Dies the Fire
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| Dies the Fire | |
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| Author | S. M. Stirling |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Roc Books |
| Publication date | 2004 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Followed by | The Protector's War |
Dies the Fire is a post-apocalyptic 2004 novel by alternate history author S. M. Stirling. It chronicles the struggle of humanity to survive in the first decade following "The Change," a worldwide event that alters physical laws enough to make most modern technology useless; among other things, electricity and gunpowder no longer work. The novel follows the actions of two leaders in the northwestern United States who rally their friends and family to survive:
- Mike Havel, a former Marine airplane pilot
- Juniper Mackenzie, a Celtic singer-songwriter and Wiccan priestess
Dies the Fire is the first installment of a trilogy, the sequels being The Protector's War, and A Meeting at Corvallis. The first book of a second tetralogy, The Sunrise Lands, was released in September 2007. It deals with the first post-Change generation of survivors, 22 years after The Change.
Stirling also explores the Founder's syndrome and the imprint that a leader makes on an organization. Havel's group organizes along military lines as they travel from the site of their plane crash to the Larsson homestead in Oregon. The Mackenzie group adopts a Celtic clan structure to farm and fortify Juniper Mackenzie's family homestead, also in Oregon. The two groups briefly intersect in the novel, for a time allying against a common foe, and form a steadfast alliance in later books.
The lyrics to some of Juniper Mackenzie's songs quoted in the books are actually Heather Alexander's; Alexander is credited in the acknowledgments of The Protector's War.
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[edit] Plot Summary
On March 17, 1998, an event of unknown cause, later labeled "The Change", alters the laws of physics so that electronics, explosives, and most forms of high-energy-density technology no longer function. The book follows the fortunes of two leaders and their followers as they deal with the chaos and mass death that follows the resulting collapse of civilization. Afterwards, they have to fight off an ambitious warlord with his own ideas of how to rebuild society.
Michael Havel is a former Marine turned pilot, who is in the air when The Change occurs. His passengers are wealthy industrialist Kenneth Larsson, Larsson's wife Mary, and their three teenage children, twins Eric and Signe, and Astrid. With the plane's engine and electronics knocked out, Mike crash lands in a river. Remarkably, he and all his passengers survive though Mary Larsson's femur is broken. The party makes its way to a ranger cabin in the Bitterroot mountains. Mike and Eric then hike out to fetch help, but encounter a trio of survivalists who have taken prisoner Will Hutton, his wife Angelica and daughter Luanne — the survivalists are virulent racists and Hutton is black. Mike and Eric fight to rescue the family; the bound Will Hutton flees on horseback and his captors pursue him to the cabin where the Larssons are waiting. By the time Mike and Eric catch up, the survivalists have murdered Mary Larsson and are attempting to rape Signe and Astrid. All three survivalists are killed.
The Huttons, who breed and raise horses, join Mike's group. They decide to head for the Larsson family estate in the western Willamette Valley. They elect Mike their leader. During the trip, archer Astrid Larsson shoots a black bear, which only provokes it into charging Mike. Mike barely manages to kill the animal, with assistance from Eric, Signe, and Will. This event gives the group its name: the Bearkillers.
On the way to Larsdalen, the Bearkillers recruit Pamela Arnstein, an expert in Renaissance swordfighting techniques. Combined with Astrid's knowledge of archery and bowmaking, this makes the group comparatively well-armed. They help a group near a Nez Perce reservation wipe out a nest of "Eaters" — savages who have resorted to cannibalism. Mike and Signe are attracted to each other, though she is hesitant due to her near-rape.
Later, when the group has grown even more, Mike takes two companions to scout the way ahead. Mike meets Norman Arminger, founder and leader of the Portland Protective Association — Arminger, a former professor of medieval history and a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, is attempting to reinstate feudalism in its most ruthless form. Arminger offers the Bearkillers positions as nobles in his Association, but Mike does not like what he sees and remains diplomatically noncommittal. Later along the way, they save Juniper Mackenzie and her friends, who are also on a reconnaissance mission. Mike and Juniper have a sexual encounter.
After Mike rejoins the Bearkillers, they hire themselves out to a local sheriff to fight "Duke" Iron Rod, who claims the Camas Prairie region and is raiding those who refuse to acknowledge his rule. The Bearkillers trap and wipe out a raiding party, but while they are away, a traitor helps a second group attack the Bearkillers camp. In the fighting, Ken Larsson loses his left hand, but Havel and his men return barely in time to rout the attackers and capture Iron Rod for later hanging. They discover that Iron Rod had been receiving aid and ideas from the Portland Protective Association.
