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Del Whitby #5
Frostworld and Dreamfire
On the desolate frostworld of Hraggellon, the inscrutable Onhla tribehalf human, half animal-has flourished for centuries. Then, suddenly, a mysterious plague wipes out the entire Onhla population, leaving only one survivor, a youth named Hult. But is Hult really the last of his kind? According to ancient legend, a small group of Onhla, valued for their hunting prowess, had been taken away long ago to hunt on another world. If Hult can find them and bring them back to the homeland, the Onhla will live again. To get to Insgar, Hult must, for the first time in his life, bargain with city people and beings from the "other-worlds." They will do almost anything to obtain the shimmering silver pelts of the gorwol, a beast which only the Onhla can hunt-and with enough gorwol pelts, Hult can buy passage to anywhere in the universe. It is a perilous bargain at best. For the Onhla know nothing of the dangeous power of human emotions. How can he protect himself and his mission from the awesome forces of greed and hatred?
186 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1977
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 10, 2026
Morressy wastes no time in beating you over the head with a hilarious amount of worldbuilding, to the point that the book ends up reading like this:
Flark picked up the donglington and flangled the gorbigon, cutting away its englemon pelt before stashing it in his cormal pouch to keep it safe from the merrigobblers.
Despite an intriguing set up, some truly incompetent writing drags it down to the floor of the obscure science fiction ocean, where it belongs.
Flark picked up the donglington and flangled the gorbigon, cutting away its englemon pelt before stashing it in his cormal pouch to keep it safe from the merrigobblers.
Despite an intriguing set up, some truly incompetent writing drags it down to the floor of the obscure science fiction ocean, where it belongs.
October 12, 2025
'Frostworld and Dreamfire' is a fitting title to this 1977 anthro-centered interplanetary 'trade' opera set on the relentlessly cold planet of Hraggellon, a frostworld expanded with limitless Starside tundras where the sun never shines; where plains of black-belled flowers grow like sentinels without photosynthesis; and where the cherished (yet hideously ugly) Gorwol roam freely, hunted down for their pelts which secure top-dollar on the interstellar fur trade. However what really makes this slim novel interesting is the two main characters: Dunan, a middle-aged, balding grunt who trades for the bureaucratic empire, yet has a moral code in place despite his gruff and hairy-knuckled business sense. After double-crosses pile up, Dunan finds himself in the company of our existential hero, Hult, the last of a native tribe of Onhla, starside hunters who have fallen under a mysterious plague with no antidote. If Hult can bring back the priceless Gorwol furs, Dunan will take him to a stray planet where surviving Onhla were taken to work in the mines. Replenish the race and start all over?
Of course things don't go as planned by any means. But instead of ratcheting up the heroics with swashbuckling fireworks of interstellar battle, the novel turns into a survival story, a kind of doomscript meditation on the last-breath, the last moment (Cormac McCarthy on Titan), and this futility even deepens as groups of Rememberancers (psychic historians), the Onhla survivors, the corrupt soldiers of Orm, and a new breed of warrior resistant to any external thought trail each other through the brightside and starside crevasses with little success. Funny how it all turns into a gritty re-vamping of the Western novel set on uninhabitable plains, complete with psychic warfare and ruminations about survival in both as individual and as a race.
Not the finest work overall, but a good and solid work that wears its heart in the right place. Morressy seems to have little fanfare these days, but this work proves an enduring and mature work of SF, one that doesn't candify and collar our cherished genre.
*** 1/2 stars
Of course things don't go as planned by any means. But instead of ratcheting up the heroics with swashbuckling fireworks of interstellar battle, the novel turns into a survival story, a kind of doomscript meditation on the last-breath, the last moment (Cormac McCarthy on Titan), and this futility even deepens as groups of Rememberancers (psychic historians), the Onhla survivors, the corrupt soldiers of Orm, and a new breed of warrior resistant to any external thought trail each other through the brightside and starside crevasses with little success. Funny how it all turns into a gritty re-vamping of the Western novel set on uninhabitable plains, complete with psychic warfare and ruminations about survival in both as individual and as a race.
Not the finest work overall, but a good and solid work that wears its heart in the right place. Morressy seems to have little fanfare these days, but this work proves an enduring and mature work of SF, one that doesn't candify and collar our cherished genre.
*** 1/2 stars
February 5, 2020
I found this book years ago, in a little wayward bookstore in Jackson, MS called Choctaw Books (no longer in business, sadly.) It was a dollar, so I picked it up thinking 'why not?' I did not expect to find a beautifully crafted sci-fi novella between its pages, but that's what happened.
