Fomalhaut in fiction: Difference between revisions

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Fomalhaut#Etymology and cultural significance

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+#REDIRECT [[Fomalhaut#Etymology and cultural significance]]
-[[Image:Piscis Austrinus constellation map.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|Fomalhaut traditionally represents the '''mouth of the "fish"''', referring to its position in its constellation, [[Piscis Austrinus]], "the southern fish"]]
-[[Fomalhaut]] (α Piscis Austrini) is a [[stellar classification|class A]] [[star]] on the [[main sequence]] approximately {{convert|25|ly|pc|lk=on}} from the [[Sun]]. It is the brightest star in the [[constellation]] of [[Piscis Austrinus]] and at magnitude 1.2 is [[list of brightest stars|one of the brightest stars]] in the sky.
+{{R cat shell|
-Fomalhaut has a [[flare star]] companion called [[TW Piscis Austrini]] and a fainter [[red dwarf]] companion designated LP 876-10 or simply [[Fomalhaut C]]. There are several debris disks around the primary star as well as a proposed planet [[Fomalhaut b]] (also named Dagon).
+  {{R to section}}
+}}
-==Literature==
-* "[[August Derleth#Short fiction|The Trail of Cthulhu]]" (1944), short story (also published as "The House on Curwen Street") by [[August Derleth]], and other stories of [[H. P. Lovecraft]]'s [[Cthulhu Mythos]].  Fomalhaut is the home of the god [[Cthugha]], who resembles a giant ball of fire.
-* ''[[Pebble in the Sky]]'' (1950), novel by [[Isaac Asimov]]. Joseph Schwartz of Chicago is transported by a stray beam of radiation to the Earth of the far future, which is part of a galactic empire ruled from the planet Trantor. Finding himself in a wild countryside, he searches far and wide for help until he stumbles upon a cottage—only he can't understand the dwellers, nor they him. One of them theorizes, "He must come from some far-off corner of the Galaxy ... They say the men of Fomalhaut have to learn practically a new language to be understood at the Emperor's court on Trantor."<ref>{{cite book |title=[[Pebble in the Sky]] |last=Asimov |first=Isaac |authorlink=Isaac Asimov |date=1971 |publisher=Fawcett Publications |location=Greenwich, CT |page=21 }}</ref> Asimov would later substantially abandon using any real star names at all in the empire.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]] |last1=Clute |first1=John |authorlink1=John Clute |last2=Nicholls |first2=Peter |authorlink2=Peter Nicholls (writer) |date=1993 |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press|St Martin's Griffin]] |location=New York |pages=55–60 |isbn=0-312-13486-X |title=Asimov, Isaac }}</ref>
-* ''[[Dorsai!]]'' (1960), first novel (also published as ''The Genetic General'') in the unfinished ''[[Childe Cycle]]'' by [[Gordon R. Dickson]]. '''Dorsai''' ('''Fomalhaut III''') is the homeworld of the Dorsai who, inhabiting a resource-poor world, hire themselves out as mercenaries to other planetary governments. The novel follows the meteoric military career of the Dorsai protagonist and warrior extraordinaire, Donal Graeme.
-* ''[[Return from the Stars]]'' (1961), Polish language novel (''[[:pl:Powrót z gwiazd|Powrót z gwiazd]]'') by [[Stanislaw Lem]]. The novel tells the story of the astronaut Hal Bregg, who returns to Earth after a 127-year mission to Fomalhaut. Due to time dilation the mission has lasted only 10 years for him, but on Earth he faces culture shock as he finds human society transformed into a utopia free of wars or violence, or even accidents.
