The Tactful Saboteur by Frank Herbert:
Science Fiction Inventions, Technology and Ideas

Not Herbert's easiest-to-read story, it introduces the ConSentiency in which humans live with extraterrestrials in a common society. Saboteur extraordiary Jorj X. McKie challenges the head of the Bureau of Sabotage, climaxing in a protracted legal battle. Select an invention:

Chairdog - the ultimate ergonomic chair
A chair that is alive and partly sentient; it shapes itself to the person sitting in it.

Chalf (Quick-Scribe Powder) - wave the stick
A special powder that forms itself into words and symbols.

Chalf-Memory Stick
Device that organizes special dust in the shape of words and symbols.

Court Robo-Clerk - hear ye, hear ye!
A robotic law clerk.

Courtarena - trial by fire
A combination of a court of law, and an arena of combat, in which every participant could be called out and executed under legal circumstances.

 

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Science Fiction
in the News

Bone-Building Drug Evenity Approved
re: Edmond Hamilton
(12/7/2025)

Secret Kill Switch Found In Yutong Buses
re: Keith Laumer
(12/5/2025)

Inmotion Electric Unicycle In Combat
re: Robert Heinlein
(12/3/2025)

Grok Scores Best In Psychological Tests
re: Isaac Asimov
(12/1/2025)

PaXini Supersensitive Robot Fingers
re: Ray Cummings
(11/29/2025)

Congress Considers Automatic Emergency Braking, One Hundred Years Too Late
re: Bernard Brown
(11/27/2025)

The Desert Ship Sailed In Imagination
re: Ray Bradbury
(11/25/2025)

The Zapata Air Scooter Would Be Great In A Science Fiction Story
re: Robert Heinlein
(11/23/2025)

Thermostabilized Wet Meat Product (NASA Prototype)
re: Various
(11/21/2025)

Could Crystal Batteries Generate Power For Centuries?
re: Edmond Hamilton
(11/19/2025)

India Ponders Always-On Smartphone Location Tracking
re: Jack Vance
(11/17/2025)

Amazon Will Send You Heinlein's Knockdown Cabin
re: Robert Heinlein
(11/15/2025)

Is It Time To Forbid Human Driving?
re: Bernard Brown
(11/13/2025)

Replace The Smartphone With A Connected Edge Node For AI Inference
re: Raymond F. Jones
(11/11/2025)

More SF in the News

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