One Second After (a John Matherson Novel)

William R. Forstchen's novel of 2009, ONE SECOND AFTER, is a lumbering didactic novel. Its thesis is that the United States is avoidably vulnerable to attack by electromagnetic pulse (EMP) atomic bombing. As few as three strategically exploded nuclear weapons fired several hundred miles above the surface of Kansas or Colorado or Pennsylvania would completely knock out everything electrical in the United States, including computers. Yet the USA has not prepared its citizens for how to survive, starting "one second after" such an an EMP explosion or explosions. Forstchen's novel is an overly long expose of how horrible life would instantly become and how much worse things would soon become. Its purpose seems to be to arouse readers to demand action from Congress and then to inspire subsidized or free-lance writers to pen useful Civil Defense how-to manuals on coping with such disasters. ***** ONE SECOND AFTER is centered in a small part of Western North Carolina: from Asheville in the west over the eastern continental divide and down to Old Fort. In between lie the communities of Swannanoa, Black Mountain and the college town of Montreat. In less than a year after an EMP explosion 80% of the people between Asheville and Black Mountain will have died. That is all that is left when an army brigadier and his troops finally roll in from the east to restore limited Federal authority and start bringing in food and medicine to this part of what is left of the United States (Mexico has turned Texas into a protectorate; 500,000 Chinese troops occupy the west coast). ***** People who live in the Swannanoa Valley and/or who know author Bill Forstchen personally will find ONE SECOND AFTER an attractive, undemanding read. In the lamentable absence of any helpful maps, non-residents may not make much sense of the unique local mountain geography described in great detail. The book seems poorly proof read (grammatical and lexical howlers are not rare) and the chapters overly long and sprawling. ONE SECOND AFTER is said to be under contract to become a major feature motion picture. And for this purpose the book is likely to be extraordinarily good. It could also be recast in the style of a 1940s action comic book. ***** The author tells everything going on in the Swannanoa Valley from the viewpoint of the several thousand people in that valley, with barest reference to what is known by others in the larger world, including an armed menace to the east called "the Posse." This well known viewpoint increasingly used by historians will probably be enlarged in the coming thriller movie. In order to personalize the conflict, the film, I surmise, will lay much emphasis on the Posse's evil leader and no doubt engage in more extensive speculation about whether China was behind the bombing that caused so many thousands in one 500 square mile area of Western North Carolina to go hungry, fight against other neighboring municipalities, notably Asheville, do without medicines and eventually smoke their last cigarettes and slowly, grudgingly overcome their apparently universal impulses to self-seeking -- in order to survive. -OOO-