"Facing the Flag" by Jules Verne is a novel published in 1896. A brilliant French inventor creates the Fulgurator, a devastating super-weapon capable of destroying ships without direct impact. When governments reject his invention, he descends into madness and paranoia. A notorious pirate kidnaps him to a hidden island base, forcing him to build the weapon while a French spy works desperately to stop the catastrophe. As naval powers close in, the inventor must choose between patriotism and revenge in this tale of technological terror and national loyalty. (This is an automatically generated summary.)