# Looking for good Post-Apocalyptic Fiction
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 14, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691 "2006-05-14T01:28:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/1 "2006-05-14T01:28:24Z")
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!
---
### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/2 "2006-05-14T01:33:34Z")
Harlan Ellison’s “A Boy and His Dog”
---
### Author:  [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/3 "2006-05-14T01:38:10Z")
My favorite is [Earth Abides](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0449213013/qid=1147570640/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-0127001-4968177?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) by George Stewart.
---
### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/4 "2006-05-14T01:47:59Z")
[Alas, Babylon](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060931396/sr=8-1/qid=1147571133/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-6525025-8809760?%5Fencoding=UTF8) - Pat Frank
[Footfall](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345323440/qid=1147571178/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-6525025-8809760?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) - Niven/Pournelle
[Lucifer’s Hammer](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0449208133/ref=pd_bxgy_text_b/102-6525025-8809760?%5Fencoding=UTF8) - Niven/Pournelle
[Dies The Fire](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451460413/qid=1147571257/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-6525025-8809760?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) - S. M. Sterling
---
### Author:  [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/5 "2006-05-14T02:10:11Z")
I’ll toss out _No Blade of Grass_ by John Christopher. Not a nuclear war though.
You might want to look arond [Empty World](http://www.emptyworld.info/index.html), a website devoted to post-apocolyptic fiction.
---
### Author:  [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/6 "2006-05-14T02:13:06Z")
I’d highly recommend _A Canticle for Leibowitz_.
---
### Author:  [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/7 "2006-05-14T02:25:30Z")
> [@MLS](#):
>
> My favorite is [Earth Abides](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0449213013/qid=1147570640/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-0127001-4968177?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) by George Stewart.
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.
---
### Author:  [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/8 "2006-05-14T02:31:26Z")
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. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/9 "2006-05-14T02:33:13Z")
[Emergence](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553245015/qid=1147573831/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-6525025-8809760?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) - David Palmer
---
### Author:  [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/10 "2006-05-14T02:48:08Z")
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).
---
### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/11 "2006-05-14T03:00:33Z")
**[Davy](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/034530702X/102-0208242-4754521?v=glance&n=283155)** 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](http://www.geocities.com/edgarpangborn/pangtimeline.html).
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.”
---
### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/12 "2006-05-14T04:51:50Z")
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
---
### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/13 "2006-05-14T05:22:37Z")
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
---
### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/14 "2006-05-14T08:49:49Z")
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.
---
### Author:  [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/15 "2006-05-14T09:55:05Z")
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! 😃
---
### Author:  [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/16 "2006-05-14T10:04:16Z")
> [@Krokodil](#):
>
> Harlan Ellison’s “A Boy and His Dog”
This is indeed excellent, but I think it’s a short story, so only found in a collection.
---
### Author:  [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/17 "2006-05-14T10:27:12Z")
Wow, I can’t believe that no one has beaten me to this gem:
[On the Beach,](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345311485/104-6168449-1157532?v=glance&n=283155) by Nevil Shute.
> [@](#):
>
> They are the last generation, the innocent victims of an accidental war, living out their last days, making do with what they have, hoping for a miracle. As the deadly rain moves ever closer, the world as we know it winds toward an inevitable end…
---
### Author:  [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/18 "2006-05-14T11:12:56Z")
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
---
### Author:  [@puggyfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puggyfish)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/19 "2006-05-14T11:34:15Z")
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
---
### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2006, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691/20 "2006-05-14T15:00:09Z")
Stephen Vincent Benet (“The Devil and Daniel Webster”, etc) wrote a post-apoc short story called “[By The Waters of Babylon](http://www.cds.caltech.edu/~shane/text/babylon1.html)” that I remember as excellent.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-good-post-apocalyptic-fiction/356691.md?page=2)