The 70s Revisited

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 09:00:00 -0400

Today I want to talk about some of my favourite SciFi books from years gone by. In fact, two series by an author you just might never have heard of or ever read.

Brian M. Stableford — The British-born Stableford has written well over 50+ novels, but I want to highlight two of his earlier series from 70s that, for me at least, epitomised the kind of science fiction being written back then, that I was reading.

The HOODED SWAN series:

After years of surviving in his wrecked ship on an unnamed, desolate world, Grainger is charged for the cost of his rescue and finds himself unable to pay. Salvation comes when he is indentured as pilot of the revolutionary starship Hooded Swan and thrust into a series of gripping adventures in the service of New Alexandria. With only his wits and the not entirely reliable help of an alien mind parasite to call upon, in each novel Grainger and the Hooded Swan are pitted against a new puzzle or menace. And all the time he is paying off his fine, bit by bit, until he can call himself a free man again.

Halcyon Drift (1972)
Rhapsody in Back (1973)
Promised Land (1974)
The Paradise Game (1974)
The Fenris Drive (1974)
Swan Song (1975)

The DAEDALUS MISSION, in which a research ship is sent out to find out what’s happened to a number of colony ships and their passengers—sent out between 100 to 200 years earlier—sets up a series of adventures for the mostly scientific crew of seven, on these newly developed worlds. And all is not as it should be as the crew of the Daedalus find out.

The Florians (1976)
Critical Threshold (1977)
Wildeblood's Empire (1977)
The City of the Sun (1978)
Balance of Power (1979)
The Paradox of the Sets (1979)

What can I say, these read like serialised action adventures, with the erstwhile reluctant hero of the Hooded Swan series—Grainger—being aided and abetted by an alien parasite that lived deep inside his brain. While, Alex (yes, my namesake) in the Daedalus Missions heads up the scientists investigating what has happened to the six colonies.

Of course, looking back at both series, the cover art was true to form for the 70s, colourful and wildly suggestive. The Hooded Swan series kept to a theme of a spaceship which was in keeping with the theme, while the Daedalus series covers did—for the most part—at least, reflect the various stories being told.

It’s fun to look back now and think ‘wow, how did anyone think to pick these books up, let alone read them.’ Well, I did.

Bring on the Fantasy

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 15:26:00 -0400

Not all fantasy has to be grim.

After having a back and forth chat with an online friend about fantasy reads, I admitted I had never read GRRM and was not likely too, ever. The truth is I’ve not read a great deal of fantasy over the last 4-5 years and it took the likes of the masterful SA Chakraborty and her Daevabad trilogy to rekindle my love of the genre before Covid hit us hard.

Well, not all aspects of the genre, which has, in the intervening years since I started, spawned as many sub genre as science fiction has. Including the one I dislike the most and the one that seems to be a fantasy fan’s favourite these days if BookTok is anything to go by. I’m talking about grimdark. The very same genre that GRRM seems to be like writing. The kind that is extra violent. The kind wikipedia says of:

“Grimdark is a subgenre of speculative fiction with a tone, style, or setting that is particularly dystopian, amoral, and violent.”

My fantasy reading preference lean more towards the stories of Chakraborty and Bennett and a clutch of other new and emergent authors. Writers adding a fresh new slant to some familiar tropes and making them their own. Check out these authors if you haven’t already done so:

Luke Arnold — The Last Smile in Sunder City
Devon Madson — We Ride The Storm, In Shadows We Fall
SA Chakraborty — City of Brass
Sarah Beth Durst — Race the Sands
Dan Hanks — Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire
Malinda Lo — Ash
Jim C. Hines — The Stepsister Scheme, The Mermaid’s Madness
Robert Jackson Bennett — Tainted Cup, Foundryside

And you, what new fantasy authors have you discovered lately, if any?

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The 70s Revisited

Bring on the Fantasy