The Childe Cycle by Gordon R. Dickson
The Childe Cycle, also known as the Dorsai Cycle, is a series of science fiction novels and stories by Gordon R. Dickson that explores a future Earth and its colonization of other planets. The narrative begins in the later part of the twenty-first century, depicting a world dominated by the World Complex, a technocratic organization. The story progresses through various timelines, showcasing the evolution of humanity as it fractures into distinct "Splinter Cultures" characterized by specialized roles, such as the militaristic Dorsai, the religious Friendlies, and the philosophical Exotics.
Key characters, including military strategist Cletus Grahame and his descendant Donal Grahame, navigate complex political and military landscapes, often engaging in conflicts that highlight themes of independence and identity. Central to the narrative are two opposing figures, Hal Mayne and Bleys Ahrens, who represent different visions for humanity's future. The series also includes shorter works that provide additional context and depth to the main storyline, illustrating critical events not fully explored in the novels. Overall, The Childe Cycle presents a rich tapestry of interstellar conflict and cultural evolution, inviting readers to contemplate the implications of technological advancement and societal fragmentation.
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The Childe Cycle
First published:The Genetic General (1960; serial form, “Dorsai!,” Astounding Science-Fiction, May-July, 1959), Necromancer (1962; also titled No Room for Man, 1963), Soldier, Ask Not (1967; serial form, Galaxy, 1964), The Tactics of Mistake (1971), Three to Dorsai! (1975; contains Necromancer, The Tactics of Mistake, and The Genetic General), Dorsai! (1976; contains The Genetic General with restored text), The Spirit of Dorsai (1979; includes “Amanda Morgan,” “Brothers,” and three bridge sections; “Brothers” first appeared in Astounding: John W. Campbell Memorial Anthology, 1973), Lost Dorsai (1980; includes “Lost Dorsai,” “Warrior,” a critical essay, and an excerpt from The Final Encyclopedia; serial form of “Lost Dorsai,” Destinies, February-March, 1980; serial form of “Warrior,” Analog, December, 1965), The Dorsai Companion (1986; contains most of The Spirit of Dorsai and Lost Dorsai; adds new material), The Final Encyclopedia (1984), The Chantry Guild (1988), Young Bleys (1991), Lost Dorsai: The New Dorsai Companion (1993; contains most of the fiction from Lost Dorsai and excerpts from “A Childe Cycle Concordance”), and Other (1994)
Type of work: Novels
Type of plot: Science fiction—future history
Time of work: The late twenty-first century to the late twenty-fourth century
Locale: Sixteen human-inhabited planets in eight star systems
The Plot
The Childe Cycle (also known as the Dorsai Cycle) of novels and stories actually begins with Necromancer, in the later part of the twenty-first century, on an Earth ruled cautiously by the computers of the World Complex. Paul Formain, a one-armed mining engineer, resolves a stalemate between Kirk Tyne, head engineer of the World Complex, and Walter Blunt, head of the Chantry Guild. The Guild seeks the violent overthrow of the technocracy headed by Tyne. Formain manages to wrest control of the Guild from Blunt and send the human race out to the stars, something neither Tyne nor Blunt wanted.
The Tactics of Mistake takes place a century later, after the human race has settled Mars and Venus as well as thirteen other planets—called the Younger Worlds—orbiting seven other star systems. Cletus Grahame, a military genius from the planet Dorsai, pits himself against one of the most powerful men on Earth, Dow deCastries. Grahame wins the conflict, thus gaining independence from Earth for the Younger Worlds.
By the time of Soldier, Ask Not, in the late twenty-third century, the human race has fragmented into specialized types, called Splinter Cultures. The three main types are the Men of War (Dorsai), who live on Dorsai; the Men of Faith (Friendlies), who live on Harmony and Association; and the Men of Philosophy (Exotics), who live on Kultis and Mara. Helping to link all the Younger Worlds together are the members of the Interstellar News Ser-vices, including Tam Olyn. After seeing his brother-in-law killed in cold blood by a Friendly mercenary, Olyn embarks on a vendetta against Harmony and Association. When he is thwarted, Olyn returns to Earth, eventually to take over the directorship of the Final Encyclopedia, a gigantic information storage system orbiting the Mother Planet.
Dorsai! also takes place during the late twenty-third century. It is the story of Donal Grahame, great-great-grandson of Cletus Grahame, who uses his Dorsai military training and what he calls “intuitional logic” to overcome William of Ceta, a merchant who nearly succeeds in controlling the complicated transactions that tie the Younger Worlds together economically. Donal, like his ancestor Cletus, frees the Younger Worlds from a threat to their independence.
The last four novels in the series (as of 1995) are all set around the middle of the twenty-fourth century, and they all concern two powerful antagonists: Hal Mayne and Bleys Ahrens. They are antagonists because each is the human embodiment of a different historical response of the “racial animal”—Gordon Dickson’s name for the consciousness of the human race as a whole—to the crisis of the Splinter Cultures’ failure. Bleys wishes the human race to stop changing; Hal wishes the race to keep changing, for the specialized types of the Splinter Cultures to become reintegrated, and for the reemergence of an improved “full spectrum” humanity.
Young Bleys details Bleys Ahrens’ childhood, adolescence, and young manhood, ending in his taking control from his older brother, Dahno, of an organization called the Others. Other records the initial moves in Bleys Ahrens’ quest to rule most of the Younger Worlds.
The Final Encyclopedia begins where Young Bleys ends, with the death of Hal Mayne’s three tutors at the hands of Bleys’s bodyguards. It traces a similar period in Hal’s life, ending with Hal blockading himself, the Final Encyclopedia, Old Earth, and nearly everyone from the Dorsai behind an impenetrable shield. Outside are Bleys’s minions, with time, power, and technology on their side.
Three years later, at the beginning of The Chantry Guild, Hal is despondent at not being able to find a way of using the Final Encyclopedia to gain entrance to what he calls the Creative Universe. Eventually, Hal works his way out of the impasse after journeying to a new Chantry Guild hidden on Kultis, one of the two Exotic planets, now under occupation by soldiers controlled by the Others.
In addition to these novels, Dickson has written four shorter Childe Cycle pieces. He calls these shorter pieces “illuminations” because they shed light on events only briefly mentioned in, or completely outside, the novels. “Amanda Morgan” shows how the women, children, and old men of Dorsai defeat Dow deCastries’ elite invasion troops. “Warrior” tells how Ian Grahame, Donal’s uncle, renders justice for the unnecessary death of one of Ian’s officers. “Lost Dorsai” is the story of Michael de Sandoval, a Dorsai who uncharacteristically refuses to use weapons but who manages to conquer an entire army. In “Brothers,” Ian Grahame ensures both that the men who assassinated his beloved twin brother Kensie are found and executed and that the Dorsai troops do not run amok in their grief over losing Kensie.