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Hoka #1
Earthman's Burden
Meet the Hokas!...the most lovable - and the zaniest - characters you'll ever encounter in the entire Universe! Imagine how you would feel to be suddenly shipwrecked on a planet 500 light-years from the Solar System - and to walk into a 19th century, Old West frontier town! And then, to really shake your senses, you find the local citizens - in tremendous red bandanas, ten-gallon hats, chaps, high-heel boots and spurs - are pistol-toting teddy bears!
188 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1957
3 people are currently reading
438 people want to read
About the author
Poul Anderson
1,623 books1,110 followersPseudonym A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, Winston P. Sanders, P. A. Kingsley.
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]
Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.
Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]
Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.
Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
January 6, 2024
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
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
June 26, 2016
Ah, Hoka! A race of teddy-bear-like aliens, charming, friendly -- a serious danger to your sanity.
Hokas, you see, love fiction so much that they will adopt the roles and start playing it out. The series opens with Alexander Jones, crash landed on Toka, their planet, realizing that the first explorers had introduced new concepts to them by use of the Wild West. The Hokas have cheerfully adopted them whole cloth. Well, not entirely. Ten gallon hats, longhorns albeit reptilian, and even men's names, no matter how annoying it is to have so many Texs or Lone Rangers, but the women kept to the old names rather than all be Jane.
And this is a fix-up of such stories. Sherlock Holmes! The Space Patrol! Pirates! Don Giovanni! The French Foreign Legion! The Hokas have a lot of fun as Alexander Jones tries to keep on top of things.
Hokas, you see, love fiction so much that they will adopt the roles and start playing it out. The series opens with Alexander Jones, crash landed on Toka, their planet, realizing that the first explorers had introduced new concepts to them by use of the Wild West. The Hokas have cheerfully adopted them whole cloth. Well, not entirely. Ten gallon hats, longhorns albeit reptilian, and even men's names, no matter how annoying it is to have so many Texs or Lone Rangers, but the women kept to the old names rather than all be Jane.
And this is a fix-up of such stories. Sherlock Holmes! The Space Patrol! Pirates! Don Giovanni! The French Foreign Legion! The Hokas have a lot of fun as Alexander Jones tries to keep on top of things.
February 6, 2022
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 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.
September 13, 2025
This is collection of six novelettes that Dickson and Anderson wrote collaboratively in the 1950s that feature Ensign Alexander Braithwaite Jones and his adventures after his ship crashes on the planet Toka. He encounters the Hokas, a teddy-bear-like race who assimilate and act-out Earth stories into amazing and riotous adventures. They're very cleverly written pieces of satire, as well as being very, very funny comedic bits. My favorites in this collection are The Sheriff of Canyon Gulch and The Adventure of the Misplaced Hound, which lampoon the Old West and Sherlock Holmes respectively and respectfully. (My overall favorite in the series is Joy in Mudville, 'cause I like baseball, but it's in a different book.) The first three stories appeared in the magazines Other Worlds and Universe, edited by Ray Palmer (yes, the guy they named The Atom after!) and Bea Mahaffey, the next two from issues of Anthony Boucher's F & SF, and Don Jones was original to the first edition of the book, from the great Gnome Press in 1957. The Gnome edition had terrific interior illustrations from the great Edd Cartier which are included in the Avon paperback. Fun stuff, perhaps a bit dated but guaranteed to bring a smile to your day anyway.
June 30, 2020
"Earthman's Burden" is top of the line humor. Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson do a masterful job of combining humor, science fiction, action, and adventure in their tales of the Hoka.
The planet Toka is the home world of two intelligent species: the reptilian Slissii, who are both cruel and cunning, and the Hoka, who are three feet tall, rotund, cuddly, and mischievous teddy bears. Both species find themselves in competition to become in control of the planetary government.
