Don't Bite the Sun is a 1976 science fiction novel by Tanith Lee set in a utopian world which the main character comes to reject.

The main character and her friends are wild, crazy "Jang" teenagers whose lifestyle is full of reckless behaviour, promiscuous sex, repeated suicide (upon dying, they are reborn), and a constant search for thrills.

Young humans known as "Jang" are rigidly expected to do whatever they please, indulge in various forms of drugs, have sex (as long as they marry first, even if it is just for the afternoon), and live for their own pleasures.

Consumer goods and services are paid for through emotional energy; one goes into a pay booth and expresses fervent, enthusiastic gratitude, often aided by drugs.

Outside the domes, however, lies uninhabitable desert, plagued with sandstorms, volcanic eruptions, and furry, long-eared, egg-laying beasts that wander the great expanses.

Offended by his insensitivity, she kills herself, then, in a new body, embarks on a series of mundane attempts to amuse herself, including stealing a white fluffy desert animal that she keeps as a pet, programming elaborate dreams for herself, having unsatisfying sex with her peers, and employing a wide variety of legal drugs.

[1] In this sequel, the narrator has spent the past several years in male form and studying ancient history, learning the art of swordsmanship as a pastime.

Demanding a refitted sandship, a luxury cruiser ordinarily used to travel between cities, the narrator (now female) tries to reconnect with the desert, including befriending local wildlife.

When the resulting spout of water irrigates the surrounding desert into blooming life, the narrator decides to cultivate the "garden" and demands equipment from the city, whose "news flash" teams create a documentary with her permission.

Danor and Kam arrive, having chosen exile even before the film so they can be together; Jang teens soon follow, and the quasi-robot government forms a plan to quell the rapidly growing out-dome community.

[2] Tanith Lee wrote Don’t Bite the Sun in the early 1970s, and it represents the New Wave of science fiction, in which feminist writers played a substantial role.

[3] Don’t Bite the Sun features considerable technology developed in the 1970s, including robots, game rooms and virtual reality, and compact computers.

The book was originally published in February 1976 by science fiction, fantasy, and horror publisher DAW Books[12] as a mass-market paperback with a front cover by English fantasy illustrator Brian Froud[13] Don’t Bite the Sun was re-released by DAW on 7 August 1979, again as a mass-market paperback,[12] this time under a new cover by Spanish artist Enrich Torres.