S
Summo
Guest
- Thread starter
- #91
Oh, man! A few years ago I used to read loads of nuclear-type fiction books.
One of them had three parts:
Pre-holocaust
Centred on a young girl enjoying a normal life. Walking home from school and boom! Nuclear explosion. Story progresses and focuses on her struggle with her mum and brother (father is missing after blast) to survive. Black rain. Nuclear fallout. Contaminated water. Radiation sickness. Eventually the brother dies. Society changed forever. Truly powerful stuff.
The Bunker
The father of the girl in the previous story (pre-blast) picks up a lady hitchhiker. Boom! The woman is a government researcher (or similar) and is one of the few people allowed to take refuge in a government bunker, which they both use. Story progresses focusing on life inside the bunker, different people forced together, the pain of having to turn away and eventually shoot the hoards of infected people gathering outside. The father's guilt and remorse at the loss of his family, and so on. Later they attempt to 'colonise' the new radiated lanscape. Powerful stuff.
Post-apocalyptic
The 'next generation' of people who have survived outside. Sickness, decay and mutation in new-born babies brought on by the radiation, who are spurned and often killed. Story continues and we find the mutations are the next evolutionary step. At this point the role is reversed. The people sheltered in the bunker (us the readers effectively) begin to die out, ill-equipped to survive in the harsh new world. Moving and powerful stuff.
Wouldn't it be great if I could remember the title or the author?
One of them had three parts:
Pre-holocaust
Centred on a young girl enjoying a normal life. Walking home from school and boom! Nuclear explosion. Story progresses and focuses on her struggle with her mum and brother (father is missing after blast) to survive. Black rain. Nuclear fallout. Contaminated water. Radiation sickness. Eventually the brother dies. Society changed forever. Truly powerful stuff.
The Bunker
The father of the girl in the previous story (pre-blast) picks up a lady hitchhiker. Boom! The woman is a government researcher (or similar) and is one of the few people allowed to take refuge in a government bunker, which they both use. Story progresses focusing on life inside the bunker, different people forced together, the pain of having to turn away and eventually shoot the hoards of infected people gathering outside. The father's guilt and remorse at the loss of his family, and so on. Later they attempt to 'colonise' the new radiated lanscape. Powerful stuff.
Post-apocalyptic
The 'next generation' of people who have survived outside. Sickness, decay and mutation in new-born babies brought on by the radiation, who are spurned and often killed. Story continues and we find the mutations are the next evolutionary step. At this point the role is reversed. The people sheltered in the bunker (us the readers effectively) begin to die out, ill-equipped to survive in the harsh new world. Moving and powerful stuff.
Wouldn't it be great if I could remember the title or the author?