Ensign Alex Jones of the Terrestrial Interstellar Survey Service has been assigned as the Interbeing League's new envoy. Jones has numerous adventures with the child-like Hokas and the cruel Slissii, adventures which arise out of the Hoka inability to distinguish fact from fiction. When they discover a cache of Earth fiction consisting of westerns, pirate sagas, jungle ape-man thrillers, and other forms of romantic and adventure fiction, the fun begins!
I found this book (as well as the rest of the books in the series) to be completely fun and enjoyable, and would highly recommend them to anyone who is looking for light science fiction entertainment.
The planet Toka is the home world of two intelligent species: the reptilian Slissii, who are both cruel and cunning, and the Hoka, who are three feet tall, rotund, cuddly, and mischievous teddy bears. Both species find themselves in competition to become in control of the planetary government.
Ensign Alex Jones of the Terrestrial Interstellar Survey Service has been assigned as the Interbeing League's new envoy. Jones has numerous adventures with the child-like Hokas and the cruel Slissii, adventures which arise out of the Hoka inability to distinguish fact from fiction. When they discover a cache of Earth fiction consisting of westerns, pirate sagas, jungle ape-man thrillers, and other forms of romantic and adventure fiction, the fun begins!
I found this book (as well as the rest of the books in the series) to be completely fun and enjoyable, and would highly recommend them to anyone who is looking for light science fiction entertainment.
December 18, 2016
This book was a big surprise to me. We picked it up because of the cover - who can resist bears and science fiction?
Turns out it's a series of short stories that were originally published in science fiction magazines in the 50's. Without giving too much away, in the future, we've discovered a plant populated by a race that looks like teddy bears. They're an extremely literal race and when they are presented with literature and movies from Earth, they take on those roles quite seriously. An astronaut is stationed on the planet and he basically has a full-time job trying to rein them in and prevent the disasters they don't understand they're creating.
Totally recommend this - it's more humor than sci-fi. I also discovered there are more in the series and now I have to go out and see if I can find them.
Turns out it's a series of short stories that were originally published in science fiction magazines in the 50's. Without giving too much away, in the future, we've discovered a plant populated by a race that looks like teddy bears. They're an extremely literal race and when they are presented with literature and movies from Earth, they take on those roles quite seriously. An astronaut is stationed on the planet and he basically has a full-time job trying to rein them in and prevent the disasters they don't understand they're creating.
Totally recommend this - it's more humor than sci-fi. I also discovered there are more in the series and now I have to go out and see if I can find them.
Read
March 10, 2012How can I not like a book about a planet of sentient teddy bears named Hokas that voraciously adapt various Earth stories and act them out as if they're reality? Thank goodness they never came across Mein Kamph or the Communist Manifesto!
This is a lighthearted, silly collection of short stories detailing one Earthman delegate's misadventures in attempting to quell the Hoka's vivid imagination to little success. As the title suggests, a bit of imperial colonialism/native culture assimilation comes into play here (the Hokas first adapt to a Wild West movie-culture in a way reminiscent of the movie The Gods Must be Crazy) but the style and situations are always light and goofy, with no bloodhsed and a sort of Green Acres/I Dream of Jeanie vibe. Indeed, I could very much imagine the stories as scripts for a British comedy, and it would probably work better that way, as I wouldn't be imagining the critters as stupid people (as I sometimes did) were there actual fluffy puppets out on a TV screen. I especially enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes story.
PS: In the Space Adventure story, there is a Scottish Hoka in the engine room. Yet this collection precedes Star Trek. Were Scottish space engineers already a cliche by that time?
This is a lighthearted, silly collection of short stories detailing one Earthman delegate's misadventures in attempting to quell the Hoka's vivid imagination to little success. As the title suggests, a bit of imperial colonialism/native culture assimilation comes into play here (the Hokas first adapt to a Wild West movie-culture in a way reminiscent of the movie The Gods Must be Crazy) but the style and situations are always light and goofy, with no bloodhsed and a sort of Green Acres/I Dream of Jeanie vibe. Indeed, I could very much imagine the stories as scripts for a British comedy, and it would probably work better that way, as I wouldn't be imagining the critters as stupid people (as I sometimes did) were there actual fluffy puppets out on a TV screen. I especially enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes story.
