War of Omission

by Kevin O'Donnell Jr.

A NEW WAR

A revolt of the middle, of ordinary people fed up with taxes, bureaucracy, government interference. A rebellion destined to fail — until fate tipped the scales and gave them the power to win.

A NEW WEAPON

The Time-Space Separation unit, "Tisser" for shod. A device that wipes out chunks of spacetime, then'knits the edges of reality back together, leaving no memory of the places or people who vanished.

WAR OF OMISSION

An intense, moving and poignant novel of men and women struggling for freedom, learning the cost of awe-some power, and rebuilding the world they destroyed.

Genres: Science Fiction

260 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[Mary JL · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the very few books I could not finish. Eighty pages in and I did not like any of it. Plot was too convuluted and the characters one dimensional.

Not recommended. Nothing bad--just, there are better SF wokrs out there to spend your time on.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book which meanders all over the place after a solid enough start. In the mid-1990s a strange device known as a T-SS (or Tisser) is developed which, through some hand-waving, can make large chunks of space and its inhabitants become non-existent. Not destroyed, just erased from space and memory. This process can be reversed bringing the land and people back, but with some degradation of memory if the process is repeated too often. The Tisser is stolen by a radical revolutionary group whose plan A is Tissing all police out of existence. This they do, but can no longer remember either the police or their reason for their absence. You see the problems arising I’m sure. Due to a proliferation of Tissers being used by competing and/or opposing sides the whole of the U.S. has descended into a kind of chaotic mindless anarchy. After a reasonable first half, Kevin O’Donnell Jr. splits the narrative into separate tales of different viewpoint characters - none of which are particularly sympathetic - and staggers its way towards a resolution, while the Russians invade and NATO tries for a military junta. Readable but hardly believable.

[John Loyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

A semi-dystopic America is plagued by over regulation. [Bureau]crats enforce minor infractions with overbearing penalties. This has fostered the rise of rebels and anarchists who get hold of a defense department weapon, the T-SS unit (tisser), which can wipe an area and its contents out of existence. All organic memory of it forgotten, e.g. Nick never had a mother and father.

The rebels are able to tiss away most of their oppressors, but they've also broken much of the infrastructure. We follow the group in the New Haven area, though the devastation is nation wide. Walls built by Canada and Mexico are mentioned. Sheila sees starvation coming in the following winter and tries to build a working system in New Haven. Some of the rebels find this to be one tyranny replaced with another. The rest of the world is pretty much leaving America alone, for a while at least.

Point of view characters get tissed out of existence. The results of the revolution leave a dismal world behind albeit with more individual freedom. The concept of the tisser is kind of cool, and there are a couple of situational laughs. The end wasn't satisfying, e.g. not quite clear enough, they still have survival problems. 3.4 stars

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up at Caldor in 1982 or so with a copy of the Dickies first album...NO...second album. I brought it to the AV room at Darien High and Jeff Gammill(punk rocker) said that he had read it and liked it. I read it and was always intrigued by the premise. Parts of the story have lingered with me for the last 30 odd years -- so I re-read. Loved it.

[Glen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a bad SF concept, but the story didn't seem to go anywhere. Got about halfway through and had to move on.

[TanguiDom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alright read, nothing too crazy. The last third was a bit of a letdown for me, I didn’t mind it but the first 2/3 were more interesting.

[Charl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A believable future America (many would say current America), and the effect of a single new piece of technology.

The various applications of Tissers seem well thought-out, and the results plausible.