Post apocalyptic recommendations

For some strange reason I've always enjoyed post-apocalyptic SF. Some notable titles I remember reading include Through Darkest America, Lucifer's Hammer, The Postman (good book, terrible movie!) and even weirder stuff like Hiero's Journey (far future PA) and some strange novel about intelligent spiders and humans hiding in the desert (Anderson? Silverberg? I can't remember).

Anyway, it's been a while since I've read a good PA book. I've tended to stray a bit from SF the past few years, as the older I get the less forgiving I become towards poor plots, bad writing and (most common of all) terribly executed or contrived dialogue. As a result Iain M Banks is verging on the only SciFi I've read in years (with Simmons coming a distant second).

So... perhaps it's time to check out one of my favourite topics again.

Oh, and please don't recommend A Canticle for Liebowitz. I tried reading it as a child, and after failing to get into it have never revisited it. I know it's out there and may pick it up again.

Other recommendations?

The Road?

Yes, of course. I forgot to mention it.

What a terribly depressing book. I can't say I actually enjoyed it, and indeed I found several passages downright disturbing, but it's certainly a well executed novel. I could have done without some of the parsimonious prose (and describing looking through binoculars as "glassing" still annoys me), but I still consider it a good book.

Thanks though!

I am loving Anathem, although the apocalypse is not the central issue in the way it is in Canticle for Liebowitz. You might like Dune which is both the story of a society that has (over thousands of years) developed post-apocalyptically as well as focusing in on life on a desert planet (which feels very post-apocalyptic in some ways).

Kate Wilhelm, Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
LOVE it. Hugo award.

I'd suggest Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban. Better than A Canticle for Leibowitz and A Clockwork Orange rolled together, once you've got your head around the future dialect that it's written in. But it's pessimistic, so potentially depressing

If you'd like something with a less gloomy outlook and don't mind a book aimed at the YA market, then how about Floodland by Marcus Sedgwick. (It's post-global-warming rather than strictly post-apocalypse, but I'm not fussy about how my civilization collapses.)

I took a look at what cropped up on a tag search for 'post-apocalyptic' to jog my memory, and here are some titles that came up that I've read, that haven't been mentioned yet:

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank -- this may not qualify, since it's quite immediately post-apocalypse (the event actually occurs in the book), but I'll mention it anyway for completeness.

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart.

No Blade of Grass by John Christopher -- a bit of an odd apocalypse, to be sure, but it certainly fits in the genre. (This book is alternatively titled The Death of Grass.)

I'm afraid I can't help you with anything more recent -- I've lost my taste for post-apocalyptic and dystopian works in recent years.

Oh, one more:

The Wild Shore by Kim Stanley Robinson. Part of his "Three Californias" thematic trilogy, but the books (the others are Pacific Edge and The Gold Coast are only thematically connected; they don't share setting or characters.)

It has been a long time, but I remember enjoying Malevil. (Time for a re-read?) The book has good ratings on LT.

I second Earth Abides; one of my favorites.

Just a few mostly golden oldies.

One Second After by William R. Forstchen
The U.S. is hit with EMP (electic magnatic pulse) weapon

The Ice people by Byrene Barjavel
This one is different in that it deals with ancient advanced ciivlazations
Greybeard by Brian Aldiss
MR. ADAM by Pat Frank
A couple of classic what if there was no more children born.

On the Beach by Nevil Shute
Farnham's Freehold by Robert A. Heinlein
A Heritage of Stars by Clifford D. Simak
Classic after nuclear war stories

The New Madrid Run by Michael Reisig
Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny (also good book bad movie)
What if the face of the world changed. (polar shift)

If you want to go low-brow, I'm sure the Terminator movies have been "novelized."

And there's always Heinlein's rather slapdash Farnham's Freehold.

If you're willing to go out of genre a bit there's Mara and Dann by Doris Lessing; The fifth sacred thing by Starhawk; or some stuff by Sheri S. Tepper.

Another option if you're willing to go off-genre: After Man: A Zoology of the Future is a fictional bestiary set on an Earth after the human race disappears for reasons unspecified. It is not a story, but is fascinating reading because it combines solid evolutionary theory with imaginative speculation.

Dealing with post-catastrophes of other kinds, there's Philip Wylie's The Disappearance and The Children of Men by P.D. James.

If you want to go the fantasy route The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks is post-apocalyptic. Hard to see it though.

How about When Worlds Collide and After Worlds Collide?

Tomorrow also by Philip Wylie and A Handmaids Tale by Atwood

Speaking of Mara and Dann, Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler has many parallels to it, despite being set more or less during an apocalypse (in a way MaD is also set during an apocalypse, just the one ending the civilization that was established after the apocalypse that erased 'our' civilization:-). Near future, great book.
Nick Sagan has written a trilogy starting with Idlewild, about the aftermath of Black Ep. The first book (which is the best) deals with the initial survivors (individuals), the second describes the difficulties of precreating (families), and the third deals with reawakening the frozen ones (society). Interesting and challenging (esp. the first one) while being a relatively quick read.

Lethe by Tricia Sullivan is a very nice and wellwritten science fiction post apocalypse story, and City of Bones by Martha Wells is a great fantasy post apocalypse.

How about 'There Will Come Soft Rains' by Ray Bradbury???

How about The White Plague by Frank Herbert? Different sort of apocalypse, but definitely enjoyable.

Also, if you have a bit of a fantasy/horror bent, Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon is good.

The Handmaid's Tale is post- some sort of apocalypse.

I wonder if anyone has written what happened to the rest of Earth's population when all the cities took flight? That would be a PA sorta story, dontcha think?

Is The Day of the Triffids set too soon to the apocalypse at its heart?

I will go out on a limb and recommend Fiskadoro by Denis Johnson. This is a psychological novel, along the lines of Ballard's works, and a favorite of mine. I would be interested in hearing if anyone here has read it and has any comments.

> 8

*** Major Malevil SPOILERS below ***

I tracked down and read Malevil after the last discussion of post-apocalyptic lit here. It started off well and I was very inclined to like it seeing the reviews and being a big PA fan, but I was seriously disconcerted by a few things in the latter part of the book. The first was the slow elevation of the main character to almost cult-messianic status. He became the perfect warrior, leader, statesman, ladies' man, etc. It became rather insipid toward the end as he was effectively exercising a droit de seigneur with all attractive female characters in the book. I mean they buried him with a nubile virgin as chattel, for gosh sakes. Squick. I am never a fan of infallible characters (especially those with token, attractive failings) but this became a bit distasteful.

Another, more minor, and I think personal, issue was the intense focus on the religious differences and practices of the characters. I appreciated how Merle developed and worked the issues into the plot, it was just a surprise element and I thought a bit too much of a focal point. I admit I haven't lived in an environment where strong conflicting religious populations interact but I supposed in a post-apocalyptic world there would be more cooperation and less contention over religious ritual.

Oh, and the book was a bit expensive to locate even for a just reading copy. All these issues may be a result of cultural and temporal separation from France, 1972, I guess.

Edited for punctuation and clarification of the last sentence.

There is also the 'Dies the Fire' series by S. M. Stirling.

Dies the Fire
the Protector's War
A Meeting at Corvallis

I'll 2nd The White Plague by Frank Herbert

Another Margaret Atwood: :Oryx and Crake. Her book that comes out in September The Year of the Flood seems to be in the same timeline according to those who have read ER copies.

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm is a great book.
Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling is decent
The Stand by Stephen King: Captain Trips!

These are great suggestions everyone. Many thanks. I'm actually surprised at how many I've read or have mentally put in my "To Read" list already.

Earth Abides and Alas Babylon are two I've long heard about. I must get to them eventually. The Handmaid's Tale has always sounded intriquing, and I believe Atwood is an excellent storyteller. I didn't realize Oryx and Crake was also post-apocalyptic.

How could I have forgotten The Stand? Despite the supernatural aspects, and the fact that I read it many years ago, this is one of my favourites. I have a vague feeling that it was one of the few books to deal with a rather obvious problem often overlooked in many other disaster novels - the bodies.

I'm going to add Stirling's Dies the Fire to my TBR list, as I see it recommended a couple of times here. Ditto Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang (which is a lovely title).

Many thanks to everyone. This post/thread has inspired me to post another asking for recommendations on "good" science fiction. I can see that's going to be an interesting one! :)

Thanks again everyone.

