Dies the Fire is a post-apocalyptic 2004 novel by alternate history author S. M. Stirling.
Plot introduction
Dies the Fire is the first installment of the Emberverse series and chronicles the struggle of humanity to survive in the first decade following "The Change," a sudden worldwide event that alters physical laws so that electricity, gunpowder and most forms of high-energy-density technology no longer work. As a result, modern civilization comes crashing down. [1]
The novel follows the actions of two people in the northwestern United States who rally their friends and family to survive:
- Mike Havel, a bush pilot and former Marine
- Juniper Mackenzie, a Celtic singer-songwriter and Wiccan priestess
The two groups interact in the novel, for a time allying against a common foe, and form a steadfast alliance in later books.
Plot summary
Michael Havel is a former Force Recon Marine turned bush pilot, who is in the air over the Bitterroot mountains in Idaho when The Change occurs on March 17, 1998. His passengers are wealthy industrialist Kenneth Larsson, Larsson's wife Mary, and their three teenage children, twins Eric and Signe, and Astrid. When the plane's engine and electronics are knocked out, Mike makes an emergency crash landing. Everyone survives, though Mary's femur is broken in the crash and she has to be carried.
The party makes its way through very rough terrain to a ranger cabin on the Constitution Trail in the Bitterroot mountains. Mike and Eric then hike out to the highway, but discover the widespread effect of the Change. They encounter a trio of virulently racist survivalists on horseback who have taken prisoner a black man named Will Hutton, his wife Angelica and daughter Luanne. Mike and Eric try to rescue the family; bound, Will Hutton does what he can by fleeing on horseback as a distraction. His captors retreat from Mike and Eric and pursue him up the Constitution Trail to the cabin where the Larssons are waiting. By the time Mike and Eric catch up, they have murdered Mary, and are attempting to rape Signe and Astrid. All three survivalists are killed.
The Huttons, who breed and train horses, join Mike and the surviving Larssons. The group elects Mike as their leader and decide to head for the Larsson family estate (Larsdalen) in the western Willamette Valley in Oregon. A day or so after beginning their trip, Astrid Larsson shoots a black bear with her bow (although previously ordered to never shoot at a bear or cougar), which only provokes it into attacking the group. It wounds Mike before it is killed. This event gives the group its name: the Bearkillers.
On the way to Larsdalen, the Bearkillers meet and recruit Pamela Arnstein, an expert in Renaissance sword combat. Combined with Astrid's knowledge of archery, fletching and bowmaking, this makes the group comparatively well-armed. The Bearkillers are hired by a group near a Nez Perce reservation to find and wipe out a nest of "Eaters" — survivors who have resorted to ambushing travelers and living by cannibalism, which they do rescuing a number of people held captive by them. Mike and Signe become attracted to each other, though she keeps him at arms length, still horrified by the memory of her near-rape.
Later, when the group has grown larger, Mike takes two companions to scout the way ahead. In Portland, 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 reinstating feudalism by recruiting gang members and former Society for Creative Anachronism members, and driving everyone else out of the city. Arminger offers the Bearkillers positions as nobles, but Mike does not like what he sees and remains diplomatically noncommitted.
On the way back, Mike and his men save Juniper Mackenzie and her friends, who are also on their own reconnaissance mission. Mike and Juniper are attracted to each other and have sex before the two small groups go their separate ways. The encounter leaves Juniper pregnant with Mike's child.
The Bearkillers then hire themselves out to a local sheriff to fight "Duke Iron Rod", who is raiding farms and murdering those who refuse to acknowledge his claim to the Camas Prairie region and pay his taxes. The Bearkillers trap and wipe out a raiding party, but while they are away, a traitor helps a second group enter and attack the Bearkillers' camp. In the fighting, Ken Larsson loses his left hand, but Mike and his men return in time to rout the attackers and capture Iron Rod for later hanging. They discover that Iron Rod had been receiving aid and support from the Portland Protective Association.
The Bearkillers also take part in a raid on a Protectorate castle, which Arminger had constructed to control an important route over the Cascades mountain range. After the Bearkillers reach Larsdalen, Mike and Signe become engaged.
The parallel story of the formation of Clan Mackenzie begins with Juniper Mackenzie, a folksinger and Wiccan priestess. Juniper is performing in a restaurant in Corvallis when The Change occurs. She, along with her deaf teenage daughter Eilir, and their friend and restaurant manager Dennis Martin aid victims of an airliner crash in the city. When they realize that guns no longer work, a bunch of looters attack a policeman who is trying to stop them. Dennis and Juniper go to help him. Juniper kills one of the attackers with an axe handle, and his companions flee, but one of them, Eddie Liu vows to avenge his dead 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 in central Oregon. On the way, refugees attack them for their food. Eilir is forced to shoot a woman with her bow; the woman's companions flee, but Juniper and Dennis take pity on the wounded woman and her young son, allowing them to join the group. Some of Juniper's coven members also make their way separately to Juniper's cabin, after rescuing a dozen private school children. Both groups are reunited at the cabin and Juniper gives everyone a pep talk by saying to survive they need to act like a "Clan."
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 steep 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.
As things start to settle down, Juniper takes a few companions to scout the surrounding area. They arrive in Corvallis where they discover that the faculty of Oregon State University have taken over the governing of the town. Later they are ambushed by a group of Eaters, but are saved by Mike and the Bearkiller scouts. After killing off the Eaters Juniper rescues three members of her coven who were captured by Eaters. A night or two later, she and Mike have sex, conceiving a child.
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 Clan against the occupiers. Reverend Dixon dies of a heart attack during the battle, which does nothing to discourage the burgeoning legend growing up around Juniper and her faith — in fact, many of the people ask to be initiated into Wicca to fit in, a fact which causes Juniper and her coven-mates some mirth.
The Clan has a successful first harvest but problems elsewhere dampen this happy occasion. Sam Aylward is sent to lead a group of Mackenzie archers to aide the Bearkiller's raid against a Protectorate castle. Both the Clan and the Bearkillers are successful and even manage to force the surrender of another castle when both groups showed up with their combined armies. Juniper gives birth to a 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, the baby 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." [1]
Characters in Dies the Fire
-
Bearkillers
- Mike Havel
- Kenneth Larsson
- Signe Larsson
- Eric Larsson
- Astrid Larsson
- Will Hutton
- Luanne Hutton
- Pamela Arnstein
Mackenzies
- Juniper Mackenzie
- Eilir Mackenzie
- Dennis Martin
- Sam Aylward
Portland Protective Association
- Norman Arminger
- Sandra Arminger
- Eddie Liu
Literary significance and reception
Fellow science fiction writer Paul Di Filippo praised the novel saying: "Post-apocalypse novels often veer either too heavily into romantic Robinsonades or nihilistic dead ends. But Stirling has struck the perfect balance between grit and glory."[2]
References to other works
Often characters and symbols from The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, are mentioned throughout the novel:
- Astrid, who is obsessed with the stories, often compares what is happening around her after the Change to events in the books.
- Lord Protecter Arminger adopted the Eye of Sauron as the symbol of the Portland Protective Association.[1]
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. [3]
References
External links
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