Any fans of "Apocalyptic" or "post-Apocalyptic" science fiction?

[Rowdyboy]

I've always been fascinated by literate that explored the reaction of humanity and civilization to cosmic destruction-whether by nuclear war, plague, alien invasion, global warming, asteroid or whatever. The infinite variations of hell the authors can imagining such a nightmarish period are as divergent as the worst fantasies of the authors themselves. Some books have the cataclysm build slowly, working the nerves as "life as we know it" draws to an end. Others being with the disaster itself with people pushed from a safe existence into chaos. Yet another branch begins centuries after the disaster (think Planet of the Apes).

Wonderful classics like Alas Babylon, Earth Abides, On the Beach, When Worlds Collide, Day of the Triffids, and WAR DAY are the first that come to mind. My very first was in 1966 when I read Poul Anderson's Vault of the Ages. I was 12 years old and hooked.

I'll even include books like Stephen King's The Stand or Robert McCammon's Swan Song.

500 point bonus to anyone who has read or even heard of The Lord's Pink Ocean, a 1972 work that explored love, sex and racism between teenagers among post-apocalyptic New England farmfolk.

So whaddya think? Ever read any? Have a favorite? I welcome any suggestions. If I haven't read it, I'll try to find it....

[General Zod]

1. A Boy And His Dog

Great Story by Harlan Ellison and also a pretty good movie with Don Johnson:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072730/

Also by Ellison: "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_No_Mouth,_and_I_Must_Scream

[Rowdyboy]

5. I'm always amazed at what I missed growing up.....I've heard of "I have no mouth..."

But "A Boy and his Dog" is totally new to me. I'm going to use this thread to build a reading list for myself so if you think of anything else, please add it.

[zonmoy]

2. happened to have loved several of them.

alas babylon, the trifids, on the beach and war day are great books and movies.

Z for Zachariah, Resurrection Day, The Road , Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? , Pebble in the Sky and of course the foundation series are all apocolyptic novels I have read. plus I tried to read the first of the left behind books and saw the third movie at my parents church. both of them were really bad though.

here is a list of some on wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_apocalyptic_and_post-apocalyptic_fiction

also kind of a sub genre of that is the fall of magic based civilization including books like the magic goes away and piers anthonies adept series which has all the source of magic in the universe gone except for one planet that it is slowly running out.

[angrycarpenter]

3. Footfall by larry niven

We are invaded by baby elephants. Best invasion novel ever.

[Rowdyboy]

6. Thats gonna be fun.....I appreciate all suggestions

[Speck Tater]

23. Ooo. I remember that one. A classic! NT

[A HERETIC I AM]

4. I enjoyed "The Stand" for the imagery you mention.

The idea of how people would react, what would truly be of value, etc. I found it interesting that King included in a conversation between two characters the notion that the individuals who would be most valued would be the Technicians - the people who could get the power stations up and running again. The Machinists, Mechanics, Tool & Die makers, etc. The guy who can fix the tractor because just about anybody can drive one.

I also have (perhaps morbidly so) contemplated what I would do in such a scenario as that. If 99% of the population ended up dead in a period of months, how would I prepare for the long term? I have a history as a Tractor Trailer driver so one thing I would collect is quite a few brand new Refrigerated trailers and several tankers of diesel fuel. You could set up quite a nice food storage facility virtually anywhere with a half dozen Reefers backed up to a flatbed trailer like a loading dock.

Etc. Etc. all sorts of different scenarios - what would be the most efficient way to get around? Car? Motorcycle? Moped? Light plane, maybe?

Would I venture overseas? Find a big-ass ocean crossing capable yacht and go have a look around Europe? Or would I just build a fortress with my reefer trailers and a shit load of weapons inside and never leave?

I found the book "Cachalot" interesting. http://www.amazon.com/Cachalot-Alan-Dean-Foster/dp/0345280660

Read it years ago. Depicts an ocean planet where the humans transported Earths whales to so they could live in a less polluted sea. Sort of post apocalyptic, with a science fiction/save the whales twist. Neat story.

[angrycarpenter]

8. I read it as a teen

and I took that idea to heart. I can build nearly anything, Repair most engines, major appliances, and I have seen every episode of McGyver.

If The Stand ever comes to pass I hope I do not live through it.

