The Steel, the Mist, and the Blazing Sun

The Steel, the Mist, and the Blazing Sun (1980) is a post-apocalypse novel. Two hundred years previously, the USA and the Soviet Union had bombarded each other with nuclear weapons. In addition, the USA had created another weapon in orbit that is still active. Arakal is the elective king of the Wesdem O'Cracys (or at least the east coast of America). As mentioned by another reviewer, in a previous story -- published in Analog as "Ideology Counts" -- Arakal and his command group have repeatedly defeated the Russian Ground Forces in America. He has also bloodlessly annexed the adjacent Russian colony and thereby acquired all the armed vessels of the Russian High Seas fleet. In this novel, Arakal is now trying to reunify the various O'Cracy countries. He has already allied with the people of New Kebeck (Quebec). He would like to contact the west coast of America, but the lingering radioactivity is too high and the craters are too overlapping for passage. Therefore, he is planning to take back the European O'Cracys -- Old Brunswick (Britain) and Old Kebeck (France) -- from Russia; he is not yet aware of the former status of West Germany in the Old O'Cracys. Unfortunately for Arakal, Ru