Given the tagline of this website, an alternative to dual-wielding seems appropriate: Arsenal Firearms has created the first double-barreled .45 pistol.
I’m not sure I’d want to fire the thing, but I have a few characters who could. It is a more practical weapon that I originally envisaged one group of characters carrying—let’s just leave it at “Metalstorm Pistol”.
Secondly, there’s been an idea sweeping the blogs of the authors I follow. A manifesto, the originator of the idea calls it. Sarah Hoyt’s “Human Wave Science Fiction” brings up the point that we, as writers, should be not be restricting ourselves to what has been done and what others say we can do. Most especially, us science fiction and fantasy authors shouldn’t restrict ourselves!
One of my agent’s other clients, Marshall Maresca, explicitly included fantasy in the grouping and I agree completely. While in some ways, I disagree with the way we tend to lump fantasy and science fiction together as a single genre, in this case they share a core purpose.
The purpose of science fiction and fantasy, of this human wave Sarah is trying to instigate, is to entertain. To uplift. To step outside the box—to throw the box away and pretend we never saw it—and communicate with everyone we can reach. And through escapism and positive stories, make them feel better about the world.
In the end, the price should be high, the damage great. But the good guys win, the bad guys lose, and the world improves. And when you’re done writing, you’ve done something to make your reader’s day brighter. In so doing so, you’ve improved the world.
Besides, in a world where we all think in the box, who’s going to build double-barreled automatic pistols?
Glynn Stewart
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