[Rowdyboy]

10. Another book I'm totally unfamiliar with....Thanks

I really was blown away by "The Day After" back in the 1970's. I wondered how I would measure up-would I survive. I was nearly blind (pre-lasik) and not really optimistic. I found a lot to empathise with in the Stand and Swan Song.

I also wondered about trying to go overseas, or maybe build a fortress/palace in a deserted world.

Thanks again for the rec of Cachalot

If I had a dollar for every hour I spent thinking about things like this I'd be a rich man!

[angrycarpenter]

13. Stop whatever you are doing and get "The Stand " right now.

My lord! if you have not read that one it is one of the best books ever. Get it and be prepared to lose sleep.

Edit-- thought you were talking about the stand. going to bed.

[Rowdyboy]

15. The Stand is a one of a kind experience.....I've read it three times

(the extended version twice). I was referring to another book the poster mentioned, Cachalot, about whale culture transported to a different planet.

You're definitely right about the stand. Its a must read for anyone with ANY interest in the subject. What a freaking rollercoaster!

[RebelOne]

37. And make sure you get the long version. It's much better.

[Atania of Sargeras]

69. "The Stand" is

very much worth the read. I stayed up all night and the next day reading it. I was so moved by the characters experiences. This may sound weird but I felt a bit of jealous that they got a "do-over" of sorts, a chance to make a new life and society for themselves, once they got past the the destruction of the folks following the "walking dude".

[scubadude]

7. Malevil, by Robert Merle

That was one of my favorites as a young man. Post apocalyptic France. Very good. Rated five stars on one huge booksellers site.

Enjoy,

Scuba

[Rowdyboy]

14. I was 18 when this was published and have never heard of it...

It really sounds excellent! thanks so much. I can already see that starting this thread was one of the smartest things I've done in a while. What a source.

[bikebloke]

43. They made a movie of it.

In France, but it never made it over here. I remember passing cinemas showing it when I was over there.

...Made a quick trip to Netflix. It looks like the DVD never made over either. Merde.

[Fire Walk With Me]

9. I try to avoid negative endings now, but back in the day...

"The Forge of God" by Greg Bear depressed me for days. The sequel had a slap in the face as well.

In fact, Greg's work is purposely fatalistic. Have you read the recent one about contacting the dead? It's nearly Clive Barker in regard to helplessness and hopelessness, and attempting to make them seductive.

"On the Beach" is a real depresser.

"Moonseed" by Steven Baxter was also a bit painful.

There was a large book, I believe a single-word title like Genesis, about a man who discovered life-extending technology and then anti-gravity a hundred years ago, and was secretly behind UFOs, and was going to control the world.

"Hellstrom's Hive" was not a happy vision.

"The Reality Dysfunction" series was pretty good at matching the bleak to the SF job of universe-building.

The worst of the lot is Pahlaniuk's "Haunted". It's just an excercise in the disgusting. Careful, you are what you eat.

[angrycarpenter]

21. I remember Genesis

Can't recall the author. It had a punch to it.

Forge of god is one of the harshest SF books I have ever read.

[Dr. Strange]

32. I liked "The Forge of God."

Hadn't heard of the other one. Is it "Dead Lines?" Sounds interesting. I find Bear's work very hit and miss.

"Haunted" was downright weird.

"Stand on Zanzibar" has apocalyptic tendencies.

"Dark Advent" by Brian Hodge was flat out bizarre.
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Advent-B-Hodge/dp/155817088X

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. I think we did a thread on this waaay back.. Check the archives for various years :^)

[angrycarpenter]

12. The Gunslinger by Steven King is SF

Time travel, Parallel universes, super science. It has it all.

[angrycarpenter]

16. Riverworld - Phillip Jose Farmer.

Another of my favs. It is kind of a stretch but it does deal with sudden extreme anarchy and the need to live by your wits in order to survive.

[Rowdyboy]

19. I think I may have a copy I bought at a thrift store and never got around

to reading. Thanks for reminding me!

[elocs]

17. I read Alas Babylon in high school and loved it.

When Worlds Collide was one of my favorites as well as its sequel, After Worlds Collide when they reach the new planet.

[Warpy]

18. Two classics from back in the paranoid, cold war 50s

to early 60s were "Level Seven" by Mordecai Roshwald, a stark horror piece in which men living deep underground servicing the missile silos realize they're the only ones left.

The other is "A Canticle for Liebowitz," by Walter M. Miller, which chronicles what could happen after a couple of centuries had gone by. It's a deliciously nasty sendup of organized religion as well as a cautionary tale.

