• Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    9 months ago

    I’m reading a fiction called “Primal Sorcery” where a significant plot point is that sorcerers can instinctively manifest magic when under great duress, but the protagonist only ever gained the ability to turn invisible because there aren’t many stressful situations that aren’t solved by turning invisible…

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOPM
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      9 months ago

      One of my all-time favorite science fiction authors was Frederic Brown, who wrote very short stories (novels as well, but he’s most well-known for the short stories). One was about a man in a Muslim sultanate who invents an invisibility potion. He drinks the potion and decides to sneak into the sultan’s harem at night… at which point he’s murdered by one of the guards because it’s night and being invisible doesn’t matter when you make noise.

      • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        9 months ago

        it’s honestly surprising that “invisible dude runs into a blind person who, obviously, has no clue they’re invisible” isn’t a more common trope, it’s such a no-brainer