If you are in the mood for short post apocalyptic stories, Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse good collection. It contains the following stories:

The End of the Whole Mess - Stephen King
Salvage - Orson Scott Card
The People of Sand and Slag - Paolo Bacigalupi
Bread and Bombs - M. Rickert
How We Got In Town and Out Again - Jonathan Lethem
Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels - George R.R. Martin
Waiting for the Zephyr - Tobias S. Buckell
Never Despair - Jack McDevitt
When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth - Cory Doctorow
The Last of the O-Forms - James Van Pelt
Still Life with Apocalypse - Richard Kadrey
Artie's Angels - Catherine Wells
Judgement Passed - Jerry Oltion
Mute - Gene Wolfe
Inertia - Nancy Kress
And the Deep blue Sea - Elisabeth Bear
Speech Sounds - Octavia E. Butler
Killers - Carol Emshwiller
Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus - Neal Barret, Jr.
The End of the World as we Know It - Dale Bailey
A Song Before Sunset - David Grigg

It occurs to me that The Nine Billion Names of God is actually at-the-moment-of apocalypse.

Fail Safe is similar, although it doesn't depict a worldwide calamity, only (!) one occuring in two cities. If you get a chance to see the film, the last scenes are searing.

Hmm...

Jem, by Frederik Pohl, is also at-the-moment-of apocalypse, and well worth reading.

Earth Abides. Excellent novel.

If you don't mind fantasy mixed in with your Science Fiction, have a look at Wolf In Shadow, which is quite enjoyable.

Day of the Triffids deals with the immediate aftermath of a world-wide disaster.

Last and First Men contains quite a few apocalypses in it's storyline. It's definitely not everyone's cup of tea, though - it can be quite dry reading.

I would tend to agree with the recommendations of The Stand, Earth Abides, and On the Beach. However, Swan Song is the worst trash that I've ever tried to read. I forced myself about a third of the way through it, but had to quit. It was terrible.

Lucifer's Hammer is an interesting book. I read it when it came out thirty years or so ago, and I thought it was great. A few years ago, I decided to re-read it. The experience was very different. I came away with the impression that Niven and Pournelle's only experience with African-Americans came from watching blaxploitation films. They ventured beyond racism into unintentional comedy. It would be interesting if someone could rescue the good parts of the book and make a decent miniseries out of it.

Speaking of which, I've always thought that The Postman was partly inspired by Harry, the mail carrier in Lucifer's Hammer.

World Made By Hand is thought highly of at least by "the end is coming" types.

> 29 fredbacon

You're absolutely right about Lucifer's Hammer. Great book when I first read it, but I haven't had the nerve to go back to it. I also agree with you about The Postman being inspired by Niven/Pournelle's work.

I loved Niven's Known Space series when I was younger. A Gift From Earth, Tales of Known Space, Ringworld and The Ringworld Engineers etc. But that's a thread for another post...

Its a short story, but A Boy and His Dog by Harlan Ellison is great. No Night Without Stars by Andre Norton is good.

John Varley's The Ophiuchi Hotline and related books deal with a very different kind of post-apocalyptic scenario in which humanity has been driven off the Earth. His Millennium also deals with a post-apocalyptic scenario, but a very different one.

I'll echo the suggestion of Riddley Walker. Be warned though, it is not easy reading. The dialect it is written in is difficult to follow, and often it works best to read the text aloud.

A Creed for the third Millenium by Colleen McCullough is also more of a apocalyptic than a post apocalyptic story, but interesting just the same.

>32 For those who don't know, the two novels related to The Ophiuchi Hotline are Steel Beach and its sequel The Golden Globe. They're both good, but I admire Steel Beach rather more.

Earth Abides (Stewart) which has a certain post-war optimisim
The Road (McCormac) which has very little optimism - don't try it if you are at all depressed!
The Day of the Triffids (Wyndham) in which male Brits keep it together in the face of alien plant life
On the Beach (Shute) heart tugging post nuclear love story
Drowned London (Jefferies) A 19th century view of the desturction of urban life, a remarkable book

> 35 I have never heard of "Drowned London" and can't find any references for it. Is this perhaps After London or Wild England by Richard Jefferies? Can you provide any more info on the title?

