The Gods Themselves
The Gods Themselves is a 1972 science fiction novel written by Isaac Asimov (ISBN 1061500534). It won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards.Warning: Plot details follow.
The book is divided in three main parts (originally published in magazine form as three consecutive stories) which take place respectively on Earth; on an alien world in a parallel universe with different physical laws; and on the Moon. The main plotline is a conspiracy by the aliens to alter physical laws in our universe, with the final aim of turning our Sun into a supernova, and collecting the resulting energy for their use. In the first part, the idealistic young physicist Lamont discovers the change in laws and its possible consequences. In the second part, the alien Dua, who has communicated with Lamont in cryptic fashion, discovers that her fellow aliens are causing the changes to occur deliberately. In the third part, the cynical middle-aged ex-physicist Denison, who had been apprised of the danger by Lamont in the first part, finds a solution that harms no one and greatly benefits humanity.
The most notable part is the alien world exploration. Asimov rarely describes aliens, preferring tales of humans and robots, but this time he goes into considerable detail. His aliens have three sexes with fixed roles for each sex. They are quite immaterial and can co-penetrate each other, mainly for sex. They feed off sunlight and have discovered artificial light just before the story's opening. A group of three forms a triad that, after producing three children, will permanently fuse into a "hard" being, which would be the adult, more intelligent form.
Their universe is different because the strong nuclear force is much higher. Therefore, their stars are much smaller (a star like ours would explode immediately), and they try to exploit this difference with our universe in the manner outlined above. The solution offered by Asimov is to find yet another universe, not inhabited, where physical laws are different in the opposite direction, and use that as a balance.
Asimov's short story "Gold", one of the last he wrote in his life, describes the efforts of fictional computer animators to create a "compu-drama" from the novel's second section. The story attributes this middle portion to an author named Gregory Laborian, saying it is a stand-alone novel entitled Three In One. Laborian convinces director Jonas Willard, who had won fame for a CGI version of King Lear, to create an animated version of his (Asimov's) story. Besides demonstrating Asimov's admiration for William Shakespeare's plays, "Gold" may be taken as a response to criticisms of Asimov's non-visual writing style.