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Lot and Lot's Daughter
"Lot" and "Lot's Daughter," were both written during Moore's heyday, following the publication of Bring the Jubilee. These are savage, unromantic tales that could not have been published even a few years earlier than they appeared, before new magazines like Anthony Boucher's The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction or H. L. Gold's Galaxy Science Fiction revolutionized science fiction in the early 1950's, placing less emphasis on technological prognostication and more emphasis, for the first time, on literary value, soft science, humor and satire. These stories helped to pave the way for generations of science fiction authors to follow.
72 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1954
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257 people want to read
About the author
Ward Moore
75 books38 followersJoseph Ward Moore was born in Madison, New Jersey and raised in Montreal and New York City.
His first novel was published in 1942 and included some autobiographical elements. He wrote not only books but reviews and articles for magazines and newspapers.
In early 50s, he became book review editor of Frontier and started to write regularly for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. His most famous novel was Bring the Jubilee (1953), and his other works include Greener Than You Think (1947) and the post-apocalyptic short stories "Lot" (1953) and "Lot's Daughter" (1954).
His first novel was published in 1942 and included some autobiographical elements. He wrote not only books but reviews and articles for magazines and newspapers.
In early 50s, he became book review editor of Frontier and started to write regularly for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. His most famous novel was Bring the Jubilee (1953), and his other works include Greener Than You Think (1947) and the post-apocalyptic short stories "Lot" (1953) and "Lot's Daughter" (1954).
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
November 28, 2022
These two stories are interesting for their history more than the actual stories.
By 1953, the SF magazines were highly stratified and it took some courageous editors to allow for a different kind of story to come out. In this case, it's post-nuclear holocaust just touching on a few of the milder themes that would have occurred. Gas shortage, the devaluation of money, in particular. Having to give up everything, even favored pets, in the expectation that all of civilization would break down.
Truly, it must have been fairly hard for the moderns back then to wrap their head around it.
For us, it's old hat, but these kinds of stories were once shocking.
That being said, these were mild. Well-written, mind you, but still mild.
By 1953, the SF magazines were highly stratified and it took some courageous editors to allow for a different kind of story to come out. In this case, it's post-nuclear holocaust just touching on a few of the milder themes that would have occurred. Gas shortage, the devaluation of money, in particular. Having to give up everything, even favored pets, in the expectation that all of civilization would break down.
Truly, it must have been fairly hard for the moderns back then to wrap their head around it.
For us, it's old hat, but these kinds of stories were once shocking.
That being said, these were mild. Well-written, mind you, but still mild.
June 23, 2017
"Lot" deals with David Jimmon, a Los Angeles suburbanite whose car is packed to the gills like a mockery of a camping vacation, as he prepares for the long crawl along a freeway full of motorists hoping to flee the atomic blasts raining down on American cities. Jimmon gloats over his preparedness, mentally chiding his family---two obnoxious sons, a naive wife, and dutiful daughter Erika---for their lack of vision. For you see, unlike his family, Jimmon has realized that this is the end of civilization, that they are now on their own, that bridge nights and grocery stores and teenage dating drama has now been replaced by icy survivalism. Only Jimmon realizes how cutthroat this new world is, and how callous his family must become to survive in it.
Therein lies the crux of "Lot," which isn't the icy libertarian power-fantasy you'd expect; instead, it's a portrait of the meek family man full of middle-age (and middle-class) resentments now loosed upon the wilds, a broken individual unrestrained by the flimsy pretenses of civilization or law. Jimmon's hatred---of his neighbors, his pet, his wife's former lover, and most of all his "parasitic" family leeching off his preparedness---becomes his driving passion, and his anger builds as the Civil Defense broadcasts fill the background with vague and static-y propaganda reports. By the end, Jimmon has decided that there is only one choice he can make to survive this apocalypse, resolutely heading for the hills while his family stares back at their past lives as fiery destruction rains down on LA like the wrath falling upon Sodom. And without hesitation, without compassion, without caring, he makes that choice.
After "Lot" ends on a vivid but open-ended note, "Lot's Daughter" takes the story setup to its logical conclusion. An aging Jimmon and Erika eke out a living in the lonely wilds, surviving by living off the lands and hoarding their suppliers. Jimmon's icy brand of survivalism is starting to wear on him: the pair entered what's implied to be an incestuous relationship (evident by a young boy without any father-figure but Jimmon), but now the child and ailing Jimmon are becoming burdensome on a healthy and hale Erika. She doesn't wish to carry their weight any longer, and while Jimmon is off fishing, scavenging, and reflecting upon civilization, he finds himself getting precisely what he asked for, dead weight for a more capable daughter. He reaps what he has sown, finding out too late that some mercies and communal safety-nets might not be bad things after all...