-* ''[[Star King]]'' (1964), "Demon Princes" novel by [[Jack Vance]]. Over drinks, protagonist Kirth Gersen is explaining to lovely Pallis Atwrode the origin of the humanoid race of Star Kings. One theory has it that the same vanished race who "left ruins on the Fomalhaut planets" kidnapped a tribe of Neanderthals long ago and removed them to the Star Kings' homeworld Ghnarumen, there to serve as an experimental evolutionary template for the highly adaptable but still rudimentary native life forms.<ref name=neanderthals>{{cite book |title=[[Star King]] |last=Vance |first=Jack |authorlink=Jack Vance |others=Multiple editors |date=2005 |publisher=[[Jack Vance#The Vance Integral Edition|The Vance Integral Edition]] |location=Oakland, California |volume=22 |page=122 |isbn=0-9712375-1-4 }}</ref>
-* "[[The Dead Lady of Clown Town]]" (1964), short story by [[Cordwainer Smith]]. The planet '''Fomalhaut III''' is the site of the martyrdom of D'Joan (D' indicating an underperson derived from Dog stock, while simultaneously alluding to [[Joan of Arc|Jeanne D'Arc [Joan of Arc] ]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]] |last1=Clute |first1=John |authorlink1=John Clute |last2=Nicholls |first2=Peter |authorlink2=Peter Nicholls (writer) |date=1993 |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press|St Martin's Griffin]] |location=New York |page=851 |isbn=0-312-13486-X |title=Mythology }}</ref>), an event that "makes the worlds reel": It sparks an interstellar civil rights movement across the planets governed by the [[Instrumentality of Mankind]].<ref>{{cite book |title=[[The Rediscovery of Man]] |last=Smith |first=Cordwainer |authorlink=Cordwainer Smith |date=1993 |publisher=NESFA Press |location=Farmingham, MA |page=228 |isbn=0-915368-56-0 }}</ref> The tale's exotic planetary setting glows with an air of complexity and antiquity, enhanced by Smith's own Chinese-influenced use of a fabulist's voice, that together lend an unforgettably haunting mood to its theme of sacrifice and redemption. Although broadly right-wing in his politics, Cordwainer Smith was deeply sympathetic to the liberation struggles of his fictional underpeople, as indeed he was with the American Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]] |last1=Clute |first1=John |authorlink1=John Clute |last2=Nicholls |first2=Peter |authorlink2=Peter Nicholls (writer) |date=1993 |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press|St Martin's Griffin]] |location=New York |pages=1121–1122 |isbn=0-312-13486-X |title=Smith, Cordwainer }}</ref>
-* "[[The Dowry of the Angyar|Semley's Necklace]]" (1964), short story by [[Ursula K. Le Guin]] set on '''Fomalhaut II''', and subsequently used as a prologue to the novel ''Rocannon's World'' (see next item in this section).
-<!--Note 'Semley's Necklace' and 'Rocannon's World' are intended to be consecutive items. Do not put other items between them.-->
-* ''[[Rocannon's World]]'' (1966), novel by [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]. The novel is set on the second planet of Fomalhaut, '''Rokanan'''. This planet is home to two species and four subspecies of sentient creatures of varying technology levels. ''Rokanan'' was Rocannon's name among the native Gdemiar.
-* ''[[The Unteleported Man]]'' (1966), novel (later republished as ''Lies, Inc.''), by [[Philip K. Dick]]. A new teleportation technology makes travel by spaceship redundant. A "paradise" colony planet in the Fomalhaut system, [[Piscis Austrinus#Notable features|Whale's Mouth]] (see graphic), is the destination for forty million colonists escaping from the drab existence of Earth's urban anthills, but it is a one way trip—no teleportation back to Earth is possible.
-* ''[[Andre Norton bibliography#Zero Stone|The Zero Stone]]'' (1968), novel by [[Andre Norton]]. The protagonist Mordoc Jern of this novel identifies his animal companion as a phwat from Fomalhaut.
-* ''[[The Forever War]]'' (1974), novel written by [[Joe Haldeman]]. Fomalhaut is mentioned as a destination for colonists during the beginning of the war with the taurans.
-* ''The War Games of Zelos'' (1975), novel by ''Richard Avery''. '''Zelos''' is the fifth planet of Fomalhaut. It was colonized in the year 2078.
-* ''[[Children of Dune]]'' (1976), novel in the [[Dune (franchise)|''Dune'' universe]] by [[Frank Herbert]]. When Paul Atreides' son Leto is forcibly injected with spice essence, and undergoes the spice trance, he dreams peering through narrow windows in time-space and marveling at ancient kernels of wisdom. Among the subjects of his inner exploration is the planetary system of Fomalhaut.
-* ''[[The Divine Invasion]]'' (1981), novel written by [[Philip K. Dick]]. The Fomalhaut system is the location of a galactic communications hub.
