I’ve just finished reading Armed and Dangerous – A Writer’s Guide to Weapons, by Michael Newton. I know very little about guns and I thought that this book would be handy to have as a reference source. Now that I’ve read it I am sure that I was correct in that assumption and I have already learned a lot. I did find it a hard read though. Maybe things would have been different if I had already had a little knowledge of the subject to start with. I don’t know. What I do know is that if and when I incorporate fire arms into any of my stories, I will have this book close at hand. My stories might be fiction, but I don’t want my facts to be.
Interestingly, there is a section in the book that lists weapon related mistakes that some very famous authors have made. Things like the use of safety catches on types of gun that would never have a safety catch in the first place because they are not designed that way. Or a silencer (suppressor) being used on a revolver when I silencer would serve no purpose at all on one. Very interesting. I could have read all of the mentioned books and never known the mistake. I had read a few, in fact, and was blissfully ignorant. That’s me though, and I am sure that, for those who do know their weapons, a mistake like that will stand out a mile and might detract attention from the story.
Anyway this is a useful book. It is part of The Howdunit Series (Writer’s Digest Books). I am not sure how many there are in the series. I am reading another one of them at the moment though – Deadly Doses – A Writer’s Guide to Poisons. From what I’ve read so far it could be a mystery writer’s bible. I will probably post more about this after I have finished reading it.