In search of: FTL taxonomy
<p>I&#8217;ve been troping again.  This time I found and repaired the TV Tropes page on <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FasterThanLightTravel">Faster Than Light Travel</a>.  It had previously made a distinction between three subtypes of FTL drive: &#8220;jump&#8221;, &#8220;warp&#8221;, and &#8220;shortcut&#8221;.  The &#8220;shortcut&#8221; category was confused and confusing, and I&#8217;ve renamed it to &#8220;portal&#8221; and fixed the definitions of both &#8220;portal&#8221; and &#8220;warp&#8221; subtropes.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m now looking for earliest occurrences and trope codifiers on these subtypes.  I think I have one nailed down, but I can&#8217;t push the other two back very far.  Instances and cites are solicited.</p>
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<p>The easiest one is the portal drive.  This is the newest of the three subtropes; I think it was codified in Niven &#038; Pournelle&#8217;s <cite>The Mote In God&#8217;s Eye</cite>, 1975. Note that we want to be careful about distinguishing it from FTL involving fixed artificial stargates and/or naturally occurring wormholes.  I&#8217;m interested in ur-examples.</p>
<p>The jump (or fold-space) drive goes back at least as far as <s>Robert Heinlein&#8217;s 1953 &#8220;Starman Jones&#8221;</s> Isaac Asimov&#8217;s earliest <cite>Foundation</cite> story in 1942.  There may well be earlier examples.</p>
<p>The warp drive goes back at least as far as  Murray Leinster&#8217;s first &#8220;Med Service&#8221; story in 1957.  Again, I&#8217;m certain there are earlier examples.  Let the digging begin!</p>
