Looking for good Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Cafe Society
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I’ve found myself with a little extra time on my hands (near the end of financial year at work, so they’re keeping everyone’s hours down), and besides stepping up my own writing, I’ve decided to take the opportunity to read more books.

One of my favourite books is David Brin’s The Postman, and I’ve just finished reading A Canticle For Leibowitz (which I enjoyed immensely- Hurrah for Amazon!).

I’m also a huge fan of the Fallout PC games, and so I’d like to read more of the post-apocalytpic genre.

However, I’m looking for stuff that focuses on a Nuclear War, or a Biological Plague as the end of civilisation, rather than Alien Invasions or Zombies Walking The Earth.

I’m also not really after anything that’s too “Fantastic”- ie, no Magic/“Swords & Sorcery”.

A few people have suggested The Stand, but from the reviews I’ve read there’s a little too much in the way of general Stephen King Supernatural Weirdness in it.

I think most (if not all) of the people here are well-read and literate, so I’m hoping you can recommend some good post-apocalyptic fiction with which to swell my library!

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Harlan Ellison’s “A Boy and His Dog”

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My favorite is Earth Abides by George Stewart.

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Alas, Babylon - Pat Frank

Footfall - Niven/Pournelle

Lucifer’s Hammer - Niven/Pournelle

Dies The Fire - S. M. Sterling

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I’ll toss out No Blade of Grass by John Christopher. Not a nuclear war though.

You might want to look arond Empty World, a website devoted to post-apocolyptic fiction.

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I’d highly recommend A Canticle for Leibowitz.

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Eh . . . I didn’t really like this one. The hero is so whiny and unsympathetic that it’s hard to enjoy the story. He spends hundreds of pages mentally complaining about how much smarter he is than the other survivors, but doesn’t do anything about the problems they face. In fact, he

actively discourages the children from visiting the library by encouraging them to believe that it’s a sacred/forbidden place while simultaneously bemoaning the fact that they’re not well-educated.

There are also some uncomfortable eugenics/racism aspects which come from the time period in which the book was written, but don’t play well to a modern reader.

The hero thinks a retarded girl is better off dead, and abhors the idea of one of the children breeding with her. He also kills a stranger who enters their territory because he believes the man has a venereal disease and is sexually immoral. He also makes derisive comments about a settlement of black people.

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It’s not really post-apocalyptic fiction, but Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale certainly has some overtones. And it’s a great read. :slight_smile:

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Emergence - David Palmer

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I just read The Stand, and although there’s a general supernatural weirdness, there’s also a lot of people just having to deal with the fact that the world basically ended, and they have to start all over.

Stephen King’s Cell is also pretty good, with a little less supernatural weirdness (although there is some).

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Davy by Edgar Pangborn. Once of the greatest science fiction novels ever written. Pangborn also wrote The Judgement of Eve on the theme, making it into a future history; there’s even a timeline.

Samuel R. Delany’s The Einstein Intersection is definitely post-apocalypse (or, rather, post-post-post apocalypse), and unlike any other novel in the subgenre.

For short fiction, there’s Richard Wilson’s “Mother to the World.”

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I don’t know if they’re “great” or not, but I enjoyed them:

The book that was published with the title Re-birth and the Chrysalids by John Wyndham

The Gate to Women’s Country by Sherri Tepper

A Plague of Angels by Sherri Tepper

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And I forgot to add that I really liked David Palmer’s Emergence, too, which was already mentioned.

False Dawn Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

What, no one has mentioned Logan’s Run? William F. Nolan. I’m talking about the book, not the movie or TV series. Also Logan’s World and Logan’s Search though I think the first of the triology is the strongest.

Dreamsnake and The Exile in Waiting Vonda N. McIntyre

Technically, Cordwainer Smith’s entire Intrumentality of Mankind future history takes place post-apocalypse, but it’s mostly short stories (there’s just one novel in his opus, and it’s sort of “meh”). The ones earlier in the timeline have the most post-apoc feel. Particularly “Mark Elf” and “Queen of the Afternoon”. Smith’s style is… mmm… different. Not everyone likes it.

Not everyone likes these, but they definitely fall into the post-apoc category [WARNING! - homosexuality and bestiality. If sex with horses freaks you out, stay away from Motherlines): The Holdfast Chronicles: Walk to the End of the World, Motherlines, The Furies, Conqueror’s Child

The Stand is, yes, a Stephen King novel, however, it might be one that appeals to the post-apoc hunger in your. A lot of it really does fall into that category and the supernatural stuff, while there, is low key most of the book.

Farnham’s Freehold by Robert Heinlein is sort of post-apoc, but it’s also laughable in places. Not one of his best IMHO, nor one of the best in genre, but does fall into the category. If you’re looking for good post-apoc you might want to avoid this one.

Books that don’t exactly fall into the post-apoc group, but have some of that same feel to me:

Nightwings by Robert Silverberg

Steel Beach by John Varley

Half Past Human and The Godwhale by T J Bass

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Second the recommendation for Canticle for Liebowitz. Also:

Warday is an excellent novel about the aftereffects of a limited nuclear war, written by Whitley Strieber before his alien abduction fantasies caused him to vanish up his own objectively unprobed asshole.

For a somewhat more literary take, check out O-Zone by Paul Theroux, which considers the notion of apocalypse from a different perspective, brought about not by war or disease but by a collapse of broader culture. Has an extremely cynical and detached tone that may be off-putting to the casual reader; I thought it was difficult but rewarding.

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Thanks very much for the suggestions, everyone!

As I mentioned in the OP, I’ve just finished reading A Canticle For Leibowitz, and enjoyed it immensely- it’s going onto The Bookshelf Of Books I Read A Lot.

I’ve got Logan’s Run on my Amazon “To-Buy” list, (along with The Handmaid’s Tale) and I may add The Stand based on recommendations from here. I’ll see how the finances look in a couple of weeks…

I’ll do a little more research on some of the other suggested titles and see if they appeal… it’s so nice to be in the company of bibliophiles! :smiley:

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This is indeed excellent, but I think it’s a short story, so only found in a collection.

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Wow, I can’t believe that no one has beaten me to this gem:

On the Beach, by Nevil Shute.

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If you weant to try out an Australian author have a look at Sean McMullen’s Greatwinter Trilogy:

Souls in the Great Machine
The Miocene Arrow
Eyes of the Calculator

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How about “The Wild Shore”, from Kim Stanley Robinson’s Orange County trilogy?

The three books use the same cast in the same geographic location but under different historical settings. “The Wild Shore” (the first book) is dystopian, “The Gold Coast” (the second) is set in the near future and the third, “Pacific Edge” is utopian.

Have a look at http://www.strangewords.com/archive/pacedge.html

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Stephen Vincent Benet (“The Devil and Daniel Webster”, etc) wrote a post-apoc short story called “By The Waters of Babylon” that I remember as excellent.