read more

Product Description
In this latest of Gordon R. Dickson's immensely popular adventures of Jim Eckert; the 20th-century mathematician who has come to live in a medieval age where magic works and Jim himself can become a dragon at will, Gordon R. Dickson draws on the richness of the greatest medieval legend of all, the tale of Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.In the legends, after their final battle, Arthur and his knights went to Lyonesse, the land under the sea. Now Lyonesse is threatened by a resurgence of the Dark Powers, those mindlessly malevolent forces that struggle to stop the course of History. And Jim Eckert and his friends are called upon to stop them.Arthur and his court live on in Lyonesse because, even though centuries have elapsed, there are still those who believe in them. But Arthur and his knights are proud, too proud to easily accept help from Jim Eckert and his allies. But they will have help, from Jim in his dragon form, from knight-in-armor Sir Brian Neville-Smyth, from the brilliant archer Dafydd ap Hywel, and from one small hobgoblin. The result is a wild ride, an Arthurian fantasy adventure as only Gordon R. Dickson could tell it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Questing with the Questing Beast and others
Jim Eckert, the Dragon Knight (who, like Nita and Kit in Diane Duane's Young Wizards series, seems to have developed into the major defender of his world against the powers of evil), here returns to the magically preserved realm-under-the-sea of Lyonesse, to which the Knights of the Round Table retreated following the Last Battle between Arthur and Modred.Jim and his friend Sir Brian Neville-Smythe passed through Lyonesse a year or so earlier on their search for Jim's infant ward (a story told in The Dragon & the Gnarly King), but this time they go in response to a request from the master bowman, Dafydd ap Hywel, who was with them at the Loathly Tower (see The Dragon and the George), and whose kinsman, the King of the Drowned Land, has felt "a presence...casting a growing shadow" toward his country from Lyonesse.The Dark Powers, which Jim, Brian, and Dafydd have so often fought before, are once again at work, apparently hoping to take over the Arthurian realm and use it as a staging area from which to launch attacks on the World Above.Naturally, Jim can't refuse a companion's request--not that he's inclined to when the Powers themselves send a finger of their darkness into his very castle.And Brian, who loves nothing better than a good knightly "bicker," is equally ready to take up sword and lance against their old foes.

Reaching the Drowned Land, Dafydd is called away to the bedside of the dying King, and Jim and Brian must venture on accompanied only by Jim's household hobgoblin, an adventuresome and loyal little Natural who has shared several of their previous quests.They're soon joined by an old acquaintance, the Questing Beast, who proves to be "a friend indeed" throughout the experiences that follow, as they discover that the Powers have a local ally in Morgan le Fay--and may also be supported by her three sisters, the other Witch Queens of the Matter of Britain.Then they find out that Jim's old enemy, the Duke of Cumberland, has been imported from the World Above to lead the Dark Powers's invasion force--and Modred, though killed in the Last Battle, has been resurrected and is helping him.Arthur's knights, who've had no battle practice for a thousand years, are outnumbered and out-armed--but too proud to accept much of the help and advice offered them by their visitors.How Jim manages to turn the tide at almost the last moment--with unexpected help from one of Morgan's sisters--is the burden of the book.

This is one of the best of the Dragon Knight series, with a steadily upward-ratcheting level of tension and suspense, plenty of new information about the Dark Powers and how (and why) they do what they do, and a background that shows clearly how Dickson must have immersed himself in the ethics and ideals of 14th-, and fourth-, Century England.The Questing Beast, generally known for convenience as "QB," is a delightful secondary character and worth the book all by himself.And while Jim's Master-in-Magick, the mage S. Carolinus, is still recovering from his captivity among the Gnarlies, his female colleague KinetetE, who's as crotchety as he is, takes Jim magically under her wing and finds herself surprised by his creative approach to the problems he encounters.A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Have you ever wondered...
Dickson has developed a series of books that allows the reader of today to say what if...?This unique viewpoint allows for the writer to put a 21st century spin on a classic fantasy novel.Characters are real in a fatastic world. This particular book puts Jim the Dragon Knight in the world of King Arthur.

An enjoyable read.

My new favorite of the series
This is a new adventure that differs greatly from the rest in the series.Even if you have disliked the rest of the series you will surely enjoy this one.The dragon knight returns to Lyonesse but has a completely different battle at hand.What makes this book so exciting is the involvement of the real knights of old like Pellinor, Galahad, and more.This excellent book involves Jim, Daffyd, Brian, and Hob of the main characters but even better is the involment from the Arthurian knights.The story goes that Jim has once again become involved in a battle with the dark powers.The difference is that the dark powers have also recruted some of those from the Arthurian legend.This book is sure to please any who has read this far into the series and even those who just want to read this single book.Dickson has written a standout book in his famous series and this is deffinatly it.

What fun! Things are starting to move!
A lot of people seem to have some problem with this book, but frankly, I thought it was a change of pace. Jim is still utterly himself, but he'sstarting to get comfortable with who and what he is. He came in contactwith the greatest knights of all time, and held his own by doing things onhis own terms. What I'm looking forward to is how he handles the greatestchallenge of all - fatherhood. I can't wait to see how Dickson has hisdragon knight cope with being "Daddy" to his adopted mideveilson. I'm sure both author and character will rise to the occaision.

geting boring..........
I mean, dont get me wrong, I liked the book but you eventually have to get tired of the same thing with the "dark powers" and Jim(main character) finding a way out of the situation, I just hope in the next bookthat something big will happen like new characters or old charactersdieing, I hope Gordon R. Dickson sees this.... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Jaime the Red and a space adventure
This book is actually two books in one the first book of the set is a continuation of the Jaime the Red novel. This story is fun little adventure set in the Medival Middle East. Jaime the Red is a Scotsmen who was exiled from home and is questing across Europe to find riches and true love. In this story he is the bodyguard of a Jewel Merchant. While working as a bodyguard he is hired to steal the perfect woman for an old enemy of his and Gordon does a masterful job of telling why they are enemies and the double dealings they have because of it.

The Second Story is a Futuristic Novel about one mans fight against an extremely adaptable Alien on a foreign world they both crash landed. It is more of a mental story though lots of people die. I am also not to sure i agree with the conclusions Gordon got to in the story which made it a far less enjoyable story. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Best Book Ever!
Are you looking for a book with excitement? You have found the book for you! It's called Secret Under the Sea. This book also includes animals.
This book is about a boy named Robby,a dolphin called Balthasar,and Mr. Lillibulero. All three of these characters want the vandals out of Robby's home,but the vandals catch Robby. Read the book to find out what happens.
The author's message may be his prediction of the future and what he sees in the future. I liked this book because I love animals. If you like sea animals this book is for you. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Hour of the Horde
I have read this book several times in the last 10+ years and love it every time. Can't put it down once I start reading it. One of my alltime favorates. ... Read more