Oops - After London (and Wild London as it is sometimes called) Jefferies was, I think a nature writer and journalist. The edition I recall was possibly a Garland or AMS reprint edition, the novel basically sees a post-disaster world in terms of a medieval-ised society living in the ruins. A recent non-fiction book looks at the impact of man in a post-human world that suggests the mess we make would be cleansed by nature pretty quickly!

I really get into post-apocalyptic fiction for some reason, and this thread has given me a lot of great suggestions. A sort of obscure one that I haven't seen mentioned yet is Level 7 by Mordecai Roshwald. Absolutely bleak and depressing.

Always Coming Home by Ursula Le Guin
Dinner at Deviant's Palace by Tim Powers
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

the drowned world ballard. Beginning of the ends. (well, not really, but the one of the early "modern" SF takes on the classic theme).

crescent city rhapsody Goonan - New Orleans blues.

souls in the great machine and its sequels. The first book, however, is the best. Portions of Oz recover, sort of, and reinvent the computer - as a human based computing system (ie. some people are "adders" others "xor" etc). Librarians who hold bits and pieces of past knowledge show that knowledge is power. An ingenious and carefully worked out PA society unlike any other i've read. Well written too.

the city, not long after Pat Murphy. SF after the plague.

freakangels comic book - What's left in a London/Britain where a band of mutants who were responsible for the end of civilization try to rebuild and atone. Online as well.

V for Vendetta - the comic book is the only one by Alan Moore that i really like. Post holocaust England under the heel of the fascist boot that wants to stomp on humanity's face, forever.

Oh.. a Canticle for Leibowitz

niven and pournelle have the sensibility of a 13 yr old boy circa 1965. If you want trite, they're your team.

a few others:

Suzy McKee Charnas' books beginning with Walk to the End of the World ... Motherlines ... The Furies ... and Conqueror's Child are great. From confusion to rage to revenge to possibly reconciliation.

Jonathan Lerner wrote Caught in a Still Place, which I quite enjoyed. Plague wiped out most people; the last folks eke out an existence.

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's False Dawn. Mutants, evil roving horrors, and so forth in a post-apocalyptic journey.

Stephanie A. Smith's Other Nature follows mysterious decline, mutations, etc.
Jean Hegland's Into the Forest is a post-gradual decline apocalypse.
Marlen Haushofer's The Wall (Eng. title; original Austrian was Die Wand is a truly amazing robinsonade; post-nuclear, I believe, a woman survives behind a mysterious wall.

A Gift Upon the Shore by M. K. Wren is a post-nuclear apocalypse. Two friends eke out an existence; trouble comes when one of them goes looking for other people and finds them. Religion, censorship, community, power.
Tepper's The Gate to Women's Country is her most classically post-apocalyptic novel. However, for some other scenes of potential post-apocalypse, try Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper as well.
Joan Slonczewski's The Wall Around Eden features alien intervention to preserve some humanity after a nuclear war.
Esther Friesner who usually writes comedic fantasy wrote two post-apocalyptic novels, The Psalms of Herod and The Sword of Mary. Horrible religious culture has been created from the ashes.
Pamela Sargent's post-apocalyptic is The Shore of Women; a woman is banished from her protected city and ends up exploring the (recovering) world.

Oh, I forgot The Road to Corlay and its sequels A Dream of Kinship and A Tapestry of Time. Those are good post-apocalyptic stories, set after rising waters change the landscape of Europe.

John Shirley 's Eclipse Trilogy (A Song called Youth):

Eclipse
Eclipse Penumbra
Eclipse Corona

Yay, post-apoc! I'm a huge fan myself.

I second The Stand and negative-second One Second After.

If you like YA at all, I can't recommend Life as We Knew It enough. And although not /strictly/ post-apoc, I suppose, I loved World War Z, and it certainly had the same feel to it. So if you like zombies at all...

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go start adding the rest of these books to my wishlist...

Which of the three complete novels do you second when you second The Stand? Each of them is equally bad.

The Chrysalids - Fantatical church destroys mutants... group of children find they are telepathic and have to hide their secret or be killed.
The Pelbar Cycle - Long after the apocalypse, the tribes of man are slowly reuniting after generations of hostility.

Older books but still quite good, both are set way after Armageddon during a period of rebuilding.

