In a message dated 6/20/03 4:01:46 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
owner-rara-avis@icomm.ca writes:
<< ate: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 08:44:01 -0500
From:
abc@wt.net
Subject: RARA-AVIS: THE BRASS CUPCAKE
Before I talk about JDM's first novel, I want to say
that
Richard Moore's post on an uncollected JDM story
reminds me
that there are a lot of those, especially in the SF
field.
JDM wrote for many of the pulps and digests in the
late
1940s and early 1950s, and most of the stories I've
read in
them have been excellent. I'm convinced JDM could have
been
the equal of Heinlein if he hadn't decided to go
another
route. >>
I completely agree Bill. In fact the story "Betrayed" came
just as he ceased writing science fiction on a regular basis.
It is related to them in that the secret lab is working on
perfecting what decades later came to be called the
"Star Wars" defense system. With a few changes it could have
sold to Galaxy, although I'm sure the slick paid far more
money.
Here is the explanation by good guy Clint Reese: "There was a
longbow, and some citizen comes up with body armor. And then
the crossbow, and so they made heavier armor. And then
gunpowder, which eventually put guys into tanks. Every time,
it sounded like an ultimate weapon, and each time a defense
just happened to come along in time. Now our ultimate weapon
is the thermonuclear missile. Everybody is naked when that
baby comes whining down out of the stratosphere. So we have
to stop it up there where it won't do any harm."
It even sounds a little like Heinlein.
Richard Moore
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