"Nobody's Home"

1972 Russ, Joanna [Ruth] (1937-2011). “Nobody’s Home.” New Dimensions II. Ed. Robert Silverberg (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1972), 1-20. Rpt. in Women of Wonder. Ed. Pamela Sargent (New York: Vintage, 1974), 231-256; in Alpha 9 Ed. Robert Silverberg (New York: Berkley/Berkley Medallion Publishing, 1978), 165-180, with a note on the author on 165; illus. Dennis Neal Smith in her The Zanzibar Cat ([Sauk City, WI]: Arkham House, 1983), 52-69; and in Women of Wonder: The Classic Years. Science Fiction by Women from the 1940s to the 1970s. Ed. Pamela Sargent (San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace, 1995), 249-262. PSt

Eutopia. The focus of the story is an extended family of eighteen adults living in a future world with a fairly low population. The main technological change is a matter transmitter that allows nearly instantaneous travel to any place on Earth, which means that only some are living together at any one time. The family described values high intelligence, and it is implied that this is the norm. Each person must contribute “tax labor” to the Earth community. Female author.