I heartily recommend both for people into post Apocalyptic fiction. They're old, but they've both held up quite well, especially the latter.

[Rowdyboy]

20. Never read Level Seven but Canticle for Lebowitz is a real gem!

It is QUITE a sendup of organized religion. What a book!

[Warpy]

27. "Level 7" is a little dated, technologically speaking

but sucks you in and then scares the hell out of you. It's a very bleak book but well worth looking for. Read it if you can find it.

[Speck Tater]

22. All of those, and many more...

Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

And a real classic After London by Richard Jeffries written in 1885. (not 1985, but 1885) about a post-apocalyptic England.

And many others the titles of which I can't recall just off hand.

[Rowdyboy]

24. Again, this thread is a lesson....Never heard of After London....getting a 19th century

viewpoint will be fascinating.

[Speck Tater]

26. Oh, I forgot to mention this series...

S.M. Stirling. The whole Dies the Fire series. Some minor little law of physics gets slightly tweaked somehow and suddenly most of the machinery on the planet no longer functions. A really interesting series as the settlements in west central Oregon face the prospect of going to war against the "King of Portland" who has rounded up a recruited all the old gang members and made them his "knights".

[krispos42]

28. Seconded "Lucifer's Hammer"

Great book. Even if Pournelle is a proponent of Global Cooling. :eyes:

[Adsos Letter]

25. I read "Earth Abides" in Jr. High, back in the late '60's...

It was one of my favorite books...along with a bunch of Ray Bradbury stuff.

[krispos42]

29. Try Harry Turtledove's "Warworld" series

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldwar

Basically, it goes like this: Spring 1942. Imperial Japan is sweeping across the Pacific. The Russians are on the ropes from Nazi blitz. England is struggling to remain viable in the face of occupied Europe. America, still reeling from Pearl Harbor, is gearing up for war.


Then aliens invade.




Their probes had landed here in about 1100 AD and found a bunch of people on horseback with chain mail and swords. Looking ripe for conquest, they spend the next 800 years preparing for the invasion and occupation of Earth. They built starships, filled them with tanks and fighters and bombers and helicopters and artillery and missiles and arms and ammo and trucks. Enough to police an entire planet with plenty of extra firepower just in case. Then they filled them with soldiers, put them in cold sleep, and sent them here.

They're surprised to see that we have ships and planes and guns, but continue on with their plans of conquest. Starships landing across the world, armored columns and mechanized infantry moving out across the planet.

And thus commenced four books worth of multi-national combat. :-)










You also might like the Lost Regiment series by William R. Forstchen. Basically, a Union regiment from the Civil War is on a ship bound from Virginia to North Carolina. They get caught up in a storm, then off of Bermuda (I'm assuming the Bermuda Triangle, although this is not mentioned specifically) they vanish, waking up on another planet. The planet is populated by various dregs of human civilizations that have been caught up in a stargate and brought there. Medieval Russians and Imperial Romans, for example, settled there after being sucked across the parsecs.

The humans are controlled by the Horde, nomadic warrior creatures that circle the planet every 20 years on an endless ride. To the Horde, humans are slaves. As they ride, they exact tribute from the various human civilizations that they pass. Food, clothing, gold, silver, etc.

The Horde calls humans "cattle", because they also take one human in five for food. They find us tasty and nutricious, and it keeps the populations under control.

Naturally, the commander of the Union regiment isn't going to take this shit, so they use their own knowledge plus the resources of the ship they came in on to start modernizing and building.

There's 8 books total. The first one deals with the Tugar Horde, 2-4 with the Merki Horde, and 5-8 with the Bantag Horde. Good stuff. The author went to college for military logistics and such, and he's a Civil War buff. Awsome strategy and tactics.

[Dr. Strange]

31. That was a neat series.

I haven't decided yet if I want to start reading the Colonization series, though.
The picture of Kennedy using a mouse is weird.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511HH7GD1FL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg

[Yupster]

50. The Colonization series

was just as good in my opinion.

The last scene in the last book is really clever.

Not dramatic or earth-shattering -- just the author having fun.

[Old Codger]

30. Heinlein

How about "Farnhams Freehold"(Heinlein) , or William johnstones "out of the ashes" series, "Licifers Hammer" was one of the best for sure, "Day of The Triffids" is a classic. Along with all the rest that have been mentioned here are all great reads.

