Need A Recommendation: Cold War-Era Nuclear War Story
Sunday, November 14, 2010 at 9:34PM It's been a while since I've read a good old-fashioned 1980s-style World War III apocalypse story, something along the lines of Threads or The Day After in book form. I figure that if you're reading this, then you're probably a fan of the genre, so might have some recommendations for me.
I'm kind of in the mood for something more focusing on the war itself than the post-apocalypse; something with B-52s, ICBMs, nuclear bombs going off around the world, and the Soviet Union as the bad guys. I've read Alas, Babylon too recently, but it's been a while since I've read Trinity's Child (later made into the movie By Dawn's Early Light), so that one might do. Or there's always Failsafe; I've loved it every time I've read it.
But I'd really like to find something new that I haven't read before, so if any of you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them in the comments.
Reader Comments (12)
Hi,
i am sure you already know that one, but all i can think of at the moment is James Herberts "48". It's not cold war, in fact the story takes place in London some years after the allies lost WW2. It has some Zombie-like Nazi-Soldiers and Hoke, an american warhorse, living in the Savoy and clearing the streets from "Blackshirts" and dead bodies. It's a fast read, and it has it's moments, but as a whole, it left me a bit disappointed.
Brad Ferguson The World Next Door
http://www.amazon.com/World-Next-Door-Brad-Ferguson/dp/0812537955
'story of the adventures of the inhabitants of a small mountain town in New York State after World War III was fought in 1962'
Anton-Andreas Guha Ende: A Diary of the Third World War
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ende-Diary-Third-World-War/dp/0552126535
'From a European point of view, a man writes a diary of his thoughts and experiences during the last world war'
Brian Harris, World War III
http://www.amazon.com/World-War-III-Brian-Harris/dp/0671442937
'WWIII fought mostly in Alaska. Palin would be proud'
Should keep you plenty busy. enjoy
Brian Cullen What Niall Saw
http://www.amazon.com/What-Niall-Saw-Brian-Cullen/dp/0312866135
'Niall Bruce is a seven-year-old schoolboy in Dublin when the bombs drop and the sky turns orange. '
Hey Michael, yeah, I've read '48, but it's been a while. I remember liking it, so maybe I will give it another try sometime. Thanks for bringing it up.
Just found Red Alert by Peter George, http://www.amazon.com/Red-Alert-Peter-George/dp/0795301227.
It's the basis for the film Dr Strangelove and is supposed to be very similar to Failsafe. Sounds like just what I was looking for.
Try Whitley Strieber's War Day. It goes from the day of the attacks (in 1988!) by the Soviets to a journey through a recovering America (in 1993! - and beyond). It is sort of a limited nuclear apocalypse, local governments continue to sort of function but first there's some famines, riots, radiation sickness, etc. Much of that stuff is told in retrospective, journalistic narrative. I'm going on 25 year old memories, however. I read it a couple of years after it came out back in the mid 80's. I just found a used paperback about a week ago.
Hey Midfielder, I like your style. I'm very familiar with Warday; in fact I just re-read it myself in the last year or so. I definitely consider it a classic, at least if you're a fan of traditional nuclear war stories. You can't find a novel with more detail in it than Warday.
Hi, Megaton. If you haven't read it recently, Level 7 by Mordecai Roshwal is pretty good, if a bit dated. I'd also recommend Down to a Sunless Sea by David Graham and The Long Voyage Back by Luke Rhinehart for military focused, Soviet-era WWIII. Cheers!
@doug: Of course, Down to A Sunless Sea!! How could I forget that one? As the Brits say: "It's a cracking good story!" It starts off as a kind of economic collapse/distopian novel and then veers into nuclear war. It is one of the most memorable novels of its kind you will ever read. Its hard to believe that no one has tried to make a movie out of it. One more point: there are apparently two different versions out there. The first edition and later editions have different endings.
I've read both Level 7 and Down to a Sunless Sea (I read the "downer" version) in the last several years. But The Long Voyage Back doesn't sound familiar so I'm going to check that one out. Thanks.
Williams, Roger - Aftermath. 1982
Disparate survivors across England after a several nuclear detonations. Survivors scrabbling in ruins of London.
This seems moderately rare - I found it in a second hand shop in South Australia, a cheap paperback. There are five copies on Amazon.co.uk. and a few on amazon.com.
London is destroyed by a high yield weapon and there are detonations in ?sheffield (not at home so can't check). The story has a few different lines following different survivors. Good, fun read, I have been able to read it a couple of times.
One amazon.co.uk review:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/0352310413/ref=sr_1_1_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&qid=1292900212&sr=8-1
I should also say that "down to a sunless sea" I found to be quite excruciatingly bad. the protagonist is a bore and the writing is cringingly chauvanistic. The gold in the book is the intial description of post-economic, post-oil collapse new york
I would put in a vote of confidence for "long voyage back" by Luke Rhinehart. I really enjoyed this book, read a few years ago now and I don't have my own copy to refer to however the amazon.com reviews read true.
Hey Victoria, thanks for the recommendations. Aftermath does sound like exactly like the kind of book I like to read, and since Threads is one of my favorite PA movies of all time, a similar story in print sounds great. I'll definitely try to track down a copy.