Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America

Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America is a steampunk science-fiction novel by Robert Charles Wilson. Set in a future where the oil has long since run out, America has become a feudalistic theocracy, and 19th-century social norms have been revived, this novel tells the life story of the title character.

Julian Comstock, nephew of President Deklan Comstock, had been sent out west for his own safety, since the President had executed the boy's father and had hostile intentions toward Julian himself. His life with his friend Adam Hazzard and his teacher Sam Godwin is quite idyllic -- until the three are drafted into a war against "Mitteleuropa," a Dutch-German alliance seeking to control the northern waterways of what was once Canada...

Tropes used in Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America include:

• 0% Approval Rating: Because of this, the Army of the Laurentians deposes Deklan Comstock and installs Julian as President.
  • By the end of the story, Julian himself ends up getting deposed.
• After the End: The "End" being when the oil ran out. By the time the story starts, society had long since recovered.
• American Political System: Mutated almost beyond recognition. There's still an executive branch and President, but the 52nd Amendment allows for hereditary succession which led to at least one 12-year old POTUS, and the 53rd did away with the Supreme Court. The votes of the serfs are held "in trust" by their masters the Aristos, who vote their own into the Senate.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Deklan Comstock, Mr. Wieland.
• Badass Boast: Comstock designs his army's campaign flag with an astronaut's boot on a yellow circle and the inscription "WE WALKED ON THE MOON."
• Balance of Power: In the US between the Executive Branch, the Aristos, the armed forces and the Dominion, which used to be the Air Force until all the jet fuel ran out and it combined with Focus On The Family.
• Big Applesauce: With Washington DC flooded and abandoned, New York City is now the capital of the US. The Presidential Palace located in what was Central Park.
• BFG: The US Army's "Trench Sweeper", and the Mitteleuropans' "Chinese Cannons".
• Bittersweet Ending: Julian dies of a virulent new "Pox" next to his lover, but his friends escape to France. In addition, Julian's successor seems to be continuing his efforts to curb the Dominion's power
• Bury Your Gays: Subverted; Deacon Hollingshead's daughter, who has had relations with women, was thought to have died when the Army of the Californias attacked the house she was in. Julian, however, had her secretly moved to Montreal.
  • Julian's own death is a straight example.
• But What About the Astronauts?: Averted - a "Secular Ancestors" book on space travel shows that although the Chinese landed people on the Moon in the 21st century, no permanent off-world bases were established before the oil ran out. Adam briefly muses on what life would be like on the moon; he imagines without air, water or food it would be pretty harsh.
• Censorship Bureau: Only Dominion-approved books may be read legally.
• Church Militant: Deacon Hollingshead.
• Corrupt Church: The Dominion of Jesus Christ on Earth, a theocratic body that acts as a branch of government.
• Days of Future Past: The social mores of the 19th century were actively restored.
  • Society and technology in general are a mix of this and World War I, or rather "imperfect" recreations of them. Justified in part, due to a good deal of modern technology becoming useless with the End of Oil.
• Dead Guys On Display: Julian's attempted assassin - and after Julian thinks about it a bit, his uncle Deklan as well.
• Defeat Means Friendship: When trying to flee the draft in a train, Adam fought a man named Lymon Pugh and lost; this loss caused the other runaways to accept him, since it showed that he didn't see himself as "better."
• Did You Die?:

The reader, if not versed in recent history, may be anxious to discover whether or not Julian and I were killed on Independence Day.

