Nuclear Holocausts: Atomic War in Fiction
Nuclear Holocausts Bibliography: G
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Gallion, Jane. Biker. North Hollywood: Essex House, 1969.
Essex House published experimental hard-core
pornography in the late sixties, including a great deal of extremely sadistic
material. This book belongs to that category, being largely a concatenation of
rape scenes of the utmost brutality. Motorcycle gangs roam the postholocaust
wasteland, indicated as caused by nuclear bombs only by a brief mention of
plants mutated by radiation. The protagonist is a female biker and speed freak
who has been repeatedly gang-raped. The sex scenes are narrated in a
deliberately repulsive way, stressing her hatred of the acts, the pain she
experiences, and the filth of her assailants. A gentler young man called
"Bear" who takes the trouble to seduce her later betrays her to a
vicious drifter for drugs. Toward the end of the novel she joins a hippie sex
commune called the Temple of Love led by a spiritual young man, Chris, garbed
in white robes. He preaches that women should be feminine, wear dresses, and
have plenty of children. In the end the protagonist rebels against the
commune's gentle sensuality and rides off with the more exciting Bear.
Presumably intended as a sadistic fantasy, it reads in places almost like a
feminist anti-rape tract.
___. "Magician of Dream Valley" (Astounding, October 1938). In The Best of Raymond Z. Gallun. New York: Ballantine, 1978.
The manufacture of dangerous radioactive rocket fuel is carried out on the moon, but proves hazardous to the Hexagon Lights which inhabit it. A mad scientist plots to set off an atomic device to exterminate all human life on the moon and allow these alien creatures to take over their home world again; but he is foiled the the hero, who turns the weapon on the aliens instead.
Galouye, Daniel F[rancis].
Dark Universe. New York: Bantam, 1961.
Boston: Gregg, 1976. London: Gollancz, 1962. London: Sphere, 1967.
Generations after a
war, survivors living in cave-shelters have forgotten the meaning of light.
Most get around by acutely developed hearing; others "ziv"--see
infrared light--and a few, like the hero, have ESP. They have developed an
elaborate religion which must be cast aside as they emerge into the now safe
aboveground world. The novel depicts the triumph of science over superstition.
Rather sensitive, with imaginative creation of sensations, points of view. In
Magill, 1, 474-79. [More, More, More & More]
Garden, Donald J. Dawn
Chorus. London: Robert Hale, 1975.
In this inept account
of World War III, Russia and the U.S. annihilate each other and China attacks
both, leaving Europe relatively untouched. A British super defense computer is
used to combat the gigantic tornado which results and which threatens to do
more damage than the war.
Gardner, Alan. The Escalator. London: Muller, 1963. London:
Consul, 1965.
The "father of the
A-bomb" joins a group of conspirators, including the pilot who dropped the
bomb on Hiroshima, within the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and hijacks a
Polaris submarine. The captain thinks in alarm: "He had aboard, in the
vitals of America's most secret war weapon, a bunch of stop-at-nothing
pacifists." They threaten to launch a nuclear attack unless the world rids
itself of atomic weapons. Mobs assault various military facilities in response.
Over twenty-three hundred Russian protesters are shot. When NATO decides to
carpet-bomb the sea near the Azores to destroy the sub, the Russians proclaim
that this is an excuse to violate the atomic test-ban treaty. The rebel
physicist fires the first missile at his own home in White Plains, but it fails
to explode. Leningrad is to be next. The Russians and Americans agree to go
along with the pacifists to gain time, although the French are recalcitrant.
Fortunately, a heroic officer on board the sub succeeds in arming one of its
bombs and setting it off, ending the threat. The Russians renege on the
agreement and the danger of disarmament is past.
Gardner, Craig Shaw. "Bar and Grill." In Afterwar. New York: Baen, 1985.
A powerful story in which people exchange their healthy body parts for food, drink and companionship. They reminisce about ordinary life before the war.
Garrett, Randall.
"Fighting Division" (Analog, August 1965). In John W.
