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Saturn's Children (Stross novel)
Encyclopedia
Saturn's Children is a 2008 science fiction
novel
by British
author Charles Stross
. Stross has said that it is "a space opera and late-period Heinlein
tribute" (specifically Heinlein's Friday
). It was nominated for the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Novel
, and was a finalist for the 2009 Prometheus Award
.
The novel describes the travels and perils of Freya Nakamichi-47, a gynoid
in the distant future. Humanity
is extinct and android society has assumed a near-feudal
form, with "aristos" and "arbeiters" (a term from the German word arbeiter, worker) having spread throughout the Solar System
. Freya, a robotic courtesan
at loose ends after the extinction of the human race, becomes a courier for the Jeeves
Corporation and learns of a shadowy conspiracy to overturn, or perhaps even control, android society. Soon she is on the run with her identity and her very existence threatened.
The novel
includes numerous references to the works of Isaac Asimov
and Robert Heinlein, especially to Heinlein's novel Friday
: the protagonist is an artificial woman, designed and trained to make love to men or kill them; she travels extensively at the bidding of a mysterious "Boss", and impersonates an aristocrat
traveling on a spaceship as part of a mission and has a relationship to a man named "Pete". Even her name
hints at Heinlein's novel, and she is actually called "Friday" at one point, likely as a joke.
Saturn's Children is believed to be the first work of fiction to include the dwarf planet
Eris
as a setting.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
author Charles Stross
Charles Stross
Charles David George "Charlie" Stross is a British writer of science fiction, Lovecraftian horror and fantasy. He was born in Leeds.Stross specialises in hard science fiction and space opera...
. Stross has said that it is "a space opera and late-period Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
tribute" (specifically Heinlein's Friday
Friday (novel)
Friday is a 1982 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. It is the story of a female "artificial person," the titular character, genetically engineered to be stronger, faster, smarter, and generally better than normal humans...
). It was nominated for the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Novel
Hugo Award for Best Novel
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...
, and was a finalist for the 2009 Prometheus Award
Prometheus Award
The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction novels given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society, which also publishes a quarterly journal Prometheus. L. Neil Smith established the award in 1979, but it was not awarded regularly until the newly founded Libertarian Futurist...
.
The novel describes the travels and perils of Freya Nakamichi-47, a gynoid
Gynoid
A gynoid is anything which resembles or pertains to the female human form. It is also used in American English medical terminology as a shortening of the term Gynecoid ....
in the distant future. Humanity
World population
The world population is the total number of living humans on the planet Earth. As of today, it is estimated to be billion by the United States Census Bureau...
is extinct and android society has assumed a near-feudal
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
form, with "aristos" and "arbeiters" (a term from the German word arbeiter, worker) having spread throughout the Solar System
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
. Freya, a robotic courtesan
Courtesan
A courtesan was originally a female courtier, which means a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person.In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...
at loose ends after the extinction of the human race, becomes a courier for the Jeeves
Jeeves
Reginald Jeeves is a fictional character in the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse, being the valet of Bertie Wooster . Created in 1915, Jeeves would continue to appear in Wodehouse's works until his final, completed, novel Aunts Aren't Gentlemen in 1974, making him Wodehouse's most famous...
Corporation and learns of a shadowy conspiracy to overturn, or perhaps even control, android society. Soon she is on the run with her identity and her very existence threatened.
The novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
includes numerous references to the works of Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
and Robert Heinlein, especially to Heinlein's novel Friday
Friday (novel)
Friday is a 1982 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. It is the story of a female "artificial person," the titular character, genetically engineered to be stronger, faster, smarter, and generally better than normal humans...
: the protagonist is an artificial woman, designed and trained to make love to men or kill them; she travels extensively at the bidding of a mysterious "Boss", and impersonates an aristocrat
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
traveling on a spaceship as part of a mission and has a relationship to a man named "Pete". Even her name
Freya
In Norse mythology, Freyja is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, gold, seiðr, war, and death. Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chariot driven by two cats, owns the boar Hildisvíni, possesses a cloak of falcon feathers, and, by her husband Óðr, is the mother...
hints at Heinlein's novel, and she is actually called "Friday" at one point, likely as a joke.
Saturn's Children is believed to be the first work of fiction to include the dwarf planet
Dwarf planet
A dwarf planet, as defined by the International Astronomical Union , is a celestial body orbiting the Sun that is massive enough to be spherical as a result of its own gravity but has not cleared its neighboring region of planetesimals and is not a satellite...
Eris
Eris (dwarf planet)
Eris, formal designation 136199 Eris, is the most massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the ninth most massive body known to orbit the Sun directly...
as a setting.