I have read quite a but of dystopian/end of the world books from many different time periods. But, I am now looking for newer stuff. Since this type of literature may be affected by current events, I find it interesting to read the different books from different time periods to see if any common theme is represented in correlation to modern issues.
Do you all have any ideas for book written in the past 5 years on this topic?
I realize a lot today is about Zombies, and I am not closed to any topic, but any suggestions in the genre and discussions about their modern day parallels to general societal anxieties could prove an interesting discussion.
I recommend Jeff Carlson’s Plague series: Plague Year, Plague War, and Plague Zone. The basic idea is a nanotech program designed to cure cancer goes out of control and kills any warm-blooded animal. The only limit is that it shuts off at high altitudes. So the surviving members of humanity are living in isolated mountaintops. They can descend down the slopes but if they spend more than a few hours down there, they’ll die.
An obvious recommendation: The Road. If you’ve not read it, I give it the highest recommendation. In fact, I find it difficult to take other post-apocalyptic fiction seriously after reading it.
Yes, I did read that and I concur it was quit compelling. Above par for most books, of course this is why it was so critically acclaimed.
I was reflecting on that book when I read it in regards to modern concerns. The books is very vague about the “why”, it points to possibilities such as climate change, pollution, economic decline and conflict. Of course, I could have missed something huge.
What do you think was the most powerful anxiety expressed by the book?
I can’t believe I forgot “Wool.” Unfortunately the later installments tapered off in quality, but the first few were excellent so I’d still recommend it as worth the price.
One that’s somewhat dated now, but still a classic, is Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank.
It was written in 1959, (I think), but it’s interesting that the conflict that brought on the nuclear war was not a US vs. Soviet thing, but a mid-Eastern blowup.
The plot centers on a small community in Florida, and how they get by after the conflict. Racial issues of the day play a part in the story. The lack of electricity can be a killer too. One character’s mother dies because she’s diabetic, and even before she’s run out of insulin it can’t be chilled, and spoils.
The story gets a lot of little details that some neglect, and the last line of the book is devestating.
I recently finished The Last Man on Earth Club, and it was fantastic. It involved multi-dimensional apocalypses and has some of the most creative end-of-the-world scenarios I’ve ever read.
I wouldn’t be too quick to limit your reading to recent books if you haven’t read the older classics in the subgenre. An awr’ful awr’ful lot of newer books resonate with the older ones and read like updates with more modern jargon thrown in.*
A Canticle for Leibowitz* has to be high on that list, especially because of the way it… continues. I don’t know of any other tale that isn’t pretty linear within the story frame.
NIvenPournelle’s Lucifer’s Hammer is pretty good at portraying a global catastrophe and the extended recovery. And while it’s a little eepy-creepy-supernatural, King’s The Stand.
Perhaps you’ve resisted it’s siren lure but I’ll stand up and say The Hunger Games is a pretty decent little dystopian novel – I wouldn’t bother with the sequels though. You can get it free from the Kindle Lending Library, if you’re a Prime member.
My apologies if I was unclear. My intent was to indicate I read a lot of old stuff already and was looking for new. As you correctly pointed out, all of those are great ones. I have read Canticle, Lucifers, The Stand etc… But I may have missed one and thank you for the notes.
If you don’t mind a somewhat older suggestion (from 1994) check out The Harvest by Robert Charles Wilson. It’s a well-written end of the world novel and it’s unusual in that mankind ends in a way that’s not necessarily bad.