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Post-Apocalyptic! End of the World books

Apocalypse Stories

Interesting thread. I just read "The Summer of the Apocalypse" by James Van Pelt and just started "Wastelands, Stories of the Apocalypse" an anthology with stories from the likes of: Stephen King, Octavia Butler, Gene Wolfe, George R. R. Martin and many more. The Van Pelt book is told from the viewpoint of a young teenager during the final plague and then from him as an old man traveling across the new world rising from the old. Interesting take on mankind's knowledge and technology. Wastelands is very good so far and it should be a good introduction to a variety of authors.
 
can't find the original thread Spark!

I nearly finished with A canticle to liebowitz by Watler Miller(thank you so much Peder!)It is a great one,there everything in it.Pontalba is also reading with same pleasure and i was wandering if Lenny read it.Been spot on in one of his genre of choice.
I also got the Saint Liebowitz and the wild horse woman
A pity Miller wrote so few books!


On more book that make you glad to be on this forum
 
A Canticle For Leibowitz is great! Very original and completely different from the other post apocalyptic books of the time, e.g. Earth Abides and On the Beach. I believe it came out in the 50's. I've never read the sequel that Miller wrote.

I'm currently reading Plague Year, about an out of control nanotechnology which decimates the Earth's population and the only way to survive is to get above an elevation of 10,000 feet where the nanos can't survive.
 
Some years ago I red a trilogy called Ashes... the author's name was William W Johnstone: he had a mid-west gunman travelling through a post apocalyptic america.
It was a rather brutal read, and upset me a lot then, so I presented the book to a friend of mine, when I heard there were not only three but a lot of books, I was certain I didn't want to read. But this friend simply loved them, he said it were the best books he'd ever red... tastes obviously differ...

If you read the WIKI-biography, you almost know what to expect *grin*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_W._Johnstone
 
Sounds like the Deathlands series by James Axler, I think he died after writing the first one, and there's been about 90 released since then.
 
Just read Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life As We Knew It. A meteor strikes the moon and pushes it closer to the Earth, this of course causes all kinds of problems, tidal waves, earthquakes, and volcanoes. All of this is told through the journal entries of 16 year old girl living in suburban northeast Pennsylvania. Aimed at young adults, it's good read and fans of the genre should seek it out. Reminded me a bit of Z for Zachariah. Pfeffer also wrote a semi-sequel, The Dead and the Gone, about the same event but told through the eyes of boy living in the Bronx.
 
Got it Lenny.Great advice as usual.
I read The last century after Beatrice by Amin Maalouf.It's not full blast apocalipse but an interesting study on a world colapse.A substance is created that assure the birth of male child,the probleme is,it is irreversible.You can imagine the success of it im most under-develloped countries,and so in a generation,the population is one woman for 20 man.At first the rich nation of the north are delighted by the prospect of reduced natality but soon realize that there might be some danger to an all masculine population.
Very good and well though.Scarry,a world of male only..

Currently and You really should get it Brief history of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier.End of humanity and After life.I'm nearly finished and this is pure coolness.First class in the genre.
I'll write something when finished.
 
Dying to Live - A zombie apocalypse novel that delves into the pysche of the protagonists, and humanizes the zombies.
 
I just finished the Drowned World by JG Ballard(recently deceased).It's excellent,the atmosphere of London(not Paris !)in sub tropical jungle with lagoons and iguanas,the submerge buildings,some mad scarvengers,all is there to make a very untertaining story.Short but good.
 
Not so much post apocalyptic as everyone's still around in it, but it has to do with a ancient civilization that faced the apocalypse by war..
THE ICE PEOPLE - Rene Barjavel i just randomly found it at a used store and was suprised how awesome it was.i think its the only book on amazon with reviews and everyone is 5 stars.

The Ice People - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
AquaBlue said:
Did anyone mention The Road by Cormac McCarthy?
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Several people, as the "Search thread" tool tells you, but it can stand to be mentioned again. Great book, that.

