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"I identify with the weak person; this is one reason why my fictional protagonists are essentially antiheroes."
- Philip K. Dick
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| Laser Rifle | ||
| A laser weapon shaped like a rifle, carried by one man, fired at the shoulder. |
As far as I know, the earliest use of the term "laser rifle".
| “You got the time, A1 ?”
“Ten till.” Soot-barrelled [sic] laser rifles protruding through ink-dipped fronds. . . . “Think anyone’ll come?” “Naw.” |
| Technovelgy from Nine Starships Waiting,
by Roger Zelazny. Published by Fantastic in 1963 Additional resources -
|
Another very early reference to laser rifles in Gree's Hellcats (1966) by CC MacApp:
Compare to laserifle from Door to Anywhere (1966) by Poul Anderson.
Perhaps the earliest "energy weapons" were the Electric rifle from Tom Swift and the underwater gun that fired leyden ball from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
Soft popping sounds began, punctuated with angry roars and shrieks of the animals, and occasionally with the splat of a laser rifle. The hunters thrashed by in the brush on both sides of him, and emerged into the small glade at the edge of which he’d chosen to hide.
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More Ideas
and Technology from Nine Starships Waiting
More Ideas
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Tech news articles related to Nine Starships Waiting
Tech news articles related to works by Roger Zelazny
| Sleeper Drones Lie in Wait |
| Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade |
| Moscow Attacked By Hundreds Of Drones |
| China's Handheld Electromagnetic Gun |
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'...I saw a nice black heavy-looking cloud sailing by just now, and I can get the electrical machine out in five minutes to draw it down.'
'From a distance it could resolve the cosmic rays reflected from various substances.'
'The answer to the dumb student's prayer.'
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'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
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'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