PS: In the Space Adventure story, there is a Scottish Hoka in the engine room. Yet this collection precedes Star Trek. Were Scottish space engineers already a cliche by that time?
April 27, 2011
One of the few books that I actually laughed out loud while reading.
May 1, 2013
Earthman's Burden by Poul Anderson and Gordon Dickson is a collection of short stories set in the Hoka universe. The Hoka are an adorable race that look like one meter tall teddy bears and which emulate stories which they are told. They can not tell the difference between reality and the story and so attempt to subconsciously make the whole story reality. The resulting stories are very funny but sweet at the same time. The first story the Sherriff of Canyon Gulch tells how the main character in all the stories Alex Jones crash lands on the planet Toka where the Hoka live and discovers that they have reinvented the old west as seem in more romanticized westerns. He manages by pure luck to save his hide and those of the Hokas. The second story Don Jones is a romantic comedy which takes place on earth while a delegation of Hoka's are visiting. After his coworker Doralene who has a crush on him takes the Hokas to a performance of the opera Don Giovanni, he soon has trouble with a Hoka's who believe he is Don Juan, a boss that is in love with Doralene who believes the Hoka's and a girlfriend who is very jealous of Doralene. The story kept me laughing from throughout. The third story In Hoka Signa Vinces has the hoka deciding to emulate a television show called space patrol and save the galaxy from militarization of the galaxy. By a lot of funny luck they succeed. The forth story The Adventure of the Misplaced Hound takes place in a section of Toka which has been transformed into a romanticized copy of 19th century England. When a intergalactic criminal sets up shop there who better to solve the case than the Hoka version of Sherlock Holmes. Like all the stories it is humorous while poking fun of the whole legend of Holmes. Jones who is the planetary commissioner finds a serious problem when he discovers piracy afloat in Yo Ho Hoka!. The Hoka's are so into their roleplaying that they don't even realize that they might hurt each other when they try sack a city. In the end though they decide that a few harmless sacks would add excitement to their lives. The final story in this book The Tiddlywink Warriors tells how Jones recruits a band of faux French foreign legion to help save his wife who is held on the neighboring planet. Overall this book was fun and well written and I would recommend it to anyone.
April 26, 2021
Meine Meinung:
Im Grunde sind es aufeinander aufbauende Kurzgeschichten, einzelne skurrile Geschichten, über den Botschafter Alex und "seine" Außerirdischen. Die Hokas sehen Teddybären ähnlich, sind klein, pelzig, schlagfertig und extrem schnell für was auch immer zu begeistern. Beispielsweise lesen sie von einem Meisterdetektiv namens Sherlock Holmes und schon verwandelt sich ihr Terrain detailgetreu in ein viktorianisches London während jedem Hoka eine passende Rolle zugeteilt wird. Sie spielen die Rollen aber nicht nur, sie leben sie. Nicht selten wird Alex, der als Botschafter auf ihrem Planeten eingesetzt wird, in diese Abenteuer hinein gezogen. Eigentlich soll er die putzigen Wesen im Auftrag der galaktischen Kulturbehörde zivilisieren. Eine Aufgabe, die ihn mehr als einmal an seine Grenzen bringt und darüber hinaus. Des Erdenmannes schwere Bürde, die er mit der Zeit aber doch nicht mehr missen möchte. Die liebenswerten Quälgeister haben nur Unsinn im Kopf. Sie sind wie kleine Kinder, naiv und unschuldig. Allein dieses außergewöhnliche Setting sprach mich sehr an. Und dann erlebt man Cowboys, Indianer, Piraten und noch viel mehr auf Hoka-Art. Tolle Unterhaltung mit viel Bezug zu literarischen Werken und mehr Tiefgang als man erwarten würde.
Top oder Flop?
Top!