Disenthral said:
Not so much post apocalyptic as everyone's still around in it, but it has to do with a ancient civilization that faced the apocalypse by war..
THE ICE PEOPLE - Rene Barjavel i just randomly found it at a used store and was suprised how awesome it was.i think its the only book on amazon with reviews and everyone is 5 stars.

The Ice People - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Click to expand...

Sounds interesting. In fact, that's an interesting genre of books altogether; apocalypses set in the past. After all, people have thought they're living in the End Times pretty much for the entirety of human existence, almost every single religion promises an apocalypse at the end, and civilisations, faiths and ideologies have risen and fallen in rather apocalyptic ways... in a way, we've always been living in a post-apocalyptic society. I'd love to read a good post-apocalyptic novel set in, say, 6th century Italy (hmmm, Name of the Rose, anyone?)

I recently picked up a book whose title translates to "The Cozy Darkness of Apocalypse", which essentially argues that we like apocalypses. For various reasons, we want to believe that the end is nigh. (I haven't actually read it yet, I'm hoping to get to it soon.)

Which leads to a question for everyone: what's the appeal of post-apocalyptic literature - whatever the setting, whatever the reason, whatever the ideology? Why do we want to read about The End? Is it an inherently horrifying concept, or does it - as in the ending of many a novel or myth on the subject - have an element of comfort, of optimism? Is it about death, or rebirth, or neither?
 
The ice people seem very interesting and it's the segond time the name of Barjavel is brought back from a past i thought long burried(Driss Chraibi mention him in a bio as one of his favorite writer).He had the reputation of a space hippy,pot smoker,a typical 70's figure but it sound that there was more to him than just that.

Interesting developement BG,and what about your passion for zombies,could it come from the same impulses?
What specialy attrac me is the empty devasted citys for some raison.This is something.This fascinnation for ruins goes a long way back for it was a must in French paintings of the 18th century,"La poetique des ruines" with Hubert Robert as figurehead of the mouvement. His imaginary view of the Gallery of the Louvre as a Ruin is a good exemple.
Hubert Robert - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
what's the appeal of post-apocalyptic literature - whatever the setting, whatever the reason, whatever the ideology? Why do we want to read about The End? Is it an inherently horrifying concept, or does it - as in the ending of many a novel or myth on the subject - have an element of comfort, of optimism? Is it about death, or rebirth, or neither?
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I think it's about wondering what people in the future, apocaplyse or not, will think of us who resided in the past. Our fascination with ruins is part of that as well, in my opinion. I also think the optimism thing is spot on, we'd like to think that after a devastating global event, we'd still be mucking around, finding a way to mess things up again.
 
saliotthomas said:
Interesting developement BG,and what about your passion for zombies,could it come from the same impulses?
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:D It might, especially since a lot of zombie fiction is also apocalyptic by nature. But the zombie, and this might be a slightly different topic but what the hell, is a bit of a special creature in a couple of ways:
1. They're us. They're the only "classic" monster which is (usually) 100% Homo Sapiens Sapiens with no demon, animal spirit, alien or technological thingamawhatsit calling the shots. Which makes them very effective as a (more or less serious) parody of the worst sides of humankind.
2. They're dead. They're death incarnate, which is why they always win in the end. And which is why I always thought running zombies looked faintly ridiculous; death doesn't need to run to catch you. They don't (usually - I Am Legend and Land of the Dead are two classic exceptions) offer the "rebirth" theme that a lot of apocalypses do; after death there is no brain activity and no life as such.

lenny nero said:
I also think the optimism thing is spot on, we'd like to think that after a devastating global event, we'd still be mucking around, finding a way to mess things up again.
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True. But isn't there a certain tempting comfort as well in the idea that the world ends (and, optionally, is recreated) - that we know how it ends, as opposed to the idea that it just goes on somehow?
 
There's a show right now on The History Channel over here in the States called Life After People, about what the world would be like if something wiped us out.
 
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