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S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Southern Comfort

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Cover beta

Cover concept of the first English book from the game

Southern Comfort is the title of the first book from the game universe that has been written in English. It was published in September 2011.

Creating the book[]

In February 2011, GSC asked the fan community about any interest in English books based on the games. Responses were favorable, but for one reason or another GSC didn't follow up the idea (it might have been an issue with the publisher of the Russian books).

In Spring 2011, a small group of fans teamed up to create the first English book. GSC gave them the go-ahead and permitted them to use copyrighted content (game characters, location names, and logo).

By Summer 2011, the team consisted of 5 graphic artists from Canada and Hungary, 3 music composers from the UK, Turkey, and Poland, 2 authors from the UK and Hungary as well as a proofreader/editor from the UK. Later on, a military advisor with a non-disclosed background also stepped in to proof the manuscript regarding weapons and tactics.

As of early August 2012, the book was removed from Amazon across all purchasing options, excluding 3 copies selling for over 900 dollars. The website for the novel now only says, "See you when the emission is over", on a black background.

As of January 2013, both Southern Comfort and its sequel Northern Passage were available for download in full PDF form from the novel's website, which is now defunct. They can still be found and downloaded for free from this site by any users who sign up with a free account.

Story[]

Asylum2

The Ghorband Asylum, one of the new locations introduced in Southern Comfort. Illustration by Noah Stacey.

Like many other books published in Russian and German, Southern Comfort is more of a spin-off rather than the game's storyline re-told in writing.

The story is set in 2014, eight years after the Zone came into existence around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and two years after the events in Call of Pripyat. In the book's alternate reality, terrorists detonate nuclear warheads near Kabul, Afghanistan. After a few years, rumor starts spreading about a New Zone having been created there. Because nuclear fallout alone cannot create a Zone, the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences sends an expedition into the New Zone to find out if its creation could be connected to another rift in the noosphere. When they disappear, Major Degtyarev sends out Captain Tarasov (in 2014: Major) on a search-and-rescue mission.

As the Southern Comfort webpage explains: "The USSR's Afghan war is largely forgotten in the West, nonetheless it was the other disaster that had led to the downfall of the Soviet empire. Just like Chernobyl, it scarred the bodies and souls of a whole generation... Besides, the war in the 80's left so much Soviet [war] debris behind that many places there feel exactly like the Zone. Several characters are old acquaintances from the Zone, too, including the protagonist himself."

Contents[]

Factions[]

The Tribe[]

The Tribe

Unknown Tribe member, possibly the groups commander.

Little is known about the Tribe at this time, other than that they were formerly a battalion of US Marines that have now become the most formidable fighting force in the New Zone of 2014. It's unknown how these men entered the Zone or why they are there. It is possible that they were stationed in the city of Kabul during the Zone's expansion to that area. They are featured in the novel S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Southern Comfort.

There are hints to the 1979 film Apocalypse Now as an inspiration for the Tribe. That probably means that the fictional Marines took matters into their own hands under a charismatic leader. The Tribe is also mentioned as playing a role similar to that of the Monolith faction in the game. The protagonist, Major Tarasov, is a Spetsnaz officer, and while a Marines-vs.-Spetsnaz showdown might be appealing, it isn't likely to happen in a book reaching out to English-speaking (therefore mostly US) readers. A faction war between the Tribe and Free Stalkers, or other factions, might be a different question.

Appearances[]

Anomalies[]

Artifacts[]

Characters[]

Events[]

  • 2006 damaged noosphere
  • First Chernobyl Disaster

Factions[]

Equipment[]

Weapons[]

Suits[]

Locations[]

Others[]

Mutants[]

Vehicles[]

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