Campbell, ed. Analog 5. Garden
City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1967. Also in Martin H. Greenberg and Joseph D. Olander,
eds. International Relations Through Science Fiction. New York: Franklin Watts, 1978.
After a period of
worldwide disarmament, a scout ship from an alien world attacks Guadalcanal and
the crew is killed by U.S. H-bombs. The incident is covered up, and the world
is told a nuclear accident has occurred. When the truth is revealed, the world
unites and rearms to destroy the invaders still on the way in the mother ship.
Compare Theodore Sturgeon, "Unite and Conquer."
Gayle, Henry K. Spawn of the Vortex. New York: Comet, 1957.
Unavailable for review. See Tuck.
Gee, Maggie. The Burning Book. London: Faber, 1983. New
York: St. Martin's Press, 1983.
A powerfully drawn
family chronicle set among England's working classes repeatedly punctuated by
references to Hiroshima and to the nuclear holocaust which will end the lives
of many of the characters. Most of the novel has little to do with atomic war,
but the last generation represents varying attitudes toward the subject. One,
killed in an accident before the holocaust, is a right-wing fanatic obsessed by
the nuclear combat video game, "Missile Command." His older brother joins the army out of
patriotic motives and is sent to Germany. Their sister grows increasingly
concerned with the danger of nuclear war, and joins in the protest movement. In
the final chapter, "The Chapter of Burning," the latter two and their
parents die in the holocaust. The account of their deaths is followed by three
pages of gray paper and a poetic epilogue. Mention is made of the Greenham
Common women's encampment. This novel represents a highly unusual and effective
use of impending nuclear war as the background for a depiction of contemporary
life.
George, Peter. Commander-1.
London: Heinemann, 1965. London: Pan, 1966.
New York: Delacourt, 1965. New York: Dell, 1966.
George tries to correct
errors that critics had pointed out in his Two Hours to Doom(see
below). He specifically corrects the supposition that a runaway bomber could
start a nuclear war, since bombs are armed by a signal from the ground. In this
work, the fiendish Chinese trigger an all-out nuclear war between the U.S. and
USSR using a half-dozen smuggled-in bombs. Bacteriological warfare wipes out
most of the survivors. Most of the book concentrates on James Geraghty, the
crazy submarine commander who appoints himself ruler of the world. Despite
George's attempts to avoid repeating his earlier mistakes, the novel has an
even more incredible plot, concluding with the only survivors being the
hypnotized slaves of the mad commander. The novel ends abruptly but
portentously with a blank page containing only the words "the
end." [More]
___. Dr. Strangelove,
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. London: Corgi, 1963. New York: Bantam, 1964. Boston:
Gregg, 1979.
Faithful novelization
of the classic 1963 film. Richard Gid Powers, in his introduction to the Gregg
Press edition, suggests that the writing is too good for George and should be
attributed instead to the film's co-author, Terry Southern; but the novel
follows the filmscript so closely that it makes more sense to attribute its
merits to the fact that George simply adapted Southern and Kubrik's script
without major changes. (Powers's essay is, by the way, well worth reading.)
Lacking the visual element, the novel is much less humorous than the film, but
it still demonstrates how the rigid devotion to duty which makes deterrence
credible can all too easily increase the danger of an accidental war. At the
end, a doomsday device goes off, ending the world. The film is a comic
adaptation of George's 1958 novel Two Hours to Doom, published in the U.S. as Red Alert. [More, More & More]
___. Red Alert. See Two Hours to Doom.
___ (as Peter Bryant).Two Hours to Doom. London: Boardman, 1958. London: Corgi, 1961. As Red
Alert. New York: Ace, 1958.
A fanatical general
launches a preemptive strike against the USSR, unaware that the Russians have
built a doomsday device which will destroy the world if they are attacked.
Disaster is averted at the last moment by pure luck as the attacking bomber
crashes. The novel places faith in improving the balance of terror as the
ultimate solution to the threat of nuclear war. Source for Dr. Strangelove(see above).
