Reviewed by Alex Roberts
Ever heard of Quaker science fiction? In 1986, Joan Slonczewski published a novel set on the distant aquatic planet of Shora, whose inhabitants resist an extractive military-colonial force with the power of nonviolent resistance. Some parts of it will feel familiar to Friends, and not just because the amphibious people of Shora, called “Sharers,” seem to be organized around a seafaring system of Monthly Meetings!
The story begins with a young man, a citizen of the colonial empire, who is brought to Shora by two Sharers who want to see if an outsider can learn their ways and live among them. He does, slowly, adapt to a culture built on simplicity, peace, integrity, community, and stewardship, and finds ways to help defend and support the Sharers from their invaders. Don’t expect a “messianic” trope here, however. His role in the Sharer’s resistance is relatively minor, as the narrative shifts more and more to the Sharers and their internal conflict and struggle to maintain their egalitarian society and ecological balance in the face of overwhelming power.
The author, also a microbiologist, blends a painfully detailed description of ecological destruction with imaginative speculative biology. For example, I loved her description of Sharers developing a morse code-like messaging system via a symbiotic species of insect! It’s a memorable book, and not just because of its ecofeminist, anti-war, anti-colonial, and scientific themes. I would recommend A Door into Ocean to anyone who enjoys well-written novels with unique ideas and deep characterization.
I hope to make Slonczewski’s other, more explicitly Quaker, sci-fi novel Still Forms on Foxfield the subject of a future review.
[It is the first book in the Elysium series — see Wikipedia entry]