These two novellas are bleak and shocking, and I'm kind of surprised Moore was able to push these limits in the artsy-but-mainstream F&SF, more of an upmarket publication in newsstands still dominated by the lurid and dying pulps. Jimmon's tough choices, and the bleakness of tone and character, remind me of Wilson Tucker's brutal Long Loud Silence, and those few who've read it know what I mean: these are gloriously hard-hitting novels that deconstruct the kind of power fantasies that post-apocalyptic lit tends to generate, offering a bleak, pessimistic forecast for the kind of person who gleefully looks forward to the apocalypse as "my time to shine." These two stories are short but potent, notable entries in the realm of post-apoc lit, and I recommend them highly to fans of 1950s SF.
Therein lies the crux of "Lot," which isn't the icy libertarian power-fantasy you'd expect; instead, it's a portrait of the meek family man full of middle-age (and middle-class) resentments now loosed upon the wilds, a broken individual unrestrained by the flimsy pretenses of civilization or law. Jimmon's hatred---of his neighbors, his pet, his wife's former lover, and most of all his "parasitic" family leeching off his preparedness---becomes his driving passion, and his anger builds as the Civil Defense broadcasts fill the background with vague and static-y propaganda reports. By the end, Jimmon has decided that there is only one choice he can make to survive this apocalypse, resolutely heading for the hills while his family stares back at their past lives as fiery destruction rains down on LA like the wrath falling upon Sodom. And without hesitation, without compassion, without caring, he makes that choice.
After "Lot" ends on a vivid but open-ended note, "Lot's Daughter" takes the story setup to its logical conclusion. An aging Jimmon and Erika eke out a living in the lonely wilds, surviving by living off the lands and hoarding their suppliers. Jimmon's icy brand of survivalism is starting to wear on him: the pair entered what's implied to be an incestuous relationship (evident by a young boy without any father-figure but Jimmon), but now the child and ailing Jimmon are becoming burdensome on a healthy and hale Erika. She doesn't wish to carry their weight any longer, and while Jimmon is off fishing, scavenging, and reflecting upon civilization, he finds himself getting precisely what he asked for, dead weight for a more capable daughter. He reaps what he has sown, finding out too late that some mercies and communal safety-nets might not be bad things after all...
These two novellas are bleak and shocking, and I'm kind of surprised Moore was able to push these limits in the artsy-but-mainstream F&SF, more of an upmarket publication in newsstands still dominated by the lurid and dying pulps. Jimmon's tough choices, and the bleakness of tone and character, remind me of Wilson Tucker's brutal Long Loud Silence, and those few who've read it know what I mean: these are gloriously hard-hitting novels that deconstruct the kind of power fantasies that post-apocalyptic lit tends to generate, offering a bleak, pessimistic forecast for the kind of person who gleefully looks forward to the apocalypse as "my time to shine." These two stories are short but potent, notable entries in the realm of post-apoc lit, and I recommend them highly to fans of 1950s SF.
July 10, 2017
'Lot and Lot's Daughter' by Ward Moore is a collection of two stories written during the 1950s. Unlike most "prepper" fiction today, I think it paints a pretty realistic view of how some might survive in the aftermath of disaster.
In Lot, Mr. Jimmon has been preparing for the day when disaster will hit. He's been stockpiling and planning his escape route and even where he thinks he can ride out the catastrophe. When it finally hits (and the beginning of the story), the family hits the road. The problem is that everyone else does too. Also, his family wants to delay his escape with their biological needs. Finally, in a calculated move, Mr. Jimmon does what he thinks he must to ensure his survival.
In Lot's Daughter, it is now years later and Mr. Jimmon in encamped with his daughter and a young boy. He forages for food, mostly unsuccessfully, while his daughter stays in camp and does the bulk of the work. As things fall apart, we see that Mr. Jimmon is not really all that prepared for this future after all.
There is an introduction by Michael Swanwick and a short bio at the end of the author, including pictures.
Mr. Jimmon is never a likable protagonist, in my opinion, but these are good stories of the dream of survival versus the reality. I am glad I got the chance to read these stories.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Open Road Integrated Media and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
In Lot, Mr. Jimmon has been preparing for the day when disaster will hit. He's been stockpiling and planning his escape route and even where he thinks he can ride out the catastrophe. When it finally hits (and the beginning of the story), the family hits the road. The problem is that everyone else does too. Also, his family wants to delay his escape with their biological needs. Finally, in a calculated move, Mr. Jimmon does what he thinks he must to ensure his survival.
