Brian Michael Stableford (25 July 1948 – 24 February 2024) was a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who published a hundred novels and more than a hundred volumes of translations. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but later ones dropped the middle initial and appeared under the name Brian Stableford. He also used the pseudonym Brian Craig for some of his very early and late works. The pseudonym derives from the first names of himself and of a school friend from the 1960s, Craig A. Mackintosh, with whom he jointly published some very early work.
Biography Born in Shipley, Yorkshire, Stableford graduated with a degree in biology from the University of York in 1969 before going on to do postgraduate research in biology and later in sociology. In 1979 he received a PhD with a doctoral thesis on The Sociology of Science Fiction.
Until 1988 he worked as a lecturer in sociology at the University of Reading. He was later a full-time writer and a part-time lecturer at several universities for classes concerning subjects such as creative writing. He was married twice, and had a son and a daughter by his first wife.
He wrote and contributed to numerous reference works, including the last print edition of the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, wrote books and essays on the history of science fiction, and published more than 200 translations of novels of early French science fiction and fantasy.
Brian Stableford died in Swansea, Wales, on 24 February 2024, at the age of 75.
Awards and honours 1985: Eaton Award for Scientific Romance in Britain: 1890–1950. 1991: Guest of Honour at CONFUSE 1991 in Linköping, Sweden. 1995: Nominee for Hugo Award for Best Novella (for "Les Fleurs du Mal" from Asimov's, Oct 1994). 1997: Guest of Honour at SFCD-Convention in Ratzeburg, Germany. 1998: Guest of Honour at SF-Days of Northrhine-Westphalia 10 (SFT-NRW10)in Dortmund, Germany. 1999: Pilgrim Award. 2000: Guest of Honour at NasaCon 2000, Swecon in Stockholm, Sweden. 2011: Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Awards, Special Award.
Works
Fiction
Series
Dies Irae The Days of Glory (Ace 1971) In the Kingdom of the Beasts (Ace 1971) Day of Wrath (Ace 1971)
Hooded Swan ( Grainger)
The Halcyon Drift (DAW November 1972 / J. M. Dent 1974); also available as an ebook, listed at 58,069 words Rhapsody in Black (DAW June 1973 / J. M. Dent 1975); also available as an ebook, listed at 51,279 words Promised Land (DAW February 1974 / J. M. Dent September 1975); also available as an ebook, listed at 49,848 words The Paradise Game (DAW June 1974 / J. M. Dent 1976); also available as an ebook, listed at 50,303 words The Fenris Device (DAW December 1974 / Pan 1978); also available as an ebook, listed at 49,782 words Swan Song (DAW May 1975 / Pan 1978)
All six novels are also available in an omnibus volume: Swan Songs (Big Engine April 2002 / SFBC April 2003)
Daedalus Mission
The Florians (DAW September 1976 / Hamlyn 1978) Critical Threshold (DAW February 1977 / Hamlyn 1979) Wildeblood's Empire (DAW October 1977 / Hamlyn 1979) The City of the Sun (DAW May 1978 / Hamlyn 1980) Balance of Power (DAW January 1979 / Hamlyn 1984) The Paradox of the Sets (DAW October 1979)
Asgard Asgard's Secret (Five Star October 2004); revised and expanded from 2 earlier versions: Journey to the Center (DAW 1982) Journey to the Centre (NEL October 1989) Asgard's Conquerors (Five Star December 2004); revised and expanded from an earlier version: Invaders from the Centre (NEL January 1990) Asgard's Heart (Five Star February 2005); revised and expanded from an earlier version: The Centre Cannot Hold (NEL June 1990)
Warhammer The Orfeo Trilogy: Zaragoz (GW Books November 1989) (as by "Brian Craig") Plague Daemon (GW Books April 1990) (as by "Brian Craig") Storm Warriors (GW Books March 1991) (as by "Brian Craig") The Wine of Dreams (Black Library October 2000) (as by "Brian Craig") Warhammer 40000: Pawns of Chaos (Black Library April 2001) (as by "Brian Craig")
David Lydyard (Werewolves) The Werewolves of London (Simon & Schuster UK July 1990) The Angel of Pain (Simon & Schuster UK August 1991) The Carnival of Destruction (Pocket UK October 1994)
Dark Future Ghost Dancers (GW Books May 1991) (as by "Brian Craig")
Genesys Serpent's Blood (Legend May 1995) Salamander's Fire (Legend May 1996) Chimera's Cradle (Simon & Schuster UK March 1997)
Emortality
The first six volumes are considered the main sequence and were published out of series order; preferred reading order shown below is established from the author's introduction to volume 6, The Omega Expedition. This series is also related to, though not always entirely consistent with, the 8 collections and 5 novels subtitled "Tales of the Biotech Revolution", see below.
