The IBIC Guide to Books By Gordon Dickson

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Remarks from the IBIC Editor's Journal

Briefly noted: Gordon R. Dickson's THE MAGNIFICENT WILF (Baen) was a pleasant surprise. Some of Dickson's recent Dorsai novels have felt rather labored (e.g. YOUNG BLEYS, now justly out of print). So it was nice to see that this prolific SF grand master can still write very enjoyable "minor Dickson". This story of a pair of humans (and their dog) trying to figure out how our minor race can fit into an enormous intergalactic empire compares well with many of the standalone nonDorsai novels Dickson wrote earlier in his career. It's a fun light romp and at the same time it has something important to say about what it is makes the human spirit special.

October 4, 1994

OTHER by Gordon Dickson (Tor) represents an interesting step in this Hall-of-Famer's evolution. It must be said at the outset that this book does not have the magic of Dickson's best--it is not on a par with such wonderful books as SOLDIER, ASK NOT and WOLFLING (lamentably out of print). And I have to wonder about the protagonist Dickson has chosen to wrap up the Childe Cycle. Bleys Ahrens is a cold fish externally, as so many of Dickson's heros have been, but he does not have the spark of lonely human empathy that makes so many of Dickson's characters so appealing.

On the plus side, this latest book in the Childe Cycle is adventurous in the depth with which Dickson explores the socioeconomic revolution brewing in his New Worlds. Given the length of Dickson's highly accomplished and prolific career, I hesitate to say that he's never explored this terrain before, but it definitely adds a new dimension to the Childe Cycle. It's nice to see Dickson stretching himself.


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Editor's Recommendations, Summer 1996

In this inaugural edition of IBIC's Featured Books, I'd like to draw your attention to several titles which have helped to shape my life and thinking.

  • When I was around fifteen, I came across Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's science fiction novel, INFERNO. This '70s remake of Dante's classic describes science fiction writer Allen Carpentier's descent into Hell. It's still a very fresh, accessible take on the classic. What a great movie it would make!
  • The Niven/Pournelle INFERNO immediately inspired me to read the original Divine Comedy. I've read a number of translations over the years, but my favorite is the one by Dorothy Sayers (INFERNO; PURGATORY; PARADISE). The notes are excellent, and Sayers had such a knowledgeable and witty mind that reading her prose is a pleasure in itself. (For those interested in a more contemporary translation, I should mention that Robert Pinsky received excellent notices for his 1995 THE INFERNO OF DANTE : A NEW VERSE TRANSLATION; it's a very handsome book.)
  • I also want to tell you about the late Henry Fairlie's THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS TODAY, which probably did more than any other single book to galvanize me into a lifetime interest in Christianity that led me, eventually, to faith. Ironic, because Fairlie was a self-proclaimed agnostic socialist! But reading between the lines of this insightful and deeply feeling book, one realizes that the love of God cannot have been far from Fairlie's heart.
  • Finally, I should draw to your attention a more recent acquisition, the very handsome NIV STUDY BIBLE (10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION) from Zondervan, indexed and bonded in leather in IBIC's theme color, burgundy (black and brown are also available). The notes to this Bible are amazing. They appear to provide you with a very substantial portion of what you need to know to have an intelligent layman's appreciation of the linguistic and historical issues involved in understanding Scripture.

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