Empfehlung?
Für Freunde von skurrilen und humorvollen Geschichten und Science-Fiction à la Douglas Adams
Im Grunde sind es aufeinander aufbauende Kurzgeschichten, einzelne skurrile Geschichten, über den Botschafter Alex und "seine" Außerirdischen. Die Hokas sehen Teddybären ähnlich, sind klein, pelzig, schlagfertig und extrem schnell für was auch immer zu begeistern. Beispielsweise lesen sie von einem Meisterdetektiv namens Sherlock Holmes und schon verwandelt sich ihr Terrain detailgetreu in ein viktorianisches London während jedem Hoka eine passende Rolle zugeteilt wird. Sie spielen die Rollen aber nicht nur, sie leben sie. Nicht selten wird Alex, der als Botschafter auf ihrem Planeten eingesetzt wird, in diese Abenteuer hinein gezogen. Eigentlich soll er die putzigen Wesen im Auftrag der galaktischen Kulturbehörde zivilisieren. Eine Aufgabe, die ihn mehr als einmal an seine Grenzen bringt und darüber hinaus. Des Erdenmannes schwere Bürde, die er mit der Zeit aber doch nicht mehr missen möchte. Die liebenswerten Quälgeister haben nur Unsinn im Kopf. Sie sind wie kleine Kinder, naiv und unschuldig. Allein dieses außergewöhnliche Setting sprach mich sehr an. Und dann erlebt man Cowboys, Indianer, Piraten und noch viel mehr auf Hoka-Art. Tolle Unterhaltung mit viel Bezug zu literarischen Werken und mehr Tiefgang als man erwarten würde.
Top oder Flop?
Top!
Empfehlung?
Für Freunde von skurrilen und humorvollen Geschichten und Science-Fiction à la Douglas Adams
July 2, 2013
I love this book.
Anderson and Dickson, two successful, experienced SF authors, were obviously having a lot of fun, and they came up with a premise and with characters--the Hoka, large, powerful, but kindly teddy bears--that are perfect for this sort of story.
The funniest SF book I've ever read.
Anderson and Dickson, two successful, experienced SF authors, were obviously having a lot of fun, and they came up with a premise and with characters--the Hoka, large, powerful, but kindly teddy bears--that are perfect for this sort of story.
The funniest SF book I've ever read.
Read
September 4, 2024From H. Beam Piper's Fuzzies to George Lucas' Ewoks, nearly every classic SF writer has their own version of adorable, furry, teddy-bear aliens. Poul Anderson and Gordon Dickson gave us the Hokas, and oh, how we loved them!
Selected for Bedtime Readng, 1/16/2022 - spoilers below this line.
1/23/2022 - Our story so far: Alexander Braithwaite Jones crashes his skiff on an alien planet, and encounters fuzzy aliens who look like teddy bears, talk in squeaky voices, and all think they're cowboys in a spaghetti western movie. Hijinks ensue.
1/30/2022 - Our story so far: Diplomats from Hoka are invited to Earth to join the League. Then they're taken to an opera. Hijinks ensue.
2/6/2022 - Our story so far: Somebody (Tanni) let the Hokas watch a kids Space Patrol show on TV. So now they're all space cadets. I mean, even more so. BTW, did you know Hokas are Star Trek canon? See the novel "Ishmael," by Barbara Hambly.
2/13/2022 - Our story so far: An interplanetary drug dealer is hiding out on Toka...on an island the locals call England...in the moors of the Baskervilles...
2/20/2022 - Our story so far: It had to happen. Someone let the Hokas have pirate books & movies. If this had been written later, I'm sure that one of them would have called himself Captain Jack Sparrow. The ironic part of this whole adventure is, if Jones had done absolutely nothing, the end result would have been exactly the same.
Selected for Bedtime Readng, 1/16/2022 - spoilers below this line.