In Lot's Daughter, it is now years later and Mr. Jimmon in encamped with his daughter and a young boy. He forages for food, mostly unsuccessfully, while his daughter stays in camp and does the bulk of the work. As things fall apart, we see that Mr. Jimmon is not really all that prepared for this future after all.
There is an introduction by Michael Swanwick and a short bio at the end of the author, including pictures.
Mr. Jimmon is never a likable protagonist, in my opinion, but these are good stories of the dream of survival versus the reality. I am glad I got the chance to read these stories.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Open Road Integrated Media and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
July 20, 2021
Read the first a while ago and enjoyed! Put off finishing the second for a bit but it added an interesting follow up and ending. Nothing particularly revolutionary but interesting enough, probably 3.5 if it were possible (pls gr I am once again asking you to implement half stars we’re all begging).
May 2, 2019
Good post nuclear war scenario written in 1953. It centers on the how one American and his family deal with trying to survive after a nuclear war devastates the US. But these stories center directly on the Jimmon family and the actions taken by the father to insure "his" survival. The phrase "what comes around goes around" plays into the ending. I enjoyed the first story a little more than the second.
The movie "Panic in Year Zero" is suppose to be loosely based on the story "Lot" but loosely is the operative word here. I didn't see that much resemblance. But I did find an interesting quote about Ward Moore in one of the movie reviews that gives you an idea of the story's overall tone.
"Moore repurposed the Biblical tale of Sodom and Gomorrah for the atomic age but the particulars were far from heavenly."
The movie "Panic in Year Zero" is suppose to be loosely based on the story "Lot" but loosely is the operative word here. I didn't see that much resemblance. But I did find an interesting quote about Ward Moore in one of the movie reviews that gives you an idea of the story's overall tone.
"Moore repurposed the Biblical tale of Sodom and Gomorrah for the atomic age but the particulars were far from heavenly."
June 8, 2017
Moore isn't the first writer to tackle the nuclear apocalypse, but he is a forefather of survivalist fiction. His short story Lot tells of a family man who's determined to save his family from atomic annihilation not by trusting in the government's ability to keep things together, but by taking to the hills with shotguns and fishing rods to live like pioneers. Unfortunately for this erstwhile Noah, his family is less than enthused by his preparations. Only his teenage daughter shows any understanding of the need to abandon civilization.
In his foreword, Mike Swanwick argues that the story is supposed to be satiric. There are some hints to this effect, such as the character's revulsion when his son seems giddy at the prospect of a lawless life, which seems clearly modeled on ol' dad's actions. (This is more obvious in the film version, Panic in Year Zero, where the family hears a CONELRAD broadcast by the President announcing the death penalty for looters, and dad quickly distracts his son by highlighting some homilitic platitude the President had said. Because of course dad has done his share of looting during the apocalypse.) Unfortunately, any satire Moore intended is undermined by the fact that the mom in the story is a whittering ninny who at one point seriously worries that she may've left the oven on. This just makes dad's rugged he-man plans seem more reasonable, as though the author is giving him a strawman opponent.
If you're familiar with the Old Testament, you can pretty well guess the ending of Lot based upon the title of the sequel, Lot's Daughter. And yes, it's exactly as icky as you're thinking. However, here Moore genuinely does seem to be satirizing survivalism, revealing that dad's plans have, in the long run, come to nothing because, as an insurance agent, he had no real skill relevant to roughing it. His daughter, who previously had supported him, now sees him as a pathetic failure.
Moore's writing is much more stylized than you'd expect for an era when Kipling was still what SF writers aspired to. He has a nice trick of ending sentences with conjunctions or disjunctions,suggesting the thing not said. But overall the content is skeezy enough that I'd only recommended the stoey to fans of nuclear holocaust tales who want to examine an early installment in the genre.
In his foreword, Mike Swanwick argues that the story is supposed to be satiric. There are some hints to this effect, such as the character's revulsion when his son seems giddy at the prospect of a lawless life, which seems clearly modeled on ol' dad's actions. (This is more obvious in the film version, Panic in Year Zero, where the family hears a CONELRAD broadcast by the President announcing the death penalty for looters, and dad quickly distracts his son by highlighting some homilitic platitude the President had said. Because of course dad has done his share of looting during the apocalypse.) Unfortunately, any satire Moore intended is undermined by the fact that the mom in the story is a whittering ninny who at one point seriously worries that she may've left the oven on. This just makes dad's rugged he-man plans seem more reasonable, as though the author is giving him a strawman opponent.
