Your best post-apocalyptic recs please?

[Raventongue]

I'm craving a binge on post-apoc fiction. I have a one major hangup, though- a crippling fear of drought, wildfires, nuclear holocausts and barren landscapes. So I need stories that rely on alternative methods of world-endiness. What's out there that's any good?

For the record, pestilence is fine. As is mass psychosis/murder/planetary genocide/etc. Anything that isn't hot, dry and fiery.

ETA: Nukes are actually okay under certain circumstances. Just no huge patches of scorched land or anything.

 

[Calla Lily]

King's The Stand

This is an old one: Darkness and Dawn by George Allan England. Try the library or used bookstores.

erm... I'm a huge fan of nuclear holocausts and barren landscapes, so that's all I got.

 

[lorna_w]

Maybe...

False Dawn, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. Eco-apocalypse

Into the Forest, Jean Heglund. Eco-apocalypse + economics, I think. Two sisters in California, literary style

I know you hate nukes, but if you haven't read it, Alas, Babylon--really holds up, penned by a forward-thinking guy for his era. This should be as beloved as On the Beach. No nukes explode in the book--they're safely away from the action.

 

[Kerosene]

Who Fears Death

I just was reminded of this one in a past thread. I loved it.

Also, DON'T READ the blurb of the book. I felt it gave too many things away. But that's your choice.

 

[Raventongue]

Huh, this got results quick. Thanks, peeps. I'll take a look at all those so far.

Well, except maybe The Stand, because I decided at some point I'd had enough King to last a lifetime. But now I'm terribly tempted.

 

[BigWords]

FWIW The Stand is his masterpiece. It is one of the few books I can read more than once a year and still find new things in.

 

[lorna_w]

Oh good, nukes without scorched landscapes, also Level 7 by Mordecai something is an interesting one. The people who get saved are on 7 levels buried in the earth; the narrator is on the lowest. It's very 50's in "the government can do no wrong," attitude of these military people. It gets a little totalitarian down there. And then things start to go really wrong. Bwah ha ha. Written by a guy who really wasn't a novelist (nor a native english speaker) but I liked it despite some prose flaws.

And you've seen the film Testament? That was based on a book, though I've never read it. Again, no nukes, just people in surburbia growing sicker and sicker

In my reading pile right now Oryx and Crake. I'll let ya know.

 

[Raventongue]

Ah, me and Ms. Atwood are like oil and water, but Level 7 sounds amazing.

I hadn't seen the movie of Testament.

And BW, I believe you may have sold me on The Stand! When King's bad, he's bloody awful, but when he's good, I'll bite the bait.

 

[lorna_w]

oh do watch Testament, then. Take a hankie.

 

[Williebee]

White Horse, by AWs own, Alex Adams.

 

[DarthPanda]

People seem to either love it or hate it, but I really, really loved The Road. If you haven't read it yet, check out a sample on Amazon. You'll probably know by the first few pages whether you'll be into it or not. It never tells exactly what caused the apocalypse.

 

[Raventongue]

Hmmm, I'm trying to decide whether I like Blood Meridian before I try The Road.

Actually, because I get weepy about anything when it comes to losing dads, I might never work up the ovaries to read The Road.

 

[Tnonk]

I can second Alas Babylon and The Stand, both great choices.
I did apost-apoc binge last year myself.

A few I can recommend -
Daybreak 2250 AD - Andre Norton - an oldie but a goodie for me.

More Recently -
The Island in the Sea of Time by S.M. Stirling (along with its two sequels) is a bit different by using an unknown event to transport the Island of Nantucket into the past.

Also by Stirling - Dies the Fire and it's sequels. Same unknown event but deals with the world the left behind after the island of Nantucket disappeared.
One of my favorite series.

A comet strike is the culprit in Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle - one of my yearly (or nearly so) reads.

There are plenty more out there to choose from.
A few more I can recommend are - I Am Legend - Richard Matheson, The Return - Richard Maynard, Battlefield Earth - L. Ron Hubbard.

Hope these help

Adrian

 

[Calla Lily]

Be warned: Testament made me want to slit my wrists at the end. It's very good, but ack.

I cannot stand anything Margaret Atwood, so I can't speak to her books.

The Road was too grim for me. Yet On the Beach wasn't. Great book, but grim. Also has one of the most brain-dead females in all literature. I frequently wanted to slap her.

 

[MaryMumsy]

I'll third or fourth or whatever The Stand. The long version. I re-read it about once a year.

Also one called A Canticle For Leibowitz. I can't remember the author, it's from the sixties or seventies. Someone borrowed my copy years ago and never gave it back. Hmmm, a project for my used book store girl.

MM

 

[Raventongue]

Oh my. So far some of these look awesome. *is excited*

 

[firedrake]

Another vote for 'On the Beach' from me, and 'The Stand'.

Also: 'Ende'. I can't for the life of me find it anywhere online. It was translated from German and it's an account written by a journalist in Germany, witnessing a nuclear holocaust.

Z is for Zachariah - It's a YA, but it's very bleak and good.

 

[DarthPanda]

Oh! I forgot about Wool!

It's a self-published indie title that has been released in serial form for some time now. You can get the first five installments in a single pack. I'm not sure if it was intended to be YA, but has a very YA vibe.

It DOES have a barren landscape element, but you don't spend more than a couple total pages in it. The bulk of the story takes place in a massive silo for survivors of an apocalypse that took place hundreds of years prior to the story. I really liked it. Amazon link. Rumor is Ridley Scott recently picked up the film rights.

 

[Kaiser-Kun]

Here's another vote for Dies the Fire. Imagine our current society struggling with all electricity and combustion engines (which include guns) suddenly failing.

 

[ExitTheKing]

Mark me as another vote for The Stand. Holy crap. I had gone on a Stephen King bender and, as much as I enjoy a lot of his work, I felt I had had enough to last a lifetime.

Then The Stand landed on my lap. One of my favorite books ever written and I never tire of it. If you read it, just let me recommend that you pick up the uncut version. Too much stuff was taken out for the original printing.

 

[lorna_w]

Another YA, The Eleventh Plague, Jeff Hirsch, with a male MC.

 

[Becky Black]

Another vote here for The Stand. I loved it. I read the whole 1400 pages of the uncut version in 10 days. I couldn't put it down. Though man, I wish I'd had the Kindle then, so I didn't have to lug that brick-thick paperback around!

But let me also chuck in The Day of the Triffids. Unusual civilization-ending event and then a gradually emerging threat to the survivors as the triffids of the title take advantage of the situation. Definitely a book that makes you ask yourself questions about what you think you'd do if you were in that situation.

 

[Devil Ledbetter]

Into the Forest, Jean Heglund. Eco-apocalypse + economics, I think. Two sisters in California, literary style

Came here specifically to recommend this one, but am happy to see Lorna_W beat me to it.

One thing I loved about this book was that the specifics of the world-ending event are never very clear to the POV character .... which is just as it would be if the civilized world ended and modern communication disappeared. How did it end doesn't matter so much as what ever will they do now?

 

[Raventongue]

Oh my. This is popular subject matter

Definitely checking that one out. And hopefully Wool! and Ende. Maybe even the YA ones, though it's been so long since I read YA I'm not sure I'd know what to do with it.

 

[Ellefire]

I also recommend "The Stand," and "Day Of The Triffids". Another one, though aimed at teenagers, is "Children of the dust", it's quite short but I really enjoyed it (From what I can remember, "Z for Zachariah" is another YA apocalypse gem).

Also, if you don't mind zombies being the cause, have you read WWZ by Max Brooks? It's zombies, but much more, human nature and the fall of civilisation make up the best parts of the book.