The Elusive Shadows

A Tale of the Biotech Revolution

Brian Stableford

They’re essentially frustrating—things I glimpse out of the corner of my eye, but which disappear as soon as I try to look at them directly. For me, they’re always peripheral. Elusive shadows, as you say. They modify the color of whatever they’re gliding over, but they don’t seem to have any color of their own. As for shape and structure, I only have the vaguest impression . . . Are they shadows? Shadows of something else?

Adrian Stamford, a genetic engineer, is something of a genius in his field, but also has a special ability: to see nuances in color that no one he has ever met can see, which has led him to be hired by Yorkshire industrialist Jason Jarndyke to develop biotech cloths of unique and exquisite color—and maybe even an authentic Golden Fleece.

But Jarndyke’ s beautiful wife, Angie, has a special ability, and secrets, of her own.

The Elusive Shadows is a tale of the biotech revolution, post-contemporary art, and color as both the ultimate medium of expression and a concealed source of fear.

About the Author

Brian Stableford’ s scholarly work includes New Atlantis: A Narrative History of Scientific Romance (Wildside Press, 2016), The Plurality of Imaginary Worlds: The Evolution of French roman scientifique (Black Coat Press, 2017) and Tales of Enchantment and Disenchantment: A History of Faerie (Black Coat Press, 2019). In support of the latter projects he has translated more than a hundred volumes of roman scientifique and more than twenty volumes of contes de fées into English. He has edited Decadence and Symbolism: A Showcase Anthology (Snuggly Books, 2018), and is busy translating more Symbolist and Decadent fiction. His recent fiction, in the genre of metaphysical fantasy, includes a trilogy of novels set in West Wales, consisting of Spirits of the Vasty Deep (2018), The Insubstantial Pageant (2018) and The Truths of Darkness (2019), published by Snuggly Books, and a trilogy set in Paris and the south of France, consisting of The Painter of Spirits, The Quiet Dead and Living with the Dead, all published by Black Coat Press in 2019.

Paperback, 252 pages. Release date, October 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64525-051-7
Price: US$17.50