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
"[Science fiction] is the only kind of writing that allows you to look at the world we live in and change one piece at a time."
- Frederik Pohl
 |
| Airchair | ||
| A floating armchair. |
| Helping the thing into Gramps’ airchair, Phillipa swore. With the maintenance the ’chair required, it would’ve been cheaper to get a nerve regen. That wasn’t Gramps’ way, though — and apparently, it wasn’t going to be the lazarus’, either. A shelter Panic had put Gramps in that chair when he was still part time with the Civil Guard, and he was damned if he’d pay out good money to correct someone else’s mistake...
 (Personality-construct from ‘Killing Gramps' by Ann K. Schwader) Moments later, the lazarus’ airchair malfunctioned. From standard height, the device dropped to within a centimeter of the floor and began spinning erratically. Dumped off sideways, “Gramps” himself sprawled in an untidy heap, mumbling at random as his verbal programming choked. “The ’chair’s fritzing again,” Phillipa called to her mother. “Didn’t Gramps just have the thing serviced before he…” Abruptly, the ’chair rose to standard height again. “What’s that again, dear?” Meredith asked from the kitchen. “You know I can’t hear with the unsealer on.” Hauling the lazarus off the floor, Phillipa managed to get it seated before her mother came out. Gramps’ second-hand ’chair had evidently developed a new circuit problem triggered by the appliance. She doubted it could be fixed, though of course Meredith — and the lazarus — would insist on trying, at considerable expense. |
| Technovelgy from Killing Gramps,
by Ann K. Schwader. Published by Aboriginal Science Fiction in 1988 Additional resources -
|
Here's a more dynamic illustration:
(Armchair from 'Killing Gramps' by Ann K. Schwader)
I'm reminded of a much more elaborate variation on this idea from Foundation by Isaac Asimov:
He had been introduced to Lepold as one of a long line of introducees, and from a safe distance, for the king stood apart in lonely and impressive grandeur, surrounded by his deadly blaze of radioactive aura. And in less than an hour this same king would take his seat upon the massive throne of rhodium-iridium alloy with jewel-set gold chasings, and then, throne and all would rise maestically into the air, skim the ground slowly to hover before the great window from which the great crowds of common folk could see their king and shout themselves into near apoplexy. The throne would not have been so massive, of course, if it had not had a shielded nuclear motor built into it.
Here's an earlier example of the same idea, in a great illustration from Amazing Stories, 1929:
(Flying Chair from 'The Flying Fool' by David H. Keller (1929))
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Killing Gramps
More Ideas
and Technology by Ann K. Schwader
Tech news articles related to Killing Gramps
Tech news articles related to works by Ann K. Schwader
| Sleep Pods At Daxing International Airport |
| Amazon Blimp Parent Drone Concept |
| Tortoise Mobile Smart Stores |
| Sony Pocket Air Conditioner Is Phil Dick's Idea! |
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
'Buy a Little Dingbat... electropen, wrist watch, pocketphone, pocket radio, billfold ... all in one.'
'... an elastic, tinted material that had all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
'It is remarkable that the long leverages of their machines are in most cases actuated by a sort of sham musculature...'
'Briquet’s head seemed to think that to find and attach a new body to her head was as easy as to fit and sew a new dress.'
'...copy was turned out in a charming and entirely feminine handwriting.'
'It was almost unheard of for slunch to spread that fast...'
'He then started hand movements of definite pattern...'
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain...'
