List of books to check out in this genre

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/libraries/512050.html). Below is from the Wikipedia entry for post-apocalyptic literature (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-apocalyptic_literature).

“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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.htm

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)

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...

A link to apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic/dystopian...novels, with the following caveat from the compiler of the list: "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

Survivors by Terry Nation (of Dr Who fame) - Survivors was made into a BBC television series in the 70s based on the book and recently re-done in part (BBC shelved series 3). Has something of a cult following in the UK.

I just got finished with Mutant Hunter: Legends of the Fallout by Stephen R Cox and was pretty impressed with it overall. Cox does a wonderful job of immersing the reader in the story in addition to making it easy to read. The story centers around a mutant bounty hunter named Leon Miller who is hunting down mutants as a means to an end of finding some mysterious woman from his past. I also really appreciated how believable some of the technology in the story was despite it occurring centuries in the future.

I recently read I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman and thought it was amazing. Very bleak and moving. Reminded me a lot of The Road.

Going back to post #1, I see Malevil by Robert Merle listed there. I just recently picked up Merle's Weekend at Zuydcoote which won France's Prix Goncourt prize around 1950, and noticed as I cataloged it that Malevil is his most popular book (in LT at least) and has very favorable reviews, yet hasn't been mentioned any further in this group as far as I could tell. Could be a sleeper kind of nuclear holocaust classic awaiting rediscovery. I'd be very curious to hear if anyone is already acquainted with it, and what you thought about it.

Never even heard of it (or the author, to be honest)...but I'm going to keep my eyes open for it. As always, thanks for the heads-up. I'm about 50 pages into The Sheep Look Up. So far, so uncomfortable (in a good dystopian way, of course).

I'd never heard of him either, it was just one of those serendipitous finds that leads to even more.

"So uncomfortable," could be the perfect two word review for The Sheep Look Up! God I love that book. Can we say prescient?

Another book I can't believe hasn't been mentioned here (probably because it's from a non-Sci-Fi writer who with one novel, somehow ventured into postapocalyptic terrain, is Fiskadoro by Denis Johnson. I haven't read it just yet, but since he's one of my all time favorite writers, I plan to soon. The LT reviews describe it as being a particularly weird (perhaps drug inspired) take on the genre.

Keeping my eyes open for that one, too.

The Electric Church, while not strictly post-apocalyptic, certainly has some significant shades of post-apocalypse in its bad ass pages.

I just picked up The War After Armageddon by Ralph Peters. It's a library book, and I have some short term loans to read first, so it will probably be a couple weeks before I get to it. I am excited though, and will let you know what I think. We need to get more discussion going here.

>35 absurdeist: Malevil has long been on my TBR list. SF readers of a certain age have strongly recommended it to me.

~41

Well, I hope you have a copy already, because I just checked it out on Amazon and the cheapest copy available is $50 US for a well worn paperback.

One Second After by William Forstchen is a super- realistic post-apoc book. As for zombies.. the Autumn series by David Moody is pretty riveting. Great lists guys! So many more books to get reading!

'48 by James Herbert - a post-apocalyptic / alternative reality novel (set in 1948) in which Hitler infected the world with a deadly plague and almost everyone died. A great adventure yarn with goodies, baddies, motor-bike chases and some zombie-like semi-survivors.

I forgot about '48. I love that book.

Picked up '48 on above recommendations.

>43 lawecon: Yes, thank you.

Finished '48. The copy I read was full of strange typos, which was distracting and irritating. Otherwise a pretty good little yarn.

That '48 sounds great. Thanks for the recommendation.

I've been enjoying AMCs The Walking Dead (looking forward to Season 3 in October). Has anybody read the Robert Kirkman graphic novels the show is based on? For the touchstone, The Walking Dead, Book One.

The Walking Dead graphic novel was the first graphic novel I tried. Unfortunately I found the pictures distracting and didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoy regular novels. I never read comic books as a kid because my Mom was strongly opposed to them, so the graphic novel format is hard for me to get used to.

I recommend World War Z, but not The Walking Dead series. As a previous poster said, World War Z feels real. I didn't get that impression with The Walking Dead at all. I'm pretty sure the Walking Dead author uses "let's bring out the worst in everyone" as his baseline for plots.

Loved World War Z. Also loved Robopocalypse.

On a less commercial note, the recent The Age of Miracles is truly gorgeous--a much quieter, slower, and much more personal PA.

I just read Lucifers Hammer by Larry Niven and The Passage by Justin Cronin. Both completely different, the first is a story of the world devestation by asteroid. It was a slow starter but if you power through those first 100 pages, you will be rewarded with some spectacular storytelling. It was what I thought to be a very realistic version of what could potentially happen to us...kind of made me want to start hoarding MREs and batteries...the second book was a vampire virus, which actually sounds pretty stupid when I put it that way but the book was this epic, wonderful tale more about survival and the relationships between the characters...sort of reminded me of the Stand.

I enjoyed the Guillermo del Toro vampire trilogy more than I did The Passage. Toro's trilogy started with The Strain and then The Fall and The Night Eternal. The whole Twilight thing had turned me off vampires. I don't want to read about vampires kissing necks, I want them tearing them out and feasting.