Gerrold, David. Battle for the Planet of the Apes. New York: Award, 1973.
Apes have taken over the Earth after a devastating nuclear war called "the Fires," subordinated human beings, and imposed on them a vegetarian pacifist regime. Travelers from the future bring back a tape showing that gorillas will destroy the world in 3950. An uprising of human mutants led by a warlike gorilla is ruthlessly crushed by the apes. They realize that they are as violent as the humans, and accept them as equals. At the end of the novel there remains in the city an ominous doomsday device which may yet fulfill the prophecy of the tape.
Geston, Mark S. Out of the Mouth of the Dragon. New York: Ace, 1969. London: Michael Joseph, 1972.
The novel describes a
long series of wars and catastrophes seemingly including the use of some
nuclear weapons. The constant wars are called "false Armageddons."
Humankind had spread to the stars, but returns to Earth to fight endless
battles. These highly skilled returnees are hated by the barbaric inhabitants
of the ruined planet, and they find themselves forced to destroy the remnants
of ancient civilization in self-defense. The protagonist goes mad periodically,
has a vision of the futility of it all, and plants himself to face eternity (it
is hinted he will engage in an unending vigil). Sequel to Lords of the Starship. New York: Ace, 1967.
Gibson, Colin. The Pepper Leaf. London: Chatto & Windus,
1971.
The publisher's note
fairly adequately describes this bizarre novel: "Not many years from now
an organization is formed in New Zealand to combat the [anticipated] effects of
[possible] nuclear fallout. The Decontamination Farms society is mainly nudist
and vegetarian. When an earthquake [possibly, but not certainly, caused by
nuclear bombs] occurs and [there] is a subsequent rise in the sea level, four
members of this community are cut off on a newly formed island--two elderly
men, a Maori and a young girl [fourteen] called the Smart. It is she who proves
most adept in the techniques of survival. Reverting to the savage in herself,
she acquires almost total ascendency over her companions, whom she deals with
in the most horrifying and ruthless way. Those that survive are finally rescued
by a weird mob of tourists who have put ashore on the island." Significantly omitted is any mention of
the fact that some of the girl's violent acts are reactions to vicious attempts
at rape.
Giles, Gordon A. [pseud.
of Otto Binder]. "The Atom Smasher," Amazing, October
1938.
Asian invaders using
atomic rays devastate Seattle, but are defeated by a device which destroys all
atomic power.
Glasser, Vernon W.
"The Bodyguard."Astounding,
August 1951.
Two generations after the
Wars of the Old Men, foolish survivors oppose learning and technology. Because
they fear radioactivity in the ruins of the cities they overlook the books
buried there. The enlightened few look forward to rebuilding civilization.
Godfrey, Hollis. The Man Who Ended War. Boston: Little, Brown, 1908.
A man uses a gas which
intensely emits radioactivity to destroy, one by one, the world's battleships,
blackmailing the nations into disarming. He commits suicide after he has
succeeded to preserve the secret of the gas. It is not clear how peace is to be
preserved after his death in the absence of the threat posed by his weapon. The
hero is compared to Verne's Captain Nemo.
Godwin, Tom. "You
Created Us" (Fantastic Universe, October 1955). In T. E. Dikty,
ed. Best Science Fiction Stories and Novels 1956. New York: Fell,
1956. Rpt. as 6 From Worlds Beyond. New York: Fawcett, 1958.
Mutant telepathic
lizardmen evolved from nuclear test effects have developed an immunity to
radiation and are plotting to encourage a nuclear war so that they can take
over the Earth. The story criticizes the obsession with security. The expected
war has not yet broken out, but seems inevitable.
Gold, Herbert. "The
Day They Got Boston" (Fantasy and Science Fiction, September
1961). In Groff Conklin, ed. 17 X Infinity. New York: Dell, 1963.
