Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

I just read The Road by Corman McCormac, as well as Dies the Fire: A Novel of the Change by S.M. Stirling and I've very suddenly fallen in love with Post-Apocalyptic fiction. I picked up the second in the Change series but I heard that series gets old after the third or fourth book.

I've always loved the idea- Jericho will always be one of my favorite television shows.. but I was wondering what other *good* post-apocalyptic fiction was out there. I get wary sometimes walking up and down the stacks in Borders for the fifth or sixth time in a single month. >.>

Anyone have other suggestions for the end of the world as we know it? :-P

-Kat

I'll refer you to a previous thread with recommendations for post-apocalyptic fiction:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/66689#1393313

Happy hunting!

It's probably on the link above, but I suggest Earth Abides.

the Wastelands is a new anthology of short stories in the PA genre. I am off to check out the previous thread as I am sure that everything I know has already been mentioned.

I was surprised no one mentioned Greg Bear's Blood Music or Paul Theroux's O-Zone on the other thread.

5> I'd call Blood Music more Apocalyptic rather than Post-Apocalyptic. I usually think of PA as a story that is either completely set after the apocalyptic event or devotes a minimal portion to it (like The Stand).

If you don't mind graphic novels, i'd recommend the Akira series.

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller is one of the best novels I've read, and certainly a staple of post-apocalyptic fiction.

More recent novels:

The Pesthouse by Jim Crace. Post-apocalyptic America; landscape is similar to The Road (ironically, they came out at about the same time: the McCarthy was Sept. '06, the Crace March '07, I believe)

Our American King by David Lozell Martin (a post-apocalypse, dystopian satire set in the US) It's kind of goofy in places, but there was also some witty cultural commentary in other places.

Also Margaret Atwood's duo Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood (probably mentioned on the other thread), dystopian satire which includes the actual "apocalypse" - depending, of course, on how you define it. I'd recommend reading O&C first.

ha ha, it would be fun to start a thread to list all the kinds of apocalypses imagined! With more recent books, it's often more complicated - a combination of things - rather than just one cause (i.e. nuclear war).

I'm just finishing The Gone-Away World. It is great on so many levels. It is a post-apocalyptic tale, but it has many parallels relating to personal life; relationships; globalisation/big-organisation control; war; etc... Oh, and it's got Ninjas.

#9

I thought that was worth a thread topic:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/87648

I love this genre!

Ok, the first three books in the S. M. Stirling series you mentioned are very good. After that they get a little more fantasyish. I still liked them though.

Lucifers Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell is very good after a bit of a slow start.

World war Z by Max Brooks is cross genre but awesome.

Going a bit old school, The Day of the Triffids and The Postman (can't remember the authors) are both good, much better than the movies.

Emergence (again blanking on the author) was excellant if you can get past the strange diction.

Day by Day Armeggedon is another cross genre. Not as good as WWZ, but entertaining.

Swan Song by Robert McCammon and The Stand by Stephen King are similar, The Stand is better written, but both pretty entertaining.

I know there are more but those are some good ones off the top of my head.

For recent apocalyptic fiction, I've started on Stephen Baxter's Flood and I'm really liking it. Baxter is pretty reliable as a writer, and this is well written and interesting.

#12

Triffids was John Wyndham
The Postman was David Brin
Emergence was David Palmer who had the sequel serialised a few years ago in one of the magazines.

Thanks for the pickup andyl

#9

I think David Lozell Martin's facing rushmore is related to our american king.

does anybody know who wrote the sequal to the Day of the Triffids I did have it at one time but can't remember the title or author

http://www.librarything.com/series/Day%20of%20the%20Triffids

If you liked Jericho, then you'll probably like One Second After. Its not really a great piece of literature, but its a fun and quick read. It comes complete with a none too subtle agenda, but it does make you think about what might happen to you in the same situation.

The Pelbar Cycle is a good one, its not short term post apocalyptic though, probably more like a few hundred years afterwards. Mankind has broken up into different tribes and they all prettymuch hate each other. Bit hard to find since I believe they are out of print.

A Gift Upon The Shore - two women try to save books for the future shortly after nuclear apocalypse. They run into some religious nutters that try and stop her because any book but the bible is evil to them.

A link to apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic/dystopian...novels, with the following caveat: "this list contains material that is not strictly apocalyptic or
post apocalyptic, but that may contain elements that have that fresh roasted apocalyptic feel."

http://www.paforge.com/files/resources/pa_books.pdf

I've always been fond of the Fritz Leiber short story: A Pail of Air. Whenever I read it, I always want more.

One that may not have been mentioned is Ariel by Stephen Boyett(?)-while post-A it takes the approach that magic usurping technology wrecked the modern world.

