posted
I'm surprised that this didn't make it to the list, Terry Brooks' Shannara Series. SO made the point when he was going on about Armageddon's Children that the whole series is post-apocalyptic.
ETA: Chiming in on some of the other suggestions:
Earth Abides - This one is a must. I can't even being to count the number of times I've bought and lent out this book. It's worth it.
Day of the Drones I remember reading this in high school. The only copies you'll find are used, unless they've reprinted it again.
Aftermathp/i] - It's an interesting read, but you're better off finding it in a library than buying it.
[i]Children of the Dust - Another book that can only be found used. A very interesting read.
-------------------- Tom, we're flying a giant robot into space! "Safe" isn't the first word that springs to mind! - Colleen, Last Hope, Vol.2 Posts: 2710 | From: Meet me in St. Louis | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Maybe it is because the Shannara series is post-Apocalyptic on another world? It has been awhile since I read them, but IMS, they were set on not-Earth. To me, PA is set on Earth or on planets or colonies setup by Earth-descended humans and deals with the aftermath of the destruction (or near-destruction) of Earth.
-------------------- IIRC, it wasn't the shoe bomber's loud prayers that sparked the takedown by the other passengers; it was that he was trying to light his shoe on fire. Very, very different. Canuckistan Posts: 3694 | From: Arizona | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Edmund Cooper wrote some pretty good post-apocalyptic sci-fi, my favourite would be The Cloud Walker, but All Fools' Day is also very good.
And I can't believe that Farnham's Freehold hasn't got a mention yet given the amount of snopesters who are Heinlein fans.
-------------------- "You learn something new every day if you're not careful" - Wilf Lunn Posts: 893 | From: Durham City, England | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by GenYus: Maybe it is because the Shannara series is post-Apocalyptic on another world? It has been awhile since I read them, but IMS, they were set on not-Earth. To me, PA is set on Earth or on planets or colonies setup by Earth-descended humans and deals with the aftermath of the destruction (or near-destruction) of Earth.
I thought the same thing - magic, can't be on this world, and that's what threw me. But after reading Armageddon's Children (a good use of my Labor Day weekend, heh), I think that Brooks purposely made it feel that way. The whole story could be on just about any world, not just ours.
Also, my view of PA was that it didn't necessarily have to be on Earth. It could be any planet that has intelligent life and is facing extinction/destruction by either the hand of man (nuclear war or other means, including pollution) or by nature itself.
-------------------- Tom, we're flying a giant robot into space! "Safe" isn't the first word that springs to mind! - Colleen, Last Hope, Vol.2 Posts: 2710 | From: Meet me in St. Louis | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'll third the recommendation for Earth Abides. Very great novel.
Can someone help me remember the title of a novel I read years ago. The Earth somehow splits into two alternative universes; Only women exist on the one Earth, only men on the other. The novel deals with how each gender copes without the help of the other. (Guess who copes better. Go on. Guess. )
Posts: 1651 | From: Columbus, Ohio | Registered: Aug 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
The Postman. I only read enough of it to know that it is set in my 'backyard'. That is a little too close to home--literally--for me!
quote:Originally posted by Stoneage Dinosaur: And I can't believe that Farnham's Freehold hasn't got a mention yet given the amount of snopesters who are Heinlein fans.
Hmmm... In a small way the Lazurus Long books are a bit "post-apocalyptic". All of the 'smart' people have left Earth to colonize other planets because the "Green Hills of Earth" are no longer green. (It's a stretch, I suppose.)
-------------------- "I'm not Irish, I'm Celtic. The difference? Celts cut off your head and put it on their door lintel." --Aimee Evilpixie "People are bastard-covered bastards with bastard filling."--Scrubs Posts: 269 | From: Oregon | Registered: Apr 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Old thread, but I had to add Octavia Butler's Exogenesis trilogy (now availiable in one convienient volume!). Actually, many of her works fall under this catagory. Parable of the Talents and Parable of the Sower are others.
Both Tepper and Willis do quite a bit of work in this genre.
Of course, The Handmaid's Tale by Atwood.
I remember enjoying Vonnegut's Galapagos in high school. Don't know about now.
Neil Stephenson's books deal with this as well. I recommend the Diamond Age.
And Tanith Lee's Biting the Sun is just good, plain, post-apocolyptic joy.
-------------------- So many spankings! It feels so good! But at the same time, I don't care about meeting your family! - I'mNotDedalus: Posts: 3216 | From: Denver, CO | Registered: Dec 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Ryda Wong: Old thread, but I had to add Octavia Butler's Exogenesis trilogy (now availiable in one convienient volume!). Actually, many of her works fall under this catagory. Parable of the Talents and Parable of the Sower are others.
I read Parable of the Talents in high school, but never knew it was one of two! That probably explains why I was so confused for the first half.
I'm not sure if this counts as post-apocolyptic (in fact I'm sure it doesn't), but I always recommend The Handmaid's Tale. It's like the feminist's nightmare version of 1984.
