For some reason (maybe the I Am Legend trailers), my wife has come around to the notion that she needs to write a Last-Man-on-Earth novel because what she says she’s always been interested in* she’s never seen dealt with. I proposed that a good idea might be to explore some examples of the genre to see what others did “wrong” so she could use it as a springboard to better flesh out her own ideal version.
Now, I enjoy SF literature but am not particularly well-versed in it. What are some classic Last-Man-on-Earth novels? And when I say LMoE, I mean really the LMoE. I’m not talking about sparse post-apocalyptic societies or a handful of nuclear survivors. I’m talking about literature where for, let’s say 2/3 of the narrative (at least), our hero/ine is completely solo* and is under the impression (or conviction) that there’s, in all likelihood, nobody else out there. Although I haven’t read the Matheson story, Legend wouldn’t count because there are mutant/humans. I’m talking Castaway (Tom Hanks film) Alone.
Of course, short stories are welcome, too, and if there’s a collection of short stories around this particular theme, that’d be even better. What are some things I can recommend to her (with a preference for Bradbury-era writing and stylings)?
Thanks!
*Please don’t ask me to articulate it. I never quite understood what she had in mind, exactly.
**Non-talking pets don’t count.
The Last Man on Earth, edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin Harry Greenberg, Charles G. Waugh.
ISBN 0-449-24531-4
I think I got it from a friends of the library sale and I, from the location of the ersatz bookmarm, was 2/3 finished at some point within the last ten years (approx). Last man/woman/dog/it stories, if I may say, lack the interest of last random stranger stories. The Twilight Zone ep with Burgess Meredith still haunts me.
See, someone mentioned that in the IAL movie thread, and while it sounds like a great book, the Wiki link provided talks about him slowly assembling survivors and rebuilding civilization. That’s not what I’m looking for. If anything, the body count in the book should diminish, not increase, over time. She’s interested in the psychology of loneliness/memory/nostalgia specifically related to the certainty of being LMoE, not the determination of a near-LMoE slowly bringing humanity back from the brink.
Like I said–it sounds like the book’s great (I’m interested in getting a copy myself), but I guess I’m looking for something a little more narrow…
“Adam and No Eve” by Alfred Bester. The ending will blow you away – it’s a perfectly logical twist that no one has ever seen coming, and it really makes the story into more than just one of survival.
There’s also “Knock” by Fredric Brown.
“Not with a Bang” by Damon Knight also fits the criteria.
There aren’t many last man novels simply because there’s little you can do. If he is the last man, then there’s nothing to watch but to see him die. Not very interesting.
Sounds like a plan then (especially with RealityChuck’s selections). Keep 'em coming, but it looks like I’ve got a partial list to take to my used book store now…
Well, I came in here to mention Earth Abides, so I guess that’s out. You could try obtaining Algis Budrys’ “Some will not die” but it’s quite scarce, at least on this side of the pond. It’s not a classic-quality book, but it deserves a mention, as he presents a number of interesting theories on how we would suffer a post-apocalyptic world, and he deals with both nostalgia and later-time memory grief, as well as survivor’s guilt.
Also, trying out A Secret History of Time To Come can’t hurt you. It’s fairly good, if not what you’re looking for exactly.
In J.G. Ballard’s disaster novels, the protagonist is not usually the very last man on earth, but the population is usually continuing to diminish and his ultimate solitude is implicitly imminent. They tend to be about the inner, psychological changes these situations bring about, more than about the mundane struggle to survive. Hence their cult status, rather than widespread popularity. I’ve never felt the horror of loneliness so strongly as when I read Ballard’s Drowned World, High Rise, or Concrete Island.
In the graphic novel “Y: The Last Man”, the protagonist is literally the Last Man on earth. Granted, there are still all the women around, but Yorrick is literally the Last Man on Earth.
About that Bester story:
Was it about the surviving pilot of a rocket that used an Iron reaction drive, crawling towards the ocean? A drop of catalyst fell to earth, destroying all of it, and filling the world with ash…?
I came in to mention this. I stumbled across a used copy a few months ago and read the whole thing. “Knock” is in it (although I;'ve read it many times in other anthologies), and I think “Adam and No Eve”.
A lot of the other “Last Man on Earth” stories have already been mentioned. But i have to point out that Stewart’s Earth Abides isn’t a Last Man on Earth story. It’s post-disaster (worldwide plague wipes out most of humanity), but there are definitely other survivors, and progeny is left behind.
That actually happened in the short story Can These Bones Live? (by Ted Reynolds? Appears there’s at least two separate stories by that name): aliens visit a far future earth where humanity has long been wiped out, and resurrect a woman so that they can examine her and her reactions and decide whether ro resurrect everyone else.
And while I’m on the subject the thread title is sexist. :smack:
An interesting variant on the LMoE story is Roger Zelazny’s short story For A Breath I Tarry. One of my all time favorite stories. It’s more of a “First Man after the Last Man” story.
Not sure if this is violating any copyright (I suppose the mods will remove this link if so), but this site I found via Google has the story online. It seems transcribed (typed in) as there are numerous typos and spelling errors.
I remember a movie I saw late at night once about the last man on earth. He was a space pilot who got caught in a time warp. And when he reappeared there were no men left . There where however, lots of blonde women who were very happy to see him. Unfortunately it seems that since the men had died, clothing technology had completely been forgotten on Earth. The Women didn’t seem to care that much though, cause they were interested in learning some other things that had been forgotten. But I don’t want to spil the rest of the plot…
