Post-apocalyptic fiction is usually, by definition, after the apocalypse. Its a niggling point, but if your science fiction is about the apocalypse, then, really, it’s intra-apocalypse* fiction.
But, in the case of the book WarDay, it is most definitely post-apocalyptic fiction.
The book has been out of print for a while but I enjoyed it when i was younger and when a used copy turned up on Amazon for a few bucks I grabbed it.
WarDay is about two reporters who decide to ‘see America’ after a nuclear exchange five years earlier. They travel cross country, interviewing people and chronicling their experiences. The book came out in 1984 and was predicated around the then-plausible idea of a somewhat limited nuclear exchange with the Soviets.
If you’ve read Max Brook’s ‘World War Z’ book, the format will be very familiar….journalists interview various people and let them tell their stories of how they survived the one-day war.
This book shows some of the tropes that we’ve come to see in post-apocalyptic fiction that has been printed since then. Things like a Mexican reconquista of the southwest, foreign troops providing ‘aid’ that turns out to be more of an occupation, submarines cutoff from contact thinking the war is still going on, survivors in cities eating each other, etc, etc.
In addition to these narratives, WarDay also tries to cover a bit of the .gov’s experience as well. There are copies of reports, directives, orders, and other bureaucratic paper to show how the government eventually tries to get back to normal with forced relocations, rationing, martial law, etc.
Having come out in 1984, some of the book is dated…reporters using tape recorders, for example…but the descriptions of starvation, radiation poisoning, oppression, etc, are pretty timeless.
Because the book is written as a ‘documentary’, don’t expect the usual townies-vs-cannibal-army that is a staple of this sort of genre. But if you want a more thoughtful read that seems quite rooted in reality, this is a good choice.
Is there anything to be ‘learned’ from it? Probably not. It’s most redeeming quality, from a survivalists standpoint, is that it’s portrayal of how the average person fared in a nuclear aftermath might make you think twice about not stocking up on more of everything.
I think it’s a good read, and definitely a ‘thinking mans’ sort of book….light on gunplay and Ahern-esqe ubermensch, the realistic scenarios, responses, and consequences make this a story that seems quite plausible.
If you can nail down a used copy for a few bucks, I think you’ll find it a worthwhile read. Just remember the time it was written.
* = Pre-apocalypse fiction would be before the apocalypse, post-apocalypse fiction is after the apocalypse. Whats the prefix for during the apocalypse? In-apocalyptic fiction? Intra-apocalypse? Peri-apocalypse? Mid-apocalypse? I’m going with intra-.
Just bought the kindle version with some credits I had. I’ll read this over the long weekend. Thanks for the recommendation!
Zero- As usual your commentary and thoughtful analysis draws the correct conclusions. I read this book many years ago and also found it a worthwhile bit of post survival literature. It sort of blows up ( pun intended) the common myth that in a nuke attack their would be no survivors or anything left worth surviving for. Might be a lot tougher to make it but that’s why we prep- to have an edge, at least somewhat.
Wow, blast from the past with no pun intended. I still have that book on the shelf right next to alas Babylon and lucifers hamner. I may have to re-read it again during the winter to get reacquainted with some old school apocalyptic fiction. Thanks for the jog down memory lane. Now I feel the need to dig out my old ASG magazines and see how preparedness technology has come along since then.
I thought it interesting that in the Great Re-adjustment, people were paid off for their computerized financial losses with gold.
I also enjoyed that book in the 80s. And i also remember that it was considered a darling story from the leftists, “showing the absolute Horror of nukes” and how we should “get rid of them all”.
Then after reading it, i thought it was mostly pretty realistic. War IS horrible and we should work to avoid it.
btw, if you like digital reads (in epub):
http://library.lol/fiction/9714A8BB1EC44E72F712CA3B4B395E0F
http://library.lol/fiction/C9021D768584FA804E2547766CEE3AC4
There’s a book I have not seen since the 1980s. Oh wait, I have a copy on my book case to my right. LOL. I really need to look at that book case more often. My copy is yellowed and has a publish year of 1984.
I thought it was…not realistic. Nuclear war story? Throw it in the trash. Post-apocalyptic after effects? Okay narrative. Interesting thoughts on domestic politics afterwards, I’ll give him that.
I’m really big on verisimilitude and I just didn’t like that the author didn’t pull it off right. Too bad he didn’t have the Internet.
Shame there is so little good nuclear war fiction. IMHO, Dean Ing>Pat Frank>Don Shift, in that order. And thanks to this blog for Dean Ing.
Thanks for the recommendation, I just ordered a hardback copy. Makes me want to practice some “duck and cover” drills, lol.
Strieber and Kunetka did an awesome job on War Day. Nature’s End was also good. I keep them both on my end of the world bookshelf.
Thanks for the reminder of ‘War Day’. Alas Babylon is another oldie, but a goody.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
Just FYI – it is available on Audible for those who have a credit to toss that way.
I remember reading that book. Scary but hopeful outlook for the aftermath of a nuclear war. Key things I remember – one of the narrators commenting on his hair turning gray. I thought that was scary, but now I am there (hey, at least it is still attached). The other one was flying over an Air Force base and seeing the outlines of C5s on the tarmac. And something about restrictions on travel to Canada for those who were exposed to the radiation. I recall thinking it was a good read. Will have to look for a copy.
My favorite post-apocalyptic movie is Blast From The Past.
I have always preferred the Foundation series as it covers a galactic civilatzations collapse with the differences between the core and outlands and how it could be mitigated.
I gave it a go when I was 15 and never could get into it. Now 35 years later I’ll give it a second go.
I just ordered a hardback copy, too. Thanks for the recommendation!
I just finished a new novel from the Vince Flynn estate by Kyle Mills. Total Power hits a great many of the topics we discuss here.
Mainly it’s about a Snowflake who has a giant IQ but can’t get respect from those who are HIS interiors. Anyway he consults on the Power Grid to the DOE and works up the worst case scenario. Which he then launches to get even with the elected class in the Government. Meaning Congress.
It’s actually pretty good. Mills must have done his homework because I didn’t see any mistakes or idiotic assumptions. It’s out in paperback.
Read WarDay as a “kid” back in the 80s when it was first published. As I recall, much of the destruction was due to EMP which I believe the author pretty much overstated. I remember it as “okay”.