The Onhla, a species native to the icy planet Hraggelon, are a hybrid of animal and biped. Hult, the 'MC', goes on a journey to rebuild his tribe after a plague wipes out most of their population. That's just a basic idea of what happens here, though. There's political unrest, greedy humans, gorgeous prose, and all of it stuffed into barely 200 pages. This little novella is worth the read, I promise. (It won't take you too long to read, either!)
The Onhla, a species native to the icy planet Hraggelon, are a hybrid of animal and biped. Hult, the 'MC', goes on a journey to rebuild his tribe after a plague wipes out most of their population. That's just a basic idea of what happens here, though. There's political unrest, greedy humans, gorgeous prose, and all of it stuffed into barely 200 pages. This little novella is worth the read, I promise. (It won't take you too long to read, either!)
April 4, 2022
Right from the start I was thrown into the world of Hraggellon complete with words describing things, creatures and culture. However, it is done in such a way that I could readily pick up on the nuances of what was happening.
Hraggellon is an inhospitable planet that does not spin in its orbit thereby leaving only a thin band of livable territory. Most otherworlders would not even consider going there except for the luxuriously warm and soft gorwol furs that are found only on this one planet. Even so, these are hard to procure since only the Ohnla have a way to endure the bitter cold to go into Starside to hunt the gorwol.
This story is about relations between very different cultures not only on Hraggellon itself but between the parties involved in trade among the planets.
Well written with a few moments of "I-didn't-see-that-coming" made this a riveting and intriguing tale.
Hraggellon is an inhospitable planet that does not spin in its orbit thereby leaving only a thin band of livable territory. Most otherworlders would not even consider going there except for the luxuriously warm and soft gorwol furs that are found only on this one planet. Even so, these are hard to procure since only the Ohnla have a way to endure the bitter cold to go into Starside to hunt the gorwol.
This story is about relations between very different cultures not only on Hraggellon itself but between the parties involved in trade among the planets.
Well written with a few moments of "I-didn't-see-that-coming" made this a riveting and intriguing tale.
April 20, 2020
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"John Morressy’s moving SF epic Frostworld and Dreamfire (1977) is set in the Del Whitby sequence (1972-1983) of novels which explore conflict and colonialism (humans and humanoid aliens) within the loose human Sternverein polity. Conceptually the sequence, which does not have to be read in order, fascinates: the first three novels–Starbrat (1972), Nail Down the Stars (1973), and Under a Calculating Star (1975)–analyze the same [...]"
"John Morressy’s moving SF epic Frostworld and Dreamfire (1977) is set in the Del Whitby sequence (1972-1983) of novels which explore conflict and colonialism (humans and humanoid aliens) within the loose human Sternverein polity. Conceptually the sequence, which does not have to be read in order, fascinates: the first three novels–Starbrat (1972), Nail Down the Stars (1973), and Under a Calculating Star (1975)–analyze the same [...]"
November 29, 2019
a fun read about a mostly frozen planet whose inhabitants and cultures are quickly dying out due to greedy inter-galactic economics and the fact that all things must pass.
July 26, 2025
Excellent. A sick new idea every five pages. Interesting and heartbreaking, extremely inventive with nuanced commentary. Clearly Asimov inspired. Short and direct. Nothing but good things to say about this.
4.8/5
4.8/5
April 25, 2023
Trader Seb Dunan is tasked with finding tradable luxury goods on the shithole planet of Hraggellon, most notably the super-awesome furs of the native "Gorwol". But all the locals claim that the species is extinct, just like the humanoid race of the Onhla, the only ones who could hunt the animals in the extremely cold ice desert. But old Seb doesn't admit defeat so quickly and is actually able to round up the Onhla Hult, the last of its kind.
October 15, 2014
Hraggellon is populated by the half animal half human Onhla tribe. When a plague wipes out all but a boy maned Hult hunts for some of the Onhla that have been rumored to have been taken to another world because of their hunting powers.
April 20, 2025
Wookie lookalike with the cultural background of a hunter tribesman on a frozen planet, has to brave the city.
One of my all time favourites. Took me ten years to track down the rest in the series. Took me a decade to track down the rest set in the same universe.
One of my all time favourites. Took me ten years to track down the rest in the series. Took me a decade to track down the rest set in the same universe.
August 19, 2014
Hits many good notes, the quiet, the wind, the cold, long isolated time-dilated space travel. Things seem to go a little too easily for the main character though.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews