To my knowledge I've never read Stableford before. That he's a British writer is most likely part of the reason ... Canada may be part of the Commonwealth but actual paper books are expensive to ship overseas and science fiction (and fantasy) being considered somewhat disreputable until fairly recently, the import pickings have always been fairly slim ... just a few major authors. Ebooks, weighing nothing and taking up zero freight space, are changing that ... hallelujah! All this to say that's most likely why I wasn't familiar with his name or work.
Glad I've found him now, though. The Daedalus Mission books turned out to be a fascinating look at how humans (and any animals and plants they take with them) might or might not fit into the ecology of other planets as colonists ... I've been thinking of it as theoretical exo-ecology. Because, let's face it, if we try to live anywhere other than Earth we WILL be an invasive species, no matter how environmentally friendly we try to be. Even a single bacterium from our bodies has the potential to run amuck when free of the natural controls it evolved with. We'll wither and die, we'll somehow manage to find a niche, we'll replace and/or destroy what was originally there ... or we'll have to adapt so rapidly and drastically that our own species will have problems recognizing us (and that doesn't necessarily mean physically changed). The Daedalus visits six colonies during its voyage and encounters all those outcomes. And more. Because ecology is never simple.
I believe I have a ton more Stableford to read now ...
P.S. There's one scene in the sixth book that I swear must have inspired the Vin Diesel film "Pitch Black"
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Tags: reading
Into the past
