Longer

The full review is available at The Gray Planet.

Longer* by Michael Blumlein is a book I looked forward to based on hearing about it, and wanted to like. There turned out to be almost nothing to like.

The story presents itself as a science fiction puzzle story—an asteroid is captured and brought back to near Earth orbit and there is an object of interest (OOI) on it. Gunjita and Cav are scientists working for a pharmaceutical company on board an earth orbit station investigating a new drug for rejuvenation treatments. The pharmaceutical company, Gleem, is also a mining company and it is Gleem's mining probe that has brought back the asteroid. In addition to their responsibilities investigating new rejuvenation pharmaceuticals, they are also the scientists on scene to investigate the asteroid and the object it brings with it. Is it alien life or not?

Gunjita and Cav are also husband and wife, and have been for 60 years. But now, Gunjita has taken her second rejuvenation treatment and is young again, while Cav is delaying his and is in his 80s.

So, what happens? Well, it turns out the story is really about Cav and the reasons he wants to delay his rejuvenation and why. The asteroid, the development of a new rejuvenation drug, and the complex and presumably portent filled history of Cav and Gunjita and and old friend (Dashaud) and an unexplained historical event called the Hoax and a few other things are just throwaway ideas that allow Blumlein to fill pages in the book.

This still could have been a good story. The problem is, that Blumlein is not up to the task. He dumps page after page of exposition on us and it is boring. He attempts, in dialogue, to hint at complex relationships and personal histories filled with portent. The problem is that his dialogue is confusing and unclear, his hints are so vague they confuse rather than intrigue, and his puzzles—the asteroid's possible harboring of life, and the possibility of a breakthrough in rejuvenation drugs—are discussed in simplistic dialogue with no substantial technical information imparted, and no resolution at all of any of the issues.

For some reason, I finished this book. I am sorry I wasted my time even though I skimmed much of it. I hoped at least for an interesting answer to the asteroid question, some insight into an alien life form. I got nothing. You won't either. Avoid this one.

Thank you to Tor.com and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this story in exchange for my open and honest opinion.

“An island of bliss in a sea of amnesia”

This story touches on some important issues. What it means to live. What it means to die. When do you live enough life? Classicism. Love and marriage over a long period of time. Yet, even with its loftier goals of deep discussion and narrative, the story falls bitterly, and entirely flat.

The story involves four different characters over the course of a few weeks.

Cav – Scientist, 84. Cav works on a space station with his wife Gunjita. They study a drug that can halt and reverse aging, but is not successful yet. He has rejuvenated once already and has not rejuvenated the second and final time. Cav has reservations about the rejuvenation process and the socio and psychological ramifications.

“Death was a journey, composed of little deaths, little steps along the way. Sometimes the steps were close together, tightly packed, and death came rapidly.”


Gunjita – Scientist, 82. Cavs newly rejuvenated wife. Also a scientist and working in concert with Cav in zero-g.


Dash – Friend and newly rejuvenated doctor. He has a new special ability in his fingertips.


Asteroid with weird Organic Splatter – This object is a point of contention between Gunjita and Cav. Is it alive, or inert?


Cav and Gunjita work in a space station studying an anti-aging drug that. If they are successful they could roll back death turning humans into Methuselah. If you are rich enough to afford it. Obvious class conflict. Extended life is given only to those born to privilege or circumstance. The repercussions of this are something that Cav struggles with. Cav and Gunijta find an asteroid speckled with what looks like vomit. Cav believes that the speckle could be sentient and Gunjita believes that it is not. This causes a rip in their marriage. This story attempts to speak very plainly about age and marriage. Yet, I found that the marriage depicted in the story lacked realism and edged towards vapid. As a couple that had been married for 50 years as well as two prominent and respected scientists, their discussion of science and relationships are shallow, and at times verged on tedious. This paired with the characterization of youth versus age threw me out of the story many times. The trope of youth as a place of wonder and excitement, while age is the place to be endured till you can afford to be rejuvenated again, is flat and unrealistic. Youth does not make you a magically vibrant person. Nor, does age make you wise.

This story had quite a lot of graphic representations of scientific horrors involving embryos and could be triggering for some. I just found it to be gratuitous on top of the bloated and unrealistic narrative.

This is a bitter story, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. Because in the end, you feel nothing. Nothing towards the story, the characters, their plight. Nothing. Maybe that was Blumlein's intent. Because in the end, it is all nihilism. Although I wanted to like this story, Blumlein is a skilled writer, I didn't. I cannot get behind the sentiment, characterization, pacing, or message. I do not recommend.