Earthman’s Burden by Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson (Avon)

Gordon R. Dickson was a science fiction Hall-of-Famer with three Hugo Awards and a Nebula Award under his belt, yet he spent much of his time writing about anthropomorphized bears. He authored the Dilbia series, which includes the novels Spacial Delivery and Spacepaw, which features a bear-like species called Dilbians.

If that’s not enough, he also wrote a series of stories about a race of sentient teddy bears called the Hokas. The book we’re showing here, Earthman’s Burden, is a collection of stories about the Hokas, which he co-authored with master storyteller Poul Anderson. This edition is the 1979 reprint by Avon.

If the premise of this series doesn’t sound strange enough, the cover features a baffling array of the teddy bear-like Hokas riding dinosaurs, shooting laser guns, and smoking pipes while dressed up like Sherlock Holmes. Unfortunately, the cover artist is not credited.

Here’s a complete list of the stories in this book:

• The Sheriff of Canyon Gulch (originally titled Heroes Are Made)
• Don Jones
• In Hoka Signo Vinces
• The Adventure of the Misplaced Hound
• Yo Ho Hoka!
• The Tiddlywink Warriors

All of these stories, with the exception of “Don Jones,” were previously published in various speculative fiction magazines.

This edition also contains the original illustrations by Edd Cartier.