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I read a short story long ago. I can't remember the details but I would like to reread it. What's it's title?

The story is a science fiction story concerning some sports match. A referee makes a bad call and then the hats of the spectators reflect sunlight burning him. I also remember the author is pretty famous but I can't remember who.

I read it online in a collection of sci-fi stories 4-5 years ago. It's probably 20th century. It might have been Clarke or Asimov.

muru
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mtheorylord
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1 Answers1

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That would be “A Slight Case of Sunstroke” by Arthur C. Clarke. Like most of Clarke's story, it's a hard SF story (perfectly physically plausible). It's one of two stories by Clarke where someone is killed by a death ray, the other being “Let There Be Light”.

In “A Slight Case of the Sunstroke”, the setting is a football match between the national teams of two fictional Latin American countries, and the spectators have been (unknowing to them) instructed to orient reflective material in such a way as to kill a political opponent of the order giver. In “Let There Be Light”,

a driver is blinded and loses control of his car.

This story has also been sought on SF&F.

Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
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