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"Science fiction is what scientists would do if they could - if they had enough grant money, enough time, and enough brains to do the wonderful things they would like to do."
- Greg Bear
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| Rotohouse | ||
| A house that turns upon a central pivot. |
It really sounds great!
Of course, it was a disaster. But with all the modern conveniences:
"IMAGINE,” Abercrombie said impressively, "what being able to rotate your domicile at will can mean in terms of living zestfully! Imagine being able to enjoy a favorite vista from any window of your home at any time! Imagine waking in a bedroom flooded with glorious sunlight and being able to luxuriate in that same sunlight in whatever room you choose! The Rotohouse, bids farewell to monotony, fixity, rigidity. The Rotohouse is history’s first modern home.”
“It’s really something to enjoy. Besides being mobile, Mrs. Ritterbush, the house is modern in every way. There’s a perfume shower and Swedish massage machine in the bath, the kitchen has all the standard stuff and a Vitamineer, and there’s push-button cleaning in all the rooms and complete weather control. The house has everything. Even the mousetraps are electric."
| HALF an hour later her dubiety had been changed to wild enthusiasm. It wasn’t so much that the Rotohouse rotated, though that was nice enough; there was a big central pylon, heavily padded and upholstered in luciloy with seats around it and drawers underneath for storage space, and the house did indubitably rotate around it when you pushed the proper switch. The really wonderful thing about the Rotohouse was the way it was fixed up inside.
One whole wall of the living room (shaped like a piece of pie and decorated in shades of pistachio and epidote) was occupied by an enormous stereo. In the bath, besides the perfume shower (gee, she could hardly wait to try it) and Swedish massage machine Abercrombie had spoken of, there was a galooner and aridilier for the hair which ought to save her hours and hours at the beauty shop. The kitchen had a comminuter for juices and an electric barbolizer as well as the Vitamineer, and there were viewing plates in both bedrooms which became transparent when you pressed a switch, so that you could lie in bed at night and watch the constellations wheeling over your head if you wanted to. Jick was crazy about the workshop in the hangarage — it was full of all kinds of machinery Oona didn’t even know the names of. While Oona looked on apprehensively, he started the Rotohouse, stopped it, started it again. Every time he pressed the button the spitting sound was a little louder.
 ('The Rotohouse' by Margaret St. Clair) On the fifth push there was a startling Sppppt! McPherson jumped back. The Rotohouse began to spin. Picking herself up from the padding at the curved end of the living room, Oona reflected that it certainly was a good thing Abercrombie had had this wall of the living room upholstered in Springtex. Otherwise somebody might have been hurt. As it was, the}' were only a little bruised. She looked around herself. Her first impression was that the Rotohouse was moving at a lively clip. The light flickered constantly as the living room swung from sunlight into shade and back again. Through the big pane of crystaplex nothing was visible but a moving blur. There was a constant barrage of snaps from the mousetraps which were going off and then resetting themselves. |
| Technovelgy from The Rotohouse,
by Margaret St. Clair. Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1948 Additional resources -
|
What was it like trying to get back to the central pivot to turn it off?
Compare this effect when not wanted to when it is used to supply artificial gravity (from Brigands of the Moon in 1930 by Ray Cummings) in a space station.
Compare to the more elegant and sedate rotating house from The Godmakers by Frank Herbert.
CLIMBING up the floor hadn’t looked easy when Mosher tried it. and Oona found almost at once that it was even harder than it looked. Centrifugal force pulled and tugged and worried at her in a way gravity never had. She kept slipping back.
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'...there's a narrow belt where the climate is moderate.'
'He wore spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.'
'... with the Master-operator all you have to do is push one! A remarkable achievement!'
'Not like me. A T-1000, advanced prototype. A mimetic poly-alloy. Liquid metal.'
'It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
'The massive feet working the pedals, arms and hands flashing and glinting...'
