Tag Archives: VintageSciFi

DORSAI! Group Read Part One

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For those participating in the #VintageSciFiMonth Group Read of DORSAI! by Gordon R Dickson I hope you’ve been enjoying it! Hopefully you’ve had a chance to start reading and are ready to discuss! 

Caution! Possible Spoilers!


This discussion covers Cadet through Force Leader II. I’m really interested in your thoughts! One question I have when reading a Vintage SciFi Book is do you see this as a possible future for humanity? In this case how homogenous do you think colonized planets would be? It seems in this future they are taking such different paths that they’ve started to evolve differently. 

In the case of Donal what are your first impressions? Do you think he is odd? Would we realize that if the author didn’t tell us he was? I think we would. His interactions and the way he carries himself set him apart. Do you think he should have given that contract to William or destroyed it?

Are you enjoying the pacing? To me it feels like quick glimpses and that keeps it moving fast. It seems to make it accessible for me. 

Any initial thoughts? How do you think this book will turn out? Observations? Looking forward to your input! 🙂

Vintage SciFi Month Giveaway!

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Announcing the first ever giveaway for Vintage SciFi Month! LittleRedReviewer and I are happy and honored to host Vintage SciFi Month which is now entering its sixth year! In honor of that we are holding a special giveaway this year! In order to fit with the theme of the month the prize will be:


The Book Of Frank Herbert! A collection of ten short stories by Frank Herbert that was published in 1973 


It is one of the yellow spine Daw books!


We are super excited that this book will soon be in the hands of a Vintage SciFi Fan!


How do you enter and win the giveaway? Very simple: Use the hashtag: #VintageSciFiMonth on any Tweet or Instagram post or (public) FaceBook post and you’ll have your name put into the drawing! With each unique post you use the hashtag we’ll put your name into the drawing again! So the more often you post/tweet about Vintage SciFi Month the more opportunities you have to win!

We are limiting the giveaway to North America at this time due to cost. Sorry international readers! 


We are so excited to be able to host this giveaway and this wonderful month of reading! Thank you all for joining in! Now let’s start reading, posting, and talking about all of those amazing Vintage SciFi Books! 🚀💫

The DORSAI! Group Reading Plans For Vintage SciFi Month

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Happy Vintage SciFi Month! The most wonderful reading time of the year! 😊😍📚🚀👏💫 

For those who want to join in on the Group Read of DORSAI! by Gordon R Dickson here is the handy reading schedule and planned discussion points! Please keep in mind that as GRD didn’t number his chapters and the various printings of the book make limiting it to page numbers difficult. Also feel free to read ahead! Or even more slowly! Read at your own pace. This is just a suggested guideline for the group so when we talk we know we aren’t spoiling anything. That said here we go:

Jan 1-4 Cadet through Force Leader II

Jan 5-7 Veteran through Sub-Patrol Cheif II

Jan 8-11 Hero through Protector

Jan 12-14 Protector II through Donal (end of the book)

On each Wednesday evening and Saturday Evening I’ll post a discussion post here on my website, link to it on both Twitter and Facebook, and I’ll post a reminder on Instagram. Feel free to join in on the discussion at any of these places that you like! This will be the central hub for everyone reading it, but I’ll gladly discuss it anywhere that works for you. 

DORSAI! Is an excellent entry point into the world of Vintage SciFi! It’s a military SciFi that’s written in an accessible fashion and also shows the fascination SciFi writers had with evolution and The New (or next) Man. While it adds in philosophy it also keeps the story moving along. This will be my third reading of it so I obviously think it’s a worthwhile read! You can purchase it for kindle HERE.


Welcome to #VintageSciFiMonth and welcome to #DORSAI! 

Vintage SciFi Month Reading Plans!

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If 2016 doesn’t kill me then I’m going to get to celebrate a new year an another #VintageSciFiMonth in January! I’m so excited. Vintage SciFi Month has become an important part of my reading schedule. What is it? Basically: In January we read SciFi or Fantasy books published prior to our birth year! Check out the founder LittleRedReviewer’s post on VintageSciFiMonth for more details! 

Now as to my reading plans for January:


DORSAI! By Gordon R Dickson is the first book of his incredible Childe Cycle and I’ve been working through this series each January! This will be a reread for me BECAUSE I’m reading it with some friends who are starting their own Vintage SciFi Month journeys! If you aren’t sure what to read for this month please consider reading this book with us!  You can purchase it here. If you want to see my review on DORSAI! you can find it here. I really enjoy this book which is why the next book on my list is….