The term "emortality", intended to indicate near-immortality as opposed to absolute immortality, is acknowledged by Stableford (in the acknowledgments to volume 3, Dark Ararat) to have been coined by Alvin Silverstein in his 1979 book, Conquest of Death.
In the introduction to his 2007 collection, The Tree of Life and Other Tales of the Biotech Revolution, Stableford describes this series as "tracking the potential effects of possible developments in biotechnology on the evolution of global society. [It can be considered] a modified version of the future history mapped out in The Third Millennium: A History of the World AD 2000–3000 (Sidgwick & Jackson 1985, written in collaboration with David Langford).
"The broad sweep of this future history envisages a large-scale economic and ecological collapse in the 21st-century brought about by global warming and other factors, followed by the emergence of a global society designed to accommodate human longevity (although that is not necessarily obvious in stories set in advance of the Crash)."
The Cassandra Complex (Tor March 2001); revised and expanded from: "The Magic Bullet" (nv), Interzone #29 1989 Inherit the Earth (Tor September 1998); revised and expanded from: "Inherit the Earth" (na), Analog July 1995 Dark Ararat (Tor March 2002) Architects of Emortality (Tor September 1999); revised and expanded from: Les Fleurs du Mal (na) Asimov's October 1994; also, see Collection 19, below The Fountains of Youth (Tor May 2000); revised and expanded from: "Mortimer Gray's History of Death" (na), Asimov's April 1995 The Omega Expedition (Tor December 2002); revised and expanded from: "And He Not Busy Being Born..." (ss) Interzone #16 Summer 1986 The Dragon Man: A Novel of the Future (Borgo Press 2009); a stand-alone "Young Adult" novel; also available as an e-book, listed at 65,401 words
Mnemosyne The Wayward Muse (Black Coat Press September 2005) Introduction (in) * "The Secret Exhibition" (nv), Weird Tales Fall 1999; revised here, per the author's introduction "The Incubus of the Rose" (ss), Weird Tales Summer 2000; revised here, per the author's introduction "The Arms of Morpheus" (short novel) * Eurydice's Lament (Black Coat Press Nov. 2015) The Mirror of Dionysius (Black Coat Press Dec. 2016) The Pool of Mnemosyne (Black Coat Press April 2018)
The Empire of the Necromancers The Shadow of Frankenstein (Black Coat Press December 2008) ; a fix-up of the following: "The Grey Men" (na) Tales of the Shadowmen, Volume 2: Gentlemen of the Night, ed. Jean-Marc Lofficier & Randy Lofficier, Black Coat Press 2005 "The Child-Stealers" (na) Tales of the Shadowmen, Volume 3: Danse Macabre, ed. Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier, Black Coat Press 2006 Frankenstein and the Vampire Countess (Black Coat Press November 2009) ; a fix-up of the following: "The Return of Frankenstein" (na) Tales of the Shadowmen, Volume 4: Lords of Terror, ed. Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier, Black Coat Press 2008 "The Vampire in Paris" (na) Tales of the Shadowmen, Volume 5: The Vampires of Paris, ed. Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier, Black Coat Press 2009 Frankenstein in London (Black Coat Press January 2011) ; a fix-up of the following: "Where Zombies Armies Clash By Night" (na) Tales of the Shadowmen, Volume 6: Grand Guignol, ed. Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier, Black Coat Press 2010 "The Necromancers of London" (na) Tales of the Shadowmen, Volume 7: Femmes Fatales, ed. Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier, Black Coat Press 2011
