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"At its best, SF is the medium in which our miserable certainty that tomorrow will be different from today in ways we can't predict, can be transmuted to a sense of excitement and anticipation, occasionally evolving into awe."
- John Brunner
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| Venus Cities Float In Atmosphere | ||
| Cloud cities on Venus. |
This is an early reference to the idea that Venus, the surface of which could not reasonably support human life, could be colonized with "cloud cities".
In the story, baking loaves of bread using helium to help it rise has resulted in millions of loaves taking flight.
| Radio Venus reported to its winged audience that Earth's inhabitants were establishing food depots in the upper air, preparatory to taking up permanent aerial residence "such as we have always enjoyed on Venus." |
| Technovelgy from Bread Overhead!,
by Fritz Leiber. Published by Galaxy Science Fiction in 1958 Additional resources -
|
I'm not sure how long the idea of building cloud cities on Venus has been around. Scientist and sf author Geoffrey Landis suggested the idea in 2008. See the stories below for more details.
The Hawkmen in Flash Gordon had a city that floated in the sky, as well, in the 1930's.
The floating island in the sky idea is historically old; see the entry for laputa in Gulliver's Travels (1726).
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Bread Overhead!
More Ideas
and Technology by Fritz Leiber
Tech news articles related to Bread Overhead!
Tech news articles related to works by Fritz Leiber
Venus Cities Float In Atmosphere-related
news articles:
- Cloud City On Venus?
- Revisiting A Cloud City On Venus
- HAVOC Over Venus ala Bespin
| Will Space Stations Have Large Interior Spaces Again? |
| Reflect Orbital Offers 'Sunlight on Demand' And Light Pollution |
| Chrysalis Generation Ship to Alpha Centauri |
| The First Space Warship For Space Force |
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'If you're one of those rarities who haven't attended a rocket-polo "carnage", let me tell you it's a colorful affair.'
'They filed clumsily into the battleroom, like children in a swimming pool for the first time, clinging to the handholds along the side.'
'a walking balloon proceeded with long strides of its aluminum legs...'
'There was nowhere on the planet where science and technology could not provide one with a comfortable home...'
'Most men updated their PIP on New Year's Day...'
'...a misshapen, many-tentacled thing about twice the size of a man.'
