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Andris Myrasol, Princess Lucrezia and their companions are now spread widely across the face of the world. Yet they all struggle towards the area known as Chimera's Cradle, facing ridiculous odds in order to solve the mysteries that led to their journey, so many months ago. The Chimeras themselves, amazing as they appear to be, are the least of the wonders that will be encountered upon this final journey, which will lead various of the travellers to death, knowledge and transformation.

SCIENCE FICTION CHRONICLE has called this series 'The kind of major storytelling event that comes around all too seldom in SF'. Now, every reader will see just how true that is, as they join the adventurers on their final journey.

Cover art by Mark Salowski. Cover design by Slatter-Anderson

Published in 1997 by Legend.
ISBN:0-09-944371-6

With Chimera's Cradle Brian Stableford brings the acclaimed book of Genesys to a stunning and unexpected climax.

Andris Myrasol, Princess Lucrezia and their companions are now spread widely across the face of the world. Yet they all struggle towards the area known as Chimera's Cradle, facing ridiculous odds in order to solve the mysteries that led to their journey, so many months ago.

The Chimeras themselves, amazing as they appear to be, are the least of the wonders that will be encountered upon this final journey which will lead the travellers to death, knowledge and transformation.

'Stableford seems to be redefining the genre in a big way' SFX

Published in 1997 by Orbit.
ISBN:1-85723-636-X

Review by Ian Braidwood

Cast of Characters:
Andris Myrasol, Ereleth, Princess Lucrezia, Dhalla, Hyry Keshvara, Sergeant Purkin, Captain Jacom Cerri, Checuti, Carus Fraxinus, Aulakh Phar, Merel Zabio, Koraismi, Jume Metra, Ssifuss, Mossassor, Seth, General Shabir, Vaca Metra, Kasdeja, Venerina Sirelis, Ixtlplt, Ssumssurum, Milkiel, Rayner, Vekoren, Kasabil, Lississee.

Although it met with good reviews upon release, the Genesys trilogy didn't attract the sort of attention it deserves and why it didn't get an American release is a mystery more puzzling than any silly crop circle.

So why didn't it grab the imagination of the SF cognoscenti?

I believe the answer is simply because Brian wrote it and he is considered a known quantiy.

What's more, Brian is a man who doesn't blindly follow fashion and doesn't deliver mere entertainments where the danger to the characters is a clever illusion. In Stableford books, all the characters are in real peril and not merely of death. Let that be a warning to you.

While other authors have chased nanotechnology, chutzpah and big science, Brian has quietly been honing his art. His knowledge of biology is too deep and his understanding of and interest in the philosophical implications of his scenarios too profound, for him to consider fashion worthwhile. Oh, he has aped fashion, but never surrendered to it.

So how does this paean relate to the book, of which this review is supposed to be the subject?

In a genre addicted to hypebole, a story where the fate of the world (or better still, the galaxy) doesn't hang by the hero's actions and where the only reward is understanding doesn't easily fit, even when the climax is as astounding as it is here.

In writing Genesys, Brian has abandoned the fixations of life, stepped back and tweaked an over-arching feature of the world, before refocusing upon our scale. The result could be mistaken for a gaudy fantasy, but is alien in a way that is difficult to understand, until piece by piece the clues are handed to you, disolving the fantasy patina and revealing the underlying logic.

For me the first time around, Genesys laboured in the shadow of the Werewolves trilogy. My feeling was that after so titanic an effort, Genesys had to be less ambitious. In a way it is, for how could such a grab for the meaning of it all be equalled on its own terms? However, rereading Genesys has given it its place in the sun, where it has blossomed sweetly as a fable about life and its inherent value.

For you, gentle reader it is time to look at late Stableford as if he were new to you, as if SF was new to you and abandon the agendas which SF culture infects you with. There are more stories to tell than are dreamed of in the halls of hyperbole.

To read David Langford's review of this book, click HERE.
A review by Simeon Shoul is online HERE

The Brian Stableford Website