Teddies?

[cheethamphoto]

Hi, I'm trying to find the title and author of a book from a limited description,, many years ago I watched a documentary that consisted of St writers discussing their favourite stories, the story I want to find out about was, ( my memory my betray me here). A planet colonised by humans that use the indigenous population as servants , the servants are willing and content, and they are called teds or teddies, some of the humans chose to be converted into teds, I've googled the description, and get the following result, Earthmans burden by Poul Anderson and Gordon Dickson, but in Wikipedia the book is described as a spoof, aliens that resemble teddy bears etc, I'm sure that isn't the story that was being discussed, any ideas?

 

[The Judge]

Can't help you myself, as this rings no bells at all, but I'll take your post across to Book Search where our more learned denizens dwell, and with luck someone there will know.

 

[chrispenycate]

I agree with Google; from that description I would immediately get the "Hoka" series (Anderson/Dickson), which are not actually novels, but collections of short stories on a single theme (not worrying too much about continuity). Yes, definitely spoof, but great fun.

 

[Ian Whates]

Yup, the Hoka stories were immediately what sprung to my mind too.

 

[iansales]

Endless Voyage by Marion Zimmer Bradley also features teddies called "Poohbears" as nannies: http://sfmistressworks.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/endless-voyage-marion-zimmer-bradley/

 

[clovis-man]

Perhaps Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper from 1962. Doesn't seem to quite fit your description, though. The book was nominated for a Hugo.