1/23/2022 - Our story so far: Alexander Braithwaite Jones crashes his skiff on an alien planet, and encounters fuzzy aliens who look like teddy bears, talk in squeaky voices, and all think they're cowboys in a spaghetti western movie. Hijinks ensue.
1/30/2022 - Our story so far: Diplomats from Hoka are invited to Earth to join the League. Then they're taken to an opera. Hijinks ensue.
2/6/2022 - Our story so far: Somebody (Tanni) let the Hokas watch a kids Space Patrol show on TV. So now they're all space cadets. I mean, even more so. BTW, did you know Hokas are Star Trek canon? See the novel "Ishmael," by Barbara Hambly.
2/13/2022 - Our story so far: An interplanetary drug dealer is hiding out on Toka...on an island the locals call England...in the moors of the Baskervilles...
2/20/2022 - Our story so far: It had to happen. Someone let the Hokas have pirate books & movies. If this had been written later, I'm sure that one of them would have called himself Captain Jack Sparrow. The ironic part of this whole adventure is, if Jones had done absolutely nothing, the end result would have been exactly the same.
September 5, 2017
Read this with the boys. They didn't get a lot of the references (French Foreign Legion, the intricacies of Sherlock Holmes) but, with a little explanation, they enjoyed the play on these different works. Anderson's Hoka is a very dated, and--I expect--a very obscure work that perhaps deserves to be a bit less obscure.
November 8, 2017
I don't know why this book got good reviews, I couldn't stand it, I read the first 1/4, scanned the next quarter, and gave up. I love sci-fi but couldn't stand this book.
August 4, 2019
Nach wie vor die einzige komische SciFi, die dem Anhalter das Wasser reichen kann. Auch (oder erst recht) im englischen O-Ton.
March 12, 2020
Horrible white savior (in space) fiction. Great cover though.
August 25, 2020
Extremely dated.
August 25, 2020
Sometimes you have a great idea but you're not talented enough to do anything with it.
November 13, 2020
I loved this story! It's a great story about the accidental colonization of another planet.
December 21, 2021
I loved reading this, and the funny looks I got when reading it and I would giggle or burst out laughing. Well written and super amusing!
July 10, 2023
Fantascienza umoristica con qualche guizzo di originalità. Una serie di racconti leggeri e divertenti, senza nessuna pretesa.
April 22, 2024
Why the fuck did I even read this?
October 29, 2025
What a hoot!! For levity in science fiction this is just the best.
January 30, 2022
This present earth era of covid and its biological weaponized virus ( whatever its constituents) becomes more understandable knowing our connection to the Planet Toka and its inhabitants, the Hokas. Overtime the Hokas have influenced us more than we realized. Cultural imperialism has reversed.
Considering the first publication date of 1957, it proves to be a prescient novel guaranteed to cheer up readers in our dystopia of covid-19, plus variants, plus " gain of function " bio weapons. We know where we've come from at least.
Our earthly future is probably revealed more fully in the two sequels as listed in the Goodreads review of this book.
Considering the first publication date of 1957, it proves to be a prescient novel guaranteed to cheer up readers in our dystopia of covid-19, plus variants, plus " gain of function " bio weapons. We know where we've come from at least.
Our earthly future is probably revealed more fully in the two sequels as listed in the Goodreads review of this book.
June 14, 2015
I was surprised how much fun this book was. The Hokas are a species of teddy bear creatures that are surprisingly intelligent matched with a tendency to immerse themselves completely into fiction stories they enjoy and change their society to match. A little role play never hurt anyone, right? Nope!
This book is a compilation of a series of stories that appeared in several science fiction magazines and books in the '50s. Each story is relatively self contained, focusing on the Hokas' adopting a certain tale, but there is an overarching story following the "earthman" Alexander Jones, who becomes the human representative liaison-person and his experiences with the Hokas. I enjoyed each of the stories, but my favorites are definitely "Don Jones", and "The Adventure of the Misplaced Hound", probably because those have the Hokas interacting with outsiders who underestimate the trouble these cute critters can cause.