A post-apocalyptic book I own, that few other people do, is called Neena Gathering by Valerie Nieman Colander. She published it under the short-lived Walden Book imprint (I can't recall what it was called, but you can look it up if you search for the book in my library). I probably wouldn't have bought it but she was signing copies at a local Walden store years ago. I bought a copy and had her sign it. It was surprisingly good, and much different than most of the genre out there. People are selling it really cheap on Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Neena-Gathering-Valerie-Nieman-Colander/dp/051700643X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272220815&sr=8-1) and there is a review there that echos my sentiment. I completely recommend it.

>24 Ed_Gosney: I own this...but never read it. Found it yesterday when I was unpacking my books from storage to fill my new bookcases

-Andre Norton- Star Man's Son 2250 A.D.-childish but fun

The Lost Traveller by Stephen Wilson Good- about the Hell's Angels post-A. Makes Damnation Alley look tame.

The Stars Must Wait by Keith Laumer, first in the Bolo series, poorly edited but it is the first Bolo story expanded to novel form and its post-A.

I love "A Pail of Air"! It's one of those stories that creeps back into my head every so often, sometimes unbidden. That's how I know a story has truly had an effect on me.

There's also the nanobot-virus-destroys-the-world series by Jeff Carlson. The first, Plague Year, I recall was okay but I recently read the second, Plague War, and was more or less bored through it. Then I learned there's a third novel called Plague Zone and I intend to skip it.

However, you (and others) may find it delightful and so I bring it to your attention.

#17 Night of the Triffids by Simon Clark. It started off well, but I didn't think it was that good overall.

#27 I think you have to let it grow on you.

:-)

A thousand thanks for mentioning "A Pail of Air". This is the story I remember reading as a kid that has stuck with me for over twenty years or more. Only recently I was wracking my brain trying to remember its name or author. I seriously considered posting a "name that book" entry here, but lo-and-behold I stumble across it on this thread!

I wonder if you can still get your hands on a copy?

#29 Here are some for sale.

http://www.amazon.com/Pail-Air-Fritz-Leiber/dp/B000GVYOQE

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/fritz-leiber/pail-of-air.htm

If you can't find what you want, PM me and I'll do what I can to get a copy to you.

Always Coming Home by Ursula Le Guin
Dinner at Deviant's Palace by Tim Powers

A couple of YA older series, well-done:

MindHold, MindCall, MindFind by Wilanne Schneider Belden

Children of Morrow among others by H. M. Hoover

In response to your question re the sequel it was 'The Night of the Triffids' by Simon Clark

There's also the PS Publishing anthology of catastrophe stories, Catastrophia, edited by Allen Ashley. It's due to be launched at Fantasycon this coming September. The table of contents is here.

emergence is not listed here? A beautiful book by David R Palmer that I cannot ever find and if ordered is priced around 25-75 dollars.

I think the rights have been optioned for a movie but not sure how that will play out.

34>check link in post #2

And it wasn't all that-the first half is great but the second half is weak, IMO

>34 Trai: FYI

I picked up a copy of Emergence today at Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Book Store in Minneapolis in mass market format for $2.50. They had a second copy.

#36 - You are my hero! I have wanted a copy of Emergence for a long time! I just called Uncle Hugo's and they will be shipping that and another one in the series to me on Tuesday. Thanks so much!

Series??

Ok, apparantly not a series, but the other book by the same author Threshold, which I mistakenly thought was connected by something other than author.

There was a sequel to Emergence - "Tracking" published in three parts in Analog in 2008. Threshold is the first book of a trilogy "To Halt Armageddon" The second book "Special Education" is written but unpublished.

One that hasn't been mentioned is Patriots by John Wesley, Rawles. It's part-fiction/part howto. Also Pulling Through or pretty much anything by Dean Ing.

Don't forget A Boy and his Dog by Harlan Ellison

#41 Don't forget A Boy and his Dog by Harlan Ellison

I haven't read the story, but did see the film. While the film was a bit "iffy" from a quality production point of view, and even the acting, I really loved the final scene.

Just for completeness, Harlan's novella is this one, not A Friend like Henry.

Stupid touchstones!

Watching the news today, it occurred to me almost all writers of Post_Apocalyptic works have missed an important thing that is bound to occur if the Apocalypse happens any time soon.

The hundreds of oceanic deep oil wells will fail one by one. And the seas will die, world wide, from shore to shore one oily pool. All the sea birds, all the fish, plankton, etc.

46> There has at least been one where the trouble begins because of an oil spill. There, though, they had a lot of trouble "fixing" the problem, cleaning up the oil, so they deployed experimental technology, nanobots that eat oil.