-------------------- "Are we talking misdemeanor trouble or squeal like a pig trouble?" Posts: 618 | From: Ann Arbor, Michigan | Registered: May 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
"The difference between quote and edit" waffles
-------------------- So many spankings! It feels so good! But at the same time, I don't care about meeting your family! - I'mNotDedalus: Posts: 3216 | From: Denver, CO | Registered: Dec 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Ryda Wong: Old thread, but I had to add Octavia Butler's Exogenesis trilogy (now availiable in one convienient volume!). Actually, many of her works fall under this catagory. Parable of the Talents and Parable of the Sower are others.
I read Parable of the Talents in high school, but never knew it was one of two! That probably explains why I was so confused for the first half.
I'm not sure if this counts as post-apocolyptic (in fact I'm sure it doesn't), but I always recommend The Handmaid's Tale. It's like the feminist's nightmare version of 1984.
ETA: I'll miss Butler. She died way too young.
Dude! I totally spanked you on the handmaid's tales. I absolutly think it qualifies. It occurs after an apocolypse when society has reformed in a scary, scary way.
Ryda "Post-apocolyptic fiction makes me hot" Wong.
-------------------- So many spankings! It feels so good! But at the same time, I don't care about meeting your family! - I'mNotDedalus: Posts: 3216 | From: Denver, CO | Registered: Dec 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
You know, it's really funny when the person who spanks you (ouch!) is also the person you quoted. I got all tumultuous when I saw the Butler and read no further!
-------------------- "Are we talking misdemeanor trouble or squeal like a pig trouble?" Posts: 618 | From: Ann Arbor, Michigan | Registered: May 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Oceanic Aura: You know, it's really funny when the person who spanks you (ouch!) is also the person you quoted. I got all tumultuous when I saw the Butler and read no further!
Can't say as I blame you. Butler should make everyone just a bit excited.
-------------------- So many spankings! It feels so good! But at the same time, I don't care about meeting your family! - I'mNotDedalus: Posts: 3216 | From: Denver, CO | Registered: Dec 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
It isn't really a novel, but The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury deals with the gradual destruction of human civilization, and some of the later stories could definitely be considered post-apocalyptic (There Will Come Soft Rains is a classic example, but there are others as well).
Posts: 417 | From: Escondido, California | Registered: Jun 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Ryda Wong: And Tanith Lee's Biting the Sun is just good, plain, post-apocolyptic joy.
I prefer the sequel, Drinking Sapphire Wine.
Also for YA there is Jean Karl's The Turning Place and Strange Tomorrow.
-------------------- "I have never in my life been more disappointed by a politician I voted for than I have been with George Bush. He is a total liberal."- overheard by me on the shuttle to the U of A game on Nov. 11th. Posts: 3878 | From: Tucson, AZ | Registered: Jan 2001
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Oceanic Aura: I'm not sure if this counts as post-apocolyptic (in fact I'm sure it doesn't), but I always recommend The Handmaid's Tale. It's like the feminist's nightmare version of 1984.
I'll second that. Fantastic book!
-------------------- Brosandi. Hendumst í hringi Höldumst í hendur Allur heimurinn óskưr Nema ₫ú stendur Posts: 694 | From: York, UK | Registered: Jul 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Oooh, I just finished The Handmaid's Tale a few days ago. It gave me the creeps in a very well-written way!
-------------------- Last year's goat was burned down by vandals dressed up as Santa Claus and the Gingerbread Man. They were never caught. My blog. The Adventures of the Fish O'Thwacking. Countdown: 177 days (or less!) Posts: 4926 | From: NW Ohio | Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Thanks so much for all the new ideas. I got tired of checking Amazon lists that all had the same books!
-------------------- "Maybe getting in the last word doesn't really mean you win." - The Clarks Posts: 486 | From: Pittsburgh, PA | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Dies the Fire by S. M. Stirling. I've been reading this and its sequel The Protector's War. I'm waiting for the third book to come out in paperback. Basically engines stop working, explosives won't explode (they kind of fizzle) and a lot of other things suddenly stop working.
-- M (where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth shattering Kaboom!)
-------------------- Gown removed carelessly. Head, less so. - Joss Whedon Posts: 305 | From: Chicago | Registered: Oct 2000
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Muridae: Dies the Fire by S. M. Stirling. I've been reading this and its sequel The Protector's War. I'm waiting for the third book to come out in paperback. Basically engines stop working, explosives won't explode (they kind of fizzle) and a lot of other things suddenly stop working.
-- M (where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth shattering Kaboom!)
I have this one on its way from Booksfree.com. I didn't know there was a sequel, so I'll get that on there too. Thanks!
-------------------- "Maybe getting in the last word doesn't really mean you win." - The Clarks Posts: 486 | From: Pittsburgh, PA | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Horse Chestnut: Can someone help me remember the title of a novel I read years ago. The Earth somehow splits into two alternative universes; Only women exist on the one Earth, only men on the other. The novel deals with how each gender copes without the help of the other. (Guess who copes better. Go on. Guess. )
I know I'm quoting myself, but it was driving me crazy trying to remember this book, and I finally found it! Philip Wylie's The Disappearance. I read this in the 80s and it held up remarkably well.
posted
The "Magic Time" trilogy is an alright example of post-apocalyptic fiction. IMHO, though, it kinda degenerates in the second book, and the third just gets glurgy. YMMV, of course.
