Remind me of an inexplosive book I once read
August 6, 2011 11:40 PM Subscribe
SciFiBookFilter: Looking for a book I read maybe 10 years ago in which a device is developed that renders explosives inert...
Must have read it between 8 and 15 years ago, but don't think it was new then. I can't remember if it was a novel or a short story in a compilation. A person/agency/government develops a device that renders explosives inert over an area/everywhere(?) which leads to interesting social developments now bombs, guns, and other stuff don't work. I remember a scene in which the police start carrying crossbows.
I've been inspired to look for a few books I remember and would like to read again - a friend asked me if I had read an Arthur C Clarke about a company that develops wormholes big enough to pass photons through, and can see anything, anywhere, any time - The Light of Other Days - I recommend it from what I can remember!
Must have read it between 8 and 15 years ago, but don't think it was new then. I can't remember if it was a novel or a short story in a compilation. A person/agency/government develops a device that renders explosives inert over an area/everywhere(?) which leads to interesting social developments now bombs, guns, and other stuff don't work. I remember a scene in which the police start carrying crossbows.
I've been inspired to look for a few books I remember and would like to read again - a friend asked me if I had read an Arthur C Clarke about a company that develops wormholes big enough to pass photons through, and can see anything, anywhere, any time - The Light of Other Days - I recommend it from what I can remember!
S. M. Stirling's Nantucket series is about the consequences of an Event that renders gunpowder, electricity, and internal combustion engines inoperative.
There are (pages upon pages of) plenty crossbows in it.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 12:06 AM on August 7, 2011
There are (pages upon pages of) plenty crossbows in it.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 12:06 AM on August 7, 2011
Best answer: Your mention of Clarke reminds me of The Trigger, by ACC and Kube-McDowell, which has a somewhat similar premise.
(The book got pretty bad reviews at the time, iirc, so even though I enjoy both of those authors' work I've never read it.)
posted by hattifattener at 12:28 AM on August 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
(The book got pretty bad reviews at the time, iirc, so even though I enjoy both of those authors' work I've never read it.)
posted by hattifattener at 12:28 AM on August 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
Are you sure the device rendered explosives inert? I read a short story that sounds similar, but it was about how things were different after a device was invented that could detonate explosives remotely over an area, so guns and bombs etc had to be abandoned because your enemy could set them off on you.
posted by -harlequin- at 4:29 AM on August 7, 2011
posted by -harlequin- at 4:29 AM on August 7, 2011
For some reason I am flashing on James Blish, maybe something from the 1950s -- but I can't give you a title. And I might be totally off base.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 6:03 AM on August 7, 2011
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 6:03 AM on August 7, 2011
BitterOldPunk: I think you mean the Emberverse series by the same author, not the Nantucket series.
posted by Johnny Assay at 6:20 AM on August 7, 2011
posted by Johnny Assay at 6:20 AM on August 7, 2011
The Light of Other Days was a series of short stories by Bob Shaw--Analog late 60s/early 70s. Apparently novelised as The Light of Other Days.
As to the non-exploding expolsives, try "Cease Fire", a short story by Frank Herbert (Astounding Science Fiction, 1956). Apparently in The Best of Frank Herbert 1952-1964, now out of print. Many years since I read it, but I think the point was that since "conventional" warfare had become impossible, unconventional warfare became the norm and everybody started reading Machiavelli. See, Herbert was writing political SF long before Dune.
Can I put in a plug for Herbert's neglected masterpiece The Dragon in the Sea?
posted by Logophiliac at 6:31 AM on August 7, 2011
As to the non-exploding expolsives, try "Cease Fire", a short story by Frank Herbert (Astounding Science Fiction, 1956). Apparently in The Best of Frank Herbert 1952-1964, now out of print. Many years since I read it, but I think the point was that since "conventional" warfare had become impossible, unconventional warfare became the norm and everybody started reading Machiavelli. See, Herbert was writing political SF long before Dune.
Can I put in a plug for Herbert's neglected masterpiece The Dragon in the Sea?
posted by Logophiliac at 6:31 AM on August 7, 2011
I remember that novel (can't remember the name or author). It starts with an accidental discovery that sets off fireworks in a guard's trunk. They figure out what the field does - set off explosives. There are changes to society - apartment building install 'em so guns can't be used in robberies. Then a second version of the field is discovered that just keeps 'em from going off. Society changes again.
I won't give away the ending, but it number of test animals that died is interesting.
posted by davereed at 6:40 AM on August 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
I won't give away the ending, but it number of test animals that died is interesting.
posted by davereed at 6:40 AM on August 7, 2011 [1 favorite]
Sorry, "... novelised as Other Days, Other Eyes ...".
posted by Logophiliac at 6:40 AM on August 7, 2011
posted by Logophiliac at 6:40 AM on August 7, 2011
It's The Trigger. I actually read it just after I read the Light of Other Days.
posted by knapah at 7:26 AM on August 7, 2011
posted by knapah at 7:26 AM on August 7, 2011
Here's a review of The Trigger that may jog your memory.
posted by knapah at 7:28 AM on August 7, 2011
posted by knapah at 7:28 AM on August 7, 2011
S.M. Stirling had a whole series that you are referring to. ^^ It is the Emberverse series.
posted by JJ86 at 8:01 AM on August 7, 2011
posted by JJ86 at 8:01 AM on August 7, 2011
The Light of Other Days was a series of short stories by Bob Shaw
Yes, but it was also a book by Clarke. Bob Shaw's = slow glass. Clarke's = tiny wormholes. The phrase sounds like it's a reference to a poem by Thomas Moore.
posted by hattifattener at 11:15 AM on August 7, 2011
Yes, but it was also a book by Clarke. Bob Shaw's = slow glass. Clarke's = tiny wormholes. The phrase sounds like it's a reference to a poem by Thomas Moore.
posted by hattifattener at 11:15 AM on August 7, 2011
Response by poster: I think it must have been the Trigger - thanks hattifattener! I now have my next couple of months of reading planned, thanks for all the awesome suggestions!!
posted by bullox at 5:57 AM on August 11, 2011
posted by bullox at 5:57 AM on August 11, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by xedrik at 11:44 PM on August 6, 2011