The Hooded Swan series (or Star Pilot Grainger series) is a series of science fiction novels by Brian Stableford, published in the early 1970s, beginning with Halcyon Drift (1972). It consists of six books, which have also been collected in an omnibus entitled Swan Songs: The Complete Hooded Swan Collection (2001).
The series is set in the far future and possesses some of the features of space opera and planetary romance. It is narrated in the first person by the main character, Grainger, a well-known independent pilot. He is acerbic, sarcastic, and generally disagreeable on principle, attempting to keep himself isolated from others where possible. He serves as something as an unreliable narrator with respect to his own feelings and motivations.
To balance this out, Stableford uses the device of an alien symbiote, referred to as the wind, who is privy to all of Grainger's thoughts and wants to make him a better person. It also calls Grainger out on some of his self-deception.
Grainger is also privy to the wind's memories from times and places unknown to any other human - all of which he keeps to himself, though in several episodes it is clear that the information would have been highly appreciated by Grainger's employers.
Grainger is one of the few examples of a pacifist (in the pragmatic sense) lead character in science fiction, and is made all the more remarkable by the fact that he is something of an anti-hero.
Plot introduction The series is the story of star pilot Grainger, who is forced by circumstances, after his own ship is destroyed in a disastrous crash, to accept a job flying a new ship, the Hooded Swan, that is a fusion of human and alien technologies. She is faster and more manoeuvrable than any previous design, but despite the opportunity offered, Grainger resents the fact he is employed simply as a pilot but denied the position of captain, and cannot resign at any time during his two-year contract without dire financial penalties that he regards as thoroughly unjust. In fact Grainger regards his terms of employment as making him little more than a slave, or at least an indentured servant. However, left little alternative by his financial situation, Grainger takes the job, and carries out a variety of assignments for his new masters, accompanied by the unwelcome alien symbiote sharing his brain.
Origins and influences Brian Stableford has said that when he began writing Halcyon Drift he resolved that the series would embody an attitude towards violence closer to his own views than that of traditional action-adventure stories that he'd seen (and written) in the past. Grainger himself was meant to be a model of his own self-reconstruction.
Major characters Grainger: Narrator, a well-known independent space pilot and trader, and expert in alien environments. The Wind: Alien mind symbiote sharing the mind, thoughts, and senses of Grainger. Titus Charlot: Leader of the team that designed of the Hooded Swan, and a scientist from New Alexandria. Nick delArco: Shipbuilder and captain of the Hooded Swan. Eve Lapthorn: Back-up pilot of the Hooded Swan and pilot of the Sister Swan. Sister of Grainger's dead partner and engineer Michael Lapthorn. Johnny Socoro: Initially back-up engineer of the Hooded Swan, promoted to primary engineer at the end of Halcyon Drift. Rothgar: First engineer of the Hooded Swan. He resigns at the end of Halcyon Drift, but later signs on as the engineer of the Sister Swan. Denton: A police officer on New Alexandria, employed by Charlot on the side. He and Grainger become friends.
Ships Engine types Unlike a lot of science fiction, in the Hooded Swan universe there are multiple ways of travelling faster-than-light. Three are repeated regularly: Mass Relaxation: Through the use of a mass relaxation web, the ship neutralises the relativistic mass-gain as it approaches the lightspeed barrier and then makes a "tachyonic transfer" to accelerate beyond it. This is the method employed by the Hooded Swan and Sister Swan. P-Shifting: The details of this method aren't specified, but it is said that when it goes wrong, it goes wrong discreetly—they do not explode, they simply stop working. P-shifters are also unable to cope well with less than ideal conditions. The words "probability" and "phase" have both been used to expand the first letter. Dimensional Hopping: The details of this method aren't specified, but from the name it is possibly some variety of hyperspace.
Ships of note The Hooded Swan: The Hooded Swan is a creation of New Alexandria, a fusion of design principles from both human and Khormon sciences. It was built by Nick delArco, who also serves as the captain, under the direction of Titus Charlot and two other New Alexandrians. The Hooded Swan is the fastest starship known to exist, matched perhaps only by the Sister Swan (which has the same design). It can achieve speeds of fifty thousand times the speed of light in clear space, and can turn at twenty thousand, whereas most ships have difficulty turning at all. This is in large part due to the design of the ship, which is flexible and jointed; more like a bird than a traditional rocket or spaceship. Like most ships in this fictional universe, the Swan is piloted with the aid of a mind-machine interface. The Swan's interface, however, is more advanced than that of any other ship (save perhaps the Sister Swan), truly allowing the pilot to fly the ship as though it was an extension of his own body and to use the ship's sensors as though they were his own senses. The Sister Swan: A design similar to the Hooded Swan. Fire-Eater: The first ship owned by Grainger and Michael Lapthorn. An old and worn out dimension hopper that the partners used to trade around the rim of known space. Later they took a job retrieving alien knowledge and artifacts for the library on New Alexandria, because, in Grainger's words: "There was better money, come by far more easily, in the core, and we needed to scrap the Fire-Eater before she fire-ate herself and us with her." Javelin: Grainger and Lapthorn's new trading ship, purchased with the money earned from their contract with the library. Another dimension hopper like most independent trading ships, it was damaged by spatial lesion near the edge of the Halcyon Drift. Grainger brought the ship down in a forced landing on the planet he later named Lapthorn's Grave after his engineer, who was killed when the ship's engine ruptured in the crash.