These are probably not suitable for children, despite the cute pictures that go along with the stories. While there is nothing particularly explicit about the stories, the humor will likely go over children's heads, and some of the stories touch on some more adult topics or reference tales they might not be familiar with. I would simply read the stories for yourself before reading them to children, if that is what you are looking for.
This book is a compilation of a series of stories that appeared in several science fiction magazines and books in the '50s. Each story is relatively self contained, focusing on the Hokas' adopting a certain tale, but there is an overarching story following the "earthman" Alexander Jones, who becomes the human representative liaison-person and his experiences with the Hokas. I enjoyed each of the stories, but my favorites are definitely "Don Jones", and "The Adventure of the Misplaced Hound", probably because those have the Hokas interacting with outsiders who underestimate the trouble these cute critters can cause.
These are probably not suitable for children, despite the cute pictures that go along with the stories. While there is nothing particularly explicit about the stories, the humor will likely go over children's heads, and some of the stories touch on some more adult topics or reference tales they might not be familiar with. I would simply read the stories for yourself before reading them to children, if that is what you are looking for.
March 5, 2025
These stories can be classified as part of the rather small genre of science-fiction farce. They’re juvenile, ridiculous, and low on literary merit, despite being written by a team of two experienced and popular writers who were both capable of better.
However, the Hoka are an original and amusing idea with some potential. When you get used to them, they’re at once bizarre and rather likeable; the book is possibly worth reading to make their acquaintance. An author such as Jasper Fforde could have picked up this idea and done something good with it.
Unfortunately, the stories themselves are very flimsy, and it seems generous to give them even two stars. If you want to try just one of them, “The Adventure of the Misplaced Hound” is probably the best, featuring a Hoka version of Sherlock Holmes.
However, the Hoka are an original and amusing idea with some potential. When you get used to them, they’re at once bizarre and rather likeable; the book is possibly worth reading to make their acquaintance. An author such as Jasper Fforde could have picked up this idea and done something good with it.
Unfortunately, the stories themselves are very flimsy, and it seems generous to give them even two stars. If you want to try just one of them, “The Adventure of the Misplaced Hound” is probably the best, featuring a Hoka version of Sherlock Holmes.
November 26, 2009
Okay- I'm just going to ignore the title for now because I have no idea what the authors were thinking when they chose it.
Other than that- Stripper Teddy Bear was very off putting. This might look like a GREAT book for your kids. I mean you can't go wrong Teddy Bears from Space right? But if the title alone doesn't clue you in, just trust me, there are plenty of adult concepts in this story.
Personally it just comes across as pretty creepy. I'll never look at Teddy Bears the same way again.
Other than that- Stripper Teddy Bear was very off putting. This might look like a GREAT book for your kids. I mean you can't go wrong Teddy Bears from Space right? But if the title alone doesn't clue you in, just trust me, there are plenty of adult concepts in this story.
Personally it just comes across as pretty creepy. I'll never look at Teddy Bears the same way again.
December 10, 2016
Gli Hoka, una razza di orsacchiotti spaziali tipo Ewok sotto steroidi, ha come passatempo principale l'interpretazione letterale della narrativa di genere proveniente dalla Terra, con esiti spesso distruttivi e esilaranti. Si spazia dal giallo classico al romanzo d'avventura piratesco, il tutto condito da un sottofondo fantascientifico molto ironico e leggero. Hoka Sapiens non è certo una raccolta di racconti imperdibile, ma resta comunque divertente da leggere.
May 18, 2018
A very silly SF adventure with literal minded teddy bears. Pokes fun at stuffed shirts and imperialism and a few other sacred cows. It does suffer a bit from the rescues the princess syndrome, not too shocking for something that's over 60 years old. A fun read.
October 10, 2010
Aliens who look like sentient teddy bears mimic Victorian England as seen through the Sherlock Holmes stories. The cover depicts a Sherlock Bear riding a dragon/lizard thing. God I love nerds
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