11

I'm searching for a science fiction book, with the twist that I haven't actually read this book. I have only heard the outline of the plot of it. But I'm fairly certain that it is indeed a book, and not some plot I dreamt up myself.

It goes like this:

  • Due to some silly oversight, humankind has never discovered anti-gravity and faster-than-light travel, something other species usually discover around their corresponding stone age.
  • Somewhere around the modern day, an alien fleet lands on Earth, armed with spears and shields, and demand that humans surrender and become their slaves.
  • Obviously, the aliens get steamrolled by cruise missiles and tanks and electronic communication, which humans were forced to develop due to being stuck on their own planet without knowledge of anti-gravity.
  • Humans steal the alien technology and go into space.

Additional info: I read the plot description in English (but that doesn't say much) in an English speaking online forum which is long defunct. I read it somewhere between 2000 and 2005.

Improve this question
0

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
10

This is the short story "The Road Not Taken" (1985) by Harry Turtledove, first published in the November 1985 issue of Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact. It is a prequel to his earlier story "Herbig-Haro" (as by Eric G. Iverson). It's well-enough known to have its own Wikipedia page. It's been in several different anthologies, but I'm not sure if any are currently in print.

The premise is that somehow anti-gravity is "easy" to discover, but is a technological dead end, so that races that discover anti-gravity end up exploring the stars, focusing their energy outward. Whereas on Earth, failure to discover anti-gravity lead to the Renaissance and modern technology. (This is handwaved as the gravity device offering no useful insights into how the world works, whereas investigation of, for example, light, leads to the whole electro-magnetic spectrum, electricity, spectroscopy, x-rays, radio, etc.)

In the story the aliens actually fought with matchlock guns and simple muzzle-loading cannon. Heat-seeking air-to-air missiles don't work against their ships, since they lack a strong heat source, but radar-guided missiles work, and modern military weapons make short work of the invaders.

The story ends before humans actually go to space, but with the realization on the part of two captured aliens (an infantry captain, and an engineer/navigator) that humanity is now going to be effectively unstoppable.

Improve this answer
7
  • It seems to match nearly exactly, as you say. I've marked it as the correct answer. Thanks!
    – Truncated
    Commented Dec 20, 2018 at 22:03
  • 2
    Question: Did the Aliens call the Human machine guns, something like "Stitching Weapons"? I recall a story like this, but THAT weapon description is what stuck out to me.
    – NJohnny
    Commented Dec 21, 2018 at 5:15
  • 1
    @NJohnny No, that's a different story. It was a full-length book, but I do not remember the title or author, just that it was definitely different than "The Road Not Taken".
    – Trip Space-Parasite
    Commented Dec 21, 2018 at 17:40
  • Ok Thanks. I will keep looking. ;)
    – NJohnny
    Commented Dec 24, 2018 at 2:05
  • I, also, thought that the aliens in The Road Not Taken called our marching guns "stitching guns".
    – NomadMaker
    Commented May 21, 2021 at 4:50

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.