An acquaintance asks....

What SciFi story contained a weapon called the "Imp". (it caused any
matter to collapse and ultimately poof out of existence)
This character also had a couple of others. One I believe was called
the Halo which, when worn, would IIRC give the wearer Telekinetic powers.
The third one was some kind of personal defense shield. I forget what
it was called.

==
Lee K. Gleason N5ZMR
Control-G Consultants
lee.gleason@comcast.net

On Saturday, November 26, 2022 at 3:10:47 PM UTC+11, Lee Gleason wrote:
> An acquaintance asks....
>
>
> What SciFi story contained a weapon called the "Imp". (it caused any
> matter to collapse and ultimately poof out of existence)
> This character also had a couple of others. One I believe was called
> the Halo which, when worn, would IIRC give the wearer Telekinetic powers.
> The third one was some kind of personal defense shield. I forget what
> it was called.

This may be Joseph McElroy's "Plus" (1970). From the Wikipedia description:

"Plus is Joseph McElroy's fifth novel. Set in some unspecified future, it tells the story of Imp Plus, a disembodied brain controlling IMP,
the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform, in earth orbit. The novel consists of Imp Plus's thoughts as he tries to comprehend his limited
existence, while struggling with language, limited memories, and communicating with Ground Control. The plot is driven by Imp Plus's
recall of fragments of his past and of language, his improving comprehension of his present, all while his medical condition gradually
deteriorates."

-Moriarty

On Tuesday, 29 November 2022 at 20:35:54 UTC, Moriarty wrote:
> On Saturday, November 26, 2022 at 3:10:47 PM UTC+11, Lee Gleason wrote:
> > An acquaintance asks....
> >
> >
> > What SciFi story contained a weapon called the "Imp". (it caused any
> > matter to collapse and ultimately poof out of existence)
> > This character also had a couple of others. One I believe was called
> > the Halo which, when worn, would IIRC give the wearer Telekinetic powers.
> > The third one was some kind of personal defense shield. I forget what
> > it was called.
> This may be Joseph McElroy's "Plus" (1970). From the Wikipedia description:
>
> "Plus is Joseph McElroy's fifth novel. Set in some unspecified future, it tells the story of Imp Plus, a disembodied brain controlling IMP,
> the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform, in earth orbit. The novel consists of Imp Plus's thoughts as he tries to comprehend his limited
> existence, while struggling with language, limited memories, and communicating with Ground Control. The plot is driven by Imp Plus's
> recall of fragments of his past and of language, his improving comprehension of his present, all while his medical condition gradually
> deteriorates."

How would it / he wear the hat, though?

I'm assuming that the Halo is a magic hat.

I'm assuming that Imp is short for Implosion, but it also
sounds like, well, angels and demons? (But if it's a Dan Brown,
it isn't that one.)

_The Legion of Space_ has a disappearer weapon, but
so do _Stranger in a Strange Land_ and Star Trek's
"Charlie X", and probably others. Perhaps it's a category
in the "SF Encyclopedia"... but it looks like
<https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/weapons>
is the limit of detailed description.

We're not doing well. Can we ask when the story was read
and what color was the cover and, actually, anything else?