Almost all of Dickson's fiction has been "initiation" literature, not an uncommon pattern in science fiction. As he puts it, initiation is not a one-time ritual but a constantly unfolding process that parallels the physical and moral evolution of the human species and of the universe as a whole. His central characters are often artists who discover, under stress, superior abilities which are also latent in other humans. In Dickson's most effective fiction, the reader is led to undergo the same process of recognition and acceptance.
His first published novel, Alien from Arcturus (1956), is only partly successful, even in its revised version (Arcturus Landing, 1978), but it contains the germ of his major work. Just as human technological capabilities have launched the first starship toward Arcturus, aliens arrive to intercept the flight and quarantine the planet, aided by The Company, an Earthwide cartel. The basic conflict is between reactionary greed and inertia on the one hand and progressive discovery and creation, aided by friendship, on the other. The hero, Malcolm Fletcher, is befriended by a delightful rodentlike alien, an "Atakit" named Peep, who assists him in the invention of a faster-than-light matter transmission device, which qualifies humans for full, free membership in the alien galactic community.
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