 First edition | |
| Author | Frederik Pohl |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Rob Alexander |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Axolotl Press |
Publication date | 1992 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 150 |
| ISBN | 0-553-29487-3 |
| OCLC | 25808833 |
Stopping at Slowyear is a 1992 science fiction novel by American writer Frederik Pohl. [1] [2]
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. [3]
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 [3] years before public awareness of mad cow disease was widespread.
Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as speculative fiction and other genre fiction in the mid-nineteenth century and has remained extremely popular, particularly in novels. Some of the most famous heroes of detective fiction include C. Auguste Dupin, Sherlock Holmes, Kogoro Akechi, and Hercule Poirot. Juvenile stories featuring The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and The Boxcar Children have also remained in print for several decades.
Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Infection typically occurs by contact with the skin, inhalation, or intestinal absorption. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The skin form presents with a small blister with surrounding swelling that often turns into a painless ulcer with a black center. The inhalation form presents with fever, chest pain, and shortness of breath. The intestinal form presents with diarrhea, abdominal pains, nausea, and vomiting.
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Raine syndrome (RNS), also called osteosclerotic bone dysplasia, is a rare autosomal recessive congenital disorder characterized by craniofacial anomalies including microcephaly, noticeably low set ears, osteosclerosis, a cleft palate, gum hyperplasia, a hypoplastic nose, and eye proptosis. It is considered to be a lethal disease, and usually leads to death within a few hours of birth. However, a recent report describes two studies in which children with Raine syndrome have lived to 8 and 11 years old, so it is currently proposed that there is a milder expression that the phenotype can take.
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