Star Winds

What an absolutely delightful, SF flavored fantasy.
It's a Vance styled "sailing ships in space" picaresque, with Alchemy as the "science" that propels the story. A wonderfully plotted little novel, it unfolds and expands nicely, is loaded with interesting and inventive details in it's less than 200 page length, and comes to a cosmic yet emotionally satisfying ending.

One of Bayley's best.
****1/2

So you’re an SF fan. You want all the crazy, swashbuckling action of Dan Dare and the Intergalactic Squid Invasion but the intellectual challenge of A Canticle for St. Squidbert. Oh yeah, and the outlandish fantasy of The Unicorn Chronicles Part XLIV. Whatcha gonna do, read The Economist? How about you try Barrington Bayley, the best-kept secret of SF.
http://fireandsword.blogspot.com/2007/06/star-winds-by-barrington-bayley-so.html

A pulp- like adventure. Lacks any real character development. Not to my taste.

Hey! For all I know, Barrington J. Bayley's really a very nice interesting guy who just writes these bks to make a living & might write some really brilliant stuff under a different name. SO, excuse me, Barrington, for using yr bks as an excuse for short shrift.