The Star Road

Childe Cycle #12

by Gordon R. Dickson

A science fiction novel.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Science Fiction Fantasy, Collections

208 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Gordon Rupert Dickson was an American science fiction author. He was born in Canada, then moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota as a teenager. He is probably most famous for his Childe Cycle and the Dragon Knight series. He won three Hugo awards and one Nebula award.

Reviews

[Karl]

DAW Collectors #116

Cover Artist: Eddie Jones

Name: Dickson, Gordon Rupert, Birthplace: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (1 November 1923 - 31 January 2001)

First published in hardcover in 1973 by Doubleday,

Contents:

002 -The Star Road (frontispiece) • interior artwork by Jack Gaughan
07 - Whatever Gods There Be • (1961)
023 = Hilifter • [None But Man • 1] • (1963)
042 - Building on the Line • (1968)
082 - The Christmas Present • (1958)
092 = 3-Part Puzzle • (1962) by Gordon R. Dickson (variant of "Three-Part Puzzle")
107 - On Messenger Mountain • (1964)
159 - The Catch • (1959)
172 Jackal's Meal • (1969)
193 - The Mousetrap • (1952

A collection of old-fashioned tales about heroic exploits on and between other planets. Among others Dickson provides a self-sacrificing lunar explorer; a starship astrojacking; a superalien and a superman, marooned and locked in mortal combat; and several variations on the human-race-as-galactic-conqueror theme. The most interesting story involves a confrontation between earthmen and aliens who use genetics and surgery to alter the shapes of various beings for amusement.

[Matt Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

A set of nine short stories published in magazines between 1952-69, The Star Road (col. 1973) presents clever, nicely-imagined ideas in fairly quick, easily-digested portions of Solid SF. The venues and dates for the stories give away a lot, however; these are very dated in the nature of the market they were aimed for. Dickson seems to have loved a good military hierarchy and the buzz-cut, uniformed officers of Cold War fiction dominate here, but it's not the manly-man casting that weighs these down, it's the telling.

If you like your plot points explained to you instead of shown, mansplaining of just about everything, frequent descriptions of imaginary gadgets clogging up the pacing, and infodumps in place of narrative, you'll love these. Seems the expectations of SFF have changed a lot since 1959. (Also, I'm not 12.)

A bright spot worth mentioning: the 1969 story "The Jackal's Meal" actually highlights the human civilian diplomat out-thinking and showing up the military command. Didn't expect that.

[Chris Gager · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my many rescued books. This book is a collection of stories from a prolific/generic sci-fi author of the 1960's. I selected a paperback edition(1974) because of the colorful cover image. My edition is a plain hardbound(1973) and the enclosed stories are mostly from the 1960's. I think I may have read a story or two from this guy in one of the many sci-fi anthologies I've read over the years.

1 - Whatever Gods There Be - Mankind's first manned Mars landing doesn't go so well. Courage is displayed and a problem solved. Some don't make it back(not a spoiler).

2 - Hilifter - Big picture politics in space with ta twisty ending.

3 - Building on the Line - A gritty survival tale "out there"(reminiscent of "The Martian") turns into a political argument. A misfire...

4 - The Christmas Present - Concerning communication between colonizing humans and native "alien" inhabitants. Good stuff...

- These stories share the theme of humans discovering/exploring/colonizing/exploiting other worlds and share that general theme with Cordwainer Smith's "Rediscovery of Man" series.

5 - 3-Part Puzzle - One of those mid-century sci-fi stories that glories in the supposed assets humankind will bring to bear in in conflicts with nasty alien species. I'm reminded in particular of James H. Schmidt's "The Demon Breed."

6 - On Messenger Mountain -a long story set on an alien planet with an alien foe for our Earthen astronauts. The alien is also not a native to the planet. Most of the text is given over to a harrowing description of a REALLY nasty/challenging mountain climb. VERY cringe inducing for me.

7- The Catch - A typical example of a sci-fi SS with an ominous doodle-e-doo at the end.

8 - The Mousetrap - Another story that ends with a wicked little twist.

- So far as I van see there is no connection between the cover illustration and any of the stories Typical...

- Overall a decent and typical collection for its time. Nothing special... 2.75* rounds up to a Totally Typical Three star rating.

[Stuart Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nine old school scientifiction stories of the early days of interplanetary exploration and colonization. Many include first contact encounters with strange aliens, aliens sometimes dangerous and sometimes ridiculously friendly. Mostly men put in difficult situations far from help forced to make hard decisions with disproportionate results. The kind of writing that would have fit in well with the John Campbell era.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting concepts but I am not a big short story fan

[Howard]

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