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=                       The_Fifth_Sacred_Thing                       =
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                            Introduction
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'The Fifth Sacred Thing' is a 1993 post-apocalyptic novel by American
writer Starhawk.  The title refers to the classical elements of fire,
earth, air, and water, plus the fifth element, spirit, accessible when
one has balanced the other four.


                                Plot
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The novel describes a world set in the year 2048 after a catastrophe
which has fractured the United States into several nations. The
protagonists live in San Francisco and have evolved in the direction
of Ecotopia, reverting to a sustainable economy, using wind power,
local agriculture, and the like. San Francisco is presented as a
mostly pagan city where the streets have been torn up for gardens and
streams, no one starves or is homeless, and the city's defense council
consists primarily of nine elderly women who "listen and dream". The
novel describes "a utopia where women are leading societies but are
doing so with the consent of men." To the south, an overtly theocratic
Christian fundamentalist nation has evolved and plans to wage war
against the San Franciscans.  The novel explores the events before and
during the ensuing struggle between the two nations, pitting utopia
and dystopia against each other.

The story is primarily told from the points of view of 98-year-old
Maya, her nominal granddaughter Madrone, and Maya's grandson Bird.
Through these and other characters, the story explores many elements
from ecofeminism and ecotopian fiction.


                              Setting
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In the utopia described in the novel, the streets have been dug up and
are replaced with gardens and fruit trees.  Additionally, every house
is equipped with a small garden plot.  The food is available to
everyone and access to food is not limited by money, power, or
ownership.  Farms where the city's fruit and vegetables grow are
hidden behind the blocks of homes.  There is plenty of food and
everyone is said to have more than enough to eat.  The gardens are
lined with streams that run throughout the city.  The only remnants of
the pavement that once existed are narrow paths meant for walking,
cycling, or rollerblading.  These paths are accented with colorful
stones and mosaics.  The city is depicted as a beautiful locale where
everything is shared yet nothing is lacking. In this ecotopian city,
food and many other resources are understood as a commons, rather than
a commodity.

When the city is threatened by an army marching from the South, food
becomes central to the non-violent philosophy and practice of the
inhabitants as they grapple with how to respond to the possibility of
violent attack. The inhabitants decide to invite soldiers to leave the
army and to join them living in this ecotopian city. They say to the
soldiers 'there is a place set for you at our table, if you will
choose to join us' (p. 235). This invitation, and the possibility of
never going hungry, is almost incomprehensible to the soldiers who
have been stripped of their given names and reduced to numbers,
survive on small amounts of poor-quality food, and many have never
seen running water.


                             Reception
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The novel won "Best Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror Novel" at the
6th Lambda Literary Awards.

'Kirkus Reviews' described the book as "a big, shaggy, sloppy dog of a
fantasy" and added, "Starhawk deserves points for her idealism, but
her vision and characterizations are only half-realized here--and
further muddied as she goes on far, far too long."

'Publishers Weekly' called it a "sometimes clumsy but compelling first
novel" by Starhawk: "[she] delivers her message with a heavy hand and
several cliches: her besieged utopia echoes the liberal politics and
ecofeminism of her nonfiction; her dystopia features the overused SF
bugbear of Christian fanaticism. However, she creates memorable
characters--a young midwife, a broken musician, an old
Witch-Woman--and skillfully conveys their emotions in gripping,
sometimes harrowing scenes set against vivid backdrops."


                         Prequel and sequel
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A prequel, 'Walking to Mercury' (), was released in 1997. A sequel,
'City of Refuge' (), was released in 2016 following a Kickstarter
campaign by the author.


                              See also
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* 'The City, Not Long After'
* 'The Gate to Women's Country'


License
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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifth_Sacred_Thing