-* ''[[Radio Free Albemuth]]'' (1985), novel written by [[Philip K. Dick]] in 1976. In this alternate history, a resistance movement against a despotic US president is organized with radio broadcasts from a mysterious alien satellite by [[VALIS]], an omnipotent being (or network) from the Fomalhaut system.
-* "[[The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick#Volume V, The Little Black Box|Chains of Air, Web of Aether]]" (1987), short story written by [[Philip K. Dick]]. The Fomalhaut system is the location of a galactic communications hub.
-* ''[[Diaspora (novel)|Diaspora]]'' (1997), novel by [[Greg Egan]]. The Diaspora in the novel consists of a collection of one thousand exact digital copies of the C-Z polis (city state), deployed toward stars in all directions hoping to improve humankind's understanding of the physics behind an unpredicted gamma ray burst that wiped out most of Earth's inhabitants. Fomalhaut is one of the target stars, and the novel follows the expedition there.
-[[Image:Fomalhaut planet.jpg|thumb|right|Artist's impression of [[Fomalhaut b]] and a debris disk]]
-* ''[[Paul J. McAuley#The Quiet War series|In The Mouth of the Whale]]'' (2012), novel by [[Paul J. McAuley]] telling a tale of "the quick and the dead". Fomalhaut was first colonized by the [[posthuman]] ''Quick'', who established an archipelago of thistledown cities and edenic worldlets within the star's [[Fomalhaut#System|vast dust belt]] (see graphic). The Quick were conquered by a band of ruthless unreconstructed [[human]]s calling themselves the ''True''. Now the ''Ghosts'', a posthuman cult from Beta Hydri, threaten a third conquest. At issue is the mysterious metallic hydrogen core of Fomalhaut's ancient [[gas giant]] planet, which each race claims as a salvation with its own idiosyncratic vision (compare Philip K. Dick's use of the planet name [[Piscis Austrinus#Notable features|Whale's Mouth]] for a paradise planet of the Fomalhaut system in [[#Fomalhaut (Alpha Piscis Austrini)|Fomalhaut]]: ''The Unteleported Man'', 1966, above).
-* ''[[Marko Kloos#Frontlines Series|Frontlines Series]]'' (2013-), novels by [[Marko Kloos]]. The system contains a very cold but still habitable [[exomoon]] called '''New Svalbard''', which hosts a small colony of several thousand people.  It is a recurring setting throughout the ''Frontlines'' series until its invasion by the alien Lankies, the series' primary antagonists.
-==Games==
-* ''[[FTL:2448]]'' (1982–1990), role-playing game designed by [[Richard Tucholka]] and published by [[Tri Tac Games]]. Alvarez Station, a large space station and a major game asset, orbits the fifth planet, '''America''', in the Fomalhaut system.
-* ''[[Battlelords of the 23rd Century]]'' (1990–1998), role-playing game designed by Lawrence R. Sims and published by Optimus Design Systems. There are many alien races in the Battlelords universe, but twelve are presented in the basic rulebook and form the basis for the Galactic Alliance. One of these is the race of Chatilian Empaths from Fomalhaut.
-* ''[[Frontier: Elite II]]'' (1993) and ''[[Frontier: First Encounters]]'' (1995), computer games written by [[David Braben]] ''et al''. The Fomalhaut system is home to an agricultural colony planet that grows food crops and exports them to other worlds. To prevent food chain pollution, no kind of manufacturing is permitted on this world.
-* ''[[Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos]]'' (2001), video game developed by [[Particle Systems]] and published by [[Infogrames Entertainment, SA|Infogrames]]. Fomalhaut has been colonized by humans and is the first accessible star system in the Gagarin cluster, by virtue of possessing a jump accelerator linked to Santa Romera in the Badlands cluster. It is also, therefore, the best-defended star system and last to fall against the alien invasion.
-* ''[[Escape Velocity Nova]]'' (2002), computer game developed and published by [[Ambrosia Software]]. The Fomalhaut System is a minor trade hub featuring the inhabited worlds '''Gem''' and '''Snowmelt'''.
-==See also==
-* [[Stars and planetary systems in fiction]].
-==References==
-{{reflist}}
-{{Astronomical locations in fiction}}
-[[Category:Stars in fiction|Fomalhaut ]]
-[[Category:Planetary systems in fiction|Fomalhaut ]]
-[[Category:Lists of astronomical locations in fiction]]