#45

I thought the first part of The Stand was the only thing King ever wrote that was readable.

> 45

Well, the one I read was the expanded uncut version - that was accidental, and I suspect that the cut version is better (felt like a good deal of filler). But the spread of Captain Trip's across the country is one those written events that felt terrifyingly real, with sound and smell and feel.

I'm not a huge King fan, although I've liked one or two of his books, but I /did/ like The Stand for the most part (see above re: filler).

I read the edited version that was originally published. It was still loaded with bloat.

I second "On The Beach" -- it's fantasic.

Also recommend Whitley Streiber's "War Day" a "memoir" of post-apocalyptic America.

The Rift by Walter Jon Williams ~ A major Earthquake splits the U.S. into two halves.

A Wrinkle in the Skin by John Christopher ~ A worldwide shift in tectonic plates sends a man from the Channel Isles across a now dry, empty seabed to the mainland searching for his daughter.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/14802

Lots of doom and gloom new to me. THX!

Post-apocalyptic, first contact, galactical scope and a debut novel =
Water by H.E. Taylor

and the touchstones apparently exited, uhm, stage left....
so ya'all can reprise via my stream...

Of those that I own and are in the list, Lucifer's Hammer and Pelbar Cycle are probably the best. I saw 19 checks as I scanned the list just now. But there are ways to think of post apocalyptic. THere is we are hear before the event, live through and try to make a go of it which is very different from those who have no memory of the world before the event. Only what the world they live in is like, and the legends of the world before.

Engine Summer by John Crowley

How about Fallen Angels by Larry Niven et al? Oh Oh - I see the touchstone hasn't matched me with Fallen Angels. If you are a fan of Science Fiction conventions and DIY methods Fallen Angels is a lot of fun.

I have also read a number of the books you've all listed and enjoyed them, especially The Postman. I'll have to look the others up.

interesting suggestions. i'll definitely be revisiting this thread for book recommendations.

i second the suggestion for World War Z. Amazing book.

(Wolf And Iron)

by ((Gordon R. Dickson))

the world is wrecked by an economic meltdown, timely somehow.

I read it twice, usually a good sign.

Fantus

City and the Stars, by Arthur C. Clarke
Pebble in the Sky, by Isaac Asimov
Breed To Come, by Andre Norton (cats!)
The Sheep Look Up, by John Brunner (actually, the apocalypse happening.....)
Stand on Zanzibar, by John Brunner ( ditto)

And, really, you might try Canticle for Liebowitz another try. I couldn't get into it the first 2 attempts, but on my third I not only finished it, I LOVED it!

I've been thinking about Anatole France's Penguin Island for this thread. As I recall, and unfortunately it is in my memory's dead zone, it is along the lines of Animal Farm. What do you think? Is it dystopian?

>59 I think that's a satirical dystopia, along the lines of Swift, rather than apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic lit. Good book though.

I was thinking that Nightfall is also very much Apocalyptic in nature. We have the event coming towards us. But it is not based on earth and as I remember the story ends as the event happens.

The Obernewtyn series by Isobelle Carmody is pretty good; I think it's up to six volumes now. A new one that came out this year is the first book in The Great Ship of Knowledge trilogy, though the first volume is primarily an account of the apocalypse.

#21 - I have read Fiskadoro and really liked it. I have bought another copy and plan on rereading it. The ending is transcendent.

#61 I was thinking that Nightfall is also very much Apocalyptic in nature. We have the event coming towards us. But it is not based on earth and as I remember the story ends as the event happens.

The short story ends shortly after the event, but an full length novel written with Robert Silverberg was published in 1990. It expands on the events leading up to, during, and then after the "darkness". The Nightfall Novel

edited to fix typo

For YA PA fiction I recommend Life as we Knew It and The Dead and the Gone both by Susan Beth Pfeffer and set in the same 'verse. Z for Zachariah and The Forest of Hands and Teeth for those of you with a yen for Zombies. The adult PA has been mostly catalogued here, but I give a medium recommendation to Dark Advent and Swan Song and Random Acts of Senseless Violence which has interesting language and falls somewhere between YA and adult.

I would actually suggest the host by Stephanie Meyer as post-apocalyptic, since the story is set after 'body-snatchers' have taken over most humans on the planet.

