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
 |
BodyMod In Old School SF - Quant Suff!
I know, I know, body modification is very cutting edge. However, old school science fiction writers were already there back in the day.
For example, in his award-winning novel The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester wrote at length about the special tattoos prescribed by the Scientific People on the Sargasso Asteroid. Gulliver Foyle was an unwitting recipient:
He recoiled in terror as the orderly thrust the picture of a hideous tattooed face before him. It was a maori mask. Cheeks, chin, nose, and eyelids were decorated with stripes and swirls. Across the brow was blazoned NOMAD. Foyle stared, then cried out in agony. The picture was a mirror. The face was his own.
In modern times, people like Pineapple, here, choose to have this kind of work done.
"I couldn't jaunte. I forgot how, is all. I forgot everything, me. Still don't remember much. I-"
(Read more ideas from The Stars My Destination)
(Pineapple scares kids)
Hopefully, his wife or girlfriend didn't need to be "inoculated with something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue," as was Moira, Gully Foyle's wife among the Scientific People.
In his 1968 novel Babel 17, Samuel R. Delany writes at length about a Transport culture that goes in for extreme body modification. Feathers, scales, walrus-sized incisors - you name it and you can get it. You can even get implanted dragons.
"It's listed in your catalog as 5463," the Customs Officer declared. "I want it there." He clapped his left hand to his right shoulder.The surgeon returned ... with a tray full of fragments. The only recognizable one was the front half of a miniature dragon with jeweled eyes, glittering sc ales, and opalescent wings: it was less than two inches long.
"When he's connected up to your nervous system, you'll be able to make him whistle, hiss, roar, flap his wings and spit sparks..."
(Read more about decorative implants)
Take a look at these tentacle suction-cup implants done by Dark Freak at Luck All in Sao Paulo, Brasil.
(Tentacle implants by Dark Freak)
If anyone can think of more, let me know. Via ModBlog.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 2/15/2008)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 2 )
Related News Stories - (" Culture ")
Buy A Galaxy? Maybe Start Smaller
'The sky is the limit' just got higher.
Is There A Global Problem With Who Is Having Children?
'After twenty generations of shillyshallying...' - CM Kornbluth, 1950.
Warfare Goes Underground In Ukraine
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...' - Philip K. Dick,
The Wind Phone Calls Those Who Have Passed On
'Only I heard that!' - John Brunner, 1975.
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 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
Current News
'If Anyone Is Watching Earth...'
'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
Epirus High-Power Microwave Defeats Drones
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
Cloud Of Space Rubbish From China's Long March Rocket
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
Biomimetic Tendons From Rochu Robotics
'... the curious parallelism to animal motions.'
Living Human Neuron Biological Compute Rack
'The men are dead, but their acquired wisdom lives on and I am the beneficiary.'
Martha Stewart Approves Ojai 'Living Room On Wheels'
'Young people found the driverless car admirable for petting.'
ESA's Draco To Study Heat Of Reentry
'...a synthetic which air-friction would erode.'
Buy A Galaxy? Maybe Start Smaller
'The sky is the limit' just got higher.
The United States Space Academy Is Official
'Is our orbit to Space Academy clear?'
Is There A Global Problem With Who Is Having Children?
'After twenty generations of shillyshallying...'
You Will Eat The Cookies Made From Plastic...
'Our planes are going to start bringing in bales of discarded plastics...'
It's A Giant Robot! You Reporters Have Been Warned!
'... completely forgetting the ship at sight of the awesome figure and great head of the giant Gaut...'
Birds Learn To Sing Pictures ala Frank Herbert's Distrans
'We will fight in the time of fighting.'
ElectionSim: China's 'Ender's Game' Battle Sim, Or Lem's 'Kingdom In A Box'?
'So, Ender, we will now begin your education.'
Tactile Skin Supplier Map
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!'
Flock Stymied By 'Adversarial Fashion'
'Forget the head atop it, the legs below, feet, arms, hands. It compels erasure.'
