# Nuclear war fiction....set during the attack! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 3, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446 "2013-05-03T19:56:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/1 "2013-05-03T19:56:36Z")
I work in a library and am compiling a list of resources for a library guide on surviving a nuclear attack. The majority of the guide is non-fiction, government resources, on what to do before, during, and after a nuclear or radiological event. So for fun, I’d like to include fiction about experiencing a nuclear attack/nuclear warfare. (Because what could be more fun than that, I ask you? :p) Here’s where you come in! A perfect example would be Pat Frank’s **Alas, Babylon** – you see what people are dealing with prior to the attack, during the attack, and after. Same with Whitley Streiber’s **Warday** , which is (IIRC) about piecing together the events around an attack by looking at the documents left behind. I haven’t read Neil Shute’s \*\* On the Beach\*\*, but a synopsis makes it appear like it would fit the bill, since it’s about the immediate aftermath of nuclear war. I _ **don’t** _ want books set long (generations, or dozens-to-hundreds) after an attack, like **A Canticle for Leibowitz**. So, what else is out there? (Bonus question: A year or so ago, I read a Young Adult book, recently published, that was a series of inter-linked short stories about a young boy and his family dealing with a nuclear attack on the US…the first story set on the night of the launch and each story being set further and further into the future. I cannot remember the title for the life of me – does this ring any bells with anyone?) ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/2 "2013-05-03T20:12:37Z")
Uh, that should be: > [@](#): > > I don’t want books set long (generations, or dozens-to-hundreds **of years** ) ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/3 "2013-05-03T20:13:21Z")
I believe “**[Swan Song](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Song_(novel))**” by Robert McCammon took place before, during, and after a nuclear war. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/4 "2013-05-03T20:14:33Z")
Pulling Through - Dean Ing Systemic Shock - Dean Ing ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/5 "2013-05-03T20:16:38Z")
Juvenile/YA from the 80s: [After the Bomb](http://www.amazon.com/After-Bomb-Gloria-D-Miklowitz/dp/0590434837)and the sequel, Week One. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/6 "2013-05-03T22:06:06Z")
Children Of The Dust. ---
**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/7 "2013-05-04T01:54:21Z")
“Last Train From Hiroshima” by Charles Pellegrino is as fictional as it gets. :rolleyes: In seriousness, I suggest [‘Malevil’ by Robert Merle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malevil). Not sure if it’s still in print, though. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2013, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/8 "2013-05-04T02:42:49Z")
The classic ones are **Fail Safe** and **Red Alert** , both filmed at about the same time as the very serious **Fail Sagfe** and as Stranley Kubrick’s dark comicv **Dr Stranfelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb**. I’ve seen the movie Fail Safwe, but haven’t read the book. I’ve read Peter Bryant’s Red Alert, and the rewritten version (after the film came out) titled Dr. Strangelove, published under the author name Peter George. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/9 "2013-05-04T03:27:12Z")
Heinlein, Farnham’s Freehold. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2013, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/10 "2013-05-04T04:23:22Z")
Raymond Briggs **When the Wind Blows** A really poignant graphic novel that is entirely centred on an elderly couple in Britain trying to deal with the escalation of hostilities leading to a nuclear war, and then its effects. ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2013, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/11 "2013-05-04T05:42:56Z")
Seconding [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farnham%27s_Freehold): > [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Heinlein, Farnham’s Freehold. Starts out very nuclear-war-ish, goes somewhere weird with it, then goes completely off the tracks by the end. Quite dated, not so much in the technology but terribly so in the terms of people’s attitudes, and a bit preachy. Like all Heinlein. But, like all Heinlein, it’s totally worth reading, if just once, for the science. If you wanna survive a nuclear war, learn to think like Hugh Farnham. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2013, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/12 "2013-05-04T06:24:13Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > A perfect example would be Pat Frank’s **Alas, Babylon** – you see what people are dealing with prior to the attack, during the attack, and after. Same with Whitley Streiber’s **Warday** , which is (IIRC) about piecing together the events around an attack by looking at the documents left behind. I haven’t read Neil Shute’s \*\* On the Beach\*\*, but a synopsis makes it appear like it would fit the bill, since it’s about the immediate aftermath of nuclear war I would seriously avoid reading Neil Shute’s on the beach for anything beyond an updated alice in wonderland. One book that I really enjoyed was by Eric L Harry, called Arc light. limited strike on the US, by Russian coup leader and the subsequent follow up invasion. Declan ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2013, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/13 "2013-05-04T06:44:16Z")
Not nuclear war, but Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven is a look at a very similar situation - cometary strike. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2013, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/14 "2013-05-04T07:37:05Z")
_Down To A Sunless Sea_, by David Graham: A large airliner is halfway across the Atlantic when the first nuke is fired. Over the course of the next couple of hours, more or less everywhere it could have landed gets bombed, and what isn’t bombed is under a giant cloud of radioactive fallout… At least two different versions of this book were published, one with a slightly upbeat ending and one rather less optimistic though with a quasi-religious final sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2013, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/15 "2013-05-04T09:48:53Z")
_On the Beach_ is a good read, but it doesn’t fit what you’re looking for. It’s after the war, and about how the survivors cope while they wait for their own end. I’m having a hard time thinking of any books or movies that would really fit the bill. There’s a pretty large set of books about events leading up to a general (or limited) nuclear war, and there’s another set of books about survivors after such a war. What is there of interest to write about _during_ the attack? It’s not like anyone can dodge from one piece of cover to the next, like in normal combat. You live or you die based on which buttons people push hundreds or thousands of miles away, and whether you live or die you’ll probably never know why the bomb fell or didn’t on you instead of the next city over. But … gotta be a book? I would recommend an excellent if not especially well known movie, _The Bedford Incident_, about a cat and mouse game between a destroyer and sub that escalates. It’s based on a book, but I haven’t read the book, so I can’t vouch for it. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/16 "2013-05-05T16:00:21Z")
The out of print book Warday about a limited Nuclear war is mainly about the aftermath but there are segments set during the attack (the one that comes to mind was an account of a Nuke going off in Brooklyn). ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/17 "2013-05-05T17:11:38Z")
**One Second After** by William R. Forstchen, it’s not about nuclear war per-se, but about an unprovoked EMP strike on the U.S. (and maybe more countries…) It follows the events from the immediate pulse to a year out, in the small town of Black Mountain, North Carolina, the book attempts to be as realistic as possible in the depiction of societal breakdown and regression ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/18 "2013-05-05T17:47:44Z")
Are there any novels that are well-researched, accurate fictionalized accounts of the actual warfighting? Chain of command, counterforce, lengthy SIOP description, strategy, results, etc? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/19 "2013-05-05T18:03:44Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Are there any novels that are well-researched, accurate fictionalized accounts of the actual warfighting? Chain of command, counterforce, lengthy SIOP description, strategy, results, etc? Dread as I am to recommend Tom Clancy, his book Red Storm Rising is a pretty well written and researched book about an all out conventional war between NATO and the Soviet Union that goes right to the brink of nuclear. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446/20 "2013-05-05T19:45:05Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Are there any novels that are well-researched, accurate fictionalized accounts of the actual warfighting? Chain of command, counterforce, lengthy SIOP description, strategy, results, etc? [General Sir John Hackett’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hackett_%28British_Army_officer%29) [The Third World War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_World_War:_The_Untold_Story) might be of interest. I imagine it’s well-researched, as Hacket was Commander of the British Army of the Rhine, and also Nato’s Northern Army Group. (The fighting is almost all conventional, if that matters) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-war-fiction-set-during-the-attack/657446.md?page=2)