Tactics Of Mistake also by GRD and also in the Childe Cycle! It is the fourth book in the series yet second chronologically. I’m excited to read this for the first time and discover more about this great universe. 


What would a Vintage SciFi Month be here at RedStarReviews if there wasn’t a little Frank Herbert? The Worlds Of Frank Herbert is a collection of his Short Stories that I’ve been slowly working on and will continue with during this month!


Michael Moorcock’s book The Silver Warriors is Fantasy, but Fantasy is totally ok by the rules of Vintage SciFi Month! I loved reading the Elric Saga and I can’t wait to see what this book has in store for me!


Titan by John Varley was published in 1979 which is AFTER my birth year but it’s ok some rules can be bent AND the founder of the Month oks and books 1979 and prior so if your birth year is making it tough to find a SciFi book that interests you then open it up to 1979 and before! This whole month is supposed to be fun so feel free to have some fun!


Speaking of fun: I’ll be announcing a little Vintage SciFi Month giveaway here on my site on New Year’s Day! Stay tuned for details! Hope y’all have some excellent books picked out for the sixth annual Vintage SciFi Month! 

VintageSciFiMonth Is Approaching!

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January is VintageSciFiMonth and it is fast approaching! It’s time to select some books, comic books, movies, tv shows, or radio shows that came out prior to the year you were born and enjoy them this January!


VintageSciFiMonth is really that easy to join! The “rules” are easy: you just read and enjoy older SciFi and/or Fantasy! Instead of getting into a huge debate about what qualifies as VintageSciFi the founder of the month LittleRedReviewer just asks that the book be from before the year you were born. Even this rule isn’t set in stone so if you’re wondering where to find SciFi from before you were born feel free to enjoy some from a few decades back regardless of the year of birth rule! We just want folks to join in and have fun!


If you have no idea where to start may I suggest DORSAI! by Gordon R Dickson from 1959. I’ve read this book twice now and loved it both times! To help a few of my friends ease into the world of VintageSciFi I’ll be reading it again starting 01/01/17 and you are welcome to join in! It is an awesome SciFi that will give you a good feel for SciFi around the 60’s and help you to get your feet wet! 


After DORSAI! I’ll be jumping four books ahead into The Childe Cycle by GRD and reading The Tactics Of Mistake because each January I read a little more of this excellent series of books. After that I’m still collecting my reading list but I expect it to include some Frank Herbert as well! 


TITAN by John Varley might sneak into the list since I bought it last year then realized it was published shortly after my birth…. we’ll see! 🙂 


Please join us in January for this awesome month of reading! It is amazing to see the future through the eyes of the past, and it is so much fun every year. If you’re on Twitter you can follow @VintageSciFi_ for news, updates, and features! Let me know if you need book suggestions. Looking forward to the sixth year of VintageSciFiMonth! 

Gordon R Dickson A Vintage SciFi Month Review

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A fellow Book Reviewer has declared January to be Vintage SciFi Month! For Vintage SciFi Month I decided to read a couple of books by Gordon R Dickson: Hour Of The Horde and Dorsai! GRD writes interesting books! His work feels like a mix between David Drake and Frank Herbert. GRD has been a very heavy influence on Military SciFi and spins very interesting tales that feature the continual evolution of mankind.

Hour Of The Horde puts the Fiction into Science Fiction. It’s a slightly laughable tale describing a horde of aliens that travel from Galaxy to Galaxy and eliminate all organic life before moving onto the next one. Somehow we know they do this and somehow we know they’re attacking us next. Ok so the overall plot fails because of simple distances involved. But the story itself is enjoyable because of the main character and his incredible drive to accomplish the impossible. He’s a flawed man that gets selected to represent humanity in our greatest hour of need and has to find ways to motivate several different alien species to accomplish their unified goal. A fun and enjoyable read.

Dorsai! is excellent. This is the first book of GRD’s famous Childe Cycle and it is a page turner. The main character (Donal Graeme) is like Paul Atreides without his prescience. He’s a person set apart longing to belong but embracing his uniqueness and in so doing possibly opening up the next step of human evolution. This book involves a lot of Military SciFi action and is one of the classics in that field. Well worth your time.

I’ve enjoyed Vintage SciFi Month and still have one more book to finish and review so be looking forward to my thoughts on Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C Clarke!

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