History Literature / TheFireman

''The Fireman'' is a novel written by Creator/JoeHill. A deadly spore called 'Dragonscale' that causes SpontaneousHumanCombustion has infected most of the world. Civilization descends into chaos as ruthless 'Cremation Squads' murder those who afflicted.

* JustBeforeTheEnd: Society is still functioning when the novel takes place, but it's slowly breaking down, with more and more people becoming infected with Dragonscale and the Internet being reduced to a shadow of itself.

* KarmicTransformation: [[[spoiler:The Marlboro Man, who lead "Cremation Squads" to murder infected people, becomes infected himself.]]

** Don't forget Nozz-a-la, an off-brand cola enjoyed on many levels of TheDarkTower.

* ShoutOut: [[TheHauntingOfHillHouse One of the items stolen in the camp is a large coffee mug with stars painted on it; it's referred to several times as a "cup of stars"]]

* KarmicTransformation: [[[spoiler: The Marlboro Man, who lead 'Cremation Squads' to murder infected people becomes infected himself.]]

* CriticalResearchFailure: John meets the Storeys when he's hired as a sign language interpreter for deaf children at their summer camp. John explains that he knows sign language because his mother was deaf. Since John is English and his mother Irish, it's unlikely that they communicated in the American Sign Language (ASL) that Nick and the other children would use. British Sign Language (BSL) is almost mutually unintelligible with ASL, as BSL uses both hands and ASL only one, so they're very different from necessity. Irish Sign Language (ISL) is closer in that it only uses one hand, but is actually closer to French signing than any other English language, and doesn't overlap much with ASL in any of the particulars. So, while of course it's far from impossible that John picked up ASL somewhere along the way, he almost certainly wouldn't have used it at home to communicate with his mother.

'''''The Fireman''''' is a novel written by Creator/JoeHill. A deadly spore called 'Dragonscale' that causes SpontaneousHumanCombustion has infected most of the world. Civilization descends into chaos as ruthless 'Cremation Squads' murder those who afflicted.

* BritishAccents: John has one, much to Harper's delight; though Harper - who is a committed Anglophile more through enthusiasm than detailed knowledge - variously identifies it as possibly coming from London, Liverpool, and Manchester, despite there not being much overlap between London and the other two, and both of the northern accents mentioned being fairly distinctive in their own right.

* ShoutOut: [[TheHauntingOfHillHouse: One of the items stolen in the camp is a large coffee mug with stars painted on it; it's referred to several times as a "cup of stars"]]

* YankTheDogsChain: A refuge where the infected survivors can receive treatment and be taken care of is spoken of throughout the novel. [[spoiler:It turns out to be a ruse meant to draw in the infected as a way to kill them.]]

* CriticalResearchFail: John meets the Storeys when he's hired as a sign language interpreter for deaf children at their summer camp. John explains that he knows sign language because his mother was deaf. Since John is English and his mother Irish, it's unlikely that they communicated in the American Sign Language (ASL) that Nick and the other children would use. British Sign Language (BSL) is almost mutually unintelligible with ASL, as BSL uses both hands and ASL only one, so they're very different from necessity. Irish Sign Language (ISL) is closer in that it only uses one hand, but is actually closer to French signing than any other English language, and doesn't overlap much with ASL in any of the particulars. So, while of course it's far from impossible that John picked up ASL somewhere along the way, he almost certainly wouldn't have used it at home to communicate with his mother.

* EasterEggs: Quite a few. Given the apparent similarities to ''The Stand'', Hill renamed the character of a deaf kid to Nick (after Nick Andros) and an antisocial loner to Harold Cross (a portmanteau of Harold Lauder and Nadine Cross). Other mentions include [[Literature/TheDarkTower forgetting the face of one's father]] and a place being nicknamed '[[Literature/{{NOS4A2}} Christmasland]]'

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: A few real celebrities are mentioned. Radio/GlennBeck burns up during a broadcast and Creator/JKRowling is mentioned as being gunned down for using her wealth to give refuge to those afflicted with the plague.

** Don't forget Nozz-a-la, an off-brand cola enjoyed on many levels of the Tower.

* EasterEggs: Quite a few. Given the apparent similarities to ''The Stand'', Hill renamed the character of a deaf kid to Nick (after Nick Andros) and an antisocial loner to Harold Cross (a portmanteau of Harold Lauder and Nadine Cross). Other mentions include [[Literature/TheDarkTower forgetting the face of one's father]] and a place being nicknamed '[[Literature/{{NOS4A2}} Christmasland]]'.

'''''The Fireman''''' is a novel written by Creator/JoeHill. A deadly spore called 'Dragonscale' hat causes SpontaneousHumanCombustion has infected most of the world. Civilization descends into chaos as ruthless 'Cremation Squads' murder those who afflicted.

* LiteraryAllusionTitle: Hill lifted the title from the original draft of Creator/RayBradbury's ''Literature/Fahrenheit451''. Both stories are about fireman who start fires rather than put them out.

* EasterEggs: Quite a few. Given the apparent similarities to ''The Stand'', Hill renamed the character of a deaf kid to Nick (after Nick Andros) and an antisocial loner to Harold Cross (a portmanteau of Harold Lauder and Nadine Cross). Other mentions include [[Literature/TheDarkTower forgetting the face of one's father]] and a place being nicknamed '[[Literature/{{NOS4A2 Christmasland]]'.