Sci-Fi Interplanetary War and Super Weapons

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Sci-Fi Interplanetary War and Super Weapons

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1loanismenendez
Aug 16, 2012, 9:52 am

I received the following request for a book without title or author:

“Sci fi book I read in the 60s as a kid, in which there is a interplanetary war involving Venus, Mars, and Pluto. Each planet has developed unique weapons that they use on each other. I believe Venus had the ability to cut into other planets with some weapon, while Pluto developed a more defensive strategy of being able to move the planet out of its usual orbit using some kind of planetary drive. I don't recall author or name of book.”

I found the following which promises to be a close match: Arthur C. Clarke's Earthlight. There is an Interplanetary war over energy resources, fought with super-weapons in this sci-fi novella. An expanded novel was published in 1955 under the same title. There is Earth and Venus and Federation, which includes Mars and the outer planets. But I’m not sure if that would be the book bc I have not read it.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Loanis

2dukedom_enough
Aug 16, 2012, 12:11 pm

Definitely not Earthlight, which did not feature a moving Pluto. The superscience aspects lead me to suspect this was written in the 1920s-1940s, and possibly republished in the 1960s. I don't specifically recognize the story. Maybe Edmund Hamilton or Jack Williamson?

3loanismenendez
Aug 16, 2012, 1:42 pm

Thanks! I'll continue to look and foward those two author names to my patron.
Loanis

4dukedom_enough
Aug 17, 2012, 7:19 am

There are actually hundreds of possible authors who might've produced that story. Hamilton and Williamson are just the ones that came immediately to mind.

5loanismenendez
Sep 22, 2012, 3:09 pm

Eureka! And the winner is.....ding ding ding ding!
AnnieMod!!!!
"The Rape of the Solar System" by Leslie F. Stone!!!!

6Nerilka
Sep 22, 2012, 6:32 pm

7lquilter
Nov 1, 2013, 10:20 am