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Childe Cycle
Series · 14
books · 1960-2007

Books in series

Dorsai! book cover
#1

Dorsai!

1960

aka The Genetic General Throughout the Fourteen Worlds of humanity, no race is as feared and respected as the Dorsai. The ultimate warriors, they are known for their deadly rages, unbreakable honor, and fierce independence. No man rules the Dorsai, but their mastery of the art of war has made them the most valuable mercenaries in the known universe. Donal Graeme is Dorsai, taller and harder than any ordinary man. But he is different as well, with talents that maze even his fellow Dorsai. And once he ventures out into the stars, the future will never be the same.
Necromancer book cover
#2

Necromancer

1962

aka No Room for Man Throughout the Fourteen Worlds of humanity, no race is as feared and respected as the Dorsai. The ultimate warriors, they are known for their deadly rages, unbreakable honor, and fierce independence. No man rules the Dorsai, but their mastery of the art has made them the most valuable mercenaries in the known universe.
Soldier, Ask Not book cover
#3

Soldier, Ask Not

1964

A Hugo Award-winning novel of destiny and revenge. On the sixteen colonized worlds, mankind had changed: men of War on the Dorsai worlds, men of Faith on the Friendly worlds. Jamethon Black, a Friendly, is a true soldier, and a true man of faith. Now he must face a deadly enemy—an enemy whose defeat will forever separate him from the only woman he has ever loved.
Tactics of Mistake book cover
#4

Tactics of Mistake

1971

Mild-mannered and scholarly Cletus Graeme, a light colonel on assignment with the Allied forces, arrives on Bakhalla, where he commands a small force of Dorsai, soldiers of fortune who sell their lives in foreign wars to feed their families back home, and Graeme sees an opportunity to test his theories on them. Reprint.
Spirit of Dorsai book cover
#5

Spirit of Dorsai

1979

When the male Dorsai warriors leave their world to fight wars on distant planets, the women Dorsai, led by courageous warrior Amanda Morgan, remain behind as the fierce and unfailing guardians of their home. Reprint.
Lost Dorsai book cover
#6

Lost Dorsai

1980

There are many legends on the planet of the Dorsai, the breeding ground for heroes. Here are two of them. Lost The New Dorsai Companion contains the Hugo Award winning novella, Lost Dorsai, and Dickson's classic short story "Warrior." Plus, the New Dorsai Companion contains, for the first time ever, an all new Concordance of the Childe Cycle—a roadmap of Dickson's massive and brilliant creation. The Concordance will let you know not only in which books or stories a person or place is mentioned, but will give you a brief history or biography that explains their significance in the Cycle. It's a Who's Who of the future—and no science fiction reader should be without it.
The Final Encyclopedia book cover
#7

The Final Encyclopedia

1984

In The Final Encyclopedia the human race is split into three Splinter cultures: the Friendlies, fanatic in their faith; the truth-seeking Exotics; and the warrior Dorsai. But now humanity is threatened by the power-hungry Others, whose triumph would end all human progress. Hal Mayne is an orphan who was raised by three tutors: an Exotic, a Friendly, and a Dorsai. He is the only human capable of uniting humanity against the Others. But only if he is willing to accept his terrifying destiny...as savior of mankind.
The Final Encyclopedia, 1 of 2 book cover
#7.1

The Final Encyclopedia, 1 of 2

1986

The Childe Cycle, also known as the Dorsai series, is Gordon R. Dickson's future history of humankind and its ultimate destiny. Now one of its central novels return to print in a two-volume corrected edition. In The Final Encyclopedia the human race is split into three Splinter the Friendlies, fanatic in their faith; the truth-seeking Exotics; and the warrior Dorsai. But now humanity is threatened by the power-hungry Others, whose triumph would end all human progress. Hal Mayne is an orphan who was raised by three an Exotic, a Friendly, and a Dorsai. He is the only human capable of uniting humanity against the Others. But only if he is willing to accept his terrifying destiny...as savior of mankind. A towering landmark of future history, The Final Encyclopedia is a novel every SF fan needs to own.
The Final Encyclopedia, 2 of 2 book cover
#7.2

