I continue to drag books from the Dark Future Books list, that is, of the post-apocalyptic fiction genre. In my humble opinion, the author of the site is deeply mistaken in his assessment of the books, but the list itself is quite a valuable thing. It's full of trash, but there are also classics of the genre. And books of this specific nature aren't that easy to find.
So here is a list of what I have looked through in ascending order of value.
Author: Macdonald, Andrew.
Book: The Turner Diaries.
Strictly for a niche audience. It is a racist utopia, where white supremacist terrorists cleanse America of stagnation and filth, "caused by the dominance of black and colored subhumans". As a result of their actions, a huge number of people die and a small nuclear war takes place. In the end, there is universal happiness and joy. Caused by the fact that only whites live in the newly formed confederacy occupying part of America. It seems this book is well known among fans of such ideas. But any sane person understands: despite the existence of real problems with black people in America and Europe, killing or deporting them all will not bring about any universal happiness.
Verdict: I read a few dozen pages at the end, at the beginning, and didn't bother cluttering my head with this nonsense any further.
Author: Lanier, Sterling
Book: Hiero's Journey.
5000 years after a global catastrophe, a combat-ready telepathic monk on a horse-like creature sets off on a journey to scout out the plans of a terrible evil. It has long been weaving its web in the hope of enslaving the civilized world, governed by reasonable and peace-loving clerics, to which our hero belongs.
There are two complaints: the first is an extremely poor command of language in places (the author or the translator?) and style. The second is a somewhat boring plot, where the main characters do nothing but fight and get horrified by their opponents. The world is basically described well, but there is a bit too much mysticism and fantasy-like nonsense, which I oh so dislike.
Verdict: read up to the middle and put it aside for now.
Author: McCammon, Robert
Book: Swan Song
A well-thought-out description of a nuclear catastrophe, colorful characters who have survived hell. It tells directly about the process of their lives during and after the collapse. There are no complaints about the language and plot, everything is quite up to par. Again, the only problem is that everything is mixed up with mysticism, sci-fi is pushed to the background. I certainly understand authors who are too lazy to expand their knowledge. It's easier to invent "miracles" and "mysteries". Only such an approach hardly allows one to build a logical and plausible universe, which plays a huge role in any sci-fi book. It is precisely because of the lifelike behavior of the characters and the technology that sci-fi turns into reality, and does not remain a foolish invention that any hack writer is capable of churning out.
Verdict: read a third and put it off, thinking of finishing it.
Author: Merle, Robert
Book: Malevil
A few old friends, residents of a small French village, happen to gather in the cellar of the "Malevil" castle belonging to one of them. At that moment, a very powerful nuclear bomb is detonated over Paris. As a result, practically all people and animals in France die, but our heroes are saved thanks to the thick stone walls of the castle, and the cliff behind which it is located. Having barely survived the catastrophe, they find out that not all is lost yet, because for some reason there is no radiation and a few animals have survived. Therefore, the heroes of the book do not despair, but try to establish a normal life. Just how possible this is, given the small food supplies and the absence of women of childbearing age, only time will tell.
Strictly speaking, there is only one sci-fi assumption in the novel - the existence of a nuclear bomb that does not cause radioactive fallout. And the rest in this book actually fully corresponds to reality, and wonderfully described at that. Everything is thought out in detail, the characters' behavior leaves no room for doubt, there is good humor and personalities. And no mysticism!
Quotes:
1) On the contrary, there isn't a shadow of a doubt in Thomas's eyes: Fulbert is a scoundrel. He thinks so, I am convinced of it, although I haven't quite grasped the magnitude of the sacrilege that Fulbert has just committed from the point of view of my comrades, by asking for the cow.
How dare he encroach upon the cow. Upon our highest shrine after God (and perhaps even higher). For us the value of a cow is by no means determined by its market price. That's not the point at all. When it changes hands, we take money for it, but first of all in order to express with the help of banknotes
that almost religious respect which we harbor for her.
2) - If you like, in my opinion, any civilization needs a soul.
- And this soul is religion?
Uttering this phrase, he winced. Two words repulsed him: "soul" and "religion". Two completely "outdated" concepts. Meyssonnier is an educated party member, he went through the party cadre school.
- Given the current state of affairs - yes.
He pondered over this statement, which also contained a caveat. Meyssonnier is a slow thinker, he moves forward step by step. But on the other hand, superficiality of judgment is alien to him. He asked me to clarify my thought.
- The soul of our current civilization is here, in Malevil?
He pronounced the word "soul" as if enclosing it in quotation marks, it even seemed to me that he was manipulating it from a distance, using tweezers.
Verdict: a wonderful book, definitely worth reading. Download
P.S. I also don't like the word "Soul", but I accept it in the meaning discussed in the dialogue between Meyssonnier and Emmanuel.
Books - Post-apocalyptic fiction
2006-05-17