Swan Song (novel)

"Swan Song" (ISBN 0-671-74103-9) is an epic 1987 science fiction novel by American novelist Robert R. McCammon. It is a work of post-apocalyptic fiction describing the aftermath of a nuclear war that provokes an evolution in mankind.

Synopsis

The novel begins for each character, following an episodic structure. First we are introduced to the main characters, Swan, Josh, Sister, Colonel Macklin, Roland, and the "Man with the Scarlet Eye," each character known by one or more aliases throughout the novel. Tensions between the United States and Soviet Union have been deteriorating since the fall of Kabul and the end of the Soviet-Afghan War, and now things have reached a critical point. Soviet submarines have been found patrolling near US waters and both sides stand ready to unleash their nuclear arsenals.

Swan is the main protagonist, however, in this format, all of the protagonists whose third person point of view the reader is brought into can be argued as leading protagonists. Immediately the reader becomes aware that Swan possesses an uncommon, almost magical ability to "make things grow." She comes from a broken home of a victimized mother and an abusive father-figure, referred to as "uncle" as many of her mother's previous lovers have been. Swan and her mother escape the abusive home, driving along a highway, where they stop for gas at Paw Paw's almost minutes before the nuclear missiles are launched from their silos only a mile away.

"Sister Creep" as she is known on the streets of New York is a homeless woman suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome after an accident which kills her baby and sends her spiraling into depression. She wanders the streets and is underground in the subway system of New York City when the bombs drop.

Nuclear war is reached as a result of Cold War tactics and strategies, sending warheads flying over the American mainland. Several warheads are portrayed as falling "minutemen," U.S. bombs falling on U.S. soil by accident.

Characters

The story follows the individual journeys of several major characters, combining them at the climax:

* "Sue Wanda Prescott", or "Swan", the eponymous young woman who has an empathic ability with plant life, allowing her to accelerate the growth of or resurrect dead plants through physical contact.

* "Josh Hutchins", an African-American wrestler stage-named "Black Frankenstein", and later "The Masked Mephisto."

* "Sister Creep", later simply referred to as "Sister", a formerly-deranged "bag lady", who survived deep underground in the New York City Subway system.

* "Colonel Macklin", a survivalist contracted by investors to oversee a mountain bunker, inside which he survives during the nuclear attack.

* "Roland Croninger", a young boy brought to Macklin's mountain bunker by his parents. Survives there, journeys with Colonel Macklin during the remainder of the novel. Creates alter-ego type titles for himself, "Sir Roland," and the Colonel, "King," based on his experience playing a video game called "King's Knight."

* The "Man with the Scarlet Eye" or "Man of Many Faces", an incarnation of the devil, similar to Stephen King's Randall Flagg.

Awards

"Swan Song" won a 1988 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel.

See also

* "The Stand"—a somewhat similar post-apocalyptic Horror/Science Fiction novel by Stephen King.