On the HahaFiction shelf

Post-Apocalyptic Nomadic Warriors

by Benjamin Wallace

Duck & Cover Adventures · Book 1

The Librarian travels the wasteland with his mastiff, offering his services as a warrior. After a disaster shakes his confidence, a survivor of a raider attack gives him a new reason to keep going. They set out to warn New Hope, with a ruined city and unnervingly intelligent bears between them and the town.

Adventure Science fiction Post-apocalyptic Absurdism Parody

From the author’s blurb

“Even a mushroom cloud has a silver lining.”

Read the full description at Benjamin Wallace, author description

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What makes it funny?

A stirring speech about rebuilding civilization keeps slipping into complaints about body odor and children who whine for candy. Its vision of a better world includes getting those children to stop complaining. Then the separate attribution reveals that the speech was delivered moments before the Massacre of Eternal Hope.

The comedy at work

Wallace treats wandering wasteland heroism as a job with an awkward problem: plenty of survivors are managing without a rescuer. The Librarian’s elaborate equipment and determination meet people who don’t think they need saving, while the prelude gives heroic rhetoric a petty, exasperated speaker.

Try this if…

This has the props of wasteland action, including raiders, a well-equipped traveler and a large dog, with a hero who wants to help. Readers looking for playful survival fiction may enjoy the emphasis on a likable adventurer over a detailed explanation of how the world ended.

Good to know

Profanity, threats of lethal violence and a reference to a massacre appear in the opening. D.L. Morrese enjoyed the adventure but found the humor milder than the author’s pitch and thought the apocalypse was loosely explained.