[shimmergal]

33. Over the years I've read quite a few...

A Canticle for Liebowitz and On the Beach probably made the biggest impression.

Stirling's Dies the Fire trilogy is quite interesting if you can deal with the way he continually describes the damage medieval weaponry does to human bodies.

There's a now-obscure trilogy by Anne Kelleher Bush, pubbed in the mid-90s, I think, which portrays a pseudo-Arthurian re-awakening of "Merica" in the wake of nuclear holocaust. First book is Daughter of Prophecy; don't have the other titles right at hand.

[YankeyMCC]

34. Well Hitchhiker's Guide Starts with the end of the world

and that's one of my favorites :)

I also like:
The Forge of God Series by Bear: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Bear#The_Forge_of_God_series

Earth by David Brin

Moonseed by Steven Baxter was an interesting take.

But I think in many ways Clarke's "Childhood's End" is the ultimate end of the world (or at least human civilization and society) story.

[jannyk]

35. Earth Abides & The Stand are two I've read and reread several times..

.. Earth Abides is one of my all time favourite books. Another that I had read more than once is Walter Tevis' "Mockingbird". The others that are my favs have already been mentioned - Lucifer's Hammer et al.

I have noticed a couple mentioned by others here that I have not yet read - thanks guys!

[raccoon]

36. Also, THE CHRYSALIDS by John Wyndham.

THE LONG TOMORROW by Leigh Brackett.

ETERNITY ROAD by Jack McDevitt.

RIDDLEY WALKER by Russell Hoban (which I've never read--I understand a lot of slang invented by the author is in it.

[Rowdyboy]

38. Just found another great one at the library today....

"The Children of Men" by P.D. James

P.D. James' latest novel is set in England in the year 2021 -- a bleak, future world without a future where the last child born on earth 26 years earlier has just died in a pub brawl.

The planet is in the grip of global infertility (a mysterious disease has made every man on earth sterile) and a seeming chronic lethargy: The human race is slowly dying, truly not with a bang, but with a prolonged whine.

Protagonist Theo Faron, an unloving and unlovable Oxford don, decides to record the last years of his and England's history in a diary, an admittedly futile exercise since there will soon be no one left to read it. But the effort is meant to be more catharsis than academic exercise, as Faron attempts to decipher what has gone wrong with the planet and his own sterile soul.

[GaYellowDawg]

39. There's a trilogy by S.M. Stirling...

Some sort of event occurs at Nantucket Island that displaces the island in time (you can read about what happened to them in a separate series), and all of a sudden, electricity doesn't work, and neither do explosives. Here are the books:

Post-apocalypse:

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

Continuation, over a decade later with the focus changing to the next generation:

The Sunrise Lands
The Scourge of God - to be published 9/2008
The Sword of the Lady - to be published ~ 2009
The High King - to be published ~ 2010

Story of the Nantucketers (Nantucketeers?):

Island in the Sea of Time
Against the Tide of Years
On the Oceans of Eternity

[Yupster]

51. I'm reading this series right now

Pretty thoughtful. I don't like the writing as much as the ideas, but it's been a fun read.

[raccoon]

40. How could I forget? World War Z! Fairly recent, but quite readable.

I recommend it.

"World War Z (abbreviated WWZ) is a novel by Max Brooks which chronicles a theoretical zombie apocalypse, specifically the titular "Zombie World War", as a series of after-the-fact interviews with prominent survivors. It is a follow-up to his previous book, The Zombie Survival Guide. However, though Guide can be considered an extended 'dead-pan' joke, WWZ is much more serious - even tragic - in tone, and strives (within its fantastic premise) to be both factually and psychologically convincing. The book was released on September 12, 2006; a movie based on it is in the pre-production stage."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_Z

[YOY]

73. The character Grover Carlson...who shovels shit in Texas as punishment...

Oh yes, who can ever figure out who that is supposed to be... :+

[Swede]

41. The Planet of the Apes with Chuck Heston is a favorite.

They over did it with the sequels however.

[sazemisery]

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

Post nuclear. Very good read.

[Scout]

44. Lucifer's Hammer was pretty good

big damn asteroid hits in the ocean!

[FiveGoodMen]

45. That was a very good book, indeed.

That and The Mote in God's Eye are my favorite Niven/Pournelle books.

