Wrack and Roll

by Bradley Denton

In an alternate universe a world tour by the wracker band, Blunt Instrument, threatens to destroy the Earth

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Alternate History, Music

406 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Bradley Clayton Denton (born 1958) is an American science fiction author. He has also written other types of fiction, such as the black comedy of his novel Blackburn, about a sympathetic serial killer.
He was born in Towanda, Kansas, and attended the University of Kansas at Lawrence and graduated with degrees in astronomy (B.A.) and English (M.A.). His first published work was the short story "The Music of the Spheres," published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in March 1984. His collection The Calvin Coolidge Home for Dead Comedians and A Conflagration Artist won the 1995 World Fantasy Award for Best Collection.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally wild ride by Denton here, and it wracks and rolls! Trying to describe this novel will be difficult, as I have never really encountered anything like it. WAR is set in an alternative history; FDR died choking on a chicken bone in 1933, but WWII still happened. The Russians allied with Hitler, however, and the USA invaded Russia and took it over to end the war. What was left were two superpowers-- the USA and its 'central federation', basically colonizing Russia, and the Anglo-Chinese alliance. Like real history, a cold war soon arose. The novel is set at the end of 1979 through early 1980. 'Wrackers' can be seen as something like a punk counter-culture, totally against established authority. The 'straights' are your basic citizens who hoover up mass media and constitute the status quo.

In this world, the USA/federation began (using ex-Nazi scientists) a space program back in the late 40s and had several launches to the Moon. In 1957, seeing how it was so safe and ready for tourists, they took along the queen of the Wrackers-- Bitch Alice-- where see was going to perform up there, but a terrible accident left her and all the others on the mission dead. Bitch Alice's last words to Earth were something like "Make Dallas pay" (Dallas, rather than Houston being the center of the space program). Wrackers heard and destroyed the Dallas space center with a massive riot, setting back the USA space program for years, if not ever. Meanwhile, the Anglo-Chinese geared up their own version of a space program and by 1979 have a moon colony along with a large manned space station, while the USA has squat.

The story centers on three characters-- Bastard Child, the daughter of Bitch Alice, and the leader of Blunt Instrument, a Wracker band. "Pissant' Jackson, the leading physicist behind the USA moon program and now a hopeless drunk at a midwestern university. Finally, we have Clifton Bonner, AKA 'hack', who was a med student at an island university (Concepcion) in the Caribbean.

One day in late 1979, the Anglo-Chinese alliance lands Gurka troops on Concepcion to reclaim the former colony and they take the USA med students there as hostages. We shift for awhile to American politics, where lots of sabre rattling is going on, and the current POTUS wants to enlist Bastard Child and Blunt Instrument as propaganda tools against the Anglo-Chinese; Bastard Child is not having any of it, but the POTUS (and 'the Squid', his Secretary of State) are really good at applying pressure. Can Bitch Alice and Blunt Instrument do anything to prevent WWIII? The current POTUS (or I should say the Squid) seem to be dying to duke it out with nukes, but the Anglo-Chinese alliance have nukes in orbit in the space station, and they are not shy either.

This is a very clever book, and the political intrigue stands up quite well for something published in 1986. War mongers never seem to go away after all. Denton develops a Wrecker vernacular that takes some getting used to, but the story really flows. Outside of the three main characters (who also comprise the three main POVs), Denton develops a wonderful supporting cast. The others in Blunt Instrument are great, and the spooks the POTUS employs are a hoot. Also, we have another asshole running for POTUS (the two parties are the Dealers and the Whigs) who has his own spooks and they are mean and deadly. We also have several Wrackers who are surprisingly well developed.

I see this somewhat as a homage to Punk Rock and its potential as well, but also steeped in frustration as the punk movement became absorbed and commodified by the 'Straights', leaving the world with a corrupt status quo leaning toward war and quests for power. As the cover blurb states: "The Music is the Power and the Power is pushing us closer and closer to Armageddon!" So, can the power of music overcome the straight's quest for power via nukes? Uplifting and fresh, WAR delivers the goods! 4.5 stars!!

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Denton's first novel is an excellent science fiction story, as well as a terrific rock and roll novel. Though it's been all but forgotten after the critical attention his later works attracted, it's still worth searching out. It resonates with a sort of frantic energy, exuberant pacing, passionate emotion, and even occasional charming awkwardness that's the hallmark of the best rock music. Tycho rocks. Frag Houston.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plots of Mr. Denton's books are generally preposterous. Blackburn was about a sympathetic serial killer who murders overcharging mechanics and the like. Buddy Holly is Alive and Well on Ganymede, is pretty much what it sounds like. And Wrack and Roll, is about music as a legitimate political force, but not in the lame sixties way; in the genuinely scary underground nineties way. I don't expect anyone else I know will ever read this book.

And that will be their loss.

Bradley Denton understands music and music culture in a way no other author I've read ever has. He writes what it's like to feel it down inside you, and how it seems to cut a clear wide swath through bullshit. The bullshit in this case, being international politics. And while the division of the world into a conflict between the US and the Anglo-Chinese Alliance that is portrayed in Wrack and Roll, may be mildly preposterous, the political manuverings portrayed feel far too real. And reading Wrack and Roll's take on musics clash with politics, essentially a novel about a culture war, one of truth, freedom and passion, one of lies, control, and fear, I can't help but feel he understands the world around us better than most other authors as well.

Wrack and Roll may not be fine literature, in the traditional sense. But I can't recommend it enough to anyone else who grew up like I did, knowing deep down that shit wasn't right, and being willing to suffer whatever lumps came with pointing that out in as loud and ugly a fashion as possible.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book at about 13 and it's been on my bookshelf ever since. Haven't read it in probably 10 years, but it still comes with me through every move. I think I should read it again and see what my adult self thinks of it...

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

For you Ceramic Hobs/Pumf deep-level fanatics: this book is the basis for the album by the one-off "Blunt Instrument" on Pumf. I read it based on that. It's okay.

[Henriette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good plot and filled with eighties spirit of defiance and no future.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Alternate History not really my thing, but he did it well.