Posts: 213 | From: Point of Rocks, MD | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Have you checked out "World War Z" by Max Brooks? It's structured as an oral history of the nearly world-ending war of us, the living, against the living dead. I know it's a bit sf/horror, but it is entertaining and well written. It's new in hardcover.
-------------------- When Hell is full, the dead will walk to work. Posts: 32 | From: Orange County, CA | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I just read about this in Newsweek, and it sounds like it's right up your alley: The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. Going by the review though, it does sound like a very grim novel.
Posts: 1651 | From: Columbus, Ohio | Registered: Aug 2004
| IP: Logged |
It's a rather "realistic" look at what the USA might look like after a limited nuclear war. In my opinion it is one of the better Post Apocalyptic books around since it is more like what would happen.
-------------------- Defender of dragons and slayer of fair maidens Posts: 83 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Aug 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Monster of Samos: Have you checked out "World War Z" by Max Brooks? It's structured as an oral history of the nearly world-ending war of us, the living, against the living dead. I know it's a bit sf/horror, but it is entertaining and well written. It's new in hardcover.
Typically, I don't buy hardbacks, but I have this on my Amazon wish list.
BTW, awesome sig line.
-------------------- "Maybe getting in the last word doesn't really mean you win." - The Clarks Posts: 486 | From: Pittsburgh, PA | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
The third book in S. M. Stirling's trilogy is called "Meeting at Corvallis". I'm about halfway through (one of the perks of working at a library). Great read!
I'll second the recommendations for David Brin's "The Postman", Walter Miller's "A Canticle for Liebowitz", and John Wyndham's "The Chrysalids". "Canticle" has a sequel whose name I can't recall. Something about a buffalo, I think? I started it twice, but never got past about page 10. Also, it may be worth noting that Wyndham's "The Chrysalids" was retitled "Re-birth" when it was republished in the 1980's. Interestingly, most of the lyrics from the Jefferson Airplane's song "Crown of Creation" can be found in this book, published originally about a decade before the Airplane took off.
Roger Zelazny's "Damnation Alley" and Steven Wilson's "The Last Traveller" are both pretty shallow, bubble-gum reads about Hell's Angels types in a post-Collapse North America. Entertaining in a once-but-not-twice kind of way.
And one of the old-time classics is a short story by Stephen Vincent Benet, titled "By the Waters of Babylon". It was one of the very rare examples of full-on science fiction that made its way into an English Lit'triture class I took in college, back in the early 70s.
Dog ("Soon you'll attain the stability you strive for, in the only way that it's granted. A place among the fossils.") Friendly
-------------------- "Nobody ever got stoned and beat up his old lady" -- Spence, snapdragonfly's friend Posts: 768 | From: North Hollywood, CA | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
Can someone help me remember the title of a novel I read years ago. The Earth somehow splits into two alternative universes; Only women exist on the one Earth, only men on the other. The novel deals with how each gender copes without the help of the other. (Guess who copes better. Go on. Guess. )
Was it The Left Hand of Darkness by LeGuin?
-------------------- Leashes?! We don't need no stinking leashes!! Posts: 4771 | From: The Berkeley of the East Coast: Montgomery County MD | Registered: Mar 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Nope. "The Left Hand of Darkness" is set on another world entirely, Gethel I think, also known as "Winter". Its inhabitants, definitely not human, are neuter most of the time, but become randomly male or female for a few days each month. The story is told from the viewpoint of the Earth-human ambassador to this world, as he tries to come to terms with the cultural differences he encounters.
Dog (Not Earth, and not post-Apocalyptic) Friendly
-------------------- "Nobody ever got stoned and beat up his old lady" -- Spence, snapdragonfly's friend Posts: 768 | From: North Hollywood, CA | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Horse Chestnut: I just read about this in Newsweek, and it sounds like it's right up your alley: The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. Going by the review though, it does sound like a very grim novel.
That sounds AWESOME! Thanks! ETA: Whoop! Just found it in the Review Stack. SWEET.
-------------------- So many spankings! It feels so good! But at the same time, I don't care about meeting your family! - I'mNotDedalus: Posts: 3216 | From: Denver, CO | Registered: Dec 2005
| IP: Logged |
Can someone help me remember the title of a novel I read years ago. The Earth somehow splits into two alternative universes; Only women exist on the one Earth, only men on the other. The novel deals with how each gender copes without the help of the other. (Guess who copes better. Go on. Guess. )
Was it The Left Hand of Darkness by LeGuin?
No, it wasn't LeGuin, DawnStorm. I finally found the answer myself and posted it. You can find it further up this page, dated 9-16.
Posts: 1651 | From: Columbus, Ohio | Registered: Aug 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Finite Fourier Alchemy: For the OP I would suggest Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, which made a 13 hour flight quite bearable.
Would like to second Oryx and Crake. Reading it at the moment, and it's a perfect counterpoint to the current misery of my pre-apocalyptic life. It'd be a great book in any case.
Posts: 238 | From: Ireland | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
)
![[lol]](graemlins/lol.gif)
