Most Popular Books by Gordon R. Dickson

The Childe Cycle, also known as the Dorsai series, is Gordon R. Dickson's future history of humankind and its ultimate destiny. Now one of its central novels return to print in a two-volume corrected edition. In The Final Encyclopedia the human race is split into three Splinter cultures: the Friendlies, fanatic in their faith; the truth-seeking Exotics; and the warrior Dorsai. But now humanity is threatened by the power-hungry Others, whose triumph would end all human progress. Hal Mayne is an orphan who was raised by three tutors: an Exotic, a Friendly, and a Dorsai. He is the only human capable of uniting humanity against the Others. But only if he is willing to accept his terrifying destiny...as savior of mankind. A towering landmark of future history, The Final Encyclopedia is a novel every SF fan needs to own.

When the Sea-Born cadets walk out of space academy in protest, the stage is set for the long impending clash between the sea and land. Can these two races co-operate, or will they destroy each other first?

After the collapse of civilization, when the social fabric of America has come apart in bloody rags, when every man's hand is raised against another, and only the strong survive. "Jeebee" Walther was a scientist, a student of human behavior, who saw the Collapse of the world economy coming, but could do nothing to stop it. Now he must make his way across a violent and lawless America, in search of a refuge where he can keep the spark of knowledge alive in the coming Dark Age. He could never make it on his own, but he has found a companion who can teach him how to survive on instinct and will. Jeebee has been adopted by a great Gray Wolf.

Gordon R. Dickson continues his acclaimed saga of a twentieth-century American transformed into a Dragon Knight - and transported into a fantastic medieval adventure! The Dragon Knight's journey to the Holy Land is supposed to be a simple quest...but pirates, sea giants, and the legendary Djinn threaten to make his voyage the most dangerous odyssey known to man - and dragon.

A hidden labyrinth beneath the Canadian wilderness where dwarfish Lords and Ladies ride humans like horses - and plot the final downfall of mankind. Bart Dybig is a "Steed", but one gifted with mental and physical abilities unsuspected by those who have enslaved him. Soon, he vows, he will surprise the Lords and escape to the world above - if there's a world to go back to. For the Earth Lords are building a doomsday device of unimaginable power to completely destroy mankind. Only Bart and his strange heritage can stop them.

The best of the best from a legendary master of science fiction, the first of two volumes. The Best of Gordon R. Dickson, Volume I, gathers together fourteen stories, predominantly from the first half of legendary science fiction and fantasy writer Gordon R. Dickson’s career, ranging from the early 1950s through the 1960s, including tales dragons, dolphins, aliens, werewolves, mutants and humans trying to make sense of an infinitely bewildering universe. A maiden aunt is suddenly given superpowers. An alien who looks like a large, sentient rabbit makes ominous announcement which make no sense from behind an impenetrable force shield. Humans besieged by an alien enemy refuse, against all reason, to give up fighting. And much more, in stories running the gamut from exciting adventure to stark tragedy to hysterical comedy. Plus the never before published “Love Story,” written for Harlan Ellison’s legendary, but never published anthology, The Last Dangerous Visions. And stay tuned for The Best of Gordon R. Dickson, Volume II, with another generous display of Dickson’s virtuosity, covering his brilliant career from 1970s to the century’s end. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). "Dickson is among the best storytellers we have ever had...one of the finest makers that our field has ever known."—Poul Anderson “Dickson is one of SF’s standard-bearers.”—Publishers Weekly “The grandest saga in the history of science fiction.”—Ben Bova on Dickson’s Dorsai stories

Through no fault of his own, the once human Jim Eckert had become a dragon. Unfortunately, his beloved Angie had remained human. But in this magical land anything could happen. To make matter worse, Angie had been taken prisoner by an evil dragon and was held captive in the impenetrable Loathly Tower. So in this land where humans were edible and beasts were magical--where spells worked and logic didn't--Jim Eckert had a big, strange problem.

No conceivable force could penetrate Terri’s shield. Yet he was defenseless.

Dive into adventure in the last unknown territory on Earth - the sea. Join Robby Hoenig and a cast of characters as unusual as any ever met on a distant planet . . . In the third Robby Hoenig adventure, Secret Under the Caribbean, the key to a baffling puzzle - and the truth about a mysterious monster - are locked inside a sunken Spanish ship . . . Gordon R. Dickson's Robby Hoenig adventures are timeless young adult stories in the tradition of Arthur C. Clarke's Dolphin Island.

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.

Earth is but a memory--the real action these days is in The Magnicate, a league of all the human worlds in the galaxy. At the center of the Magnicate is the Hub, a huge artificial world from which control of Human Space flows. The Hub governs, but even so, control sometimes requires force. Enter the Harriers. They are an elite military force created to guard the Hub and do the job that the effete diplomats of the Hub will not and dare not do. There are the Grand Harriers, who acts as a large force, and the Petit Harriers, who are sent on special missions--and tend to have a hell of a lot more fun! Novellas by S.N. Lewitt, Steve Perry, and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.

It's obvious that Cletus Graeme--limping, mild-mannered scholarly--doesn't belong on a battling field, but instead at a desk working on his fourth book on battle strategy and tactics. But Bakhalla has more battlefields than libraries, and Graeme sees his small force of Dorsai--soldiers of fortune--as the perfect opportunity to test his theories. But if his theories or his belief in the Dorsai lead him astray, he's a dead man.

One man is mentally linked to an alien who is spearheading an invasion of Earth; a group of soldiers fight to win new space for Earth; and a small group of men fight against a machine that controls all life.

Quarantine...Ever since Earth's first starship crept out on sublight drive a hundred years ago and was met by an emissary of the Galactic Federation, man has lived as a prisoner in the solar system. The Federation decreed that unless man could demonstrate his technological maturity and leave the solar system via a faster-than-light drive, he would not leave it at all. All Earth knows the test that man must pass to win Galactic Citizenship and the freedom of the stars; the FTL drive is every physicist's top priority. But what they cannot know is that they work against both an alien time-limit and human sabotage - and time is running out. Unless John Parent's star-drive project is successful, mankind will remain trapped in the solar system, forever...

There are many legends on the planet of the Dorsai, the breeding ground for heroes. Here are two of them. Lost Dorsai: The New Dorsai Companion contains the Hugo Award winning novella, Lost Dorsai, and Dickson's classic short story "Warrior."

Life on Earth is good. Disease is checked, hunger ended, and war and suffering abolished, with liberty and justice and a high standard of living for all. But Paul Formain, a strangely gifted young engineer, doesn't believe a word of it. So he comes to Walter Blunt's Chantry Guild, whose motto is "Destruct " and whose stated goal is the end of civilization. There are Alternate Laws at work in the world, says the Chantry Guild; Walter Blunt has pledged his life to them, and to the principle of destruction as a positive force. Even more disturbingly, the Alternate Laws appear to work. After centuries of hope and progress, and the triumph of science, something strange is happening to mankind. And whatever it is, it's going to be big.

The work that launched Dickson's popular Childe Cycle--often referred to as "The Dorsai Series"--tells of the planet Dorsai's mercenary soldiers, the planet's chief export to the stars, and how they come to understand their crucial role in human history. Special introduction by David Drake. Dickson is the author of Wolf and Iron.

Dickson's Childe Cycle, of which the Dorsai books form a part, is one of the most famous and beloved group of novels in science fiction. This is the story of Amanda Morgan, ancestor of Donal Graeme, who remains behind when the Dorsai men go off to war and who must help defend her world. Previous publisher: Ace.