Alas, Babylon
by Pat Frank· 2025
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 with warheads, and with Sputnik in orbit, the U.S. is at a disadvantage.
In this story, a domino effect for total disaster starts with the problem of miscommunication. It is a 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, a Korean War veteran and semi-retired lawyer/politician, Randolph has inherited property from his father and is living a quiet life.
He has a brother who is military brass and knows what is coming. He warns Randy to stockpile what he can on short notice then sends his family to Fort Repose. It is not long before flashes of light appear in the sky and a first-strike nuclear attack unfolds. Soon, cities are flattened and all outside communication is cut off, followed by the breakdown of civilized society and radioactive fallout.
Alas, Babylon is a vision of a small group of people, forced by circumstances out of their control to reckon with the dissolution of social, racial, and economic divides. When all that is left is survival, they are forced to communicate and work together to deal with what Pat Frank calls “enforced truth.” Will these people survive without electricity, gasoline, clean water, grocery stores, or coffee? Getting to these answers will mean not only rediscovering the workings of the natural world but also their own true natures.
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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 with warheads, and with Sputnik in orbit, the U.S. is at a disadvantage. In this story, a domino effect for total disaster starts with the problem of miscommunication. It is a 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, a Korean War veteran and semi-retired lawyer/politician, Randolph has inherited property from his father and is living a quiet life. He has a brother who is military brass and knows what is coming. He warns Randy to stockpile what he can on short notice then sends his family to Fort Repose. It is not long before flashes of light appear in the sky and a first-strike nuclear attack unfolds. Soon, cities are flattened and all outside communication is cut off, followed by the breakdown of civilized society and radioactive fallout. Alas, Babylon is a vision of a small group of people, forced by circumstances out of their control to reckon with the dissolution of social, racial, and economic divides. When all that is left is survival, they are forced to communicate and work together to deal with what Pat Frank calls “enforced truth.” Will these people survive without electricity, gasoline, clean water, grocery stores, or coffee? Getting to these answers will mean not only rediscovering the workings of the natural world but also their own true natures.