Steel Brother

by Gordon R. Dickson

Five stories deal with a disconsolate lighthouse keeper, an encounter with super logical extraterrestrials, interstellar exploration, space traders, and alien invaders

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

236 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published January 1, 1985

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

[dejah_thoris · Rating 3 out of 5]

The description only applies to the title story of this collection and there are four more stories plus an author interview and an analysis of the Childe Cycle. It's been at least a week since I finished this book, so the most memorable story is "Perfectly Adjusted", which I highly recommend for these interesting times. "The Man in the Mailbag" was a fun re-read (it was in The Right to Arm Bears) and "Steel Brother" is the feature because it initiated the Childe Cycle. Speaking of which, I appreciated the "Childe Cycle Status Report" because I was confused about whether I could read the books out of order, but it seems I can. Too bad Dickson wasn't able to finish the project. It sounded quite grand.

[Geoff Field · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were some good stories in this book. The last two items are a bit dry: one was a discussion by Dickson of the Childe cycle and his personal history, and the other was a transcript of a conversation about the same books.
The book itself was falling apart, so I ended up putting it in the recycling.

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fair collection of decent genre short stories from the 50s and 60s from an author who has written much better stuff. The title story is the stand-out, the rest is OK enough but nothing all that special.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gordon Dickson was perhaps best known for introspective military SF, in the Dorsai stories and the other tales related to his lifelong project, which sadly remains incomplete. In this volume, written in the mid-1980s, he estimated that it would take another 17 years to complete the project, called the Childe Cycle. He lived almost that long, but devoted most of the rest of his life to other novels, including a popular fantasy series.
In any case, the short works in this book were collected as a project to honor Dickson at the 1984 World Science Fiction convention.
The stories include the title piece, Steel Brother, which is about the loneliness of a man in combat. Other pieces range from a studies in alien psychology to a piece on how thoroughly human beings can delude themselves, given a chance.
Dickson rarely wrote "gadget" science fiction. Most of his best work was on the worlds inside an individual, and these stories are good examples. This is a good introduction to a great author.

[Steve Bender · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories by Gordon R Dickson from the 50's, plus two interfviews with him about his Childe cycle. Good SF read.