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Mayflower II by Stephen Baxter
01/02/2005 . Source: Sue Davies 
pub: PS Publishing. 88 page limited edition book. Hardback: Price: £25.00 (UK), $40.00 (US). ISBN: 1-904-619-17-7. Paperback: Price: £10.00 (UK), $16.00 (US). ISBN: 1-904-619-16-9. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.pspublishing.co.uk
When faced with a 700 page novel to read, no matter how fond I am of the author, it can be rather daunting. It is a pleasant change to pick up something a little shorter from PS Publishing that is less likely to induce arthritis of the elbows.
This short novella offers a huge story condensed into one of the shortest story forms and the contrast between the two I assume is deliberate. Squeezing an eons long story into 88 pages is a little like post-Christmas jeans wearing - there is potential for disaster if you've eaten too much so the story has to be virtually fat free.
The focus of the story is Rusel, who has the opportunity to escape from a doomed planet. Port Sol is under attack from the Coalition. Only the chosen few can join the slower-than-light transports - generation starships. He must leave his lover behind and come to terms that he will never make planetfall again. By a twist of fate, Rusel becomes one of the leaders of the refugees and must be subjected to a programme that will make him, to all intents and purposes, immortal.
The fate of the spaceship is in his hands. Rusel is the closest these people get to their own deity. As the years become centuries, his perception of passing time stretches and the story covers innumerable generations.
As Rusel moves further away from the human race he is protecting, the story becomes more dispassionate. From a man who was extremely disturbed about leaving his home and his lover, he becomes an observer of an a devolving species who almost casually swipes away the irritant that his charges have become. He makes decisions that are for the long term good, not seeing people as individuals but only as a mass to be manipulated. This faulty god only leads the humans further down the path into oblivion.
Clever and thought provoking, I like it much better than Baxter's longer works because it is so involving whilst being coolly logical. It can be read at one sitting but also rewards being re-read to examine the fine detail that makes up this densely constructed work.
Sue Davies
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