I don't think Adam Johnson has been mentioned here. Parasites Like Us is definitely post-apocalyptic. And if one were to reach and consider present day North Korea as its own self-contained microcosm of dystopian post-apocalypse, then an argument might be made for the inclusion of his most recent novel, The Orphan Master's Son.

#56 I enjoyed The Orphan Master's Son very much and for some reason thought that was his first novel. I have just ordered Parasites Like Us

McCarthy's The Road is a fantastic novel, but was anyone else irritated by the inconsistent use of apostrophies? Everytime I read 'cant' or 'dont' it pulled me out of the story, reminding me that I was reading a book. It was really jarring for me. Without that it would have been one of my all-time favourites.

I may be alone here, but I did not care for The Road, and I thought the acclaim it received was undeserved. The lovely writing didn't make up for me for a pretentious story without character or plot to take an interest in. Postapocalyptic has been done so much better so many times before. Just an alternate opinion, for the little it's worth.

I enjoyed the Road, although I agree it did not live up to the hype. Although I could easily ignore the apostrophy calamity, apparently it got on alot of peoples nerves as I have read this compaint over and over. It was pretty hopeless and completely miserable and I felt like I had to read something happy afterward to "cleanse my palate" so to speak.

Just finished Wool by Hugh Howey. Fairly engaging.

I, too, disliked The Road. I found it purposely, obviously stylized and feel this, not good story or character won it it's awards. Disappointing.

Recently grabbed Zone One by Colson Whitehead at a library book sale. Didn't see it touchstoned in the group and was wondering if anybody had read it and maybe liked it? The description on the dj overleaf of a pandemic survivor suffering from "PASD" (Post-Apocalyptic Stress Disorder) sold me.

Death of Grass is really good.
Shift by Hugh Howey focuses on the story of the Silos and the actual end of the world. Though I'm not sure it is post-apocalyptic, to me it feels more of a Dystopia.
I am Legend was very good and very different from the latest movie 4 in total.

Found this one I haven't seen mentioned in the group, The Bridge by D. Keith Mano.

I have not heard of The Bridge. There is some interesting information about Mano at http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/mano_d_keith.

Soft apocalypse

The Wall by Marlen Haushofer

The Architect of Ruins by Herbert Rosendorfer

The John Ringo zombie apocalypse series starting with Under a Graveyard Sky is pretty awesome if you're into that sort of thing. I am. They are awesome.

A new one -- a first novel -- that might appeal: Find Me: A Novel by Laura van den Berg.

A novel that's not yet been mentioned in this group is City at World's End (1951) by Edmond Hamilton, the husband of Leigh Brackett. An interesting recent review here in LT by member baswood right here.

I'm sure it's up above on the list...but I don't feel like scrolling up and rereading what I read a couple of years ago. At any rate: The Dog Stars. Absolutely gorgeous. I highly, highly recommend this one. And, oh--it features the best depiction of the man-dog bond I've ever read.

A perfect combination for those who love post-apocalyptic fiction, fiction set on Mars, and mysteries



Snowfall on Mars by Branden Frankel****½ 2/17/15

The story opens twenty years after Earth has all-out nuclear war and the only humans alive are stranded in a small Martian colony. The population has been winnowed to about 500 through violence and suicide, and the few who go on are consolidated in the same complex but live in two groups: those who just want to keep on going, and those who follow a cult leader determined to bring down all that's left of the race.

Adler, the narrator, is in his mid-30s and remembers life on Earth, from which he emigrated with his family when he was 7. Some colonists are older, and some are younger, born on Mars and with no feelings for Earth one way or the other. Mars was meant to be terraformed, but not long before Earth became uninhabitable the terraforming process poisoning the rain and snow that falls, so life is rather desperate, confined to the indoors or to the use of space suits. The sole substance available to provide nutrition is a residue of a fungal process which is made into "sustainability bars". It's also the stuff made into coffee and cigarettes. In other words, everything takes and smells the same and is pretty awful, but it's what they have.

Now someone has murdered one of the few engineers still living, reducing the odds of human survival still further. Adler starts looking into it, more out of a sense of need than any ability or training.

In addition to being a rewarding story (Mars, post-apocalypse, and mystery combined!), Adler's observations and thoughts on life produce a thoroughly believable sense of what such a situation would feel like. How does one go on living in a hopeless situation with no rescue possible and the population falling each year. Just how does someone find enough meaning to go on living?

Highly recommended for anyone with a love of Martian or post-apocalyptic fiction. B7

Didn't love In The Country of Last Things...competent, of course, but left me cold. On the other hand, Station Eleven is even better on reread. Should've won the NBA.

Reading Coldbrook by Tim Lebbon. The apocalypse via multiverse zombie outbreak. Enjoying it.

The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch was released earlier this year and sounds promising.

Earlier this year I read a book with 2 post-apocalyptic novels by Rudolph Wurlitzer, whom I'd not heard of (has anyone else, assuming anyone else looks at these threads?) before chancing upon him on publisher's site: Flats & Quake. Not literature for the ages but more original & more thoughtful than a lot of books with this theme. Certainly not mass-market lit in any case and in any case worth reading.

Quake was a fun read, a bit of satire going on there. I've wanted to get my hands on a copy of Nog for the longest time; there's an excerpt of Nog in Cutting Edges: Young American Fiction for the 70s that I have read, whet the appetite for more.