VITAL STATISTICS

Name: DICKSON, Gordon Rupert Aged: 77
Born: Nov 1, 1923 Where: Edmonton, Alberta, CANADA
Died: January 31, 2001 Where: Richfield, MN
Interred: Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis
Awarded: Three Hugos: 1965 short story "Soldier, Ask Not," 1981 novella "Lost Dorsai," & 1981 novelette "The Cloak and the Staff." A Nebula in 1966 for the novelette, "Call Him Lord." The 1975 Skylark Award for Imaginative Fiction & the 1977 British Fantasy Award for novel, The Dragon and the George. Dickson was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2000.

Dickson's family moved to the States when he was 13. He became a naturalized citizen and was in the US Army for World War II from 1943 to 1946. Gordy finished his interrupted B.A. in 1948 at the University of Minnesota and lived out the remainder of his life in the Richfield/Minneapolis area. But he traveled a lot ... attending many regional and national science fiction conventions, visiting other writers, and was in attendance at most of the Apollo space launches. Gordy didn't care for the lens of a camera, feeling he seldom photographed well, but he was not shy. He would talk shop for hours ... and after beginning his career in shorter works, he soon thought only in novels, sometimes epics ... and the telling could leave you drunk with confusion. He was a method writer, seeding his subconscious and then letting the harvest flow out thru the keys.

Gordy came to visit once. The first thing he said was, "Do you have any cats?" I answered, "No, but I have a dog." He sniffed in his handkerchief, "Dogs are alright ... I'm allergic to cats!" So, unlike some fantasy and sf writers without asthmatic conditions, Gordon R. Dickson is not noted for his stories about cats. Gordy had a different thing.

Gordy's different thing was an epic quad-trilogy known as Childe Cycle, 12 conceived novels that were not completed ... he was working on the 9th novel when he died. The set is three historical novels, three contemporary, and six futuristic. The last part of the quad is familiarly known as the Dorsai Cycle (a term Gordy disliked) and appeared first as (1) The Genetic General (later aka Dorsai); (2) Necromancer; (3) Soldier, Ask Not; and (4) Tactics of Mistake. The first and last novels of the Cycle were to be Hawkwood, a historical novel, and Childe. The concept for Childe Cycle's was the advancement of Renaissance thinking in isolated segments known as Splinter Cultures which were to be brought together sometime in the future after being fully evolved by each of the mono-maniac splinters.

While all of that grew, Dickson paid the bills with over 80 novels. There were early collaborations with Poul Anderson, mostly in the Hoka series, and books with Harry Harrison, Ben Bova, Roland Green, and Keith Laumer. Gordy wrote some young adult novels and a mystery or two, several radio plays, and, as fantasy became popular, moved from a science fiction writer to one who freely used fantasy elements, being especially fascinated with dragons. He won three Hugos in three different story lengths and gained broad acclaim and world recognition as well as international awards. Gordon R. Dickson will most likely become more popular as time passes and the remainder of his work is published and/or finished. Gordy never wanted to feed his readers ... he strived to make them search for the food.

THUMBNAIL: From a larger, color photo by Frank Olynyk taken in 1991.

PEN NAMES: None known although Dickson ghost edited two books under Rod Serling's name.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mine here.

OBITUARY: Various.

Send relevant email to George C. Willick