Stopping at Slowyear is a 1992 science fiction novel by American writer Frederik Pohl.

[1][2] Stopping at Slowyear tells the story of an interstellar cargo vessel which runs between out-of-the-way worlds, as it visits a planet called Slowyear after its 19-year-long revolution around its star.

The crew explore the local culture and find several odd customs.

If someone commits a crime, they are sentenced to take a pill, which depending on the severity of the infraction will have a different probability of being lethal poison.

During their isolation, their sheep have developed a form of scrapie which is lethal to humans without immunity.