Jimmy Pack still remembers vomiting after watching "The Day After," a 1983 TV movie about nuclear war. Four decades later, that teenage terror has evolved into a scholarly pursuit: editing what may be the first anthology of Cold War atomic fiction.

"Operation Panic: Cold War Stories of the Atomic Bomb," co-edited by Pack and Tom Hazuka, was released Nov. 19 by Woodhall Press of Norwalk, Connecticut. The collection, which Pack will be signing at booked on Sunday, Dec.15, 12-3 p.m., features works by literary giants including Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Philip Wylie and Roger Angell. These stories, originally published between 1946 and 1980, offer readers a chilling glimpse into the nuclear anxieties that defined an era.

"Since I was in eighth grade, I have been interested in this subject," said Pack, a Chestnut Hill resident and assistant teaching professor at Penn State Abington. "That TV movie was so frightening that I vomited my brains out all night long. I was so anxious all the time. I have been fascinated by the subject ever since then."

The anthology emerged from Pack's work with student Thomas Van Osten on a project about Cold War paranoia, which became the book's introduction. "When I started looking for anthologies on nuclear war and nuclear weapons, I could not find any fiction anthologies that dealt specifically with Cold War themes," Pack said. "This book can be used as both an academic text and a solid read for lovers of science fiction."

Each story in the collection captures a different facet of atomic anxiety. Dick's "Foster, You're Dead" follows children hiding in rubble after a bomb blast, while Hugh Hood's "After the Sirens" depicts nine survivors in a pulverized city. In "Time Enough at Last" by Lynn Venable, a nearly blind man survives among the ruins of a library after a catastrophic attack, finding solace in the books he can barely read.

A particularly haunting passage from "The Day the Bomb Fell" by Leslie A. Croutch describes the moment of impact: "He could see the bright blue sky and was starting to shout when suddenly the blue was wiped out by a terrible wave of liquid fire washing overhead. The ground shook, sending him sprawling again. He could see — for one short second — pieces of boards, bits of clothing, even chunks of masonry sailing by. He thought for one brief instant, 'It must be a tornado,' before everything went black."

These fictional scenarios drew from very real Cold War preparations. After World War II, the U.S. government established federal civil defense measures, including warning systems and school drills, that lasted until 1994. Pack noted the futility of these preparations: "By the late '50s the government knew the whole civil defense system was b.s. The whole idea of shelters was a ridiculous placebo. In a nuclear attack everything would be destroyed. By 1960 the authorities all knew it was a lie, but the defining trait of America is hubris."

The stories resonate differently with today's students. Pack's classes at Penn State Abington, where he has taught since 2002, reveal a generational divide in understanding historical threats. "My students don't even know about 9/11. They know it happened, but it means nothing to them," he said. However, he sees encouraging trends in their engagement with literature. "Quite a few of my students have told me they rediscovered reading during Covid. I would even say that Gen Z is doing more writing than generations before them."

The anthology itself presented unique challenges. "I had to pay out of pocket for the right to run these stories," Pack explained. "Almost all the people I contacted were very reasonable. Old school. Half were the actual writers. The others were their children because the actual writers were deceased." 

His dedication to mentoring young writers has earned recognition. In 2016, Pack won the Association of Writers and Writers Programs national award for content of a student publication at Penn State Abington, where he served as faculty advisor and handled layout and design. He received the AWP Directors' national prize for design in 2020.

Before his current role, Pack worked as an assistant production manager at the Chestnut Hill Local from 1998 to 2008, during which time the newspaper received numerous Pennsylvania News Media Association awards for production design. A graduate of Central Connecticut State University, he holds both an MA and MFA in creative writing from Temple University. He is currently working on a novel scheduled for release in 2026.

"If you want to sell a book these days, you have to do podcasts and get on YouTube," Pack said. "But I have no complaints. For the past 27 years I have been so lucky because I get up in the morning and can't wait to get to school to mentor young writers."

For more information, visit operationpanic.com.