The Tale of Nuclear Winter
A strange coincidence or a grim prediction?
According to «The Tale of Nuclear Winter”/«Черный день» which was first published in 2009, the World War III was initiated by the conflict in Ukraine.
“The Tale of The Nuclear Winter” («Черный день»)
by Alexey Doronin
An epic post-apocalyptical novel about nuclear holocaust and nuclear winter, a grim warning for the humanity based on true facts and scientific theories
«And the fourth angel poured
out his bowl on the sun and it
was given to it to scorch men
with fire.»
The Revelation
Alexey Doronin is a Russian writer, poet and the author of several books in a genre of science fiction. He was born on September 10, 1984 in the city of Prokopevsk, (Western Siberia). He has graduated from Kemerovo State University and worked as a teacher and a correspondent of the municipal newspaper. He has also contributed to the political life of his home town as a political activist of the left opposition. Currently he works as the civil defense and emergency situations specialist at a coal mine and still lives in his home city of Prokopevsk with his wife and two children.
The main subject of Doronin’s novels is the survival of a human beings in the post war environment as well as other challenges facing humanity in its race towards the global disaster.
Doronin’s magna opus is an epic novel «Черный день» which can be roughly translated as “The day of night”. But the better equivalent might be “The Tale of the Nuclear Winter”
It is a story of the 3rd World War that happened on August 23rd 2019 and led to a 10-month nuclear winter, which in its turn has ensured the destruction of whole civilization- weapons of muss destruction and rapid climatic changes have killed about 99 percent of Earth population in just several years.
The rest of the novel is devoted to the description of survival of mankind in a post-nuclear-war world, and it is enriched with details and scientifically accurate facts. The action takes place mainly in Western Siberia and the Urals, but there are several interludes depicting events in different regions of the world — from Australia to South America. Altogether it is a dynamic narration combining elements of horror and action.
The epic tale consists of seven books. Five of them were already published by «Krylov Publishing House» (St.Petersburg), while the remaining two are in progress of being written right now.
There are five novels currently in “The Tale of Nuclear Winter” series:
«The Day of the Night”
«Forty days later»
«The Morning of new Era»
«The Ghosts of Yamantau Mountain»
«The Generation of Ashes»
The two books that are being written now (they can be also united under one title “The Harvest Time”):
“The Children of August”
“The Winter Messiah”
Admirers of science fiction have already indicated the plausibility of all Doronin’s books from the point of realism. Readers have also enjoyed true-to-fact insights into geopolitical conflicts theories (just like that of Tom Clancy) and the detailed description of modern warfare.
There are no such things as cyborgs, plasma weaponry, combat exoskeletons etc. in the book — only weapons and technologies that exist at least in a form of a prototype. Thus, in addition to existing weapons of mass destruction, there are new types of nuclear bombs, aerospace attack vehicles and satellite-mounted orbital laser cannons and their effects described in the novel.
Also there are no “nuclear mutants” or other purely fictional items from popular comics in this book. All effects of radiation and nuclear weapons are based on laws of physics and radiology as it is applied in widely used civil defense standards. The book is based solely on real science and real military doctrines of different states.
The author has used his own professional background of the civil defense engineer as well as combined knowledge of many different consultants to present a detailed, realistic and up-to-date picture of what the 3rd World War might look like.
The main characters of the book are the people of different social backgrounds and even countries. Among them there are some typical civilians from Siberia – a doctor, a retired officer, a lonely geeky post-graduate, a right-wing fanatic and a survivalist. You would also meet an industrial tycoon who turned into despotic feudal accompanied by bandits, thugs and many others… Even the captain of American attack submarine is one of the episodic characters envolved.
The ordinary people — not heroes nor supermen — find themselves in the extreme situation. None of them tries to save the world or even his or her country (even those at military service). The scale of actions never rises above the survival of an individual or a small group of people. Its main goal is to show social aspects of apocalypse on the personal scale rather then geopolitical.
First books were written long before recent turbulent events in the world (war in Ukraine, war against the Islamic State and new surge of terrorism and ethnic conflicts), but largely predict them. So it can be regarded as a chilling warning to all of us. “It makes us remember that the treat of mass destruction in nuclear holocaust did not end with the end of “Cold War”. In fact, it became even more acute and more threatening”, says Alexey Doronin.
At the same time, ‘The Tale of Nuclear Winter”/«Черный день» is not a political propaganda, it is a totally unbiased narration.
Regardless of some specific Russian details, in terms of style and atmosphere this novel might be compared to such pieces of American literature as «the Song of Swan» (Robert McCammon), «Lucifer’s Hammer» (Larry Niven and Jerry Purnell), «The Stand» (Stephen King), «The Postman» (David Brin), and «The Road» (Cormack McCarthy).
The composition of the novel resambles the scale of “The song of ice and fire” by George Martin and “The Lord of rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien… Not to forget“War and peace” by Leo Tolstoy.
According to «The Tale of Nuclear Winter”/«Черный день» which was first published in 2009, the World War III was initiated by the conflict in Ukraine. A strange coincidence or a grim prediction?
Although written by a Russian for the Russian-speaking audience, the book can be considered rather cosmopolitan and culturally universal. The topic of social impact of the potential nuclear war, the concept of personal survival and scientifically accurate descriptions of the World War III aftermath are believed to be very compelling to people of any nationality. Therefore, the author considers translating his novel into English and seeks for the agents abroad to facilitate its publishing for the English-speaking audience.
Using «Черный день» (The Day of the Night: The tale of Nuclear Winter) as a basis for the movie script is also seriously considered.