Brian M. Stableford has been one of the most active writers and critics of science fiction and fantasy since the last quarter of the twentieth century. He has done extensive research on the topic, which has resulted in such works as Scientific Romance in Britain, 1890-1950 (1985). In his fiction, Stableford envisions interesting alien ecosystems and alternate forms of social organizations on planets far removed in space and time. His fiction stresses the importance of individual and group moral responsibility for decisions that, even if they cannot change things as they are, can and do influence things as they might become.

Though he began by writing simple adventure in the early Ace and DAW fiction series, Stableford also experimented fairly early with questions about the nature of reality in works such as Man in a Cage (1975) and The Walking Shadow (1979). The Fallen Angels trilogy, the Genesys trilogy, and later...