Creation Node by Stephen Baxter
(Gollancz, 2023)
Reviewed by Stuart Carter
Is Stephen Baxter the undisputed master of “cosmic horror”? He certainly doesn’t do classic movie jump scares—quite the very absolute opposite, in fact! First, he’ll terrify you with your insignificance measured against the size of the universe, and then he’ll make you weep at these pathetic scales when compared with the mind-boggling timespans that lie ahead of us.
If that isn’t cosmic horror, I don’t know what is.
Then there’s the slow, inevitable creep of Flood in which we’re all doomed, and no can-do science types are coming to save us. That kept me awake a few nights after reading.
And when humanity makes it into space, with technologies that dwarf our current achievements, enabling us to build a civilisation out there amongst the stars, even then it’s a temporary win at best, delaying the inevitable by a few thousand years. The source of our very cleverness, evolution, turns against us, as in works such as Mayflower II or in the Destiny’s Children sequence, in which time and the environment steadily grind down our intelligence in the name of fitness and survival.
You might struggle to tell, but I always enjoy Baxter’s work. He might not be the strongest stylist in science fiction, but his willingness to face head-on the reality of our universe puts him at the head of a very British tradition of simultaneous wonder and humility. So, of course you may not be surprised to hear that his latest book, Creation Node, is not a gentle comedy of manners; but nor is it quite a crushing pit of existential despair.
Perhaps he’s mellowing.
Creation Node is set a little over 200 years from now, when, having survived the trials of climate change and environmental damage, humanity is exploring the solar system. There are three major sociopolitical groupings: on the Moon is the Consortium, eager to expand into the universe and make the most of its many resources (arguably, the American faction, although it’s never specified as such). On Earth, they’ve learned some hard lessons about unrestrained growth from the chaos of the 21st century and are trying hard to work together and do more with less (you might call them the European faction—again, arguably). Meanwhile, out in space, the Conservers are attempting to live only on renewable resources, e.g., solar power, comets and other bodies doomed to burn up in the Sun’s atmosphere. Remarkably, the Conservers have built a craft, the aptly named Shadow, from these unpromising materials that, over decades, has taken six humans light-days into the deep Solar System, looking for the hypothesised Planet Nine.
But when Shadow eventually finds Planet Nine, it isn’t a planet. The Conserver crew think it might be a black hole; but a black hole wouldn’t make an intelligent response to a message. With a lot suddenly happening out on the edge of our solar system, the other big solar players are keen to get their own representatives out there, but, as Baxter has shown us before: space is hard! When/if they eventually get there, will this strange discovery bring human civilisation together? Or crashing down around our ears?
After this vision of a science fiction future—hopeful, but not wildly strange—the action ramps up exponentially. For some writers, an eco-friendly light-sail powered spaceship light-days away from the sun discovering a pseudo black hole might be the limit of their imagination, but Baxter doesn’t even get out of bed for that sort of thing. Creation Node takes us decades into that future, then much, much, MUCH further forward; and back again. Not content with mere cosmic horror, Creation Node takes us into a multiverse of universes, and asks: what if the worst thing in all eternity… is loneliness?
If you’ve enjoyed any of the author’s previous works, you’ll most likely enjoy Creation Node, too. It’s classic Baxter, with some big GIGANTIC, scary TERRIFYING ideas, functional prose, and a double-edged optimism about the long-term future of humanity.
Review from BSFA Review 23 - Download your copy here.