Absolved, Chapter Five. "Dead Man's Holler"
Mike Vanderboegh has reposted one of my favorite chapters of Absolved. Six ATF agents mess with the wrong "unarmed" man.
And there was something else that Charlie Quintard had learned. There are no obsolete weapons. There are only obsolete ways of employing them - obsolete tactics, if you will. An English longbowman of the 14th Century, if transplanted to the 21st, could still kill a man at distance. He just wouldn't stand in a row in an open field to do it like he had at Agincourt or Crecy.
In fact, in a technological society that placed gunfire detectors everywhere in its cities, there was an argument to be made that a "primitive" weapon which was essentially silent might be of increased utility despite the fact that it had been invented a couple of millenia before.
Also, when you grabbed a man by his belt buckle, a knife or a 'hawk was just as good a way to kill him as any other.
Codrea's and Vanderboegh's chapter lists
Dave Codrea's list of chapters, most without numbers, is here.
Vanderboegh's chapter list, with numbers, is here. Chapter 2 has no link.
Looking through the "November" and "October" of 2009 posts in the right-hand column of any of Vanderboegh's blog pages finds most of the chapters he's posted recently.
Hopefully, we'll be able to read from the book in the not too distant future, though I hope there's a Kindle edition. I actually prefer reading from my iPhone screen to holding dead trees.
The Black Arrow
That passage strongly reminds me of The Black Arrow by Vin Suprynowicz.
Must get started on Absolved, then... do you know if Chapter 2 is posted yet? Couldn't find it by googling.
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