Dilbia Series by Gordon R. Dickson

A Nebula Award-winning AuthorIn the good old days they gave you a suit of armor and a mighty steed to rescue a maiden in distress. But John Tardy didn't know about this battle until he was in it. No suit of armor, no magnificent charger. He'd have been happy just to arrive on his own two feet, or any way other than as a package labeled Spacial Delivery.

Operation Spacepaw.Bill Waltham has a sneaking suspicion that a few important details were purposely withheld from him when he receives his assignment to the planet Dilbia. At first, the project - to teach the planet's bearlike inhabitants the basic agricultural skills - seems a straightforward, though boring, undertaking for a young engineer on the rise.But Bill immediately senses a very keen hostility from the Dilbians toward interfering humans... moreOperation Spacepaw.Bill Waltham has a sneaking suspicion that a few important details were purposely withheld from him when he receives his assignment to the planet Dilbia. At first, the project - to teach the planet's bearlike inhabitants the basic agricultural skills - seems a straightforward, though boring, undertaking for a young engineer on the rise.But Bill immediately senses a very keen hostility from the Dilbians toward interfering humans. And in trying to solve a major crisis on the planet, he finds himself involved in a knock-down, drag-out brawl that has all the undertones of a David-and-Goliath battle revisited. less

HUMANS OR HEMNOIDS: AN UNBEARABLE CHOICE Planet Dilbia is in a crucial location for both humans and their adversaries, the Hemnoids. Therefore making friends with the Dilbians and establishing a human presence there is of the utmost importance, which may be a problem, since the bearlike Dilbians stand some nine feet tall, and have a high regard for physical prowess. They're not impressed by human technology, either. A real man, er, bear doesn't need machines to do his work for him... moreHUMANS OR HEMNOIDS: AN UNBEARABLE CHOICE Planet Dilbia is in a crucial location for both humans and their adversaries, the Hemnoids. Therefore making friends with the Dilbians and establishing a human presence there is of the utmost importance, which may be a problem, since the bearlike Dilbians stand some nine feet tall, and have a high regard for physical prowess. They're not impressed by human technology, either. A real man, er, bear doesn't need machines to do his work for him.But Dilbians "are" impressed by sharp thinking, and some have expressed a grudging admiration for the logical (and usually sneaky) mental maneuvers that the human "shorties" have used to get themselves out of desperate jams. Just maybe that old human craftiness will win over the Dilbians to the human side. If not, we lose a nexus, and the Dilbians will learn just how unbearable Hemnoids can be.... less