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When the HOODED SWAN landed on Pharos, it was indeed all that paradise could be. They came to investigate, they stayed to protect. For unless they played the role of the angel with the flaming sword, very soon this softest and gentlest world of all men's dreams would become another gaudy hellhole of exploitation.
But as Grainger and the crew of the HOODED SWAN were to learn, this world, like the original paradise had a serpent of its own. And the apple of its tree of knowledge might be found too late to save its star-borne invaders... including its would-be defenders.
Cover Art by Kelly Freas.
Published by DAW in June 1974.
Dedicated to Barbara Carlisle
It was easy to see why Pharos was a pawn in the Paradise Game. The planet was the incarnation of all that people were conditioned to think of as beautiful an unpolluted Earth, a perfect environment that a few botanical beauty surgeons and several billion dollars could tailor to meet every need, want and dream.
Caradoc had adopted Pharos as part of the Paradise drive, had produced what it claimed was an agreement with the natives humanoid, gullible and all female. Charlot, New Alexandrian expert on alien/human understanding, sends Grainger to investigate the operation. But as the pilot of the Hooded Swan is soon to learn, this world, like the original paradise, has a serpent of its own.
Cover by Bob Marchant
Published by J.M. Dent in January 1977.
ISBN:0-460-04308-0
Its environment unpolluted and perfect, its inhabitants humanoid, gullible and female - Pharos was the natural pawn for the Paradise Game.
Charlot, New Alexandrian expert on alien/human understanding, despatches Grainger and the starship Hooded Swan to investigate the world of Pharos.
There, Grainger discovers that this Paradise also has a serpent of its own...
Cover by Angus McKie.
Published by Pan in January 1978.
ISBN:0-330-25268-2
In a galactic culture that extends from quasi-Utopian worlds like New Alexandria and New Rome to vermin-infested slums like Old Earth, the Star-Pilots of the starships that link the cosmos together are the great heroes of the day. Grainger, who has become a legend in his own lifetime, is drafted to fly the prototype (the Hooded Swan) of a new ship that could revolutionize space travel.
Pharos is paradise—or so it seems. It is, at the least, a good enough simulacrum to start people fighting over it. The champions of commercial enterprise want to package and sell it; the conservationists want to stop them, at any cost. Grainger's employer, Titus Charlot, is brought in to negotiate a settlement—but the game is rigged, and nobody is playing it honestly. Charlot needs Grainger's help, but there seems to be nothing useful that the Star-Pilot can do—until the planet's ecosystem takes a hand, and "paradise" suddenly turns murderous…
Published by Wildside Press in March 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4344-3503-3
In a galactic culture that extends from quasi-utopian worlds like New Alexandria to the vermin-infested slums of Old Earth, the Star-Pilots are the great heroes of the day, and Grainger has become a legend in his own time.
Pharos is paradise – or so it appears. But the champions of commerce want to package and sell the planet, and the conservationists want to stop them. Grainger’s employer, Titus Charlot, is enlisted to negotiate a settlement, but the game is rigged. Charlot needs the Star-Pilot’s help, but there seems to be nothing he can do – until the planet’s ecosystem takes a hand, and “paradise” suddenly turns deadly!
Published by Orion (ebook) in May 2018.
ISBN: 978-1-4732-1953-3
In omnibus Swan Songs.
Translated into French as: Un
Petit coin de Paradis;
also in omnibus Grainger
des Étoiles: L'intégrale — tome 2.
Translated into German as: Die
Paradies-Prinzip; also in omnibus Die
Saga vom Raumpiloten Grainger.
Translated into Japanese.