Auguste Dupin "The Legacy of Erich Zann" (na), see Collections 21 & 23, below The Mad Trist / Valdemar's Daughter (Borgo Press October 2010); billed as "Wildside Double #10" "Valdemar's Daughter: A Romance of Mesmerism" (na) *; also available as an ebook, listed at 30,405 words "The Mad Trist: A Romance of Bibliomania" (na) *; also available as an ebook, listed at 32,787 words The Quintessence of August: A Romance of Possession (Borgo Press January 2011) The Cthulhu Encryption: A Romance of Piracy (Borgo Press March 2011) Journey to the Core of Creation: A Romance of Evolution (Borgo Press November 2011) Yesterday Never Dies: A Romance of Metempsychosis (Borgo Press January 2013)
Morgan's Fork Spirits of the Vasty Deep (Snuggly Books March 2018) The Insubstantial Pageant (Snuggly Books Dec. 2018) The Truths of Darkness (Snuggly Books Aug. 2019)
Paul Furneret The Painter of Spirits (Snuggly Books Oct. 2019) The Quiet Dead (Snuggly Books Oct. 2019) Living With the Dead (Snuggly Books Nov. 2019)
Other novels
Cradle of the Sun (Ace Double 1969 / Sidgwick & Jackson October 1969) The Blind Worm (Ace Double 1970 / Sidgwick & Jackson March 1970) To Challenge Chaos (DAW May 1972) The Realms of Tartarus (DAW July 1977); a trilogy of short novels, the first of which is slightly revised from the following: The Face of Heaven (Quartet Books February 1976) Man in a Cage (John Day 1975); also available as an e-book, listed at 75,907 words; loosely based on the following story: "Meeting at Eternity" (vi), Proteus #3 1966 The Mind-Riders (DAW May 1976 / Fontana 1977) The Last Days of the Edge of the World (Hutchinson 1978 / Ace September 1985) The Walking Shadow (Fontana 1979 / Carroll & Graf July 1985) Optiman (DAW October 1980) / a.k.a. War Games (Pan UK July 1981) The Castaways of Tanagar (DAW April 1981) The Gates of Eden (DAW February 1983) The Empire of Fear (Simon & Schuster UK October 1988); revised and expanded from: "The Man Who Loved the Vampire Lady" (nv), F&SF August 1988 Young Blood (Simon & Schuster UK September 1992); also available as an e-book, listed at 129,274 words Firefly: A Novel of the Far Future, (Borgo Press 1994 / Cosmos Books May 2009); also available as an e-book, listed at 52,589 words; revised and expanded from: "Beyond Time's Aegis" (nv), Science Fantasy November 1965 {with Craig A. Mackintosh, as by "Brian Craig"} The Hunger and Ecstasy of Vampires (Mark V. Ziesing March 1996) – first published in somewhat abridged form in the following: "The Hunger and Ecstasy of Vampires" (na), Interzone January 1995 (+1) Year Zero (Sarob Press June 2000 / Five Star April 2003); a fix-up and expansion of the following 3 stories: "When Molly Met Elvis" (ss), Interzone April 1997 (as by "Francis Amery") "Molly and the Angel" (ss), Interzone July 1999 (as by "Francis Amery") "Molly and the Men in Black" (nv), Interzone September 1999 (as by "Francis Amery") The Eleventh Hour (Cosmos Books 2001); also available as an e-book, listed at 106,225 words Curse of the Coral Bride (Immanion Press UK November 2004); loosely based on the following: "The Light of Achernar" (nv), The Last Continent: New Tales of Zothique, ed. John Pelan, ShadowLands Press 1999 Kiss the Goat (Prime Books September 2005) The Stones of Camelot (Black Coat Press March 2006) ; revised and expanded from: "The Architect of Worlds" (na), Camelot Fantastic, ed. Lawrence Schimel & Martin H. Greenberg, DAW July 1998 Streaking: A Novel of Probability (PS Publishing June 2006 / Borgo Press September 2011) The New Faust at the Tragicomique (Black Coat Press April 2007)