Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"I've taken some stick for passages in Altered Carbon which people complained had sickened them, but then violence should be sickening."
- Richard Morgan
 |
| Mother World | ||
| One's home planet, or the origin world of one's species. |
Very early use of this phrase.
Leaving the wrecked Earth, explorers discover an ancient civilization on the Moon. One enormous artifact depicts an ancient Earth.
| A series of horizontal wavy lines was taken by the Earthians to represent water, and an arch, surmounting perpendicular wavy streaks, looked like a rain picture drawn by a prehistoric artist of the mother planet. And there was the likeness of the mother world itself — two circles in which the outlines of Earth's continents had been carved. The hemispheres were not readily distinguishable, however. The eastern continents were not quite in keeping with those known to the Earthians, the western hemisphere showed that North America was joined to Asia by a narrow neck of land, and between the Americas and Europe, nearer the latter continent and embraced in the circle showing the western half of the globe, lay a vast body of land which the Earthians had never seen, but which they knew to be Atlantis. The outlines of nearly all the continents were slightly different from those with which they were familiar. It was clear that great geologic changes had taken place since the maps were drawn. |
| From The Moon of Doom,
by Earl L. Bell. Published by Amazing Stories Quarterly in 1928 Additional resources -
|
As I recall, the first time I encountered this phrase was in Arthur C. Clarke's wonderful 1955 novel Earthlight:
Compare to home-world from A Honeymoon In Space (1901) by George Griffith.
History, it has been said, never repeats itself but historical situations recur. Inevitably the new worlds began to loosen their ties with Earth. Their populations were still very small compared with those of the mother world but they contained the most brilliant and active minds the race possessed. Free at last from the crushing burden of tradition they planned to build civilizations which would avoid the mistakes of the past. The aim was a noble one — it might yet succeed.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Moon of Doom
More Ideas
and Technology by Earl L. Bell
Tech news articles related to The Moon of Doom
Tech news articles related to works by Earl L. Bell
| 'Seabreeze' Apple And UCLA Project To Beat Depression |
| John Lennon Would Have Loved Auto-Tune - Paul McCartney |
| Reading Ancient Records Of Humanity, With AI's Help |
| Amazen ZenBooth Dispenses Serenity At Amazon |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'It's illegal to hold back information during a psyche test,' the machine said peevishly.'
Perfect for exploring ancient artifacts on distant planets.
'a walking balloon proceeded with long strides of its aluminum legs over a slant of steep upland.'
'This was as close as a robot could get to a cop in uniform.'
'Waldo flexed and extended his fingers gently; the two pairs of waldoes in the screen followed in exact, simultaneous parallelism.'
'They were stylish, with yellow-tinted lenses and hip frames, but the posts were unusually thick.'
