diff --git a/src/overwrite.lsp b/src/overwrite.lsp
index cd8ac98..282b6af 100644
--- a/src/overwrite.lsp
+++ b/src/overwrite.lsp
@@ -280,13 +280,38 @@
       -1
       (char-int c))))
 
-#+(or ccl sbcl)
+;; Native pr: write the string to the stream unconditionally, never
+;; consulting *hush*. The kernel's KL pr (writer.kl) returns early without
+;; writing whenever *hush* is true -- which wrongly silences pr to FILE
+;; streams under -q (e.g. `eval -q -e "(pr ... FileStream)"`), producing a
+;; zero-byte file. SBCL/CCL already bypassed the KL pr via this override;
+;; ECL ran the KL pr and so silenced pr to files under -q. Its file streams
+;; are character streams, so the same write-string override applies.
+;; Extending the override to ECL makes SBCL/CCL/ECL agree: pr writes to its
+;; target stream regardless of *hush* (Shen issue #2).
+#+(or ccl sbcl ecl)
 (defun |pr| (x s)
   (write-string x s)
   (when (or (eq s |*stoutput*|) (eq s |*stinput*|))
     (force-output s))
   x)
 
+;; CLisp file streams are opened with :element-type 'unsigned-byte (see
+;; |shen.openh| in primitives.lsp), so write-string is illegal on them; the
+;; kernel's KL pr dispatches such streams to a write-byte path. Mirror that
+;; dispatch here but, like the SBCL/CCL/ECL override, ignore *hush* so pr to
+;; a file stream is never silenced under -q (Shen issue #2). Character streams
+;; (e.g. *stoutput*) still take write-string.
+#+clisp
+(defun |pr| (x s)
+  (if (subtypep (stream-element-type s) 'character)
+      (progn
+        (write-string x s)
+        (when (or (eq s |*stoutput*|) (eq s |*stinput*|))
+          (force-output s)))
+      (loop for c across x do (write-byte (char-code c) s)))
+  x)
+
 ;; file reading
 
 (defun |read-file-as-bytelist| (path)
diff --git a/src/primitives.lsp b/src/primitives.lsp
index a0c5668..836cfa5 100644
--- a/src/primitives.lsp
+++ b/src/primitives.lsp
@@ -137,12 +137,26 @@
 (defmacro |freeze| (x)
   `(function (lambda () ,x)))
 
+;; Sanity cap on absvector size (Shen issue #3). Without it, (absvector HUGE)
+;; asks make-array for an array far larger than the heap, which SBCL reports as
+;; an *uncatchable* "Heap exhausted" abort -- trap-error cannot recover from it,
+;; so a single bad size takes down the whole image. The cap is ~16.7 million
+;; slots (2^24), which is over 800x the largest vector the kernel itself ever
+;; allocates (the 20000-slot property dictionary), so it cannot break any
+;; legitimate kernel or program use; anything beyond it raises a catchable Shen
+;; error instead of crashing. shen-go applies the same kind of cap.
+(defconstant |shen-cl.max-absvector-size| (expt 2 24))
+
 ;; Elements start as the fail sentinel so that reading an unset slot via
 ;; <-vector signals "not found", matching the official S41.1 port and
 ;; Shen/Scheme. (|fail|) is kernel-defined and only called at runtime,
 ;; after the kernel has loaded.
 (defun |absvector| (n)
-  (make-array n :initial-element (|fail|)))
+  (if (and (integerp n) (>= n 0) (<= n |shen-cl.max-absvector-size|))
+      (make-array n :initial-element (|fail|))
+      (|simple-error|
+        (format nil "absvector size ~A out of range (0..~A)~%"
+                n |shen-cl.max-absvector-size|))))
 
 (defun |absvector?| (x)
   (if (and (arrayp x) (not (stringp x)))