Apocalyptic Fiction (For Pageclot and all interested)

[lambchops]

I'm a huge, huge, huge (did I mention HUGE?) fan of Apocalyptic fiction. I've collected as many books as I could get my hands on but there are still dozens and dozens I have yet to dig up. So many are out of print that it makes acquiring them rather challenging. In any case, there is an awesome site called Emptyworld that provides the best info I've found on the net. Unfortunately, it's not complete and I've had to augment that list with other things I've found...

In any case, here's a list of my Apocalyptic Fiction novels:


A Boy And His Dog - Harlan Ellison
A Canticle for Liebowitz - Walter Miller
Alas Babylon - Pat Frank
Crystal World - JG Ballard
Davy - Edgar Pangborn
Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
Death of Grass - John Christopher
Descent - Jeff Long
Dr. Bloodmoney - Philip K. Dick
Earth Abides - George Stewart
Emergence - David Palmer
Eternity Road - Jack McDevitt
Fail Safe - Eugene Burdick
False Dawn - Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Farnham's Freehold - Robert A. Heinlein
Folk on the Fringe - Orson Scott Card
Genocides - Thomas M. Disch
Gift Upon the Shore - MK Wren
Glimmering - Elizabeth Hand
He, She and It - Marge Piercy
I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
Into the Forest - Jean Hegland
Last Ship - William Brinkley
Level 7 - Mordechai Roshwald
Long Tomorrow - Leigh Brackett
Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven
Make Room! Make Room! - Harry Harrison
Nature's End - Whitley Strieber, James W. Kunetka
New Madrid Run - Michael Reisig
Night of the Triffids - Simon Clark
On The Beach - Nevil Shute
Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood
Parable of the Sower - Octavia Butler
Parable of the Talents - Octavia Butler
Planet of the Apes - Pierre Boule
Portent - James Herbert
Postman - David Brin
Revelations - Clive Barker, et al
Riddley Walker - Russell Hoban
Rift - Walter J. Williams
Shiva Descending - Gregory Benford, William Rotsler
Some Will Not Die - Algis Budrys
Stand - Stephen King
Swan Song - Robert McCammon
The Handmaind's Tale - Margaret Atwood
This is the Way the World Ends - James Morrow
Warday - Whitley Streiber and James Kunetka
When The Wind Blows - Raymond Briggs
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang - Kate Wilhelm
Wild Shore - Kim Stanley Robinson
Wind From Nowhere - JG Ballard
Wolf and Iron - Gordon Dickson
Year Zero - Jeff Long
Z For Zachariah - Robert C. O'Brien

If you all know of any other books I've yet to own, let me know. I've got a "to buy/find/steal/etc..." list also which I'm not going to put here as I think it just makes sense that it's everything I've yet to own. I'm particularly interested in finding some early Apocalyptic Fiction from classic authors like Mary Shelley and Jack London. Uh. Yeah.

Did I mention I REALLY love Apocalyptic Fiction?

[pageclot[$]]

To that list, you could probably add:

- The Last Canadian (can't remember the author, but it's a superflu book)
- The White Plague (I think Frank Herbert wrote that one)
- Can't remember the title, but it's another one by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven, (or maybe just Jerry Pournelle) about the world being taken over by the ancient ancestors of the elephants.

But most of these I haven't heard of.

I guess AF falls naturally into different categories:

- Disease
- We brought it on ourselves (Global Warming, bombs, etc)
- Aliens
- Asteroids

Any other categories?

[lambchops]

I'd split the "we brought it on ourselves" into nuclear (because the amount of books on the topic) and environmental. The former is a personal favorite and the latter is particularly interesting today. I've read a few recently that have been more or less about our resources just petering out. One, Into the Forest, is of that kind.

I already had the James Herbert on my "to buy" list. Unfortunately, his books are rather difficult to find. The others you recommended are new to me--The Last Canadian and the other Pournelle/Niven collaboration. Hmmm...must add them! I highly suggest you check out some of the books I mentioned. The Parable books by Octavia Butler are incredible. Swan Song (Robert McCammon) has always been a favorite also. MK Wren's A Gift Upon the Shore is pretty incredible as is When the Wind Blows--a chilling graphic novel packaged (strangely enough) as a children's book. Ha!

[lambchops]

Oh! And Earth Abides! That was the basis for Stephen King's The Stand (which of course is incredible). It was that book that inspired King. And it's pretty incredible.

[lynnzop[$]]

Earth Abides...by whom? I have got to find that if it's the basis of The Stand.

You are forgetting the whole Left Behind series. Horrible, horrible writing, but interesting concept in general. Anyone who wants to read a good book should be warned away from the series (although it's like a train wreck or a James Patterson novel. So awful you don't want to, but you can't help yourself in reading the darned things.)

[lambchops]

George Stewart was the author of Earth Abides...

And yeah. Left Behind. I refuse to acknowledge that mess. A lot of the AF books have some basis in religion (though there is an increasing number that do not) and, well, I just hate things that come off as propeganda. Honestly, I've purposefully avoided them. Thanks though BTW, I have only actually liked ONE James Patterson. He's written, what 50 books in the last decade? And to find just ONE that's mildly interesting doesn't bode well in my book for his as a writer.

[emeleel]

Oooo, "Z for Zechariah"... that was my first apocalyptic fiction book. I read it several times as a kid.

I wouldn't say that I LOVE ap. fiction, but I find the occasional one that I like. I had Oryx and Crake picked out at the library the other day, but had to put it back because I had one too many.