Stopping at Slowyear

1991 novel by Frederik Pohl
0-553-29487-3OCLC25808833

Stopping at Slowyear is a 1991 science fiction novel by American writer Frederik Pohl.

Plot summary

Stopping at Slowyear tells the story of an interstellar cargo vessel which runs between out-of-the-way worlds, as it visits a planet called Slowyear after its 19-year-long revolution around its star.

The crew explore the local culture and find several odd customs. Among these is of a sort of death lottery as a punishment for crimes. If someone commits a crime, they are sentenced to take a pill, which depending on the severity of the infraction will have a different probability of being lethal poison.

Slowyear's principal industry is raising sheep. During their isolation, their sheep have developed a form of scrapie which is lethal to humans without immunity.

Stopping at Slowyear addressed prion diseases years before public awareness of mad cow disease was widespread.

References

External links

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Works by Frederik Pohl
Undersea Trilogy
(with Jack Williamson)Heechee Saga
Eschaton trilogy
Mars series
Saga of Cuckoo
(with Jack Williamson)The Starchild Trilogy
(with Jack Williamson)
Space Merchants series
  • The Space Merchants (1953) (with Cyril M. Kornbluth)
  • The Merchants' War (1984)
  • Venus, Inc. (1985 Omnibus) (this is a two-in-one volume containing The Space Merchants and The Merchants' War)
Other
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