None But Man

by Gordon R. Dickson

Out there...beyond the frontier...beyond the last human settlement in the Pleiades, lay the territory of the Moldaug: alien, menacing things from far, inhuman stars who were gathering their forces for war.
And it seemed that the people of the Old Worlds, in unreasonable and unreasoning fear, were preparing to sacrifice the colonies of the New Worlds in a cowardly attempt to avert that war...
But not if frontiersman Cully When had anything to do with it!

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Collections, Space Opera

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

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

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent 60s style science fiction ( published in 1969 ) by one of my favorite SF authors of that time, Gordon R. Dickson (1923-2001), born in Canada but moved to Minnesota, USA, as a teenager. I read this one years ago and I remembered it presented an interesting conflict which was brilliantly resolved by the hero at the end. The situation is one in which a World Government not only runs Earth, but Mars and Venus--the Three Worlds. Also, there are the human colonists on the Pleiades Planets--the Frontier Worlds--who find themselves on the border with an alien species called the Moldaugs. The day comes when the Moldaugs demand that the humans evacuate the Pleiades--or face an all-out attack on the human race, including on Earth. Our hero is the very capable Cully, a frontiersman who has to prevent Earth from selling-out the Frontier Worlds to the aliens. He also seeks to understand the Moldaugs and their reason for issuing their ultimatum. How Cully saves the day makes for a fast-paced adventure story...I enjoyed reading it a second time--but, perhaps now that I'm older, I can only think how conveniently everything worked out in the end for the hero.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I lost interest about the time they got in front of the Frontier Congress and blah blah blah.

Initially this space story was coming across like a good old space western with one of Dickson’s “problem solver” characters in the lead. That kind of story is usually a good time.

None But Man, unfortunately, seemed unfocused with setups that paid off clumsily. The opening chapters looked like they’d involve a prison break, but it turned out to be the biggest hand-wave prison break I’ve ever read. Disappointed.

There is an excellent chapter or two where Dickson explains how different cultures react to the exact same set of circumstances in different ways, and then he extrapolates that into how the alien Moldaug people and their civilization operates. Dickson is great at that soft of thing.

You don’t need to hunt this book down.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased a copy of this book from a used book store.

This is classic sci fi. The men were real, spacefaring men. The women...were competent for the most part but basically non-existent. The lead character is larger than life and good at everything he does with both brain and brawn to spare.

In this yarn, the aliens are threatening the outlying human colonies and the government of Earth and the closer planets are willing to just let the colonies go because they are rebellious. What's a rebellious colonist to do, but learn all about the aliens, take over Earth government and find a peaceful solution to all of the colony's problems?

This book is 50's sci fi at it's best. Humans still make the calculations for space jumps, we still have knife fights to determine who is the better man, and men function in a world without women.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this sci-fi space adventure! An alien species is laying claim to one of our planets, and the human race is divided—what could respectably go wrong?

If you’re a fan of 60's sci-fi, don’t hesitate to pick this one up!

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I probably read this one during the usual frenzy of science fiction reading during the long winter break from Grinnell College.

[Bob · Rating 1 out of 5]

I knew what I was getting into but the scifi bits took a back seat to the omniscient protagonist

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my collection of crumbling old SF books, rediscovered. This one, from 1969, deals with the cultural misunderstandings among earthmen and an alien race. The premise of this book is taken from the book, “The Silent Language,” by Edward T. Hall (required reading for anyone studying Social Psychology), which looks at unspoken but nonetheless real cultural norms and mores, including personal space, which are embedded in a particular culture and can be easily misunderstood and misinterpreted by another.
In this book, humans have colonized a number of worlds near the Pleides, a group of stars some 440 light-years from Earth. These colonists have developed their own independent culture, which has put them at odds with what are called “Old Worlders,” who have remained on Earth. An alien race, the Moldaug, had abandoned these worlds, but are now threatening to retake them, with the threat to annihilate humanity if the worlds are not turned over to them.
The protagonist is Culihan “Cully” O’Rourke, a former pirate had had sympathies with the colonists. A complication, of course, is that the leader of the Old Worlders is the father of Cully’s ex-girlfriend, who is also a major player in this story. Well, Cully’s in jail, and because of his experience with the Moldaug, he feels that is in a good position to attempt to understand the Moldaugs’ reasons for what appears to be the their sudden and seemingly irrational actions…if only he can escape jail and make his way to the Pleades…And, without giving too much away, he does indeed escape, along with swiping a spaceship and navigating a number of both human and Moldaug obstacles. How he comes to negotiate with them comprises the rest of the story, and herein is the most intriguing aspect of this book, well, besides the usual fun SF and adventure tropes. Parsing out the basis of the Moldaug culture in contrast to human culture (I won’t give it away), takes a good deal of acumen and cultural awareness that, luckily, Cully has, or does he?
Four stars for “None But Man.” I’ve been wanting to read Mr. Dizon’s “Dorsai” (Childe Cycle) books for some time; perhaps this will springboard me to do so. Fun read.

