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"The world is really so surreal these days that it's necessary for us to blunt it somehow in order to stay sane. The artist functions to short-circuit the buffering mechanism, so that people can occasionally perceive the weirdness of things as they are."
- William Gibson

Force-Ray  
  A large, hand-held spear of force.  


(Buck Rogers force-ray brandished)


( Buck Rogers force-ray in use)

Technovelgy from Buck Rogers, 2430 AD, by Philip Nowlan (w/D. Calkins).
Published by Not Known in 1929
Additional resources -

Compare to the blaster from When the Green Star Waned (1925) by Nictzin Dyalhis, the stationary automatic blaster from Red Planet (1949) by Robert Heinlein, the neutron disruption blaster from The Complete Paratime (1951) by H. Beam Piper and the meteor blasters from First Contact (1945), by Murray Leinster.

Compare also to the heat ray from War of the Worlds (1898) by HG Wells, the death-ray from The World Masters (1903) by George Griffiths, the pencil heat ray from Brigands of the Moon (1930) by Ray Cummings and the flesh gun from The Computer Connection (1974) by Alfred Bester.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Buck Rogers, 2430 AD
  More Ideas and Technology by Philip Nowlan (w/D. Calkins)
  Tech news articles related to Buck Rogers, 2430 AD
  Tech news articles related to works by Philip Nowlan (w/D. Calkins)

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