"No. Wynona is Crichton's favorite pistol from FarScape. But maybe the FarScape reference was an homage to Turtledove's work."
Actually, the reference to Turtledove was the word "skelkwank", which the extraterrestrial Lizards of the WorldWar series (7 books, IIRC - got 'em on the shelf at home) use where we humans use "laser".
I caught the Farscape reference - it's just a little less common to see someone reference a sci-fi BOOK, especially one which didn't truly hit the mainstream (that is to say, one which lacked the word "Star" as the first part of the title, which is what most mainstreamers seem to think comprises all that is or possibly could be SF).
Don't get me wrong - I'd LOVE a phaser. Adjustable from stun to kill to disintegrate, hardly EVER seems to need recharging (except when the demands of the story require it, at the worst possible moment of course
), and lightweight enough to attach to a belt mount using Velcro? Where do I sign up?
MiB's 'Noisy Cricket' has a certain appeal, too - talk about concealed-carry! Although the recoil seems a little high for comfort...