The Long Tomorrow - Reviewing Appendix N
We are back to reading another author that inspired Dungeons & Dragons - and this time I decided to read a book from the Queen of Space Operas, Leigh Brackett. Unfortunately, I probably should’ve picked a series of short stories from her instead of her most well-known book. We’ll get more into it, but I will say that it lacks that fantasy element I was hoping for.
This book is about what happens to our world after we eventually blow ourselves up with atomic bombs. Instead of picking up directly after atom bombs are dropped, it instead picks up 70 or 80 years later, giving us a glimpse into how civilization reformed and how they are learning to survive. It is not a survival horror, like many post-apocalyptic books tend to be, but nor is it the exploration of a dystopian civilization. It’s about the struggles of knowledge and coming to terms with your conscious.
It’s now time to reveal what the next book report will be! I’ve thought long and hard about this, and I’m quite excited about it. We are going to read some H.P. Lovecraft! I’m currently listening to a Delta Green actual play, and while I’d like to read The King in Yellow (1895), William Chambers doesn’t make it onto Gygax’s list (neither does Edgar Allen Poe), but Lovecraft does! So our book report (since we are staying true to Appendix N) will be on a few of his short stories, but we come into a problem (again). The last time I did a bunch of short stories was for Robert E. Howard and I read his first few, published short stories. But I was told those weren’t the best ones and that I should’ve read short stories more in the middle or end of his career.
So I can either follow the critiques or treat Lovecraft like I did Howard. As the GM of this book series, I’m going to try and be true to what I’ve already done (though, I’ll point out Leigh Brackett also wrote a bunch of short stories before this novel - guess I’m not that consistent) and read the first five published short stories by Lovecraft: The Alchemist, The Tomb, Dagon, A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson, and Polaris. I’m really curious if A Reminiscence will have anything to do about anything, but I don’t know! It’ll be fun to explore these stories.
The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett
I hadn’t ever heard of this book before, or even the author. I’ve read a lot of science fiction and fantasy in my youth, though most of it had been written in the 80s or later. In addition, I hadn’t gotten into space operas, I suppose because there wasn’t enough fighting or space lasers or dragons.
This book and I have a complicated relationship. Without giving too much away, let me just say that this book has really big highs for me, but also pretty deep lows. I could be reading at a steady pace, and then become super excited to read the next chapter, or groan that I still had a hundred pages left in the book. It was a strange sensation of being excited for what was to come, but also finding myself often not caring what was going to happen next. I’ll talk more about it in my review, I’ll just say that I was close to finding an audiobook for it so I didn’t have to keep reading, but I’m glad that I didn’t.
I assume that most people who know Leigh Brackett, or know of her work, only do so because she helped write an early draft for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) but died before it could enter production.
Review
It has occurred to me that I give you my rating first in the review to not hide it or force you, dear reader, to skip a huge wall of text if you are just looking for the number. But also, I put it like a quarter or third down the page, so I guess I’m still forcing you to skip paragraphs if you are just curious about my rating. All well, not going to change!
3/5
Wow. I just… can’t decide how to properly rate this book. It has made me realize that my 3.5/5 for The Dying Earth was too low - but that isn’t because of this book, rather I keep thinking about those short stories and that world.
This book is… fine. There are some interesting parts, some rather boring parts, and everything in between. I don’t see myself revisiting this book or feel compelled to read anything else by Leigh Brackett, but I might read a short story or two by her just to see how those compare to a full novel.
If you enjoy slow burns, the struggles of growing as a person, or the exploration of a society rebuilding and stalling in growth - this will pry be a book for you. On the other hand, if you like more action in your book, wacky inventions, fresh ideas of science and technology, or darker settings, then this book isn’t for you. Which means it’s mostly not for me.
The Long Tomorrow
The story begins decades after a nuclear war, where religious sects have taken over the political machinations of America, imposing strict rules about how you can’t rebuild cities, leisure items (like TVs, machines, etc) are largely banned, and ‘free-thinking’ is heavily discouraged by the populace. Breaking the rules around how many buildings can be in a town, what thoughts are OK to have, and how prevalent technology can exist is a sure way to get not just the populace against you, but end up being killed.
Within one such village are Len and Esau, cousins, who attend a preaching event where a trader, Soames, is accused and stoned to death for being associated with Bartorstown. Bartorstown is a pseudo-mythological place where free thought, cities, technology, and more thrive. When the two kids witness this event, they attempt to flee but are saved by Hostetter, who also saves a mysterious box from Soames's wagon before the villagers who stone Soames can find it.
Esau steals a radio from the box, and over the next weeks and months, Len and Esau try to figure out what the radio does, how it works, and how they might journey to Bartorstown since they are unhappy with the simple life of being a farmer. They want to learn, gain knowledge, and not be punished for asking questions or letting their curiosity run wild. Though, eventually they are caught and they must flee their home down the river to continue their search for knowledge.
The two arrive in the town of Refuge where they work for a warehouse owner who is hoping to build a new warehouse. This would break the rules on how many buildings are allowed in a single square mile. The warehouse owner, Dulinsky, got the town to support him but things don’t turn out as planned as a nearby, trading town (who competes with Refuge for trade) ends up killing Dulinksy and setting fire to Refuge under the guise of ‘protecting’ America from cities and atomic bombs.