The Bearkillers also take part in a raid on a Protectorate castle at one end of a highway bridge — Arminger had hoped to control an important route over the Cascades mountain range. The Bearkillers reach Larsdalen and Mike becomes engaged to Signe.
Meanwhile, the story of the Clan Mackenzie begins with Juniper Mackenzie, a folksinger and Wiccan priestess. Juniper is performing in a restaurant in Corvallis when The Change occurs. She, her deaf daughter Eilir and restaurant manager Dennis Martin aid victims of an airliner crash in the city. A policeman attempts to shoot a group of looters. When they realize that guns no longer work, the looters attack the officer and Dennis goes to his aid. Juniper sneaks up on one of the criminals and hits him in the head with an axe handle, killing him. His companions flee; one of them is Eddie Liu, who vows to avenge his friend. Liu later becomes one of Arminger's barons.
Juniper, Dennis and Eilir gather supplies, retrieve her horses and wagon, and head for Juniper's cabin. On the way, a group of refugees attack them for their food. In the brief scuffle, Eilir is forced to shoot a woman with her bow; the woman's friends flee, but Juniper and Dennis decide to take her and her young son along.
Some of Juniper's coven members also make their way separately to Juniper's cabin, first acquiring wagons and teams of horses from a pioneer exhibit at a museum and rescuing private school children out on a field trip.
The nascent Clan starts to farm the land. To supplement their food reserves, Juniper and Dennis go hunting and stumble upon Sam Aylward. He had fallen into a blind ravine and was trapped. A former member of the British Special Air Service and a superb archer and bowyer, his military skills come in very handy in the dangerous times.
Once things settle down, Juniper takes a few companions to scout the surrounding area. While on this trip, she encounters the Bearkiller scouts; she and Mike have sex, conceiving a child. She also rescues, purely by chance, three members of her coven who were captured by Eaters.
Upon returning to her people, Juniper finds that the nearby town of Sutterdown (a fictionalized version of the real-life Brownsville) has been attacked and occupied by Protectorate troops. Despite the previous hostility of Sutterdown's leader, Reverend Dixon — a fervent believer that one "shall not suffer a witch to live" — Juniper agrees to lead the adults of the Clan against the occupiers. Reverend Dixon dies of a heart attack during the successful skirmish, which does nothing to discourage the burgeoning legend growing up around Juniper and her faith — in fact, many people ask to be initiated into Wicca to fit in, a fact which causes Juniper and her coveners some mirth.
The rest of Juniper's story consists of the Clan's first successful harvest, the lending of Sam Aylward's services to a raid against a Protectorate castle, and the birth of her son, who she names Rudi in memory of her dead husband. The final scene in the book is the wiccaning of the Clan's children, a naming ceremony similar to Christian baptism or christening. During the ceremony, Rudi seizes the hilt of a ceremonial sword, and Juniper is overcome by inspiration which causes her to give him a secret or Craft name of Artos and to pronounce a prophecy declaring him the Sword of the Lady.
[edit] Connections to Island in the Sea of Time
- The Change occurs at the same time (6:15 pm PST, March 17, 1998) as the Event which propels Nantucket back in time.
- Pamela Arnstein, by all appearances, is the sister of ISoT's Ian Arnstein.
- The Mackenzie Dennis Martins's brother John, a blacksmith, is an important secondary character in ISoT.
- The Larssons bought their Montana property from the family of William Walker, the principal antagonist of ISoT, and Signe dated him briefly.
[edit] Magic
It should be noted that Dies the Fire, despite its trappings of swords, witches and armor, is not a fantasy. Nothing happens that is not explainable in mundane terms (except for the Change itself). However, Juniper (and, as the story progresses, more and more of her followers) explicitly believes in magic and attributes many happenings to magic and/or divine intervention. Whether or not she is correct is up to the reader to decide; as the series progresses events become harder and harder to explain without recourse to some supernatural agency but die-hard rationalists will find nothing that is impossible. Readers may be reminded of a famous quote from noted science fiction author, Arthur C. Clarke: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
[edit] Major Characters
[edit] Bearkillers
- Mike Havel
- Kenneth Larsson
- Signe Larsson
- Eric Larsson
- Astrid Larsson
- Will Hutton
- Luanne Hutton
- Pamela Arnstein
[edit] Mackenzies
- Juniper Mackenzie
- Eilir Mackenzie
- Dennis Martin
- Sam Aylward
[edit] Portland Protective Association
- Norman Arminger
- Sandra Arminger
- Eddie Liu
[edit] External links
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