Dickson was born in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1923. After the death of his father, he moved with his mother to Minneapolis in 1937.[2] He served in the United States Army, from 1943 to 1946, and received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Minnesota, in 1948.[3] From 1948 through 1950 he attended the University of Minnesota for graduate work.[citation needed] His first published speculative fiction was the short story "Trespass!", written jointly with Poul Anderson, in the Spring 1950 issue of Fantastic Stories Quarterly (ed. Sam Merwin), the inaugural number of Fantastic Story Magazine as it came to be titled. Next year three of his solo efforts were published by John W. CampbellinAstounding Science Fiction and one appeared in Planet Stories. Anderson and Dickson also inaugurated the Hoka series with "The Sheriff of Canyon Gulch" (Other Worlds Science Stories, May 1951).[4]
John Clute has characterized Dickson as a "gregarious, engaging, genial, successful man of letters" who had not been an introvert.[6] Clute considers Dickson a science fiction romantic.[6] Nevertheless, Clute stresses in connection to Dickson that science fiction welcomes "images of heightened solitude, romantically vague, limitless landscapes, and an anguished submission to afflatus", due to its origin in Gothic fiction.[2]
Clute has pointed out that Dickson, like Poul Anderson, with whom he collaborated in the Hoka series, "[tends] to infuse an austere Nordic pathos into wooded, rural midwestern American settings.'[6] His works often have mercenaries as their protagonists and deal with aliens that are "less deracinated and more lovable than humans" (Clute).[6] They "are inclined to take on a heightened, sagalike complexion" (Clute),[6] particularly by the insertion of lyric poetry that is sometimes inferior.[6]
In 1974 Dickson donated to the Manuscripts Division of the University of Minnesota Libraries notes, outlines, and drafts for more than 240 short stories and 36 novels and novelettes. These included materials for Alien Art, The Outposter, The Pritcher Mass, None But Man, and Soldier Ask Not. They were made available to researchers without restriction.[7]
Dickson's novelette "The Seats of Hell", cover-featured on the May 1959 issue of Fantastic, was collected in BeginningsDickson's novelette "Home from the Shore", cover-featured on the February 1963 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction, was collected in Mutants
^ abJohn Clute: Gordon R. Dickson (1923–). In: Richard Bleiler (ed.): Science Fiction Writers. Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York 1982, p. 345
^ abcdefJohn Clute: Gordon R. Dickson (1923–). In: Richard Bleiler (ed.): Science Fiction Writers. Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York 1982, p. 346
^Goggin, Daniel T.; Delle Donne, Carmen R. (July 1974). "News Notes". The American Archivist. 37 (3). Society of American Archivists: 492–493. JSTOR40291682. The Manuscripts Division of the University of Minnesota Libraries has received the papers and manuscripts (...). Also received were the papers and manuscripts of two prominent science-fiction writers, Clifford D. Simak and Gordon R. Dickson, both residents of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. (...)Dickson deposited notes, outlines, and draft for more than 240 short stories and 36 novels and novelettes. Materials for titles as Alien Art, The Outposter, The Pritcher Mass, None But Man, and Soldier Ask Not is included in the collection. It is open to researchers without restriction.
Levinson, Paul (February 1, 2001). "Gordon R. Dickson (1923-2001)". Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Archived from the original on February 22, 2015. Retrieved April 1, 2010.
