Online short story: The Tolling of Pavlov’s Bells by Seanan McGuire
I second the recommendation. I happened to start reading this before COVID-19 hit the news and it has really helped me understand what’s going on. It’s spelled Quammen by the way.
I not sure I would recommend reading it but the GURPS Cyberworld playbook depicts a cyberpunk scenario where mega-corporations have taking over America after a stock market crash and a massive pandemic of a respiratory illness(with an even higher mortality rate than Covid-30% if i remember correctly).
Come to think most role-playing cyberpunk game are based around a similar scenario–stock market crash, pandemic, mega-corps take control. Cyberpunk 2027 and Shadowrun for example.
GURPS stand for Generic Universal RolePlaying System. Some there sourcebooks are interesting to read even if you don’t play the game.
Oh, I loved that book - it was going to be my first recommendation. I’ve read quite a few post -apocalyptic novels, many if them with a plague as the apocalyptic event. Most of the were really formulaic and unmemorable, knockoffs of The Stand, which was another great novel, BTW. But there have been a few that were different and really stood out.
The Second Sleep by Robert Harris
At the opening, this book appears to be set in rural England in the late Medieval era. It soon become clear that the story is happening in far future England where science is forbidden and considered heresy. A young priest travels to a remote town and finds its former priest and other residents have collected relics from the former civilization. The priest’s curiosity overrides his dogmatic training and he begins to piece together the clues telling the story of the former world and the disaster that destroyed it. I just started this one but it seems really good so far.
The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
A young time traveler takes a risk and visits medieval England during the time of the plague, as another disease threatens her own time and puts her at risk of being stranded.
A Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
An unusual literary novel about the plague that ends life on earth . The book is set a ghost world where souls reside as long as there is a living person that remembers them, and in Antarctica, where the members of an expedition are the last people affected by the plague. Their population dwindles to one, and the ghost world population shrinks to the people she knew in life. It’s been years since I read this, but I remember it being really evocative and beautiful and different.
Radicalized by Cory Doctorow - This is a collection of 4 novellas, it’s the last one that is the plague story. In that one, The Mask of the Red Death, a wealthy tycoon withdraws from the world and retreats to his well-equipped bunker with a select group of friends. It doesn’t work out well for them.
The other 3 stories - all politically charged stories set in the near future - are also excellent and I highly recommend this book.
I’ll finish rereading The Stand tonight, probably. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the book during these uncertain times. 