Steve Ostringer

After returning home, Coman Gettme discovers that his hometown has come to be governed strictly by fashion.

A dystopian future in which bodily contact is taboo and all children are conceived artificially. As a result, allergies are out of control and flowers are considered poisonous. Amidst this chaos, one couple decides to have a baby the old fashioned way and it causes an uproar.

Set in the future, this tells of an Earth run by a conglomerate called the LaFont Corporation, which uses machines to rule its subjects. "Troublemakers" and malcontents are exiled to an artificial planet called Terra Nova. Problems arise when Terra Nova suddenly shifts its orbit and threatens to crash into Earth.