A Heinlein quote

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Oleg Volk

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I didn't have a ray gun on hand...
 
Oleg,

You don't need a ray gun. One of my favorite scenes in the book is where the hero (?) gets into a duel and uses an old-fashioned projectile weapon instead of the laser, being much faster to get weapon on target and surprising the life out of his opponent.
 
That's one of my favorite incidents in the book, too. It wasn't really a duel, but they were going to see who could shoot a vase or something, first, IIRC.

His "opponent" was so surprised by the BOOM of the .45 and the vase shattering that he didn't even shoot with the energy weapon.

Oddly, I was going through some of my image files the other day and I found this one I peeled off the net a while ago. It shows Robert A. Heinlein, L. Sprague DeCamp, and Isaac Asimov. The "Big Three," like nitric, hydrochloric, and sulphuric acids. :D

Time might have been the early forties, since DeCamp is in uniform. I think.

Just posting it for the heck of it and your enjoyment. I have no idea who owns the copyright, if any, on the pic.
 

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Nicely done. Men and women both fall victim to the mentality of children of the state. That's a life without dignity and a society that won't work.
 
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do those things to other people and I require the same of them."

shootist_wayne.jpg
 
Oleg,

Actually, in the spirit of the book, she should have a 1911.

After all, that's what Hamilton Felix carried.

As usual, nice work.

Sincerely,

Prof. A. Wickwire
 
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Oh, to quibble - will folks who didn't read the books get the part about immunity which was a part of that society?

I might cut that. BTW, that society wasn't really a pleasant one despite the guns.
 
There isn't many authors out there that can propose ideas give life to characters like RAH.

He was one of the three giants. Heinlein, Asimov and Clark. Heinlein and Asimov traded off first place IMO. :)


And as for Oleg's work...his usual great stuff. :)
 
I like it, but a bit much white.
Just adding a visible holster would help to define the subject ... with the white shirt & background, you get a cool but distracting "floating head & arm" effect.

There are a LOT of RAH quotes regarding the right to defense ... how did you pick just one?
 
will folks who didn't read the books get the part about immunity which was a part of that society?
Click to expand...
I don't get it because I haven't read any Heinlein (I keep thinking I should), but it still makes sense. Women are often viewed in sort of the same category as children, people who are natural victims and not held fully responsible for their actions. In that sense waiving immunity makes me think of taking responsibility for your own safety and well-being instead of relying on other people to protect you, as children do.
 
I didn't have a ray gun on hand...
Click to expand...
Try a Broomhandle Mauser with a big flash hider. It worked well for George Lucas in the 70's in some obsure movie about a war in the stars or something like that....

:D
 
IIRC, women in this society were exempt from the dueling/challenging interactions that men were expected to engage in. It made them second class citizens in what we now call benevolent sexism. Men could opt out to by wearing a brassard which meant you couldn't challenge but you were a wimp and could be shoved out of line, etc.

Felix (the hero) hooked up with a women who decided to go armed and wasn't looked on all that well. The society was also a touch of a genetically based classist society. Unpleasant place.

That's why this direct reference to the book is a little off to me.

Heinlein played with ideas and not all of time were so great. His last books were paens to incest.
 
230RN said:
That's one of my favorite incidents in the book, too. It wasn't really a duel, but they were going to see who could shoot a vase or something, first, IIRC.

His "opponent" was so surprised by the BOOM of the .45 and the vase shattering that he didn't even shoot with the energy weapon.
Click to expand...

That scene was at the beginning of the book. Felix is in his friend's office, and showing of his new piece. The target's a paperweight, parked on a table next to a wall with a bunch of burn-marks from earlier target practice.

There IS a duel, later in the book when Felix and Phyllis are out to dinner. Felix inadvertently drops something on a table below the balcony he's on. He avoids a duel with the guy at the lower table, by apologizing, then gets called a weenie by someone else for doing so.

Guy at lower table looks up, and says,

"Your privilege, I believe."

He sits down, and Felix shoots the rude boy. Bags him in the shoulder, IIRC.
 
I.
LOVE.
HEINLEIN.
Good work, Oleg, I even like the wash-out.
It's amazing how hard it is to get some women to believe in their own right to self-defense. I mean, they believe in having all of this power as a woman, most of which I believe with, but then they either get all cutesy and innocent when it comes to actually being physically powerful (as if innocence alone will shield them) or they believe that "they can handle it" without firearms.
I have met very few women who could actually handle it without firearms...
In fact, I've met very few men who could handle it without firearms.
But some do come around...
:D
Good job.
 
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