A very amusing satire
in which the USSR accidentally destroys Boston and then pleads frantically with
the U.S. not to retaliate. Negotiations result in the Russians permitting the
destruction of Leningrad in return (although Finland is also wiped out,
accidentally). This new method of settling international dispute is referred to
in the title of a popular book as Potlatch for the Millions. Unfortunately, the Russians decide they are not even,
and demand Southern California as well. Although this reads like a satire on
the conclusion of Burdick and Wheeler's Fail-Safe, it preceded the latter's publication by a year; it
was probably aimed at the limited-war scenarios of Herman Kahn.
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. London: Faber, 1954. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1960. New York:
Coward-McCann, 1962. New York: Capricorn, 1959.
In the first chapter of
this famous parable of the collapse of civilization, it is made clear that the
plane which crashed on the island was evacuating a group of boys from a nuclear
war which had just broken out. Their speculation that all adults have died
proves to be false, of course; but the occurrence of the war itself is never
denied. Made into a film in 1963 and again in 1990.
Good, Charles H. The
Wheel Comes a Turn: A Novel Based on Scientific Study of War of the Sexes. New York: Vantage, 1963.
Bilateral disarmament
causes economic dislocation and depression in the West, but prosperity in the
East. Most of the world goes Communist as a result, and frigid women, led by a
fanatical man-hater, take control of the Soviet bloc, . After rearmament has
taken place, the women launch a cobalt bomb attack on America which sterilizes
almost everyone on the planet, and most children die of leukemia. The U.S.
chooses not to retaliate. A handful of fertile humans is sent to colonize a
planet circling Alpha Centauri, but succeeds in having only girl children
because God wills them to return to Earth for males in order to unite the races
of humanity in a harmonious civlization on the new planet. They do so, learning
during their visit that a rebellion against the Russian dictatorship has been
put down by more cobalt bombs and the balance of terror has been restored by
the threat of the U.S. to use its weapons. The various atomic explosions have
rendered the Earth's axis less inclined, creating milder weather in the
temperate zone. Much use is made of fusion power created by a newly discovered
"Moon metal."Other
important themes in the book include religion and the ethics of artificial
insemination.
Gordon, Rex. See under Hough, S. B.
Gordon, Stuart. Smile on the Void. New York: Putnam, 1981. New York: Berkley, 1982.
A messianic fantasy in
which nuclear war is an aside. Here is the only reference in the book, when a
war occurs in the Middle East: "Tactical nuclear warfare broke out.
Several cities and their populations were reduced to hot radioactive ash,
though Jerusalem was spared because of its religious importance to both
sides."
Graham, David. Down to a Sunless Sea. London: Robert Hale, 1979.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1981. New York: Fawcett, 1982.
In 1985 an oil shortage
causes the collapse of the U.S. A planeload of refugees is stranded in the air
when the Israelis--retaliating for the poisoning of the Tel Aviv water supply
by Arabs--launch a nuclear missile attack on Cairo, Beirut and Damascus
(killing eighteen million), precipitating a full-scale atomic war which wipes
out most life on Earth. The novel becomes the ultimate Airportsequel
as the crew searches for an intact field on which to land. Finally the American
797 lands at a military base in the Azores which has been neutron-bombed,
killing all but one of the personnel but leaving the buildings and supplies
intact.
Graham, Roger P. See Phillips, Rog.
Green, Martin. The
Earth Again Redeemed: May 26 to July 1, 1984. New
York: Basic Books, 1977. London: Sphere, 1979.
An alternate Earth
fantasy in which the sole survivor of the human race, a cyborg composed largely
of artificial parts designed to let him survive in space, comes into contact
with a world whose history diverged from ours in 1665. The novel is set mostly
in Africa where religious tensions between Muslim, Christian, and native religions
are building toward war. In this version of history, the Catholic Church has
suppressed science and technology and colonialism has never developed. (Compare
with Keith Roberts, Pavane.) On our own
Earth the Chinese began the holocaust in 1984 by bombing the U.S. fleet during
a dispute in the Middle East. It appears that the alternate Earth is about to
go down the path of world war traveled by our own planet. A highly intellectual
work featuring some interesting characters and pleasing style, but unfocused
and almost plotless.