The story reads as easily as Twilight, so if you are looking for something challenging from a literary perspective, this is not the book. Meyer gives you some insight into what she thinks is wrong with our current society and also creates neat alien cultures and personalities. It is a lighter read than the typical PA novel, but perhaps might be worth a try. One reader did suggest my own PA novel, Regression was comparable to it.

I myself am about to dip into Oryx and Crake and the Handmaid's Tale, I ordered them both on my brand new Kindle!

I just finished I am Legend which was very powerful, especially the sense of isolation experienced by the central character.

#68 > Have you seen "The Last Man On Earth" with Vincent Price? It's free up on archive.org. Of the 3 movies based on I Am Legend, it's the best, IMO. It holds fairly close to the book, although the end is hollywooded some.

#68> Loved I Am Legend. I've been somewhat disappointed by Matheson's other weird fiction and horror work though.

One of my favorite Mad magazine cartoons showed an old man sitting on a tree stump telling a young boy, "When your grandmother and I first came here this was a thriving metropolis, and we single-handedly turned it into a godforsaken wilderness."

#69 - no I haven't, though I have seen the other 2. I don't know archive.org, how does that work?

See... I found I am Legend too internal... half the book is a discussion of Neville's looming insanity (or lack thereof...) he philosophizes too much (am I insane, is this normal, how scary I must be, am I human), kicks butt not enough.

#73

There are plenty of "humans butt-kicking vampires" books out there for you to read. However, I liked the intelligent and thoughtful nature of "I Am Legend". I liked how it stayed away from cheap scares, and how Neville had to develop his own solutions to the vampire problem from scratch, rather than be the brute so beloved in action novels.

I also liked the introspection of the novel, particularly since it allowed Matheson to make the whole idea of vampirism a scientifically-explainable premise, rather than one only explained through mythology.

That's what I find funny/weird about books... everyone likes such different things. #74, you liked the exact thing about the book that I disliked...

I find that quite fascinating... but not enough to philosophize on whether or not I remain human... ;-)

#72 > Best to just drop by archive.org & you'll see. You just search for what you want & can download anything available for free. All legal content, no sign up needed. The free movies aren't the greatest resolution usually, but they're viewable & worth the download time or you can watch it right there.

I went there & searched on 'Vincent Price' under a media type of 'movies'. About halfway down, I found two uploads of the movie. Here's the link to one:
http://www.archive.org/details/Last_Man_on_Earth_movie

They have some good stuff there. Well worth a visit.

#73, 74

I though his introspection and doubting his own rationality were entirely understandable reactions to the situation in which he found himself. I might have got weary if there had been hundreds and hundreds of pages of nothing but that, but as it was I thought the balance between this and action was about right.

To answer the original post: I too have always loved the post-apocalyptic genre and find myself looking for new books to enjoy. I just finished The Devil's Day by James Blish. More of an apocalypse story than a PA one, but I found it outstanding. I've only recently returned to SF/fantasy after years of reading only non-fiction and have been sorely disappointed by everything. Growing up sucks. Blish's work was an exception; the first good SF/fantasy story I've read in a long time.

I'm going to second the nomination of World Made By Hand by James Howard Kunstler. I just finished it up and found myself liking it more than the mixed reviews suggested I would. There are a few faults to the story, esp near the end, but overall it is a richly drawn post apocalyptic story of a town that has remained somewhat insulated from the worst effects of the deterioration of society. An interesting, slower paced story than most, rich on the details of a rural life.

I liked "A World Made By Hand". I haven't read the "Long Emergency" yet, but plan to soon.

I really enjoyed the (Long Emergency). I sat in Borders and read the entire book. Then I bought it after I read it. It is not a novel.

So many of the apocalyptic novels do seem like they could easily come to pass. I finally finished On the Beach & it was horrifying. Very well written, extremely depressing & could have been written last year for the way the atomic war starts. It was written over 50 years ago, though in 1957.

Just finished Hiero's Journey by Sterling E. Lanier. Lanier uses the hard radiation left over from an apparent nuclear apocalypse as explanation for what would otherwise be a fantasy world: telepathy, divination, intelligent talking animals, fantastic creatures & alien life forms, etc. It finally became an odd mixture of The Lord of the Rings (a very obvious influence) and The Odyssey as more and more fantastic creatures were encountered. For example, Hiero and his group of sailors were drugged asleep by a race of beautiful avian women and then impregnated them by means of sexual dreams alone. Huh.

