Posted on 03/31/2025 3:18:06 PM PDT by marktwain
I need help in finding a forgotten science fiction book.
I can describe the plot, but have forgotten the title and author.
The plot is in a future where people in rural areas live in fortified homes and are suspicious of anyone they do not know. There is significant overpopulation. Gas vehicles are frowned upon and/or forbidden in urban areas.
Vehicles which exceed the speed limit on the interstate are simply machine-gunned because stopping them has become too dangerous.
However, the Supreme Court has ruled there is a privacy right as part of the Second Amendment, and the government has no right to search for weapons or to forbid weapons on or in a persons home. Full auto is a protected right on your property.
There are handheld laser weapons, they figure little in the story. They are mentioned in passing, but nearly all the plot involves ordinary cartridge firearms.
In the second half of the story, which is essentially a separate plot, one of the sons from the first half goes to an urban center. He has a revolver and saves a food caravan going into the city. In the City people live in fortified blocks of apartments and seldom go out at night. The night is owned by outlaw gangs. The same gangs openly rob, murder and kidnap in the middle of vast traffic jams of electric vehicles.
In the second half someone describes the young rural resident as an "army of one".
This book is roughly from 1980 or earlier.
Any help in finding this reference would be appreciated.
It sort of reminds me of The Weapon Shops of Isher, but is completely different.
Chat GTP says ‘The Shockwave Rider’ by John Brunner
ChatGPT gave me a different answer?
Based on your detailed description, the novel you’re recalling appears to be “City of Darkness” by Ben Bova, published in 1976.
If this doesn’t fully match the book you’re seeking, you might also consider “Make Room! Make Room!” by Harry Harrison, published in 1966.
I hope this helps you identify the book you’re searching for.
Funny. I just cut and pasted his description. I’ll try Grok for the tie breaker!
`I think the name of the book is “Don’t Buy A Tesla, Democrats Are Terrorists”
bkmk
I thought the name of the book was, “If I Had Won”, by Madam Hillary Rodham Clinton the Great.
bump
After a bunch of non-starters, Grok gave me “The Sheep Look Up”, also by John Brunner.
It also gave another Brunner novel, so sounds like he’s in the right genre.
Superb. I was recently looking for a very obscure sci fi short story and Grok was the winner there too.
The book is The Castle Keeps, by Andrew J. Offutt.
You beat the AI!
““Make Room! Make Room!” by Harry Harrison, published in 1966.”
the book that the cult classic movie “Soylent Green” was loosely based on ...
‘Make Room,Make Room’
.
Was Soylent Green——IIRC
BAM!
Sounds like the premise of Rush’s “Red Barchetta”.
RLTW
Not this story, but “The roads must roll” is all about self driving cars. Written in 1940 by Robert Heinlein.
Artificial intelligence will never replace natural stupidity (at which I’m told I shine).
The Roads Must Roll is not about self-driving cars at all. The roads of the story were glorified conveyor belts. Vehicles were no longer used for general transportation.
I think you’re describing Rules For Radicals.
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