(Found) san francisco setting

[beej]

this book is about a ragtag group that barricades in san francisco in an attempt to preserve a sort of consensus government. maybe published 70s or 80s. thanks.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I think it rings a bell - if @dannymcg can't help, I'd be astonished.

 

[nixie]

I think it rings a bell - if @dannymcg can't help, I'd be astonished.

I'm wracking my brain it sounds very familiar

 

[J-Sun]

Perhaps Pat Murphy's The City Not Long After.

 

[Danny McG]

I have read this one! It was indeed, as J-Sun says, the city not long after. They used tricks against the beseiging army such as capturing them individually and stencilling DEAD on their forehead with indelible marker. They then released them to lower troop morale. As time went by most of the high ranking enemy bore this mark . I've read a similar one set on another planet with the artist community doing the same to the invading Earth Marines

 

[beej]

thanks for all the suggestions! i did succeed in finding it. it's called the fifth sacred thing, and is not sci fi but dystopian/utopian.

 

[Danny McG]

Hi Beej . Never heard of it ! Just done a Google and it sounds totally unlike anything I would select. Each to his own as they say. Enjoy

 

[Danny McG]

thanks for all the suggestions! i did succeed in finding it. it's called the fifth sacred thing, and is not sci fi but dystopian/utopian.

Written by Starhawk!
Somehow I don't think it is the author's real name

 

[Danny McG]

I've read a similar one set on another planet with the artist community doing the same to the invading Earth Marines

Update:
I think this may have been an early Dorsai novelette titled 'Amanda Morgan' but I really can't remember much about it