The Gone-Away World does not take place in the aftermath of a nuclear war.

Or a nuclear accident.

Or any kind of nuclear.

There are no nukes in the story.

Well, there is brief mention of growing up under the raw red eye of the Cold War and the Soviet Arsenal Of Ultimate Plasma Fire And Death Which They Will Launch At Any Moment.

But that’s it.

That’s because I find nuke stories dated. Nukes feel wrong to me for the kind of thing I want to write about. There may come a time when nukes are scary and cool and new again, but right now, for me, they’re just these old expensive pieces of hardware we sort of wish we didn’t have except that if North Korea’s gonna have ‘em and Russia’s gonna have ‘em and China and Israel (deniably) and Iran (not yet) and… actually, there was a song about this, called “Who’s Next?” by the magnificent Tom Lehrer. We’ll try to stay serene and calm when Alabama gets the bomb!