Stopping at Slowyear

infobox Book |
name = Stopping at Slowyear
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Frederik Pohl
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Science fiction novel
publisher =
release_date = 1991
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 150 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-553-29487-3

"Stopping at Slowyear" is a 1991 science fiction novel by 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.

Not much is really done with any of the revelations about Slowyear's culture, however, since one of them puts a quick end to the story. 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, such as the crew of the interstellar cargo ship. The crew die from the disease and the story ends abruptly.

"Stopping at Slowyear" is interesting in that it addressed prion diseases years before public awareness of mad cow disease was widespread.