Gresham, William Lindsay.
"The Star Gypsies." Fantasy and Science Fiction,July
1953.
Gypsies roam the
postholocaust landscape, guided by an old woman who can sense radioactive
hotspots. They hold "civilization-as-we-know-it" in reverence, but
survive through their ancient wisdom.
Gridban, Volsted [pseud. of John Russell Fearn]. Scourge of the Atom. London: Scion, 1953.
As the world teeters of the brink of nuclear war, scientist Martin Bond travels mentally to the distant past to discover that humanity's ancient ancestors on the Moon destroyed that world in a war caused by their inability to restrict atomic energy to peaceful uses. In the aftermath, civilization collapsed and humanity lost all memory of atomic power. Bond then enters a intra-atomic micro-universe where humans manage to use the atom peacefully only because they reign supreme and unchallenged there; let competitors enter and they too would resort to atomic weapons. The descendants of the Moon-humans on Mars essentially repeated their ancestors' experience, laying waste their world with atomic warfare. Returning to the present, Bond hopes with the help of his wife Ada to read and alter the mind of the evil Asian mastermind Dr. Lao Ming by x-raying his brain; but the Ming deduces their plan and defies them, wherepon they kill him. Using a volunteer convict as a subject, Bond experiments on him with all manner of rays, seeking one that will make him peaceful; but instead the man turns violent. Finally, atomic war breaks out on Earth. Bond and others are oddly preserved by the weapons, awakening a decade later to find the world taken over by deformed but peaceful mutants who mature to adulthood in a fortnight after birth, created by the bomb. These "Gargoyles" condemn Bond and his wife, who may have thought of themselves as seeking to prevent war, but who engaged in violent experiments.
See also I. F. Clarke, Tale of the Future.
Griffith, George. The Lord of Labour. London: F. V. White, 1911.
The Germans attack Europe with a metal-disintegrating ray; the British retaliate with radium-helium bullets.
Griffiths, John. The Survivors. London: Collins, 1965.
A newsman forces his
way into a supershelter planned as a utopia for a chosen twelve led by a
charismatic pacifist. They have been living underground for six months before
the war begins. He wins the trust of all except the vile Jude, who--envious of
his success with one of the women--tries to kill the newsman and succeeds in
another murder, attempts rape, and almost betrays them to the Chinese who have
invaded. All life is exterminated by the radioactivity, including insects, and
the foolish Chinese, who, although
they have lost 60 percent of their population, disregard the danger.
Jude's vicious behavior and the retaliatory violence which results in his death
disillusion the utopian leader, who seems to despair of building a better world
after all. The gospel parallel is strengthened by the names of two of the other
shelter inhabitants, James and Andrew.
Groom, Pelham. The Purple Twilight. London: Werner Laurie,
1948.
An old-fashioned
fantasy in which the first voyagers to Mars learn that Atlantis was destroyed
by telepathic Martians when their scheme for world conquest was frustrated by a
rebellious queen. In the aftermath, Mars was devastated by a nuclear war which
pitted men and women against each other; the result was universal female
sterilization. In order to preserve the race, the Martians have indefinitely
prolonged their lifespans and must wait for twenty-five thousand years to
recover their fertility. When the human visitors return to Earth, determined to
prevent their planet from meeting the same fate as Mars, they find a frenzied
arms race in progress, including the development of a sterilizing ray like that
used by the Martians. Their attempt to warn humanity fails; no one will listen.
Compare Herman Wouk: The Lomokome Papers.
Gunn, James. "The
Boy with Five Fingers" (Startling Stories, January 1953). In Isaac
Asimov, Martin Harry Greenberg and Joseph D. Olander, eds. Microcosmic Tales: 100 Wondrous Science
Fiction Short-Short Stories. New York:
Taplinger, 1980.
Centuries after the
holocaust the odd one in the class is the boy without mutated limbs or organs.
Gueritz, E. F. See Bidwell, Shelford.
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