Not very fulfilling compared to some other “hard” PA novels but an interesting take on the subject.

ogodei

I read that book years ago. Brings back memories! I remember very much enjoying it. I do believe there's a sequel.

The Unforsaken Hiero is the sequel, I remember it was as fun as the first.

I can't believe Swan Song was trashed!! I loved it!! Oh well. Whitley Strieber and James Kunetkas Natures End was fantastic. Also Wolf and Iron by Gordon Dickson was excellent.

I remember enjoying "Nature's End" as a teen. It's about time I ordered it in to my library and reread it.

Not yet mentioned, and a post-apocalyptic novel with some real twists and risks, is Michaela Roessner's Vanishing Point. It's surprising that I enjoyed the book so much since the science fiction that explains the reason for the apocalypse is poor. If you can get past the less than hard sf, it's a good, quirky yarn. One reviewer compares it favorably to Robinson's The Wild Shore and I enjoyed that a lot, too.

Earth Abides is foremost in my opinion.

> #85

I thought the ending of The Unforsaken Hiero to be rushed, but I did like it. Just not as much as Hiero's Journey.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Emergence by David R. Palmer. This is one of my favorite books.

Here is the link to my post apocalyptic novel , The Great Ship of Knowledge, on Library Thing.

http://www.librarything.com/work/8438010/reviews/46913748

The first ten chapters are now online at www.thegreatshipofknowledge.com

I think it was in the late 1970s that I read a book, more apocalyptic than post, about a plague spreading through the United States. I think the disease started in or around Tennessee and caused the human immune system to completely fail, people were dying of common problems like acne and tooth decay. I know that this was before AIDS because when I first heard of AIDS I remembered this book. Does it ring a bell with anyone?

It was not a very good book; the only things I remember about it are what I put in the first paragraph. At the time I thought the idea was original but if not for the appearance of HIV/AIDS I might not even remember that.

To get back to the topic does anyone remember any post-apocalyptic books where the fall of civilization was from disease?

#92 - Loads. Earth Abides, Survivors, The Empty World. In most of these the apocalypse happens near the beginning of the book, and most of the narrative is survivors dealing with the aftermath.

#92 - Off the top of my head, The Stand, I Am Legend, The Scarlet Plague, The White Plague, World War Z.

Oh, and how could I forget The Long Loud Silence.

Ouch, I must be getting old, I should have remembered Earth Abides and I Am Legend.

The Scarlet Plague by Jack London is one of the grandaddies of post-apocalyptic fiction, post-plague, and a short one at less than 90 pages.

All Fools Day and Survivors, The book of the BBC TV series from the 80's. If you fancy a change from reading you could do worse than watch Survivors and The Last Train,

Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre is set in a post apocalyptic world.

#98 - Survivors was in the 70s (original UK broadcast 75-77).

M.K. Wren, A Gift Upon the Shore is post apocalyptic and parts of Kage Baker's long time-travel series of The Company deals with post-apocalyptic themes, though she mixes it with time travel and some straight sci-fi and adventure. But her world of the future is both dystopic and post-apocalyptic - a two-fer. Thanks to all for the great suggestions, I ordered a few of them already. My name is Anastasia and I am a bookaholic.

#98 and 100, there is a new re-make of Survivors currently airing on BBC America. I have to say there are a few plotholes, but it is worth a watch.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Elizabeth Hand's work! She does a lot with post-apocalyptic scenarios. I really recommend Winterlong and Aestival Tide, which are parts of a loose trilogy. The third book in the trilogy, Icarus Descending, isn't a favorite of mine, but still excellent.

Searching for the tag 'global disaster' in my collection gets the following, which I rated and reviewed at 3* or more:

Brian Aldiss
The gods in flight (short story)
Paolo Bacigalupi
The calorie man (short story)
Stephen Baxter
Flood
Thomas M. Disch
Canned goods (short story)
Alex Irvine
Seventh fall (short story)
Tyler Keevil
Hibakusha (short story)
Alastair Reynolds
Enola (short story)
Keith Roberts
Drek Yarman
Jason Sanford
Plague Birds (short story)

Robert Heinlein wrote two PA novels, The earlier of the two is Sixth Column published in 1949 and Farnham's Freehold published in 1964

At DragonCon this weekend I got to attend several panels on Post Apocalyptic fiction. One panel had S.M. Stirling, Eric Flint, Kathryn Hinds, and Michael Williamson. When asked about recommendations they all said that The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was the best recent post apocalyptic work.