The Final Encyclopedia, 2 of 2

1984

The Childe Cycle, also known as the Dorsai series, is Gordon R. Dickson's future history of humankind and its ultimate destiny. Now one of its central novels return to print in a two-volume corrected edition. In The Final Encyclopedia the human race is split into three Splinter the Friendlies, fanatic in their faith; the truth-seeking Exotics; and the warrior Dorsai. But now humanity is threatened by the power-hungry Others, whose triumph would end all human progress. Raised to a destiny as humanity's champion, Hal Mayne must journey deep within his soul to gather the strength he needs to face his ultimate Bleys Ahrens, the shadowy, powerful leader of the Others. On Hal's success depends nothing less than the future of the human race... A towering landmark of future history, The Final Encyclopedia is a novel every SF fan needs to own.
The Chantry Guild book cover
#8

The Chantry Guild

1988

A lone ship entering Earth space rouses Hal Mayne from his researches aboard the Final Encyclopedia. Piloting the craft is Dorsai Amanda Morgan, returning from her work with resistance fighters of the Younger Worlds, bearing terrible—though not unexpected—news: Bleys Ahrens, commanding the cross-cultural hybrids known as the Others, is tightening his deadly hold on the Younger Worlds, bleeding them of able adults and materials with which to build a space war fleet. With a massive attack through the phase-shield, he will cause the Younger Worlds to wither and die, once more confining the human race to Earth. Amanda beckons Hal to the planet Kultis, where the monastery-like settlement of the Chantry Guild has mastered the powerful Alternate Forces so inextricably linked to the Creative Universe Hal resolutely sought…so secretly guarded behind their motto: Destruct. As the Occupational Troops close in on the Guild’s hidden enclave, all the years of struggle—all the lives Hal has lived—converge in what may be humanity’s final critical moment…
Young Bleys book cover
#9

Young Bleys

1991

The Splinter Cultures' longtime experimentation in human genetics pits Hal Mayne, hero of the Young Worlds, against power-hungry Bleys Ahrens and his greedy half-brother, Dahno
Other book cover
#10

Other

1994

Bleys Ahrens is now a political power on the planet Association, home of the Friendlies. His people—his Others, not Dorsai or Friendly or Exotic, but hybrids—are in place on all the new worlds, and are ready to take his message to the greater human public. But within his inner circle is Henry McLean, Soldier of God, and a True Faith-Holder. Henry fears for the soul of his nephew Bleys, and while he guards, he also watches, and judges. And beyond Bleys Ahrens' control is Hal the one man in all the human worlds who might successfully challenge Bleys in his bid for power. For Hal Mayne is the true culmination of the Cycle's grand design. Bleys would give anything to convert Hal Mayne to his cause—or failing that, to destroy him.
Antagonist book cover
#11

Antagonist

2007

Gordon R. Dickson's "Childe Cycle" of novels depicting the future of the human race has been one of the grand epics of science fiction. At the time of his death in 2001, Dickson was writing Antagonist, the tale of Bleys Ahrens' turn toward darkness. Now Dickson's assistant David W. Wixon has brilliantly finished the long-awaited book, working from Dickson's copious notes. Antagonist is a fitting capstone to one of the most ambitious series in SF history. The Childe Cycle is the story of a new human the development of a real, hardwired sense of "responsibility" shared by all human beings. Donal Graeme was a Dorsai, a mercenary soldier, and also a mutant gifted with insight into the path forward for the human race. Through his gifts Donal would come to bend time and live three lifetimes—and, in the process, run into problems he had not first, his own flaws, and second, the existence of another mutant, Bleys Ahrens. Following Young Bleys and Other, Antagonist advances the story of the formidably powerful Bleys Ahrens. Bleys is a man with a clear vision of the struggle in which he's involved—but an increasingly deficient sense of human values. He and his organization, the Others, are tracking down an elusive interplanetary opposition. Meanwhile, Bleys' own intricate conspiracies and devisings, and his quest for power, which began with the best of motives, have become something darker and fiercer. He's committed to his plans. They may bring about the advent of Homo superior . And they may destroy the human race.
The Star Road book cover
#12

The Star Road

1973

Collection of short stories

Author

Gordon R. Dickson
Gordon R. Dickson
Author · 83 books
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.
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