 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2020) |
Cover art by H. R. Van Dongen
Still Forms on Foxfield is a 1980 science fiction novel by Joan Slonczewski. It was their first novel.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2020) |
Still Forms on Foxfield is a 1980 science fiction novel by Joan Slonczewski. It was their first novel.
The planet Foxfield is inhabited by people who left Earth on the brink of a nuclear war. After a century on their new planet, the inhabitants are contacted by people from Earth. Foxfielders are members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, who have kept their faith while dwelling on a rather inhospitable planet. The Foxfielders' survival was made possible only by the natives of Foxfield, the Commensals, who were initially assumed to be hostile, but whose chemical talents have made human survival on Foxfield possible. When Commensals finish their life span, they go to the jungle, to a mysterious structure known as the Dwelling, to add their body and mind to the collective consciousness, the One.
Allison Thorne, a widow with a twelve-year-old son, David, who is in charge of the main settlement's technical center, is the one contacted by the Earth dwellers, United Nations Interplanetary. The UNI, who have been observing Foxfield secretly for years, are welcomed by the Foxfielders, who learn the history of the past century — that the war occurred, but was not as bad as thought — and begin to catch up on technology.
Friction soon begins to develop between Foxfielders and the newcomers. Credometers, worn like wristwatches, are accepted by Foxfielders without realizing that doing so makes them irrevocably part of UNI. Aspects of UNI culture, such as majority voting and violent space games in which people are killed, shock the Foxfielders. The UNI representatives have difficulty in understanding the Foxfielders, not surprising given that religion in the UNI is reduced to "preservation societies". Foxfielders fear they will soon be lost in the UNI masses—while the contact affects UNI culture as well.
Matters are brought to a head when the One announces that it intends to destroy the UNI ship, and reveals that it has already destroyed satellites. The Foxfielders mount an expedition to the Dwelling with Alison, her boyfriend, Seth Connaught, and a UNI citizen. They are able to persuade the One not to follow through on its plan.
A final chapter, set some months later, shows Foxfield slowly integrating into UNI society while insisting on maintaining its own identity.
Greg Costikyan reviewed Still Forms on Foxfield in Ares Magazine #3 and commented that "Still Forms is a story of courageous men and women attempting to deal with a crisis not of their own making, and it makes for enjoyable reading." [1]
James Nicoll, writing in 2015, noted that — aside from assumptions about the inevitability of nuclear war and the long-term historical relevance of Richard Nixon — the book "has not aged anywhere nearly as badly as it could have", particularly commending Slonczewski's depiction of "a world with ubiquitous networked communication", at which she "succeeds to a greater degree than many of her contemporaries did." [2]
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the second book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction "trilogy" by Douglas Adams, and is a sequel. It was originally published by Pan Books as a paperback in 1980. The book was inspired by the song "Grand Hotel" by British rock band Procol Harum. The book title refers to Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, one of the settings of the book. Elements of it are adapted from the radio series, primarily the Secondary Phase, although Milliways itself, Arthur and Ford's final fate come from Fits the Fifth and Sixth of the Primary Phase.
The Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy is a trilogy of novels by American writer Robert Anton Wilson consisting of Schrödinger's Cat: The Universe Next Door (1979), Schrödinger's Cat II: The Trick Top Hat (1980), and Schrödinger's Cat III: The Homing Pigeons (1981), each illustrating a different interpretation of quantum physics. They were collected into an omnibus edition in 1988.
Jesus on Mars is a 1979 science fiction novel by American writer Philip José Farmer, set on Mars and involving an alien civilization. It makes social commentary on a just society and on religious belief.
Demon Princes is a series of five science fiction novels by Jack Vance, which cumulatively relate the story of Kirth Gersen, a man trained by his grandfather to exact revenge on five notorious interstellar crime bosses, collectively known as the Demon Princes, who carried the people of his village off into slavery during his childhood. Each novel deals with his pursuit of one of the five Princes.
Lord Valentine's Castle is a novel by Robert Silverberg published in 1980.
Ares was an American science fiction wargame magazine published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI), and then TSR, Inc., between 1980 and 1984. In addition to the articles, each issue contained a small science-fiction-themed board wargame.
Joan Lyn Slonczewski is an American microbiologist at Kenyon College and a science fiction writer who explores biology and space travel. Their books have twice earned the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel: A Door into Ocean (1987) and The Highest Frontier (2011). With John W. Foster and Erik Zinser, they coauthor the textbook, Microbiology: An Evolving Science now in its fifth edition.
Expanded Universe, The New Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein is a 1980 collection of stories and essays by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. The trade paperback 1981 edition lists the subtitle under other Heinlein books as More Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein because the contents subsume the 1966 Ace Books collection, The Worlds of Robert A. Heinlein. The current volume is dedicated to William Targ.
The To the Stars trilogy is a series of science fiction novels by Harry Harrison, first published in 1980 (Homeworld) and 1981. The three books were re-published in an omnibus edition in 1981.
Sword of the Lamb is a science fiction novel by American author M. K. Wren published by Berkley Books in 1981.
Systemic Shock by Dean Ing is the first novel in his Quantrill trilogy and is a science fiction thriller set in the mid-1990s. After the Soviet Union collapses, as a consequence of the events described in General Sir John Hackett's book The Third World War (1978) in August 1985, China and India form a "Sino-Ind" coalition and launch a devastating nuclear attack on America.
Asteroid Zero-Four is a science fiction board wargame published by Task Force Games in 1979.
The Ruins of Isis is a novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley published in 1978.
The Man Who Corrupted Earth is a novel by G. C. Edmondson published in 1980.
Antinomy is a collection by Spider Robinson published in 1980.
Beyond Rejection is a novel by Justin Leiber published in 1980.
Songs from the Stars is a novel by Norman Spinrad published in 1980.
A Planet in Arms is a science fiction novel by American writer Donald Barr, published in 1981.
Starship & Haiku is a novel by Somtow Sucharitkul published in 1981.
Dale Aycock is an American author of science fiction.
 | This article about a 1980s novel is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page. |