Speaking of post-apocalyptic fiction, does anyone have an opinion on The Passage, by Justin Cronin? It was released with a fair amount of hype and a positive review by the NYT.

I'm about 3/4 through The Passage. I'm enjoying it, but at times it seems uneven. There are also alot of similarities to the Stand, which is one of my favorite apocalyptic books, and I can't decide if it's too many for my taste or not. I'll have a better sense when I finish the book, but so far I can say that I would recommend it to people who are into that sort of thing (end of the world) and who are not immediately discouraged by the fact that there are vampires in it.

How about Alas Babylon.

For some somewhat older selections, there's Davy by Edgar Pangborn, and the entire Horseclans series by Robert Adams (starting with The Coming of the Horseclans). I think the entire Sime-Gen series by Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah could count, although the actual nature of the apocalypse might not be stated. I don't know if any of these would be top-tier selections...

If anyone is interested, I just published a post-apocalyptic novel "The Colleen Colgan Chronicles". The apocalypse I chronicle happens over hundreds of years and is related to a cause that I'm very passionate about- unchecked, out of control global warming. It was targeted as a Young Adult story so keep that in mind. I published an ebook on smashwords.com. You can essentially download the first 3/4's of the book for free.
There are already a few reveiws of the book on LT. If anyone wants to check it out and let me know what you think, I'm always appreciative of the feedback.

Thanks,
Rich Phelan

Hi Rich,

Thanks for the suggestion. If you have the book up on Amazon as a Kindle e-book, please send me the link.

BTW, I personally have no problem with your post, but the "etiquette" police here may flag your response and have it removed. Apparently it's not generally acceptable to promote (dare I say even mention?) one's own works.

/shrug

53> BTW, I personally have no problem with your post, but the "etiquette" police here may flag your response and have it removed. Apparently it's not generally acceptable to promote (dare I say even mention?)

Nice rant, but unfortunately you're wrong. Mentioning in appropriate context is, and always has been, completely fine.

Surprised no one has mentioned Whitley Streiber's Warday and Nature's End.

Strieber and co-author James W. Kunetka wrote a book imagining themselves as journalists travelling across post nuclear holocaust America, interviewing the survivors.

They wrote a similar book Nature's End where the apocalypse is over-population and devastated environment.

#50, Alas, Babylon is one of my favorite books. I read that in Junior High (we won't say how many years ago that was but it was a while ago) and it has stayed with me ever since. I actually credit that book with starting me on the road to Apocalyptic stories.

Two with a fantasy edge are the Battle Circle trilogy (actually one of my faves) and the Book of Swords trilogy

> 54 Brightcopy

> Nice rant, but unfortunately you're wrong.

You think that was a rant?!

:rolls eyes:

Lay off the coffee mate.

58> Rants don't have to be foaming at the mouth vitriol. They include such things as little sarcastic asides on a topic you can tell is a hot button issue with a person. Especially when exaggerated beyond logical consistency.

Don't worry, we all have our own little rants. I'm not judging you, just correcting the bad information.

How about The Chrysalids by John Wyndham, or Memoirs of a Survivor by Doris Lessing?

I think I am the third or fourth person to mention it, but I think Alas, Babylon is really worth reading, even if it is a little dated.

I also started reading Total Oblivion, More or Less, which is about the world after multiple barbarian tribesmen invade a modern setting. It's weird and quirky and hard to follow at times, but also very entertaining.

For those who prefer their apocalypses with tentacles, I've recently read and reviewed Cthulhu's Reign.

Two more classics: _43,000 Years Later_ by Horace Coon (alien archaeologists in the time of the title come to Earth & investigate/contemplate what happened to the previous inhabitants & why they wiped themselves out in a nuclear holocaust) and the famous short story from The Martian Chronicles, "There Will Come Soft Rains", a real favorite of mine (an intelligent house still running years after a nuclear war, complete with the silhouette of a man mowing the lawn, burned into the outside wall).

Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart, and World War Z, by Max Brooks, have already been mentioned; but they're definitely among the best of this genre

No Blade of Grass, John Christopher

On the Beach, Nevil Shute

The Year When Stardust Fell, Raymond Jones; young adult, but well worth reading.

And for those of a more fantastic bent...

Black Easter, James Blish

For We Are a Jealous People, Fritz Leiber.

#55 I'm glad you mentioned Nature's End by Strieber and Kunetka. That's has been a favorite of mine since I was 19! It's terrifying to watch it come true over a 25 year span. I buy copies whenever I find them and insist all the important people in my life read it. I can be quite tedious about it!
Also, I would like to mention Wolf and Iron by Gordon Dickson. I don't care for any of his other books but that one was amazing.