If you're familiar with the Old Testament, you can pretty well guess the ending of Lot based upon the title of the sequel, Lot's Daughter. And yes, it's exactly as icky as you're thinking. However, here Moore genuinely does seem to be satirizing survivalism, revealing that dad's plans have, in the long run, come to nothing because, as an insurance agent, he had no real skill relevant to roughing it. His daughter, who previously had supported him, now sees him as a pathetic failure.
Moore's writing is much more stylized than you'd expect for an era when Kipling was still what SF writers aspired to. He has a nice trick of ending sentences with conjunctions or disjunctions,suggesting the thing not said. But overall the content is skeezy enough that I'd only recommended the stoey to fans of nuclear holocaust tales who want to examine an early installment in the genre.
November 26, 2018
An almost-forgotten masterpiece of the apocalyptic, Ward Moore's pair of short stories paint an acidic commentary on the "duck and cover" mentality of the 1950s that's aged poorly in some respects, and is all too regrettably relevant in others. (SPOILERS FOLLOW) If you've ever been annoyed by the depiction in THE WALKING DEAD or RED DAWN or the like of ordinary people learning amazing survival skills and prospering as society falls...Moore has a wake-up call for you. The two stories provide an icy, ironic contrast between the self-justifying POV of Mr. Jimmon, family man turned survivalist, and Jimmon's actual actions, which begin as merely cold and pragmatic and gradually become more horrific, grotesque and ineffectual. Jimmon's found a patch of land and gotten all the government pamphlets he needs to do things like build a shelter or tan leather...but if you had to learn how to do these things with no actual experience, how good would you be? Moore's most ruthless with the details he leaves out; the word "incest" is never used, but you don't have to be a detective to figure out where the young child Jimmon's daughter has that calls him "Dad" came from. By the end, Jimmon's a pathetic wreck, reaping what he's sowed as his fatherly lessons of survival come home to roost. If Ward had done more stories and expanded this into a novel, perhaps it would have gotten more attention, but Moore seems aware that there's only so far you could take this tale. It's not perfect -- the depiction of Jimmon's family in the first story is so broad as to be absurd, and even with his ineffectiveness, it seems impossible Jimmon could get and maintain such a food-rich patch of land for nearly a decade after the war. But it's still one of the most ruthless deflations of American exceptionalism and white male entitlement in science fiction, and one that achieves something truly literary in its characterization and attention to detail. What would really happen if we survived a nuclear war? Mr. Jimmon has it better than most, but his fate, no matter how deserved, is still one you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy -- one forged not in fire and radiation but simple human frailty.
July 1, 2017
It seems a little obvious to state that this brace of stories featuring a man and his family fleeing imminent nuclear attack is dated, but it is - and not just because the Cold War threat has of course mostly died away. No, they've dated because they twice or thrice relate to sex matters as part of the plot, and every time they're too obvious and guessable, especially when the first was so blatant and unsubtle and after that we're primed for the others. Beyond the predictability that must count as flaws these days comes the slightly unlikeable style, all internal thought and belligerence and told-you-so-ness. I know that's here for character, but it doesn't make the stories that brilliantly loveable. They're just decent postcards from a time when survivalist intent didn't really match up to what was best for mankind.
July 24, 2024
I have read this story a number of times in a number of different anthologies / collections - in English I did not read the Spanish edition shown here by Goodreads, but selected that edition because that is the only one that refers just to the story "Lot". (The other editions all refer to 2 stories - "Lot" and "Lot's Daughter").
The story "Lot" is remarkable - one of the very best of the "classic" stories from the rather early days of science fiction - and it still stands up well today.
It's true that we don't have the same mania today about building fallout shelters in our basements - on the other hand, you would have to pretty delusional to think that such a shelter would help you survive. There been some marginal reductions over the decades in the number of nuclear weapons, as a result of disarmament treaties, but there has also been a vast proliferation in the number and kind of deadly devices and the number of countries with such weapons. And there have been idiotic leaders on both sides who have backtracked on such treaties. And then there is that KGB leader waging war in Europe and talking about using "tactical nuclear weapons".
The story "Lot" is remarkable - one of the very best of the "classic" stories from the rather early days of science fiction - and it still stands up well today.
It's true that we don't have the same mania today about building fallout shelters in our basements - on the other hand, you would have to pretty delusional to think that such a shelter would help you survive. There been some marginal reductions over the decades in the number of nuclear weapons, as a result of disarmament treaties, but there has also been a vast proliferation in the number and kind of deadly devices and the number of countries with such weapons. And there have been idiotic leaders on both sides who have backtracked on such treaties. And then there is that KGB leader waging war in Europe and talking about using "tactical nuclear weapons".