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this.

The main protagonist was most definitely a capital H hero, with no serious chance of failing. What made the story interesting was the complexity of the Montaug alien culture and how that culture clashed with the two human cultures, the Old Worlds and the Frontier.

The story was tight and the plot didn't linger. Definitely a fun read.

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the books that really defined my teenage love of science fiction books. The story starts when the protagonist, an orphan turned revolutionary turned privateer (Pardoned) named Cully When, is thrown into a maximum security prison on the Earth, the planet he'd fought so hard for independence from.

The story itself is solid, as Cully seeks revenge upon those who wronged him while attempting to save humanity from a potential clash with a very inhuman alien race. Dickson does a great job mixing together action, political drama, and a dash of inhuman psychology to create an interesting narrative.

[Marti Dolata · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a favorite of mine when I first read it, when it was just published, but it hasn't worn well. This has all of the faults of classic science fiction (cardboard women only as love interest, heros are hemen, stereotypical characters etc) which I didn't notice at the time. What I loved was the aliens and that their culture and myths were important to the story and the resolution of the plot turns on understanding the different ethic of the aliens .

[John Loyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Humans colonized some worlds, the Moldaug just let them. Many years later they demand the humans depart. The Old Worlds don't respond and they also think the Frontier is up to something. Cully is lured back to Earth, questioned under duress and held prisoner. There he meets Will who spent years studying the Moldaug. Cully escapes and heads back to the frontier where he finds out the leadership has become corrupted.

The premise of the story is that the Moldaug have an alien way of thinking. The Old Worlds misinterpret the aliens and it's up to Cully to figure out the aliens, being hampered by the disarray of the Frontier and Earth just flat out working against him.

I can take the aliens being alien, barely, but the action is a little too fortuitous for Cully. How many spaceships can he steal? 3.4 stars.

[Al "Tank" · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story. For some reason, it didn't "grab me" this time around (I've read it before and forgotten most of it). I don't know why. After all, there's plenty of action. Maybe because the main character never makes a mistake and always knows what he's doing and how it will play out???

The writing is solid and the story moves right along.

Perhaps my problem was that I was reading another, more recent, book at the same time and it grabbed my attention more than this one? I don't know, but I still recommend it.

[Lucas · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was pretty fun. It was 210 pages of typical action/adventure and then it culminates in 15 pages of… what exactly? Philosophical debate about rightness versus respectability? Cultural manipulation? Whatever it was, it was far from your typical big fight scene or however sci fi usually ends. I finished the last page feeling like “huh that was an interesting end”. Was it good or bad? I don’t know.

[Jorgon · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good example of why it doesn't pay to go back and re-read books that one had enjoyed 40 years ago as a wee barn. A rather primitive space opera, with mostly unbelievable science, but worse, weirdly chauvinistic ideologies and uninspired writing. Dickson had written some interesting books, and he is a cut above many other pre-New Wave space opera authors, but this is far from his best.

[Helen Hed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Om jag säger att denna bok fick sin copyright 1969 så kan du troligen gissa att i stort sett alla personer (oavsett om de kommer från vår planet eller är utomjordingar) till ca 99% är män.
Den bör lösas med detta i minnet.
Tänkte nästan ge den fyra stjärnor på grund av en intressant idé om skillnader i tänkesätt.

[Yves · Rating 3 out of 5]

Complex and a good example of xeno-philosophy between two alien races. A nice bipolar view of nan on Earth versus the “cowboys in space” view of man among the stars common sixty plus years ago.

A good read but tough sledding through the cowboy vision the author tried to spin.

[dejah_thoris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading and weeding from my father's collection. It's the usual one superman against the world with Cold War stereotypes disguised as aliens. Dickson does a better job building this world in the Childe Cycle novels, so reading this one was a little disappointing.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dickson wrote many great books - this is not one.

[Bryan Thomas Schmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

strong and fascinating with fun action, characters and worldbuilding but a weak, somewhat abrupt-feeling ending that devolves from action to talk then ends without a sense of finality. The first 90 percent though is fantastic.

[Samuel Lubell]

None But Man by Gordon R. Dickson. SF. 240 pages. Pulp sf by the author of Dorsai. Cliches and cardboard characters.

[SciFiOne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grade B.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good old fashioned space opera - well written and entertaining

[Art · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely liked re-reading it!

[Foxtower · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story by a reliable author.

[Foxtower · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story by a reliable author.