Lucifer's Hammer

When wealthy amateur astronomer Tim Hamner co-discovers a new comet, dubbed Hamner-Brown, documentary producer Harvey Randall persuades Hamner to have his soap company sponsor a television documentary series on the subject. Political lobbying by California Senator Arthur Jellison eventually gets a joint Apollo-Soyuz (docking with Skylab B) mission approved to study the comet, dubbed "The Hammer" by popular media, which is expected to pass close to the Earth.

The scientific community assures the public that a collision with Earth is extremely unlikely, but the odds keep dropping as the comet approaches, and pieces of its nucleus strike parts of Europe, Africa, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, resulting in volcano eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis, destroying major coastal cities around the world, killing billions and initiating a new ice age because of the massive quantities of water and debris flung into the atmosphere.

Immediately after the strike, China, anticipating that the Soviet Union will become too cold for its people, launches a preemptive nuclear attack on its neighbor. The Soviet premier retaliates with his own nuclear strike, reassuring the US that it is not the target, and invades China.

Jellison has taken discreet precautions and moved his people and supplies to his ranch, just in case. He takes charge and organizes the easily protected valley in the Sierra foothills where his ranch is located, dubbed "the Stronghold". Randall and Hamner separately reach the valley and are allowed in (unlike almost all other refugees). Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist/resident genius Dan Forrester receives a warm welcome when he reveals that he has hidden a cache of invaluable how-to books.

Other, smaller groups organize as well. However, the remnants of a United States Army unit, commanded by Sergeant Hooker, resorts to cannibalism to survive. They are joined by a criminal gang led by Alim Nassor. Together they search in vain for a place that is not too heavily defended, but capable of supporting them. Reverend Henry Armitage, driven mad by the catastrophe, shows up and absolves the "New Brotherhood Army" of their crimes and cannibalism, stating that they have a mission from God to return humanity to a simpler, non-technological way of life. Their path forward is blocked by the Stronghold, which is also their only rival in numbers and strength. They attack, but Jellison's outnumbered forces defeat them with the help of mustard gas produced by Forrester.

An operational nuclear power plant nearby is also a target of the remnants of the New Brotherhood. The defenders barely survive the first assault and plead for help. Jellison's people are reluctant to send it, as the New Brotherhood no longer poses a threat to the Stronghold, but astronaut Rick Delanty gives them a stark choice: Remain safe, though their descendants will be peasants, or attack and wipe out the New Brotherhood, and use the electric power to rebuild civilization. Just then, Jellison dies, but not before the ailing old man casts the deciding vote for the latter. They succeed, and later, it is shown that they are well on the way back to restoring civilization.

Niven and Pournelle originally pitched the story to publishers as an alien invasion story in which the aliens drop a comet onto Earth after humanity fights them. Jim Baen told them to write only the comet story. The original story idea was later written as their novel Footfall.

Judith T. Yamamoto, in her review for the Library Journal, said that the novel was full of "good, solid science, a gigantic but well developed and coordinated cast of characters, and about a megaton of suspenseful excitement." Her one negative comment was that the pro-technology pitch might turn off some readers but "all in all it's a good book, if not a great one."[5] Lucifer's Hammer received a nomination for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1978.[3]

C. Ben Ostrander reviewed Lucifer's Hammer in The Space Gamer No. 13.[6] Ostrander commented that "I recommend this book.... Don't miss it for a long, interesting story."[6]

• The Hammer of God, novel by Arthur C. Clarke about an asteroid strike.
• Seveneves by Neal Stephenson, in which the Moon disintegrates and falls to Earth as "Hard Rain".
• The Star by H.G. Wells, 1897 short story which can be considered the progenitor of thus SF sub-genre

• Lucifer's Hammer at Worlds Without End
• Lucifer's Hammer sample chapters from Baen Books (the Hot Fudge Sundae scene is in "April: One")
• Lucifer's Hammer title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database