• Draft Dodging: Adam, Julian and Sam buy places on a semi-legal train to avoid being caught by a press gang; ironically the people running the train sell them out to another group further down the line.
• Eagleland: A very unsympathetic mix of #1 and #2...at least until Julian takes charge.
• European Union: From the information and propaganda mentioned, it's implied that Mitteleuropa could likely be a German-controlled EU remnant. It's also mentioned in passing that England is a nominal member of the alliance, though it would rather stay out of it.
• Evil Uncle: Deklan Comstock.
• Expanded States of America: By the time of the novel, the US stretches from Canada to as far south as Panama.
• Feudal Future: Because people during the End needed to eat, they willingly became serfs. Unfortunately, the system of serfdom became entrenched, persisting into the relative prosperity of post-Peak Oil society.
• General Failure: Deklan, who runs the War in Labrador so incompetently he's deposed by the army.
• Hollywood Global Warming: Washington DC is a swamp, it doesn't snow in central Canada until November, and the US and Mitteleuropa are fighting a war over Labrador, Nunavut and the now-open Northwest Passage. In passing it's mentioned the Mitteleuropan army is mostly composed of displaced Dutch whose lands are now under water.
• Gratuitous Dutch: Adam grabs a short letter off of a dead Mitteleuropan soldier; it is in untranslated Dutch.
• Gratuitous French: Several of Calyxa's lines are in untranslated French.
• Insistent Terminology: Aristocrats prefer to be called "Eupatridians."
• The Ishmael: Adam Hazzard
• Literary Agent Hypothesis: The book claims to be a biography of Julian.
• Lost Superweapon: Tanks, planes, satellites - all gone once the oil ran out.
• Ludicrous Gibs: There is a scene where Adam describes how soldiers' innards spill out in battle.
• Meaningful Name: Julian Comstock shares many traits with the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate.
• Most Writers Are Writers
• Nostalgia Filter: Averted by the Dominion, which portrays the civilization of the "Secular Ancestors" as a corrupt Babylon filled with such evils as pornography and the separation of church and state. In addition, since it's been a century since the "False Tribulation" no one has any first-hand memories of "the Oil Florescence".
• Please Select New City Name: The western part of the former Canada is "Athabaska"; English-speakers call Japan "Nippon", etc.
• Ragnarok Proofing: Averted; scavenged electronics don't work anymore, scavenged books have brittle pages, and most late 20th-early 21st century movies do not survive -- the few that do survive have serious damage.
  • The ending has Adam write a novel about some boys who get an old spacecraft to fly to the moon. A reader points out that even the smartest people would not be able to get a badly-aged spacecraft to fly.
• Ruins of the Modern Age: There are still a good deal of abandoned ruins in the countryside, but many have long been salvaged of anything useful. Places like Montreal and New York on the other hand still preserve some shreds of their pre-Fall glory but for the most part have been cannibalized to the point of being unrecognizable. While Washington DC in particular is mentioned as a swamp ruin which the government has been trying to reclaim for years.
• Science Is Bad: Biological evolution is a "discredited creed," and arguing in favor of it is heresy.
• Selective Obliviousness: While Adam is in no way unintelligent, and can sometimes be very perceptive, he does often think how nice it would be for Julian to find a wife, even as Julian dies in the arms of his male lover, who refuses to leave Julian's side, even thought it means his own death.
• Schizo-Tech:
  • Seems to be a mixture from roughly the Civil War to about the First World War. Telegraphs seem common, as do Steam engines, but telephones and all sorts of wireless communication systems seem non-existent. Only a single reference to an internal combustion engine is made, and it is an alcohol fuelled generator at that. Electricity exists only for illumination (and only then for those who can afford their own generation system) and typewriters are hand-made by craftsmen. No cars or airplanes, yet there are silent films- although going to see one is a much grander affair then it is now. Machine guns are available to cavalry units, yet Artillery now exists only in the form of Cannons- The U.S. Navy seems to have forgotten the lesson of the Monitor.
  • Major cities like Montreal and New York were (re)built over the remains of their 21st Century incarnations, with some shreds of modern architecture or "original" city blocks still surviving here and there beneath the generally Victorian/Edwardian aesthetics.
• Show Within a Show: Eula's Choice; Adam sometimes points out the film's historical inaccuracies. Later on, Julian makes his own movie about Charles Darwin.
  • In addition, after Julian loots the Dominion's collection of banned media he and Adam watch a surviving thirty-minute segment of the 1959 Cozy Catastrophe movie On The Beach. They find it somewhat confusing.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: Oddly enough, present among female Aristos who show off the vaccination scars on their arms as a fashion statement. What's more, the vaccinations are generally made with useless-at-best substances such as pond water that can actually spread disease.
• Still Wearing the Old Colors: In a twisted sense, officials of the Dominion don attire based on the dress uniforms of the United States Air Force, a nod to their origins in the USAF following the collapse of 21st Century society.
• Take Over the World: The Dominion's ultimate goal, because the second coming of Christ justifies the means.
• Uriah Gambit: Deklan Comstock sends Julian up to Labrador at the head of an army and then withholds reinforcements and naval support. The young general survives long enough for Deklan to be deposed and the Navy to come to his rescue.
• While Rome Burns: While the Army of the Laurentians rebels and advances on New York City, and plague starts to appear on Manhattan, Julian is focused on completing his Charles Darwin biopic.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Literal for Adam and Julian. Julian also uses this once against an enemy who's captured them. The funny part about that is Julian doesn't realize these are harmless snakes; he reminds Adam of some advice Adam's father had given on handling snakes, and Adam dutifully applies that advice to clobbering the enemy while ignoring the snakes.
• Yaoi Fangirls: When Adam and Julian were in their teens, there was a rumor they were sexually involved; several girls became interested and sought to "cure" Adam by having sex with him. Adam, of course, eagerly accepted. He reports cheerfully that the "cures" were successful every time.