Brian Charles Daley (December 22, 1947 – February 11, 1996) was an American science fiction writer.
His novels include a space opera trilogy (Requiem for a Ruler of Worlds, Jinx on a Terran Inheritance, and Fall of the White Ship Avatar) featuring the adventures of Odd Couple Hobart Floyt and Alacrity Fitzhugh, and the fantasy novel The Doomfarers of Coramonde, in which a group of Vietnam veterans are recruited to defend a magic kingdom.
Daley also did film and television tie-in work, including the novelization of TRON. He was one of the first authors to work in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, writing a trilogy of novels featuring the adventures of Han Solo and Chewbacca before they met Luke Skywalker (in which he foreshadows the Millenium Falcon flying through a chasm sideways before The Empire Strikes Back and droid armies long before the prequels). He also wrote all the scripts for the Star Wars radio adaptation. He was also story editor and producer on Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers with the Mandells and Christopher Rowley, which was heavily influenced by the early Star Wars Expanded Universe.
His many collaborations with James Luceno were published under the joint pseudonym "Jack McKinney", and included a large number of Robotech spin-off novels as well as a smaller but not insignificant body of original fiction.
Works by Brian Daley with their own pages include:
- The Han Solo Adventures
- Star Wars Radio Dramas
- Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers (James Luceno also wrote for the series)
Other works by Brian Daley provide examples of:
- Automaton Horses: Averted in The Doomfarers of Coramonde, especially when it's mentioned that one of the legends of a certain tribe of horse-riding nomads involves a young man who rode a horse to death in an attempt to rescue his sweetheart. When he saved her and she found out what he'd done to the horse, she killed him.
- Awesome Personnel Carrier: The plot of The Doomfarers of Coramonde kicks off when a sorcerer, seeking something that will defeat a rampaging dragon, summons up an APC and its crew from another world.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: The Starfollowers of Coramonde has a character named Brodur who uses his right hand in fencing while setting up a hustle bet, and insults his opponent by saying, more or less, "I could beat you, even left-handed." Brodur is left-handed, and once the bet is for big money, he shows it.
- Magic Versus Science: In the stand-alone novel A Tapestry of Magics, it is mentioned that technology tends to be unreliable the closer one gets to the "Singularity" (the center of the multiverse).
- No Face Under the Mask: In The Doomfarers of Coramonde, the general of the evil wizard's army is wearing a golden mask. Turns out he is blank under the mask: No eyes, no nose, no mouth, no nothing. The wizard must have either created him or mutilated him horribly.
- Parasol of Pain: In the Floyt & Fitzhugh trilogy, a well-equipped "breakabout" (spacer) will often carry a "gamp" or "brolly" that can double-in-brass as a weapon, emergency shelter, and other things.
- Posthumous Character: Cazpahr Weir, lord of a small interstellar empire, dies in the prologue of Requiem for a Ruler of Worlds. The main story concerns a hapless Terran bureaucrat left a mysterious bequest in Weir's will, for no reason he can (at first) understand.
- Precursors: A major thread running throughout the Floyt & Fitzhugh trilogy is the existence of ancient alien artifacts and sites found throughout inhabited space. Precursor technology is highly coveted but barely understood, and is an obsession of Fitzhugh's in particular. Among their works, the Precursors created a Klemperer rosette of paradise planets orbiting Spica.
- Pulling the Rug Out: In The Doomfarers of Coramonde, this is how Springbuck kills Strongblade at the climax of the novel. Being driven back by Strongblade's magical flaming sword Flarecore, Springbuck retreats to the edge of the dais they are fighting on so he is off the carpet covering most of the dais but Strongblade is still standing on it. Springbuck parries an overhead blow and kneels and grabs the carpet and yanks it. Strongblade is only driven to one knee but Springbuck in desperation loops the carpet around Strongblade's sword and arm, entangling him in the carpet that instantly bursts into flame. Strongblade in panic entangles himself further in the carpet trying to extricate himself and burns to death.
- Referenced by...: Yatzee Ctoshaw's Will Save the Galaxy for Food references his pen name Jack McKinney with a scifi writer named Jaques McQewon, also a pen name.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: Hobart Floyt has access to a whole galaxy's worth of futuristic weaponry but he chooses to carry a reproduction Webley revolver for its simplicity and reliability.
- Starship Luxurious: The Floyt & Fitzhugh series includes several examples, including The Pearl, a very large iridescent blue sphere whose main passenger deck is a decadently appointed lounge, complete with bar and attractive string quartet—and it's just the landing shuttle of an even larger and more luxurious ship. They're both also armed to the teeth (the mothership is one of the most powerful warships in the region), but you'd never know it by looking at them.