[pitohui]

46. niven/pournelle books should not be discussed on a progressive website

c'mon, guys, those two are little more than nazis, they are blatant social darwinists

some of the philosophy in their books is really ugly, actually i've met pournelle himself years ago (not sure if he's still living) but he was a very, very, very ugly person and i mean on the inside -- intellectually, emotionally, politically, just hateful

and on top of that, clunky writing too

[Scout]

47. oh for gods sake.....

:eyes:

[FiveGoodMen]

48. Thank you

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

77. Can we discuss Ezra Pound? I hear Shakespeare supported the death penalty...

Niven and Pournelle are fucked up Nazis. So what? I have little trouble reading them without political infection.

Edgar Allen Poe was a rabid, doctrinaire white supremacist.

So fucking what?

[TheCentepedeShoes]

49. Not a huge fan of this genre

but Alas Babylon is a great book. Didn't know about it until 3 or so years ago. Thanks DU :hi:
I read On the Beach back in '63 and re-read it later. I saw the movie for the umteenh time on TCM or something last month.

[Mz Pip]

52. Canticle for Leibowitz

by Walter M. Miller Jr. One of the best post Apocalyptic Sci-fi books ever IMHO.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Canticle_for_Leibowitz

[bikebloke]

53. World Made By Hand by James Howard Kunstler

A small upstate New York town, post-oil. He also killed off a lot of the country's population with disease and some nukes a la Jericho. A return to an agrarian society.

[Sabriel]

54. Emergence, by David Palmer

It's little known, maybe out of print, but well worth tracking it down. The writing style alone is worth the time.

http://www.amazon.com/Emergence-David-R-Palmer/dp/0553255193

Also, Life as We Knew It, which is a thinly veiled warning about the potential impact on society of a severe climate change. Very depressing read, I warn you.

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Knew-Susan-Beth-Pfeffer/dp/B0013L8B9M/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209745796&sr=1-1

[oldgrowth]

55. I love Post-Apocalyptic, new one by Terry Brooks

Armageddon's Children ,first of a new fantasy trilogy.
http://www.terrybrooks.net/genesis/ac.html

[bikebloke]

57. Two more in the series

The Elves of Cintra

The Gypsie Morph (to be released in August)

[marigold20]

56. No Blade of Grass

by John Christopher, I think. He wrote several books in this vein and I loved them all.

Also The Wild Shore.

[Orrex]

58. We can't overlook that influential masterpies Thundarr the Barbarian

If the post-apocalypse doesn't have Ariel in it, then you can just count me out.

[Orrex]

59. Mmm. Masterpies.

Oops!

[Poll_Blind]

60. Loved Thundarr as a kid, show it to my children now.

  Great show for kids. Magic and science blur (which is a nice concept) and all the societal in-jokes, like Thundarr not knowing what a subway is, for instance, and describing it from his "primitive" viewpoint. Very strong female character. Etc, etc...

  I did always find it interesting that the head evil guy was, IIRC, a big technology user as opposed to magic.

  Oh, one last thing, gotta love when Evil Dude turns the Statue of Liberty into his own mechanized killing machine.

  Until they're old enough to watch "Hell comes to Frogtown", Thundarr (and Tom Baker's Dr. Who) are my guilty pleasures shared with my 3 boys.

PB

[Dr. Strange]

63. Really?

I bet I can overlook it. With very little effort.

[Orrex]

64. You have no poetry in your soul

You are dead to me. Dead.

[Dr. Strange]

65. Liar--I have tons of poetry in my soul.

It's mostly dirty limericks, though.

[Orrex]

66. Are they about Ariel and Ookla?

You sick bastard.

[Dr. Strange]

67. Well...

Thundarr, I'm sorry, you suck.
And most of your episodes are muck.
But I did like the one,
In which Ariel had fun,
By convincing--

Wait, why the hell am I writing a limerick about Thundarr?

[YOY]

71. Ookla the MOK!

Ladies drop them knickers!

I always thought a darker better animated Thundarr with a story line would have kicked butt.

[bigmonkey]

61. Two favorites

John Ford's "The Last Hot Time" - the Faerie folk (the uncanny, scary ones) come back and crash civilization, bringing magic back. The book is set in a post-apocalyptic Chicago. Very interesting tone.

Doris Lessing's "Shikasta", a semi-metaphysical description of the interaction of a wider, multi-dimensional reality with an Earth in the process of collapsing. Or is it actually recovering from a long "disease"?

