The Long Loud Silence by Wilson Tucker (1952)

Introduction

Ever since reading ‘The Year of the Quiet Sun’ last year i’ve been looking forward to reading Wilson Tuckers 1953 post apocalyptic work ‘The Long Loud Silence’. The Long Loud Silence is another case of a book that should really be in print that isn’t. It is the sort of book that you would think was in the SF Masterworks collection. It was announced in 2015 that it would be released under that moniker, there was even a reveal of the cover Art by Christopher Gibbs. It ticks all the boxes for SF Masterworks, it’s an important work and has been out of print for years. In the 1953 Hugo awards the book was the runner up to Alfred Bester’s The Demolished man for best Novel. Then for some reason it was never released, as always it's likely to be some sort of rights issue, it is disappointing that it isn’t easy for modern readers to discover this work. You cannot even officially get an ebook of it as I have discovered.

I went deep in search of a copy of the book, it is out of print as far as I know (there’s always the chance that i missed something). I could not even find an official ebook copy. Looking at the used book market there were/are a few copies of the 1953 paperback and some of the Coronet 1980 edition. These however seem to be going for a lot of money. I do not have access to good used book shops, I therefore have to rely on online platforms, which means the books may be going for better prices in shops than I can find them online. In the end I stumbled across an unofficial ebook of the 1953 release. Not the preferred way to access books and if someone does an official rerelease (I’m looking at you SF Masterworks) I will be at the front of the queue with my Scottish pennies to pay my dues.

The Different Editions

After reading I discovered that there are in fact 2 different editions, the original 1953 text that I read and a 1970 text that was revised by Tucker himself. The early American editions deleted mention of cannibalism. Although the version I read had those references being a UK edition. The other differences are that the 1970 edition makes references to the Vietnam War, the ‘53 edition mentions World War II. I do not know the full changes as without having both texts side by side it’s difficult to know and I could not find any reference material online listing the changes. I would be really interested to read the updated version, hopefully one day I’ll find a copy for a sensible price.

The Plot

The book opens up when Corporal Russel Gary wakes up with a hangover to discover America has been bombed. He is on the wrong side of the Mississippi, there has been a quarantine placed along the line of the river with the East side being ‘contaminated’ by radiation or plague.

The city had been bombed. Bombed while he slept like a drunken fool.

The story is that of survival and loneliness and Gary’s quest to get to the safe zone. Tucker Wilson pulls no punches in his writing. In the beginning Gary is not a likeable person which we discover quickly.

the woman passed him a half hour before. Curiosity had made him follow her, the morbid curiosity of an onlooker who knows the game will end in disaster. She had been carrying no food, he saw that in his first swift scrutiny; had she been carrying anything to eat he would have forcibly taken it from her.

As the book develops through a mixture of loneliness and optimism we feel the little humanity being sucked out of people. Don’t expect any strong female characters, the women in this grim world are commodities and foils for the characters. That’s just how this world is.

Gary travels down the Mississippi sometimes looking for ways to cross and at other times just surviving. As the population dies off all that remains is those that have pushed the envelope to survive. At one point Gary comes into contact with a family who have managed to survive and keep some semblance of humanity, rather than fully embracing this all he does is work out how he can exploit the situation

In Conclusion

This book is pretty grim as you can tell, post World War II with memories of that war you can feel in the writing. The war in Europe and the Pacific hang-over this book. I like Tucker’s writing style and prose as it doesn’t distract from the ongoing narrative. After having read the Year of the Quiet Sun I can see the thread from this book to that. The narrative conveys the mixture of loneliness and desperation well and unlike some other books in the Post-Apocalyptic genre it doesn’t hit you around the head with ideas. In a similar tone to The year of the Quiet Sun it slowly pulls you into those feelings.

I don’t like to overthink or make too many conclusions about a narrative because of when the book was written, I like the story and characters to pull me into their world no matter when they were written and well written books should be able to do that. What I'm impressed with considering it was written in the 1950’s is that it’s a book with an unlikeable and very disagreeable character, and has references to Cannibalism (in the U.K Version). Polyamory is overall dark and depressing. The straightforward way the prose is and the way the story creeps up on you make this well worth a read. I know this is only the third Wilson Tucker I’ve read, the others being The Tear of the Quiet Sun and Time Masters, but I really like the way he finishes his books. The long Loud Silence like his other work has an interesting and thought provoking ending to it. I would be very interested to read the updated version from 1969.

I look forward to reading more of Wilson Tucker's work.