These are private eye novels that take place after a nuclear war of some sort.  Is this some kind of weird SF subgenre?

Beats me.  They weren’t based on anything I read, and I haven’t subsequently read anything else like them.  This is surely not the most commercial concept anyone has ever had, as the folks at Bantam let me know.

What possessed you to write them?

I became fond of the narrator, Walter Sands, and his narrative voice. He is not a very good private eye, but he wants to live his dream, in spite of the obvious obstacles to it.  And I liked his friends.

What’s the difference between the two novels?

Dover Beach introduces the post-nuclear world and Walter’s relationship to it.  The Distance Beacons focuses on one aspect of this world: what kind of government do people want or need, after the old government has apparently failed so miserably?

I liked Senator.  Will I like these novels?

I dunno.  They all have twisty plots.  They all take place, mostly, around Boston.  So there’s that.

I hated Senator.  Will I hate these novels?

Probably.

What are the details of the nuclear war that took place before the action of the novels?  It’s never described.

I dunno.  I don’t think it’s all that important.

Will we see more of Walter Sands and this world?

Yes.