Plot details Halcyon Drift (1972) The story begins with Grainger marooned alone on a desolate planet on the fringe of a notorious area of distorted space known as the Halcyon Drift. A drift lesion brought down his ship Javelin in a crash that killed his partner and engineer, Michael Lapthorn. Grainger has managed to survive for two years, but during his stay he has been invaded by an alien mind symbiote (although he considers it a parasite) which was similarly stranded on the planet when its previous host died there.
Grainger's distress signal is finally picked up by the Ella Marita, one of many ships searching for the Lost Star, a famous lost vessel hidden somewhere in the Halcyon Drift. The management of the Caradoc Company, the owner of the rescue vessel, feel they have wasted time and money following Grainger's signal instead of the one they were seeking, and so take him to court upon his return to civilization, and successfully levy a huge salvage fee against him and any of his future earnings.
Grainger returns to Earth to inform Lapthorn's family of what happened, and along the way encounters Johnny, the grandson of an old mentor, who is trying to get a job in space.
At Lapthorn's family residence, he also meets Michael Lapthorn's sister Eve, who suggests that she might be able to help him get a job. He rebuffs her offer a little rudely, but while staying with Johnny he is approached by Captain Nick delArco with an offer. He is wanted to fly a new ship, the fastest one ever built, on missions for the planet New Alexandria, for a period of two years. Once two years are up, they will pay off the balance of his debt.
Despite the generous terms, Grainger is suspicious, and almost balks when he learns that the first mission will be to go into the Halcyon Drift, in a completely untried ship, to recover the Lost Star. The wind helps to convince Grainger to take the job anyway. Johnny is hired as part of the deal.
Grainger learns that the man behind the project is someone he has worked for before, a scientist named Titus Charlot. Charlot has grand goals of uniting the galaxy through the sharing of knowledge. Grainger dismisses him as insane, although the wind appreciates his aims. Before they can leave, Grainger is the subject of an assassination attempt, but the source can not be proved.
On a world just outside the Drift, Grainger encounters an old friend, an alien (Khormon) trader named Alachakh. He is nearing the end of his life, and for personal reasons wants to find the Lost Star before he dies, but fears that the Hooded Swan will beat him to it. He proposes an arrangement with Grainger. He has acquired the location of the ship, and will lead the Hooded Swan to it. In exchange, Grainger would allow him one day with the ship and its cargo. After that, Grainger can have both the ship and the credit. Grainger agrees, despite that the Hooded Swan should be able to outrun Alachakh's ship, the Hymnia.
The Hooded Swan follows the Hymnia into the Drift but the trip is extremely dangerous. The Hymnia is damaged and stops moving, and Grainger insists on rendezvousing. On Hymnia he learns that the two on board were dead, and receives a message from Alachakh explaining why he wanted the Lost Star. It seems that the Khor-Monsa originated on another planet, called Myastrid, lost to history. As a matter of pride, the Khor-Monsa do not want anyone to know this, and have kept the secret even from most of their own population. It is believed the Lost Star visited Myastrid just before it crashed, and its cargo would contain evidence of Myastrid. Alachakh wants to destroy the evidence, to keep this one secret.
The Lost Star is located on a world in a particularly dangerous part of the Drift, and landing is too much for Grainger. He blacks out, and wakes to learn that the wind took control and landed the ship. The wind, who had always claimed that it could not force Grainger to do anything against his will, claims that this is still true, but admits that he can take over when Grainger has given up control. He insists he would only do so in an emergency or at Grainger's own request.
Grainger, delArco, and Johnny cross the planet in an armored vehicle, observing the strange biosphere that has evolved on the world, but there comes a point delArco and Grainger must proceed on foot. Grainger contrives to lose delArco and get to the ship first, intending to destroy the cargo, but when that fails, he manages to convince delArco of the righteousness of his goal without revealing the secret. The two destroy the cargo and tamper with the evidence, and claim that the Lost Star had no cargo.
On the way home, Caradoc ships attempt to destroy the Hooded Swan in an effort to prevent them from returning with the credit and glory of reaching the Lost Star, but Grainger's piloting manages to save the ship, and they escape. The Caradoc vessels fall victim to their own attack.
Rhapsody in Black (1973) Grainger shuttles Charlot and some passengers to the planet Rhapsody, an isolated religious community constructed entirely below-ground on a world too close to the parent star, because something valuable has been discovered there, and Charlot wants to negotiate for it. There, the crew is imprisoned upon arrival, but he and a few of the others escape.