[Dan Harris]

Thesaurus only has other phrases. It's going to be the subtitle for part 2 of a book. Thanks!

 

[QuantumIguana]

Domino, snowball, cascade. These might qualify.

 

[John Daulton]

More context would help. Is it a chemical chain reaction, a succession of human events, or something else?

But, for fun, maybe these will be useful in some way in the process for you:

Outcomes
Developments
Impacts
Results
Sequences
Fruition
Succession
Cascade
Links
Escalation
Blossoms
Blooms
Inevitability

That's all I got, plus I need to get to work. Any excuse to procrastinate, I swear. (sigh). Good luck!

 

[Aaron Pogue]

Cascade

I was going to say "waterfall" because it was used (metaphorically) that way at my old job. But "cascade" is what I was really thinking of. I'll throw my vote behind that one.

 

[Dan Harris]

Thanks, folks! I like cascade.

It's human events rather than an actual chemical reaction, but I quite like the scientific terminology.

 

[Ruth Harris]

Would "aftermath" work? "Consequences" or "sequel"?

 

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

Congress.

 

[ruecole]

How about 'nexus'? Or 'repercussion'?

Rue

 

[lmckinley]

I don't think cascade has much to do with one event inevitably following another. It makes me think serene and pretty waterfall. But maybe the context will set that right.

You could use Fallout, if you want to keep the nuclear idea. Not much better I guess.

 

[sbaum4853]

Bonus points if you can get the phrase, "Love's a viper, steals your soul" into the scene.

JK -- don't put song lyrics in your scene, even if they're from the coolest video ever where a dude in a mullet wearing a tux sings to a mannequin.

 

[Flopstick]

Catalysis?

 

[tensen]

I don't think cascade has much to do with one event inevitably following another. It makes me think serene and pretty waterfall. But maybe the context will set that right.

Trust me. I'm not very serene when a cascade effect hits one of my computer arrays.

It isn't just one event happening after another. A cascade failure is when a failure of one part triggers multiple other actions. In the case of computers several things try to compensate, when they fail, they all fail simultaneously, and trigger a larger number of other parts to compensate. Etc. it usually gets messy really fast.

 

[SBJones]

Cascade is what came to mind before I read that everyone else said it too.  Domino would be the other I would use.

 

[Lummox JR]

Cascade was my first thought. I like the word, because it's fun to say.

With people, I wonder if domino might be the better choice. A cascade does connote a scientific or natural-disaster aspect, in a way that might not apply well to people. (I'm not sure I understand all the reasons I like domino for this purpose, but perhaps one is the fact that dominos always fall whichever way they're oriented, much the same way people may follow predictable patterns according to their personalities.) Maybe it's best to try both words out and see how each feels in context.