Hawk Among the Sparrows
"Hawk Among the Sparrows" is a science fiction short story by Dean McLaughlin. It was first published in Analog Science Fiction in July 1968.
Synopsis
Howard Farman is a fighter pilot from 1975, who finds himself — and his plane, the Pika-Don — in the midst of the First World War, where his future knowledge and technology are of less advantage than he expected.
Reception
"Hawk Among the Sparrows" was a finalist for the 1969 Hugo Award for Best Novella,[1] and the Nebula Award for Best Novella of 1968.[2]
In Galactic Journey, Gideon Marcus praised it as "very pleasant (and) quite readable", and commended McLaughlin for incorporating the logistics of jet fuel production into the story, but faulted the notion that Farman (a man from 1975) could have thousands of hours of flight time but no experience of prop planes; as well, Marcus found that Farman is "oblivious for far too long of the effects of jet wash", and particularly doubted that the Pika-Don would still be usable "after several months in a field with no maintenance".[3]
Origins
James Nicoll has posited that McLaughlin may have been inspired by a 1948 John W. Campbell essay about "the limits of reverse engineering".[4]
References
- ↑ 1969 Hugo Awards at TheHugoAwards.org; retrieved March 29, 2026
- ↑ Hawk Among the Sparrows at Science Fiction Writers of America; retrieved March 29, 2026
- ↑ June 30, 1968 - Hawk among the sparrows (July 1968 Analog), by Gideon Marcus, in Galactic Journey; published June 30, 2023; retrieved March 29, 2026
- ↑ The evil that men do lives after them, review of Collected Editorials from Analog; by James Nicoll; at JamesDavisNicoll.com; published December 11, 2014; retrieved March 29, 2026; "I think this essay may have been in the back of Dean McLaughlin’s mind when he wrote 1968’s “Hawk Among the Doves [sic]”."
External links
- Hawk Among the Sparrows title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database