What if the apocalypse that befell the poor souls in The Stand was nuclear instead of viral and was written in a style more like Richard Matheson than Stephen King? That is the post-apocalyptic world in Robert McCammon's Swan Song. Anyone who has read The Stand, Ill Wind, The Postman and Lucifer's Hammer will enjoy this post-apocalyptic tale of destruction, conflict and salvation.
Swan Song is rich with characters like a tired and defeated ex-wrestler called Black Frankenstein, a New York City bag lady who suddenly wields mystic powers, a desperate boy who claws his way out of a destroyed survivalist compound, an evil traveler known only as the Man of Many Faces and then, a young innocent girl named Swan who just may be the salvation of the world. Swan Song is often compared to Stephen King's The Stand, and rightly so. Both are about the survivors of an apocalyptic event and both have a devil type character walking around creating havoc. But in Swan Song, the tone is somewhat different: the good is sweeter, the evil is more sadistic, and the setting is harsher, because it's the world after a nuclear holocaust.
Swan Song won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel in 1988 and it's a monster of a book, brimming over with imaginative stories, horrific violence and startling imagery.
In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth’s last survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity: Sister, who discovers a strange mystical glass artifact in the destroyed Manhattan streets…Joshua Hutchins, the pro wrestler who takes refuge from the nuclear fallout at a Nebraska gas station…And Swan, a young girl possessing special powers who travels alongside Josh to a Missouri town where healing and recovery can begin with Swan’s gifts. But the ancient force behind earth’s devastation is scouring the walking wounded for recruits for its relentless army and the final war is just beginning.