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.
While I love the printed word, I can carry a thousand books in the palm of my hand, and unlike the printed books I have, they’re also more likely to get re-read. The paperwhite version of Kindle was a life changer. Small enough to fit in the pocket, containing universes of imagination.
That said, walls of books make pretty darn good insulation for the house, both in temp and sound. But as I age, it also brings worries. That’s a lot of flammable material in a living area.
Kindle’s better for some things, like reading in bed without disturbing the wife, but paper doesn’t have to be charged, and doesn’t lock up from time to time and have to be restarted. Either has its advantages. If I could only have one, I’d go with paper, but fortunately I don’t have to make that choice.
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