"The Cloak and the Staff"
Short story by Gordon R. Dickson

Genre(s)	Science fiction novelette
Publication
Publisher	Analog Science Fiction
Publication date	1980

"The Cloak and the Staff" is a science fiction novelette by American writer Gordon R. Dickson. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 1981.

Plot summary

A skilled human translator tries to balance his desire to stay alive with his need to lash out at Earth's hulking overlords, who treat humans as cattle, or at best, pets.

External links

Hugo Award for Best Novelette

Hugo Award for Best Novelette
Retro Hugos	"Rule 18" by Clifford D. Simak (1939) "The Roads Must Roll" by Robert A. Heinlein (1941) "Foundation" by Isaac Asimov (1943) "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" by Lewis Padgett (1944) "First Contact" by Murray Leinster (1946) "The Little Black Bag" by Cyril M. Kornbluth (1951) "Earthman, Come Home" by James Blish (1954)
1955–1960	"The Darfsteller" by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1955) "Exploration Team" by Murray Leinster (1956) "The Big Time" by Fritz Leiber (1958) "The Big Front Yard" by Clifford D. Simak (1959)
1967–1980	"The Last Castle" by Jack Vance (1967) "Gonna Roll the Bones" by Fritz Leiber (1968) "The Sharing of Flesh" by Poul Anderson (1969) "Goat Song" by Poul Anderson (1973) "The Deathbird" by Harlan Ellison (1974) "Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W" by Harlan Ellison (1975) "The Borderland of Sol" by Larry Niven (1976) "The Bicentennial Man" by Isaac Asimov (1977) "Eyes of Amber" by Joan D. Vinge (1978) "Hunter's Moon" by Poul Anderson (1979) "Sandkings" by George R. R. Martin (1980)
1981–1990	"The Cloak and the Staff" by Gordon R. Dickson (1981) "Unicorn Variation" by Roger Zelazny (1982) "Fire Watch" by Connie Willis (1983) "Blood Music" by Greg Bear (1984) "Bloodchild" by Octavia E. Butler (1985) "Paladin of the Lost Hour" by Harlan Ellison (1986) "Permafrost" by Roger Zelazny (1987) "Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1988) "Schrödinger's Kitten" by George Alec Effinger (1989) "Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another" by Robert Silverberg (1990)
1991–2000	"The Manamouki" by Mike Resnick (1991) "Gold" by Isaac Asimov (1992) "The Nutcracker Coup" by Janet Kagan (1993) "Georgia on My Mind" by Charles Sheffield (1994) "The Martian Child" by David Gerrold (1995) "Think Like a Dinosaur" by James Patrick Kelly (1996) "Bicycle Repairman" by Bruce Sterling (1997) "We Will Drink a Fish Together..." by Bill Johnson (1998) "Taklamakan" by Bruce Sterling (1999) "10¹⁶ to 1" by James Patrick Kelly (2000)
2001–2010	"Millennium Babies" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (2001) "Hell Is the Absence of God" by Ted Chiang (2002) "Slow Life" by Michael Swanwick (2003) "Legions in Time" by Michael Swanwick (2004) "The Faery Handbag" by Kelly Link (2005) "Two Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle (2006) "The Djinn's Wife" by Ian McDonald (2007) "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang (2008) "Shoggoths in Bloom" by Elizabeth Bear (2009) "The Island" by Peter Watts (2010)
2011–2020	"The Emperor of Mars" by Allen Steele (2011) "Six Months, Three Days" by Charlie Jane Anders (2012) "The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi" by Pat Cadigan (2013) "The Lady Astronaut of Mars", by Mary Robinette Kowal (2014) "The Day the World Turned Upside Down" by Thomas Olde Heuvelt, translated by Lia Belt (2015) "Folding Beijing" by Hao Jingfang (2016) "The Tomato Thief" by Ursula Vernon (2017) "The Secret Life of Bots" by Suzanne Palmer (2018) "If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again" by Zen Cho (2019) "Emergency Skin" by N. K. Jemisin (2020)
2021–present	"Two Truths and a Lie" by Sarah Pinsker (2021) "Bots of the Lost Ark" by Suzanne Palmer (2022) "The Space-Time Painter" by Hai Ya (2023)