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FRONTIERSVILLE HIGH by Stephen Bowkett

FRONTIERSVILLE HIGH

By

Pub Date: Nov. 1st, 1991
Publisher: Victor Gollancz--dist. by Trafalgar

Four loosely linked stories set in the near future, in and around the high school of an orbiting Habitat. Jeremy has a crush on Theo, who has eyes only for new student Harry--who turns out to be an experimental android, learning human emotions through Jeremy. An accident has turned the cleaning robots into independent scavengers, as Peter finds out when they drag Jane--who has a crush on Peter--off to the dustbin. But Theo is allergic to new soft-drink Jolly Juice, with the result that she discovers--with the help of iconoclast Kenny, with whom she has a serious budding relationship--the Jolly Juice plot to take over the Habitat. And Daniel's dreams come true when ex-porn star Sylvia Sylvane comes to Frontiersville to tape a Captain Cosmos segment: not only does Daniel thwart a real plot to kidnap Sylvia, but he gets to star with her in a new series! Sweet Valley High in space, with enough detail to give the location some verisimilitude (although not all the details are consistent, particularly the way gravity is run through hoops). But while the author--a British teacher of English--has the trappings of adolescence right, the girls are a shade too clinging and admiring to be either credible or likable. Okay for avid SF fans.