Folk of the Fringe a collection of short stories either written by or compiled by Orson Scott Card, I cant find my copy to verify authorship.

I actually just picked up a The Hunger Games box set, am looking forward to reading it

Folk of the Fringe a collection of short stories either written by or compiled by Orson Scott Card, I cant find my copy to verify authorship.

The stories in Folk of the Fringe are all written by Orson Scott Card.

And were an attempt to recast The Book of Mormon as post-apocalyptic sf.

Speaking of religion reminded me of a classic, The Chrysalids by John Wyandham. When I could suspend my disbelief of ESP it was a very good story, when I tried to reread it a few years ago, not so much.

Not my favourite genre but I enjoyed Shiel's The Purple Cloud

With Out Warning by John Birmingham is very good. It's a global thriller with some military action, pirates, and a mystery. Very well researched and written.

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He wrote a sequel After America which was also good fun.

Yeah, when After America hit pb I intend to snatch it up!

I've just read Eric Brown's Guardians Of The Phoenix which is definitely post-apocalyptic.

Sorry about the repeat post. My bad.

Two newer novels in post-apocalyptic fiction: The World Ends In Hickory Hollow by Ardath Mayhar and One by Conrad Williams. I am reading One, and it is pretty good. I enjoyed The World Ends In Hickory Hollow.

I think it's fascinating that a genre as apparently cut and dried as post-apocalyptic has as many different definitions as asking a group of people what qualifies as a classic...

Anyway, PA sci-fi is a real favorite of mine. I have some of my collection listed here but since I am always perpetually behind in listing my books I don't have them all in here but nonetheless you can check the post-apocalyptic/dystopian tag in my library for some good ones.

I read the short story collection Wastelands on my honeymoon and LOVED it but have not yet read The Pesthouse or Parasites Like Us.

For an interesting nonfiction take on it I would recommend The World Without Us. I read that on a flight to the South Pacific and it was just the thought experiment to keep my mind occupied the whole way.

I recently finished Peter Clines, Ex-Heroes.

It it set a few years after zombie virus spreads worldwide (though with intermittent chapters which return to before and during the spread).

The novel focuses on a group of survivors in LA who are protected by a handful of superheroes. The plot primarily revolves around the conflict between this group and another group of survivors that include a street gang, one of whom is able to mind-control the zombies, some of whom are "ex-heroes". The two groups complete for the remaining food and other supplies of the city.

Very fast paced and fun. Consider it at the opposite end of the spectrum from something like The Road.

Recently read a book called Hunter's War by Peter Methven. It's available at Smashwords for pretty cheap. It's an excellent read, and takes place some time after the apocalypse. It follows a soldier's journey from the UK to New Zealand. We see the results of the apocalypse and how different societies faired. Some did better than others. I wasn't expecting much in the way of world building, but Methven did an excellent job.

By the way, does anybody remember a series from the '80s called the Guardians? It was by Richard Austin, a pen name of Victor Milans. If you want PA, check out the 80's. I couldn't get enough of the stuff back then, and it was everywhere.

Winter by Simon Brown is set in Sydney after a nuclear war, where Sydney is the dominate city of the world as it was least affected by the fallout due to it's distance away from the bomb blasts.

(there are 100 choices in touchstones for 'Winter' and none of them are the right book! Stupid touchstones)

Another favorite PA book:

Has anyone mentioned Into the Forest by Jean Hegland? I enjoyed this one a lot..it's rather unusual as it follows two teen-aged girls surviving in a PA world...it kept me reading and the writing was superb. Anyone else a fan of this book?

re:124 I am a fan of Into the Forest. I have two copies of it, one signed by the author and the other is my loaner copy that I hand out to friends wanting to try some post-apocalyptic or even regular science fiction. Living in Northern California gave the book a little extra resonance as well.