• Books|
• authors|
• genres|
• Contact|
• Cart

synopsis

As usual, the international situation is desperate. Rumors of war circulate as nations clash over both ideological and physical territories. Outer space is open for business. The Soviets and Americans are armed to the teeth with warheads but, with Sputnik in orbit, the U.S. is at a disadvantage. This almost describes the actual real-life news cycle when Alas, Babylon was first published in 1959.
       But in this story things are different, though very much in the realm of possibility. A domino effect for total disaster starts with the eternal problem of miscommunication. It’s the type of chain reaction that stretches from high ranks of international military theater to gossiping neighbors in the small town of Fort Repose, Florida, home of Randolph Bragg. Just over thirty, already a Korean war vet and semi-retired lawyer/politician, Randolph has inherited a nice piece of property from his old man and is living a pretty lazy bachelor life.
       But things are about to get heavy for Randy and also the rest of the entire world. He has a brother who is military brass and knows what’s coming. He warns Randy to stockpile what he can on short notice then sends his family to Fort Repose, hopefully out of harm’s way. It’s not long before flashes of light appear in the sky and a worst case scenario unfolds: a first strike nuclear attack. Soon, cities are flattened and all outside communication is cut off, followed by the breakdown of civilized society and radioactive fallout. Things are downhill from there.
       Alas, Babylon is not an all encompassing account of war. It is a vision of a small group of people, forced by circumstances out of their control to reckon with the dissolution of social, racial, economic divides. When all that’s left is survival, they are forced to communicate and work together. To deal with what Pat Frank at one point calls “enforced truth.” Will these people survive without electricity, gasoline, clean water, grocery stores, coffee? Will they ever get to listen to record albums again? Getting to these answers will mean not only rediscovering the workings of the natural world but also their own true natures.
       This edition of Alas, Babylon features an introduction by David Brin, afterword by Michael Furlong, new dustjacket, endpaper, frontispiece and interior illustrations by David Ho, and an impressive nine bonus stories as well.