[elocs]

62. I am rereading Alas, Babylon which I read and loved in high school in the late 60s.

I am amazed now at what a moron the main character is when it comes to preparation for a disaster. Being in Florida he does not seem capable of surviving a strong hurricane much less an atomic attack. It's a little hard getting through this book again.

[raccoon]

70. Elucidate, my dear Watson.

ALAS, BABYLON is a favorite book of mine. Mainly because of the personal growth of the main characters in the book.

Granted, it has flaws. Attitudes about race and sexism are rather dated. And it's true the characters enjoyed virtually ideal conditions, if you had to have an atomic war--warm climate, artesian well, etc.

And remember Randy didn't have but a few hours' warning about the coming nuclear war.

[Diego360]

68. Some titles you may enjoy by women writers...

and one male writer.
(Descriptions pasted from a rather large and impersonal bookseller)

Jean Hegland's Into the Forest:
Jean Hegland's prose in Into the Forest is as breathtaking as one of the musty, ancient redwoods that share the woodland with Nell and Eva, two sisters who must learn to live in harmony with the northern California forest when the electricity shuts off, the phones go out, their parents die, and all civilization beyond them seems to grind to a halt. At first, the girls rely on stores of food left in their parents' pantry, but when those supplies begin to dwindle, their only option is to turn to each other and the forest's plants and animals for friendship, courage, and sustenance. Into the Forest, an apocalyptic coming-of-age story, will fill readers (both teens and adults) with a profound sense of the human spirit's strength and beauty.

Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower:
Octavia E. Butler, the grande dame of science fiction, writes extraordinary, inspirational stories of ordinary people. Parable of the Sower is a hopeful tale set in a dystopian future United States of walled cities, disease, fires, and madness. Lauren Olamina is an 18-year-old woman with hyperempathy syndrome--if she sees another in pain, she feels their pain as acutely as if it were real. When her relatively safe neighborhood enclave is inevitably destroyed, along with her family and dreams for the future, Lauren grabs a backpack full of supplies and begins a journey north. Along the way, she recruits fellow refugees to her embryonic faith, Earthseed, the prime tenet of which is that "God is change." This is a great book--simple and elegant, with enough message to make you think, but not so much that you feel preached to

Jacqueline Harpman's I Who Have Never Known Men:
I Who Have Never Known Men is the first of Jacqueline Harpman's 10 novels to be translated from French. It is a chilling, surreal, speculative fiction as well as a novel of ideas. The story takes place after some unspecified great disaster--pandemic? global warming? nuclear holocaust?--and concerns a group of 40 women kept alive in an underground bunker. The women are watched over by mute, whip-toting male guards. The youngest woman in the group has no memory of life above ground and her elders conceal as much as they reveal about their predisaster lives.

Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake
In Oryx and Crake, a science fiction novel that is more Swift than Heinlein, more cautionary tale than "fictional science" (no flying cars here), Margaret Atwood depicts a near-future world that turns from the merely horrible to the horrific, from a fool's paradise to a bio-wasteland. Snowman (a man once known as Jimmy) sleeps in a tree and just might be the only human left on our devastated planet. He is not entirely alone, however, as he considers himself the shepherd of a group of experimental, human-like creatures called the Children of Crake. As he scavenges and tends to his insect bites, Snowman recalls in flashbacks how the world fell apart.

And certainly worthy of your time are the early novels of J.G. Ballard such as The Drought, The Wind from Nowhere, etc.

[YOY]

72. World War Z. The apocalypse with Zombies and Geopolitics.

n/t

[usualblacksheep]

74. Parable Of The Sower

And Parable of The Talents by Octavia E. Butler.

Pretty much the best post-Apocalypticish science fiction I've read in a while or at all for that matter.

[usualblacksheep]

75. I suppose

Most of Butler's work is post-Apocalypticish:

- Lilith's Brood aka the The Xenogenesis Trilogy
- Dawn
-Adulthood Rites
-Imago
And Seed To Harvest, she has several others I haven't read yet but I really recommend them, they are great.

[Rancid Crabtree]

76. Great thread...here's a few

This Perfect Day/Ira Levin...The Postman/David Brin...The Man in the High Castle/Philip K. Dick...Mirror Maze/James P Hogan/& The Legend That was Earth...Defiance/Oliver Lange...not really sci-fi, but a kind of distopia...Oath of Fealty/Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.