 "The Hercules Text" was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award in 1986.Science fiction author Michael Swanwick said, in an overview of McDevitt's work, "Jack's first novel, "The Hercules Text", appeared in 1986 as an Ace Special, putting him in the august company of such luminaries as William Gibson, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Lucius Shepard.It was a good book."