January 23, 2018
It would be difficult to say I "enjoyed" this. It is a horrible story about a horrible person and what he does when the SHTF and it appears that the world is going to end. In fact, there is not really one person in these stories that you truly feel motivated to root for. It is just an awful example of man's inhumanity to man.
The book does a great job of expressing that, and setting up a very realistic scenario involving the EOTWAWKI. The story still resonates, more than 50 years after it was written. While it is impossible for anyone to truly say what they would do, if facing similar hardships, I would hope that most of us would respond in a better way.
The book does a great job of expressing that, and setting up a very realistic scenario involving the EOTWAWKI. The story still resonates, more than 50 years after it was written. While it is impossible for anyone to truly say what they would do, if facing similar hardships, I would hope that most of us would respond in a better way.
September 6, 2017
Might have been thrilling once
This is a terribly dated book. Written when people thought a nuclear war was survivable, it's archaic and dull, now. As I read it, I thought hey, this reminds me of the old (and better) movie, Panic in Year Zero. The reason is they lifted the idea from this uncredited. Save yourself the trouble of reading this and watch the movie instead.
This is a terribly dated book. Written when people thought a nuclear war was survivable, it's archaic and dull, now. As I read it, I thought hey, this reminds me of the old (and better) movie, Panic in Year Zero. The reason is they lifted the idea from this uncredited. Save yourself the trouble of reading this and watch the movie instead.
March 8, 2020
Genius how I initially rooted for the protagonist, and disliked myself for doing so. Domestic story becomes psychological thriller. Also recall the phrase: history is written by the winners.
... there’s a sequel?!
... there’s a sequel?!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 26, 2017
Ug, hate the main character.
January 1, 2021
A thought provoking short that, whilst dated in certain parts, questions our attachment to material objects and to things that have become irrelevant.
July 15, 2021
Both of the endings felt sudden to me but REALLY enjoyed both of em!
September 16, 2024
A brutal post-apocalypse story in two parts, Moore skewers the would-be survivalists who have set aside humanity and community as the true savages.
May 1, 2017
Lot & Lot's Daughter by Ward Moore. Written in the early 1950's, this is a short book comprised of two stories with an introduction by Michael Swanwick. It centers around the aftermath of a nuclear attack on Los Angeles and focuses on one particular family and how they fare. The main character is David Jimmon or Mr. Jimmon, as he is usually referred to. Mr. Jimmon has planned for quite a while for an atomic war and is almost pleased to see his planning was not in vain. He grabs up his family and sets out on a trek in their station wagon, to get as far from civilization as possible. The first story is a road trip as they race up the coast to a destination he has already chosen. He has packed what he thinks are everything they need, but the response from his wife and children as they struggle across the clogged traffic lanes, leaves him disturbed and reproachful. They don't understand his urgency, or the necessity. Mr. Jimmon, however, prides himself as being a survivor and sometimes surviving means making tough choices. In the second story some half dozen years later, he and the remains of his family live in total isolation from the rest of the world, trying to eke out a ragged, impoverished living while staying hidden from their fellow man. In Michael Swanwick's introduction, he talks about the air raid drills, when he was a school boy, that was a real part of everyone preparing for nuclear war. I remember those drills myself, and I had friends whose parents build bomb shelters. It was a national paranoia that everyone felt. Ward Moore captures the feel of it here and with deft logic shows us how so many people fell under the spell of the inevitability of war. Amazingly, these stories appear only a few years after Hiroshima, showing how far ahead his thinking had gone. Of course, they are dated, but the brutal feeling of it is captured so well, making this a true classic.
March 14, 2019
This was such a dour and twisted read. I still can't decide if I loved or hated it. I couldn't stop reading, so take from that what you will. It was terrifying in its intensity, and overall thoroughly depressing. Since I'm fairly certain that was the point, the author hit the nail on the head.
The general openness of it left so much to the imagination, making me actually relate more to the characters. The reader knows only as much as the narrator, and that feeling was intense. I'm not sure I'd slug through it again, but it's maybe one of those everyone should give a try.
The general openness of it left so much to the imagination, making me actually relate more to the characters. The reader knows only as much as the narrator, and that feeling was intense. I'm not sure I'd slug through it again, but it's maybe one of those everyone should give a try.
March 4, 2018
I'm fascinated by preppers, and their vision of how when the world collapses, they will be the ones to survive. These books, written in the 1950s, show a piercing psychological insight into what is likely to actually happen.
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