History Literature / LucifersHammer

* CultDefector: Hugo Beck, who is forced to join the New Brotherhood Army, eventually manages to flee -- though not without having to kill his lover in the process. He’s still a pariah among Jellison’s group, since he ate human flesh to be indoctrinated into the New Brotherhood.

* DividedStatesOfAmerica: The survivors, living in and around California's San Joaquin Valley, all make jokes about the five announcements they've received over short-wave radio, each proclaiming a different person President of the United States. The only one they give any level of credence to is the group in Colorado Springs because a) the person making the proclamation is the former Speaker of the House and thus might actually have legal authority and b) apparently NORAD survived and they still have nukes and working bombers. As far as they are concerned, Arthur Jellison (former US Senator and leader of the effort to organize and rebuild) is their leader. One person jokes that Jellison is 'the Duke of San Joaquin'.

* LoveTriangle: One of these forms between Maureen Jellison, Harvey Randall, and George Christopher, the latter two of whom are in love with Maureen. Later becomes a love ''square'' when Maureen’s ex-husband, astronaut John Baker, enters the picture. [[spoiler:It resolves itself by the end: Baker is killed defending the nuclear plant, and Christopher is wooed by Marie Vance, leaving Maureen and Harvey together.]]

* NoHealthcareInTheApocalypse: Dr. Dan Forrester has Type 1 diabetes, so he needs a regular supply of refrigerated insulin to survive. After the title comet strike ends civilization (and electrical power for refrigeration), he can't make or acquire more insulin. [[spoiler:He actually has the medical know-how to be able to do it, but the defense of Jellison's ranch from the New Brotherhood means he has no time to, and he eventually dies.]]
* NoPartyLikeADonnerParty: The remnants of a National Guard unit start off only killing and eating people because they have a hard time finding anything to eat. Later, they descend into ImAHumanitarian territory, and use forced-cannibalism ("You can eat it, or you can be eaten. Your choice.") as a sadistic recruiting tool, since cannibalism "indelibly marks a person, on their soul," making said persons permanent pariahs to any "decent" folk.

* NukeEm: The Chinese conclude that the Soviets that survive Hammerfall will need to migrate south to avoid future glaciers, and launch a preemptive nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. The (oddly prepared) Soviets immediately use their NuclearOption and drop their entire ''Cold War arsenal'' on China.[[spoiler: The USA gets in on the action when the USSR asks for the US's help in nuking China. ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure.]]

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: In the face of a tsunami, the Burbank jail releases all prisoners except for rapist and murderer Fred Lauren. The trustee is content to leave Lauren to drown, and a cop just shoots him.
* TheScapegoat: Rather realistically subverted, as no one blames Tim for the comet’s impact.

* AuthorTract: One of the morals of this story is technology (especially nuclear power and space exploration) is good, while environmentalists, the fanatically religious, and hippies are bad. Also the StrawFeminist character, Mabe Bishop, loses political arguments, and uses sex to get men to kill each other via FalseRapeAccusation.

* ApocalypseHow: Planetary/Societal Collapse caused by a comet strike. And it might've been even worse if the US military didn't get the clarification that the Soviet Union was nuking China instead of the US.

* ChummyCommies: The joint Apollo-Soyuz mission to study the comet means two of the four people involved are USSR kosmonauts, General [[UnfortunateNames Pieter Jakov]] and Dr. Leonilla Malik. They get along quite well with the Americans, and for the most part, the four of them are more loyal to each other than to anyone else. [[spoiler:When the comet hits, the bond nearly breaks when Rick Delanty sees the Soviets have launched nuclear missiles while Dr. Malik points out there's already a mushroom cloud above Moscow, but Jakov is the one to notice that the Soviet missiles are headed to China, which actually launched first; the USSR requested, and received, an alliance with the US against this unprovoked attack, and dialogue indicates the alliance persists past the very short war. Even after returning to Earth, while there's some initial discomfort about having Soviets in the conservative area in which they land, Jakov remains a committed Communist (though Malik quietly renounces Communism), and "Comrade" is readily accepted into, and a valued member of, the post-impact community.]]

* CozyCatastrophe: At the end, one of the heroes is celebrating the fact that he and his family (and his friends) have survived the winter, everything's rebuilding, and the future looks bright. Never mind that billions of people are dead and the good guys have effectively organized themselves into a feudal holding...it's about the best that could have been hoped, really.

* LoveTriangle: One of these forms between Maureen Jellison, Harvey Randall and George Christopher, the latter two of whom are in love with Maureen. Later becomes a love ''square'' when Maureen’s ex-husband, astronaut John Baker, enters the picture. [[spoiler:It resolves itself by the end: Baker is killed defending the nuclear plant, and Christopher is wooed by Marie Vance, leaving Maureen and Harvey together.]]

* NoPartyLikeADonnerParty: The remnants of a National Guard unit start off only killing and eating people because they have a hard time finding anything to eat. Later, they descend into ImAHumanitarian territory, and use forced-cannibalism ("You can eat it, or you can be eaten. Your choice.") as a sadistic recruiting tool, since cannibalism "indelibly marks a person, on their soul", making said persons permanent pariahs to any "decent" folk.

* HeroicSacrifice: The manner in which Air Force General John Baker saves the nuclear power plant from the cannibal army.

** Several of the New Brotherhood's leaders (including Armitage and the cannibalistic Sergeant Hooker) survive the final battle.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse?: