Here's a list of dystopian/apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic novels I found on the internet:

"The Shape of Things to Come" by H. G. Wells (1933), predicting an extended WWII, societal upheaval, and the beginning of space travel. Filmed as Things to Come in 1936.

"Quinzinzinzili" by Régis Messac (1934), also predicting a great WWII that ends with the vanishing of humanity. Only a group of children survives and forms a strange new mankind.

"The Long Tomorrow" by Leigh Brackett (1955), in the aftermath of a nuclear war scientific knowledge is feared and restricted.

"On the Beach" by Nevil Shute (1957)

"Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank (1959), the aftermath of a nuclear war in a rural Florida community.

"A Canticle for Leibowitz" and later its sequel "Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman", both by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1959).

"Dark Universe" by Daniel F. Galouye (1961).

"Ice" by Anna Kavan (1967). Nuclear winter is encroaching the entire planet.

"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick (1968)

"The Incredible Tide" by Alexandar Key (1970)

“Love in the Ruins" by Walker Percy.

"Riddley Walker" by Russell Hoban (1980)

"Survivors" by John Nahmlos (1982)

"Trinity's Child" by William Prochnau (1983)

"Brother in the Land" by Robert Swindells (1984)

"The Postman" by David Brin (1985)

"The Last Ship" by William Brinkley (1988).

"Aftermath" by Levar Burton (1997). American civilization crumbles after a civil war pitting blacks against whites and a devastating earthquake.

"Resurrection Day" by Brendan DuBois (1999), set 10 years after the Cuban Missile Crisis escalated into nuclear war.

"Project Phoenix: Dead Rising" by Darrin Brent Patterson (2001).

"Cowl" by Neal Asher (2004).

"Die Letzten Kinder Von Schewenborn" by Gudrun Pausewang.

"By the Waters of Babylon" by Stephen Vincent Benet.

"Deathlands" by James Axler, set a hundred years after a nuclear exchange between the U.S. and USSR in 2001 destroys most of the world.

Shannara Series by Terry Brooks, set after WWIII destroys all technology and warps the human race into other species.

"Gibbon's Decline and Fall" by Sheri S. Tepper

"Star Man's Son" by Andre Norton

Yellow Peril in Chinese by activist Wang Lixiong under the pseudonym Bao Mi, about a nuclear civil war in the People's Republic of China

"Apokalipsa wedlug Pana Jana" by Robert J. Szmidt

"Children of the Dust" by Louise Lawrence

"The City of Ember" and its sequel, "The People of Sparks", and prequel, "The Prophet of Yonwood", by Jeanne DuPrau.

"Damnation Alley" by Roger Zelazny.

"Deus Irae" by Philip K. Dick in collaboration with Roger Zelazny

"Down to a Sunless Sea" by David Graham of the last plane out of a fall-of-Saigon-like New York City

"Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb" by Philip K. Dick.

"Emergence" by David R. Palmer

"Farnham's Freehold" by Robert A. Heinlein

"Feersum Endjinn" by Iain M. Banks

"Fitzpatrick's War" by Theodore Judson

"Level 7" by Mordecai Roshwald

"Logan's Run" by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson.

Malevil by Robert Merle

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

"Pebble in the Sky" by Isaac Asimov. (A later book, Robots and Empire, gave a different explanation)

"Pulling Through" by Dean Ing

"Red Alert" by Peter George. Filmed as Dr. Strangelove by Stanley Kubrick.

"Swan Song" by Robert R. McCammon

"The Gate to Women's
Country" by Sheri S. Tepper

"The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

"The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury

"The King Awakes" and "The Empty Throne" by Janice Elliott, set in a Medieval-style society several generations after a nuclear war. Both novels deal with the return of King Arthur and his friendship with a youth from the post-holocaust world

"The Last Children" by Gudrun Pausewang, set in post-holocaust Germany

"The Penultimate Truth" by Philip K. Dick

"The World Jones Made" by Philip K. Dick

"The Year Of The Quiet Sun" by Wilson Tucker

“This is the Way the World Ends” by James Morrow

“Time Capsule” by Mitch Berman

” Warday” by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka

“The World Ends in Hickory Hollow” by Ardath Mayhar

“Z for Zachariah” by Robert C. O'Brien

Series “The Amtrak Wars” by Patrick Tilley

Series “Horseclans” by Robert Adams

Series “Hungry City Chronicles” by Phillip Reeve

Series “The Survivalist” by Jerry Ahern, first novel Total War from 1981

Series Traveler by D. B. Drumm, first novel First, You Fight from 1984

Series “Wingman” by Mack Maloney, follows a former U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds pilot trying to
restore a balkanized and largely disarmed United States of America while flying the last remaining F-16 Fighting Falcon in existence

Trilogy “The Greatwinter Trilogy” by Sean McMullen

“Masters of the Fist” and “The Long Mynd” by Edward P. Hughes

“The Chrysalids” (U.S. title: “Re-Birth”) by John Wyndham

“The Steel, the Mist and the Blazing Sun” by Christopher Anvil

“Ape and Essence” by Aldous Huxley. Also screenplay.

Series “The Ashes” by William W. Johnstone

Series “The Pelbar cycle” by Paul O. Williams

“Hiero's Journey” (1983), “The Unforsaken Hiero” (1985), by Sterling E. Lanier - A ‘metis’ priest/killman quests across post-apocalyptic northeastern North America, seven thousand years in the future.

_______________________
The above was taken from a blog (http://community.livejournal.com/librari...). Below is from the Wikipedia entry for post-apocalyptic literature (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-apocal...).

“Twilight World” by Paul Anderson

“Oryx and Crake” by Margart Atwood

"Kaleidoscope century", "Orbital resonance", and

"Candle" by John Barnes

“Through Darkest Amber (Isaac Asimov Presents)” by Neal Barrett Jr.

"Shiva descending" by Gregory Benford

“The Long Tomorrow” by Leigh Brackett

"The Postman" by David Brin

“Last Ship” by William Brinkley

"The sheep look up" and "Stand on Zanzibar" by John Brunner

“Some Will Not Die” by Algis Budrys

“The Folk on the Fringe” by Orson Scott Card

“Earth, the New Frontier” by Adam Celaya

"Wrinkle in the skin", “No Blade of Grass”, “Death of Grass”, and “The World in Winter” by John Christopher

“Dr. Bloodmoney” and “Deus Irae” by Philip K. Dick

"Wolf and iron" by Gordon R. Dickson

“Resurrection Day” by Brendan Dubois

“A boy and his Dog” and “I Have No Mouth but I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison

“Alas Babylon” by Pat Frank

“Dark Universe” by Daniel F. Galouye and Ursula K. Le Guin

"Winterlong," "Aestival Tide" and "Icarus Descending" by Elizabeth Hand

“Arc Light” by Eric L. Harry

“Farnham’s Freehold” by Robert A. Heinlein

“Domain” by James Herbert

"Riddley Walker" by Russel Hoban

“Ape and Essence,”
and Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley

"The Stand" by Stephen King
"Children of the Dust" by Louise Lawrence
“The Scarlet Plague” by Jack London
“Year Zero” by Jeff Long
"The Giver" by Lois Lowry
“A Secret History of Time to Come” by Robie MacAuley
“I Am Legend” by Richard Matheson
"Swan Song" by Robert McCammon
"Eternity Road" by John McDevitt
“Malevil” by Robert Merle
"A canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter M. Miller
“The City, Not Long After" by Pat Murphy
"Lucifer's hammer" and “Fallen Angels” by Larry Niven
“Z for Zachariah” by Robert C. O’Brien
“Emergence” by David R. Palmer
“The New Madrid Run” by Michael Reisig
“V for Vendetta” by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
“Dust” by Charles Pellegrino
“Long Voyage Back: A Novel” by Luke Rhinehart
“The Chalk Giants” by Keith Roberts
“The Hopkins Manuscript” by R. C. Sherriff
“The Wild Shore: Three Californias” by Kim Stanley Robertson
“Aftermath” by Charles Sheffield
“The Last Man” by Mary Shelley
"On the beach" by Nevil Shute
“At Winter’s End” by Robert Silverberg
“Deus X” by Norman Spinnard
"Earth Abides" by George Steward
"Dies the fire" by S.M. Stirling
“The Gate to Women’s Country”, “The Visitor”, and “Gibbon’s Decline and Fall” by Sheri S. Tepper
“The Long Loud Silence” by Wildon A. Tucker
“Drowning Towers” by George Turner
“Cat’s Cradle” by Kurt Vonnegut
“Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang: A Novel” by Kate Wilhelm
“The Rift” by Walter J. Williams
"A gift upon the shore" by M. K. Wren
“When Worlds Collide” by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer
“The Disappearance” by Philip Wylie and Robert Silverberg
“The Day of the Triffids” and “The Chrysalids” by John Wyndham
"Damnation Alley" by Roger Zelazny

“Revelations” by Clive Barker, et al
“Bangs and Whimpers: Stories About the End of the Word” Roxbury Park Books, edited by James Freckle
“Nuclear Holocausts: Atomic War in Fiction, 1895 – 1984” by Paul Brians

Message edited by its author, Apr 12, 2007, 10:06pm.

A Canticle for Leibowitz was very good, and I also enjoyed Fitzpatrick's War, although I felt it was slow and the ending was rather weak. I've been meaning to pick up Alas, Babylon, Lucifer's Hammer and I am Legend.

Also, Dies the Fire was a good read, I need to check out the sequels. The basic story is that all modern machinery just up and stops working, and everyone begins reverting to medieval ways.

You might also add Armageddon's Children by Terry Brooks. This book and it's forthcoming sequel connect the two major series that Brooks has written. It's post-apocalyptic, but with a fantasy twist. I enjoyed it simply because I've enjoyed both the Shannara and Knight of the Word series.

Wow, that's a lot of books. Most of them I haven't read; I'll have to check some of them out. I did start reading Dies the Fire awhile back, but couldn't get into it; there wasn't enough characterization for me, and there were too many lucky coincidences for my taste.

Emergence, however, is one of my favorite books.

Message edited by its author, Apr 3, 2007, 1:04pm.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Cell by Stephen King
I think I'd also add King's The Dark Tower series.

Wow, so many great books to check out. Thanks!

#3 There were quite a few lucky coincidences in Dies the Fire, but I guess I've come to expect that from a lot of fantasy-type books. And #4 I love The Dark Tower!

And as to the original list, I seriously think I've read The King Awakes and its sequel and I've been trying to remember its name or see if I could spot it at the library for quite some time.

Anyone happen to remember the name of the one where the family has a valley in a farm, *BAM*, nuclear war, and in the end the daughter is left living there with some scientist who walks in with a radiation suit, then, I think, tries to rape her and one of them ends up leaving the valley....and that was quite the sentence and prolly not as clear as it could be, but, oh well....

ETA: it's a young adult novel, I think I had to read it back in Jr. High

Message edited by its author, Apr 3, 2007, 10:09pm.

In Danse Macabre by Stephen King, one reason people love post-apoc books and movies - the reader/viewer imagines themselves as one of the few remaining humans "and your boss (that jerk) is dead!"
:)

Can Zombie books count? Zombie infestation of the world usually ends up with a breakdown of society.

I'd say Zombie books count. I've been meaning to pick up World War Z...

Yes, most definitely Zombie books count! I haven't read any though, so if anyone can recommend a good Zombie book, I'd appreciate that as well.

#8:

Some Zombie books:

The Walking by Bentley Little
The Rising by Brian Keene
City of the Dead by Brian Keene

And while Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates is not about zombies as we know them, it's quite a disturbing little book told from the point of view of a serial killer/sexual predator. Easily the most disturbing book I've ever read.

#5: I think that's Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien. Not sure though, since it's been years since I read it.

bmjaspers - the book you are looking for is Z for Zachariah as zcannon mentioned.
Pretty good book and I quite liked it.
Also enjoyed Wolf and Iron by Gordon R Dickson.
Recently read Mark Chadbourn's Age of Misrule trilogy which deals with civilisation collapsing after the gods of mythology return to the world.

Awesome list of books to sink my teeth into. Much thanks.

Also: would this forum be open to comics that depict post apocolytic events. Not talking about X-men apocolypse and that type of thing. More interested in graphic novels like Y-The last man by Brian K Vaughan

Message edited by its author, Apr 5, 2007, 6:31am.

A thumbs up for World War Z ... and a bit of trivia: Turns out that Max Brooks is actually Mel Brooks' son!

The Last Ship by William Brinkley was a great novel. I loved The Survivalist series when I was younger. A Canticle for Lebowitz was good. The Postman was much better than Costner's movie. Wolf and Iron was okay. Vonnegut is always worthwhile. But I think McCarthy's The Road tops everything in the genre.

#11-- Yes, I'm definitely up for comic books of the "graphic novel" variety, i.e., anything that has decent writing.

I just added Brave New World by Aldous Huxley to the list-- I got it along with an entire BOX full of good books for $2 today on campus!! And now the tags for the list are finally working. This is truly a good day.

Message edited by its author, Apr 12, 2007, 10:03pm.

I would add Into the Forest by Jean Hegland. The plot concerns 2 teen sisters trying to survive after the collapse of society. Some really great prose in this one.

I would add Doris Lessing's Mara and Dann: An Adventure and Story of General Dann and Mara's Daughter, Griot and the Snow Dog: A Novel.

Robert

"Blindness" by Jose Saramago depicts the breakdown of a society gripped by a plague of blindness. I think "Lord of the Flies" also qualifies as dealing with social breakdown although it is of an isolated group (a contained apocalypse). Similarly, "The Plague" by Albert Camus follows a city in Algeria quarantined by an outbreak of the bubonic plague. "The Plague" is actually very inspiring and follows the heroic efforts of a doctor to confront the crisis. It is my selection for the best book of the last century.

Level 7 gave me nightmares. Haven't thought about that one in a while.

How are you defining "post-apocalyptic"? To me, that means that the world as we know has ended in a cataclysm (war, plague, natural disaster) of some sort, and the survivors are trying to cope with the aftermath. Many of the titles listed in #1 don't really seem to fit, e.g., Brave New World or Stand on Zanzibar.

Message edited by its author, Aug 14, 2007, 10:12pm.

As I've posted in other groups, I'm currently reading Kevin Brockmeier's The Brief History of the Dead. The basic premise is that the world is divided into three distinct phases - the living, the recently dead who live on in the memories of those still alive, and the truly dead, whom no one left alive personally remembers. The recently dead live in a great city and carry on as if they were still alive - jobs, homes, families, friends. Back among the living, countless wars and a virulent plague are devastating Earth's population, killing off billions. An Antarctic researcher fears she has been abandoned and forgotten about and tries to make her way to a research station near the coast. She is unable to make contact with the rest of the world. Meanwhile, the city of the dead is rapidly depopulating as the dead are disappearing as those who remembered them succumb to war and disease on Earth. If all of Earth's population dies, no one will be left in the city of the dead. Perhaps the researcher is the last person left alive in the world? So while it's not about the living dealing with the aftermath of the apocalypse, it is about the dead dealing with it.

I define post-apocalyptic as a complete change in society's make-up, which doesn't necessarily have to mean a change to some sort of Mad Max kind of world, but rather is inclusive of other types of changes which may constitute a restructuring of society in a way which is just as alien to you or I as a Max Max world. Brave New World is considered post-apocalyptic because society is radically different to us as portrayed there.

I just finished World War Z by Max Brooks, and I was pleasantly surprised by it. It read as "real", and the post war scenarios were interesting. Now I need to buy his zombie survival guide, just in case.

I'm surprised this list has nothing by JG Ballard. Myths of the near future, anyone?

After the Flood by P.C. Jersild is another good one. Very downbeat and depressing.

The Ashes Series by William W. Johnstone. Wonderful PA series. Tales off in quality by the 43rd book but the series is awesome!

You can find a detailed discussion and bibliography of the nuclear-war genre in an online book, "Nuclear Holocausts: Atomic War in Fiction" by Paul Brians of Washington State University.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/nuclear/index...

Thirty Seconds Over New York by Robert Buchard is hard to find, but it's an entertaining read.

This is rather more pre-apocalyptic but an interesting take on the end of the world: The End of Science Fiction. Here's my 4-star LT review:

Two determined detectives proceed with a murder investigation while humanity reacts in varying ways to the expected end of the universe. Not giving anything away in this review! - much of the tension is engendered by whether, in fact, the predicted calamity will actually happen. Thought-provoking, and very well-written.

I might add that the publisher, (www.bewrite.net), offers electronic downloads of most (all?) of their books for £1. I read mine on my Kindle - cost me $1.52 in U.S. dollars)

Message edited by its author, Apr 4, 2009, 12:22pm.

I've read on the beach, level 7, alas babylon, red alert, and seen many of the movies.

I've seen Omega man (all three version, actually), Fail Safe, Dr. Strangelove, Planet of the Apes, and the original Rollerball

On a hopeful note, I read Ecotopia, but there has to be more to that genre now.

So now, I'm looking for more of a psychological thriller with plot twists, or an alternative history about how people in the 1970s believed the computer modeling that said "we have to stop consuming resources and growing people at this rate".

Perhaps by having Robert Kennedy win the 1968 presidential election, and putting Margaret Mead in charge of the EPA.

Are there any techno-thriller fix-the-world eco-novels out there?

i'm the top user of the "post-apocalypse" tag, 360 or so separate works. Not to say i've read them all, many of them are "wishlist." You're welcome to check out my list. eventually i plan on tagging each with the type of apocalypse...

Message edited by its author, Jun 28, 2009, 1:26am.