What are some great post-apocalyptic novels?

[eclipsenow]

.
WHY ARE WE STILL HERE LORD?
By: Mickey Smith

JESUSisGOD.com/WHYAREWESTILLHERELORD.pdf
.

Saintly Mic, isn't this spamming? Could you please not spam my thread? I find it really irritating. I don't know what your PDF is about or why you felt the need to come into my thread to push it, but this is NOT an End Times thread. I already debate stuff in far too many of those threads.

I'm simply talking novels in this thread. Please remove yoru spam or I'm thinking of asking the moderators what they think. Thanks.

 

[johnthewitness]

Swan Song was pretty good. Better than Stephen King's the Stand

 

[johnthewitness]

Also had some Biblical stuff in it if I recall

 

[RN4CHRIST]

A good quick read is the Wool series by Hugh Howey. He is a newish self published writer. The series was written as a novellas, but you can get them through Amazon. They are set in "silo" and you discover more about the world of the silo as the series goes on.

 

[keith99]

Some more worth mentioning.

Farnham's Freehold - Robert Heinlein

Very different. Before reading and accusing him of racism one should also read 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress' and 'Starship Troopers' (note Johnny Rico is NOT blond haired and blue eyed, anything but).

Not with a Bang - Damon Knight. The typical post apocalyptic setting. Not the typical story. (Short Story)

The Entire Berserker series by Saberhagen fits the definition.

As does the Known Space series by Niven.

Both these are mainly set well after the fall and rising from the ashes. The Berserker series has a nasty problem left form the previous fall. Known Space varies, from little reference to having somethign from the past that makes Sauron seem harmless in some ways. (A Thrint).

 

[clanless]

The Road

 

[eclipsenow]

The Road

Yes, it took me a long time to get over that one. Do NOT read this in one sitting late at night as my friend did. It's so bleak.

I was hoping for something with a little more village to it. You know, the struggles of rebuilding a civilisation amidst competing clans and villages and road-warriors. Less infant-cannibalism and bleak grey dust and wandering down the road with a man and a boy just trying to eat, and more community spirit and practical obstacles to overcome and ... some small spark of hope.

Don't get me wrong, The Road is brilliantly conceived and sumptuously written for such a bleak tale. The writing is so good you don't have that sense of let down, of 'we've been here before mate, there's no reason to have people sitting around in the dust complaining about the war because we've DONE that already'! No. The writing pulls you in and escorts you through horror after horror. But, as I said above, I'm not really going for horror and bleakness, but for struggle and a small dose of community living. Of family and loyalty and some beauty in that.

Regards

 

[William II]

The Vampire Earth series is very good, at least when I read it 2-3 years ago it was.

Vampire Earth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not like typical vampires, evil vampiric aliens enslaving humankind, etc.

 

[Gracchus]

I remember with some fondness, John Christoper's "the Death of Grass" (In the US, titled "No Blade of Grass") which as I recall was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post in the 1950's.

 

[SeanParnell]

Most of the PAW books seem to be long on gunfights, short on actual living. When I was younger I read the 'Ashes' series, but that was long ago. I did enjoy One Second After, but most of my PAW fix comes from t.v. and movies these days - Jericho probably being my favorite.

 

[SeanParnell]

Yes, it took me a long time to get over that one. Do NOT read this in one sitting late at night as my friend did. It's so bleak.

I was hoping for something with a little more village to it. You know, the struggles of rebuilding a civilisation amidst competing clans and villages and road-warriors. Less infant-cannibalism and bleak grey dust and wandering down the road with a man and a boy just trying to eat, and more community spirit and practical obstacles to overcome and ... some small spark of hope.

Don't get me wrong, The Road is brilliantly conceived and sumptuously written for such a bleak tale. The writing is so good you don't have that sense of let down, of 'we've been here before mate, there's no reason to have people sitting around in the dust complaining about the war because we've DONE that already'! No. The writing pulls you in and escorts you through horror after horror. But, as I said above, I'm not really going for horror and bleakness, but for struggle and a small dose of community living. Of family and loyalty and some beauty in that.

Regards

Agreed, haven't read The Road but I strongly prefer the community aspects of PAW fiction.

 

[eclipsenow]

Most of the PAW books seem to be long on gunfights, short on actual living. When I was younger I read the 'Ashes' series, but that was long ago. I did enjoy One Second After, but most of my PAW fix comes from t.v. and movies these days - Jericho probably being my favorite.

1. What do you mean by PAW?
2. Did Jericho go anywhere after the first season? Is it still on? It dropped off Australia's radar years ago.

 

[LadyNRA]

Mortal Engines, by Philip Reeve. This book is nominally a "young adult" novel but is in fact wonderfully entertaining for all ages. The premise is that after most of the world is devastated by nuclear war, the survivors gather into enormous mobile cities that roam across the planet. It may sound silly but the author pulls it off with flare. Very fast-paced, entertaining, and funny.

I've read this one. It was a YA book but yeah, it was a fun read.

 

[LadyNRA]

A Canticle for Leibowitz, Oryx and Crake, A Year of the Flood, Logan's Run (wasn't that a story first?), Some stuff by Andre Norton was in this genre wasn't it? Actually there were several authors of the 60s and 70s who did those stories about radiation or natural disasters that altered the earth and animals on it, so the adventurers had to get through the environment and creatures.

 

[South Bound]

PAW fiction has now become a favorite of mine. I suppose a favorite within a favorite as it could be deemed sci-fi.

I really liked Alas, Babylon and One Second After. However I did not particularly like The Postman.

What are some other good PAW books?

I liked One Second After. About the only thing I didn't like was that it ended so abruptly, as if he just ran out of ideas and decided to stop writing.

Other than that, Lights Out isn't bad. Patriots, by JW Rawles isn't bad, either.

I'm currently reading Phoenix Republic: The Lone Star Gambit. So far it's not bad. I think the characters have a bad habit of over explaining everything.

I like EOTWAWKI books, too.

There are some good ones out there. Unfortunately, because so many of them are self published, some of them are really awful.

I read one about a family who rode out a Carrington Event type disaster that was so bad, it was like reading a third grader's "What I Did Over My Summer Vacation" essay.

Also, don't know if you've seen it or not, but check out Jericho on Netflix.

 

[Sue S-H]

PAW fiction has now become a favorite of mine. I suppose a favorite within a favorite as it could be deemed sci-fi.

I really liked Alas, Babylon and One Second After. However I did not particularly like The Postman.

What are some other good PAW books?

Terri Blackstock series may be just what you're looking for. Post EMP, most of it is about a neighborhood coming together post collapse, how they cooperate to restore normalcy. They start church services, I don't recall foul language. Enjoyable.

 

[RageOfAngels]

I haven't got anything to add, as i don't read many novels! But I love post-apocalyptic stories.