Len and Esau, along with Esau’s girlfriend Amity (the daughter of an important judge in Refuge), are rescued by Hotstetter. Hotstetter reveals that he is a member of Bartorstown and that Hotstetter will take the three to Bartorstown since that is where Len and Esau want to go and he can’t convince them to go elsewhere. They travel for weeks until they reach Bartorstown, which is actually the small settlement of Fall Creek. Bartorstown itself is actually hidden under the mountains and no one realizes that Fall Creek is just a front.
While in Fall Creek, Amity and Esau are wed, and all three are sworn to secrecy. During this time, Len meets and becomes romantically involved with Joan, who is the opposite of Len. She dislikes Bartorstown and wishes to leave for the more pleasant life of those who reside in Len’s original home. In addition, Len and Esau start working in Bartorstown, gaining the knowledge they wished for and learning more about what Bartorstown is working on.
The scientists are using a computer to help on a long-term project to create a shield, forcefield, to stop the splitting of atoms - prevents any future misuse of nuclear technology. This has been going on since before the atomic bombs were dropped across the world, crippling technological development, but the scientist hope that their life’s work will soon end and they can bring technology back to the world without having to worry about the misuse of nuclear technology.
Unfortunately, Len is unhappy within Bartorstown and that nuclear energy is being used to power the computer, believing it is the devil’s power given physical form (propaganda spread by the current religious sects who rule America). Len and Joan, who marry, plot an escape from Bartorstown and the two attempt to trek across the lands and back to Len’s original home. They are tracked down by Hostetter, who sees himself as a father figure for Len, and Hostetter wants to bring Len and Joan back.
Len is given the chance to oust Hostetter during a preaching at a small town, but decides to not out him. Instead, Len and Joan will return with Hostetter to Bartorstown and continue their work, rationalizing that someone will eventually rediscover nuclear power and it is better to try and prevent people from abusing that power again. It is then revealed that if Len had outed Hostetter, Hostetter had armed backup who would’ve killed Len and Joan, preventing them from sharing any information about Bartorstown with outsiders. Hostetter ends the book taking Len and Joan back, admitting that he knew Len and trusted him, that he knew that he’d never need the backup.
The Good
I enjoyed Brackett’s descriptions of pastoral landscapes, vast deserts, river life, and the world-building that went into her story. While I would’ve liked a deeper understanding of the world itself, it does match pretty well with how the people in her story would see the world. Since the most advanced form of travel are steam boats going up and down the river, with no mentions of trains and aircraft most likely illegal, it makes sense that the world we are exposed to is so small. We only learn of the lives of those along the river, because those are the only that have any influence on the lives of our main characters.
In addition, I like the suspense that was built up through the story (even if not all of it paid off), as well as the characters. The main character felt fleshed out, and others had moments of being fleshed out, providing a richer narrative surrounding the story of coming to terms with your conscious and becoming capable of self-introspection.
The Bad
The book isn’t bad, but it leaves a good bit to be desired. I like my science fiction to have weird takes on technology, inspiring inventions, and pseudo-magical-technological words that make no sense. When a science fiction author writes a book, they don’t have to worry about their technology actually having to work, but rather what works for the narrative and what is interesting.
Unfortunately, that does not come across in this book and, in fact, it is the opposite. It assumes that technology is largely banned and we all retreat to being pastoral farmers and living in tiny towns. In addition, what technology is there, is rather boring and not that inspiring. There is an artificial intelligence computer, but it has no interaction with the main characters. There is nuclear power in Bartorstown, but it has no interaction with the main characters. The only technology that interacts with the main characters is the humble radio, which isn’t really that exciting. Perhaps it’s simply the sign of the times, but the suspense of it all culminating in a computer doesn’t quite have the same punch as it once did.
In addition, characters could use some more fleshing out. I know I just said that they had moments of being fleshed out, but they also had moments where I had no idea what their motivations were, what their role in the story was, or even what their thoughts were. Joan, who I thought was going to have a better role than she did (and was excited for her in the story), changed from a driving force when we first meet her, to just a backseat character who lets Len boss her around and control her at the end. It’s rather disappointing for such an interesting character to suddenly lose any sense of self or drive… but maybe that’s more Brackett providing a commentary on marriage than anything else. (Or I read too much into that…)
Takeaways
I’m not sure that I have a ton I want to takeaway from this book, but I have a few things that immediately stand out to me. I like the idea of people retreating away from science after the atomic bombs, and it could be something really interesting to do with magic. Perhaps some wizards laid waste to the surrounding landscape, and now magic is outlawed and forbidden with a hidden society trying to make magic ‘safe’ so that it can return to the land.
I also just like the general vibe of travel that Brackett wrote. I enjoyed how the vistas and scenery changed across the Ohio River and down the Mississippi River. It was quite a pleasant travel montage and one that I think would be nice to steal and help set the scene for my players before a behir crawls down the desert cliffs and eats their characters.
Other Media
I don’t think I have a ton of books that I can recommend that are like this book, but I do have a few. If you have more, I’d love for you to mention them down below!
Alas, Babylon (1959) by Pat Frank
Friday (1982) by Robert A. Heinlein
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm (1994) by Nancy Farmer
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