The Snow Queen is a science fiction/fantasy novel by Joan D. Vinge, published in 1980. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1981, and was also nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1980.
Based on the fairy-tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen, The Snow Queen takes place on a mostly oceanic planet called Tiamat, whose sun orbits a black hole, which facilitates a type of interstellar travel and connects Tiamat to the rest ...
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The Snow Queen is a science fiction/fantasy novel by Joan D. Vinge, published in 1980. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1981, and was also nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1980.
Based on the fairy-tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen, The Snow Queen takes place on a mostly oceanic planet called Tiamat, whose sun orbits a black hole, which facilitates a type of interstellar travel and connects Tiamat to the rest of the civilized galaxy (the "Hegemony", the remnants of a fallen Galactic Empire).
The residents of Tiamat are split into two clans: "Winters" who advocate technological progress and trade with offworlders, and "Summers" who depend on their folk traditions and rigid social distinctions to survive on this marginal planet. Every 150 years, the sun's orbit around the black hole dramatically impacts the planetary ecology and to keep the uneasy peace, the government switches from Winter rule to Summer rule under a matriarchal monarch. Interstellar...
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