cold sleep n.
a form of suspended animation in which the subjects are kept at very cold temperatures
SF Encyclopedia
-
1941
page image
Robert A. Heinlein
bibliography
By converting some of the recreation space to storerooms and adapting the storerooms thus cleared to the purpose of cold-sleep, the ship was roomy enough.
Methuselah's Children in Astounding Science-Fiction Aug. 96/1 -
1950
They live in the Great Pain while ordinary men sleep in the cold cold sleep of the transit.
in Fantasy Book No. 6 48 -
1951
Robert A. Heinlein
During the first week out the senior surgeon announced that any who wished could avail themselves of cold-sleep. Within a day or two the bunkroom was half deserted, the missing passengers having been drugged and chilled and stowed in sleep tanks aft, there to dream away the long weeks ahead.
Between Planets 87 -
1954
Andre Norton
The formula for the ‘cold sleep’… We go to sleep, hibernate, during that trip—or else the ship comes to its port manned by dust!
Stars are Ours (1955) 44 -
1954 Astounding Science Fiction Oct. 14/1
Spaceships wouldn’t have to improve much to carry, cheaply, loads of soldiers in cold sleep, ready to land when thermonuclear bombardment from the skies had smashed a world’s civilization.
-
1966
Roger Zelazny
When the figures arrived, Jarry wept icy tears. One hundred machines, capable of altering the environment of a world, plus twenty-eight thousand coldsleep bunkers, plus transportation costs for the machinery and his people.
in New Worlds SF Aug. 118 -
1966
Roger Zelazny
After several turns at ship’s guard, interspersed with periods of cold sleep, you tend to grow claustrophobic and somewhat depressed.
in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction June 22/1 -
1969
page image
Richard C. Meredith
bibliography
When they got my ship the only part of me that the 'bots were able to get into cold-sleep was my head, shoulders and a part of my spine.
We All Died at Breakaway Station in Amazing Stories Jan. 130/2
-
1984
William Gibson
The reason Straylight’s not exactly hoppin' with Tessier-Ashpools is that they're mostly in cold sleep. There’s a law firm in London keeps track of their powers of attorney. Has to know who’s awake and exactly when.
Neuromancer (1986) 192 -
1984
Robert Silverberg
I singlehandedly give a starship the checkdown for a voyage of fifty light-years, and then I put myself into coldsleep and I go home all alone and wake up on an alien planet where my remote ancestors happened to have been born. What for?
Waiting for Earthquake in R. Silverberg Conglomeroid Cocktail Party (1984) 202 -
1985
S. P. Somtow
bibliography
How long had she been in the cold sleep?
Alien Swordmaster . ii. 12 -
1988
They will be shipped here in cold sleep.
in G. Dozois Isaac Asimov’s Mars (1991) 77 -
1990
S. M. Stirling
Jerry Pournelle
She had spent most of the intervening decades in coldsleep, at a high fraction of lightspeed; he had lived every minute of them here on Wunderland, lived hard and without the best anti-senescent treatments.
Asteroid Queen in L. Niven et al. Man-Kzin Wars III (1992) . 66 -
1990
Anne McCaffrey
Elizabeth Moon
bibliography
Sassinak couldn’t imagine anyone wanting it. To be stuck on one planet, or shipped from one to another by coldsleep cabinet? Horrible.
Sassinak (1991) 88 -
1992
Vernor Vinge
bibliography
At three-tenths lightspeed, Pham spent decades in coldsleep getting from star to star, then a year or two at each port trying to make a profit with products and information that might be lethally out-of-date.
Fire upon Deep (1993) 68 -
1992
S. M. Stirling
Jerry Pournelle
He learned that a hyperdrive transport back to Sol was out of the question, and there wasn’t even a place for him in cold sleep aboard a slowship.
In Hall of the Mountain King in L. Niven et al. Man-Kzin Wars V . 19 -
1993
Larry Niven
I got hold of a little stealth lander, Fourth War vintage, with a cold sleep box in back for you, Sharrol.
Procrustes in Crashlander (1994) 224 -
1999
Vernor Vinge
Thirty or forty years. They could make it. There should be enough coldsleep coffins to serve the survivors.
Deepness in Sky xv. 151 -
2000
Ken MacLeod
He could have lived with a universe whose interstellar gulfs could be crossed only with generation ships, cold-sleep or ramscoops.
Cosmonaut Keep (2001) 47
Research requirements
antedating 1941
Earliest cite
Robert A. Heinlein, "Methuselah's Children"
Research History
Mike Christie submitted a cite from a 1955 reprint of Andre Norton's "The Stars Are Ours!"Brian Hopper submitted a 1951 cite from Robert Heinlein's "Between Planets".
David Silver submitted a cite from a reprint of Robert Heinlein's "Methuselah's Children"; Bill Patterson verified the cite in the original 1941 magazine appearance.
Enoch Forrester submitted a cite from a 1993 reprint of Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon the Deep".
Katrina Campbell submitted a cite from a reprint of Cordwainer Smith's "Scanners Live in Vain"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1950 first appearance.
Malcolm Farmer submitted a cite from a reprint of Roger Zelazny's "This Moment of the Storm"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1966 first magazine appearance.
Mike Christie submitted a cite from a 1993 reprint of Dan Simmons' "Hyperion".
Mike Christie submitted a cite from a 1986 reprint of William Gibson's "Neuromancer".
Malcolm Farmer submitted a citation from a reprint of Roger Zelazny's "The Keys to December"; Mike Christie verified the cite in the 1966 original magazine appearance.
Mike Christie identified a cite in Larry Niven's 1993 "Procrustes", and Ray Dassen located it.
Katrina Campbell submitted a cite from a 1991 reprint of Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon's 1990 "Sassinak".
Last modified 2020-12-16 04:08:47
In the compilation of some
entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.