# Recommend some post-apocalypse tales
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 24, 2002, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520 "2002-07-24T06:13:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2002, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/1 "2002-07-24T06:13:43Z")
My wife just finished reading _Lucifer’s Hammer_ and now she wants some more stuff in that vein. She didn’t like _Earth Abides_ though. Any recommendations?
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2002, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/2 "2002-07-24T12:28:59Z")
**Davy** by Edgar Pangborn and **A Canticle for Liebowitz** by Walter M. Miller are the essential books in the genre. They have rarely been topped.
**The Postman** by David Brin is also quite good (even though the movie stinks).
Others:
**Emergence** by David Palmer
**The Parable of the Sower** and **The Parable of the Talents** by Octavia M. Butler. A different, and more frightening, type of apocalypse.
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### Author:  [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2002, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/3 "2002-07-24T12:32:07Z")
A tricky read, since it’s written phonetically:
**Riddley Walker** , by Russell Hoban
(set in post-holocaust suburban England many years later, as an illiterate child struggles to grasp the real meaning behind the mysticism associated with long-dead civilisation)
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### Author:  [@Sparrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparrow)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2002, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/4 "2002-07-24T12:42:47Z")
The Chyrsalids by John Wyndham and the Bird of Kinship series by Richard Cowper
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### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2002, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/5 "2002-07-24T13:40:58Z")
The “Battle Circle Trilogy” (Sos the Rope, Var the Stick, Neq the Sword) by Piers Anthony wasn’t bad. It’s not fantastic, but I have to admit, I really, really liked the ending.
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2002, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/6 "2002-07-24T14:08:44Z")
Wow, no one’s mention Nevil Shute’s _On the Beach_ yet? Grab it.
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2002, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/7 "2002-07-24T14:35:15Z")
Wow. Surprising that your wife didn’t like Earth Abides, as that’s generally regarded as one of the best entries in the field.
For my money, there’s a distinction to be drawn between apocalyptic fiction (which focuses on the disaster itself) and post-apocalyptic fiction (which focuses on what happens to civilizatuion after a disaster). I prefer the latter, meself.
Anywho, some more:
**Day of the Triffids** - John Wyndham (post-apocalyptic) (killer plants)
**Alas, Babylon** (mostly post-apocalyptic) (nuclear war)
**Shiva Descending** (apocalyptic) (meteor)
**No Blade of Grass** (A virus wipes out all grass species, including corn, wheat, and rice. Hard to find. Haven’t read this one yet. Anyone?)
**Greybeard** (post-apocalyptic) (humanity rendered sterile, and ages into oblivion)
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### Author:  [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2002, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/8 "2002-07-24T16:05:39Z")
When it comes to books, I haven’t read too many dealing with the subject matter, but **I Am Legend** is a pretty good one. It was used as the base for “The Omega Man.” The basic premise is that a virus has arrisen that’s turned mankind into vampires, all except one man. So, he spends his days wandering around, gatherins supplies, disposing of bodies, and hunting vampires, and spends his evenings hidding out in his run down house playing music really loud in order to drown out the sounds of the masses of vampires that gather outside his door and harrass him. Really interesting.
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### Author:  [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2002, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/9 "2002-07-24T18:32:14Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Sparrow \*
> \*\*The Chyrsalids by John Wyndham and the Bird of Kinship series by Richard Cowper \*\*
I also really liked “The Chyrsalids” (also known as “Re-Birth”).
Does Stephen King’s **The Stand** qualify as a post-apocalptic tale? If so, I highly recommend it.
Harlan Ellison’s novella **A Boy and His Dog** might float your wife’s boat. Then again, maybe not.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2002, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/10 "2002-07-24T19:14:09Z")
Hard to top **A Canticle for Leibowitz** by Walter Miller. (No relation)
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### Author:  [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2002, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/11 "2002-07-24T19:30:31Z")
I don’t read much in this genre but **Leibowitz** was awesome. I highly recommend it.
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### Author:  [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2002, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/12 "2002-07-24T19:40:57Z")
**Terra** by Stefano Benni.
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### Author:  [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2002, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/13 "2002-07-24T20:37:46Z")
Well, this seems like as good a place as any to ask a question that’s been bugging me for a while. I apologize in advance to **sturmhauke** for the semi-hijack.
I read a short story in high school, I don’t remember the author, but I _thought_ the title was By the Waters of Babylon. It was quite short, and post-apocalyptic in a roundabout way. The main character visits a ruined city, and sees bits of signs, eg: “Sub Tre” (sub treasury?) or something like that. Does anyone else remember this tale? Do I have the title right or have I been listening to just a bit too much Bob? I remember **really** liking it, and would enjoy reading it again.
bella
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2002, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/14 "2002-07-24T21:57:50Z")
_Re-Birth_ by John Wyndham (1955) is one that made a big impression on me as a kid. In the northern hemisphere, the only survivors of a nuclear war are a small community in Labrador. As a religious mandate, they kill all infants that display any radiation-induced mutations, and sterilize any adults in whom mutations reveal themselves in later life. Several children in this community realize they have telepathic powers and try to keep their “difference” secret.
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### Author:  [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2002, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/15 "2002-07-24T22:05:31Z")
Damn you Elvis!! I was going to suggest that!! I am Legend was good IMHO.
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### Author:  [@Doubting\_Robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubting_Robert)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2002, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/16 "2002-07-24T23:28:53Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by El Elvis Rojo \*
> \*\*When it comes to books, I haven’t read too many dealing with the subject matter, but **I Am Legend** is a pretty good one. It was used as the base for “The Omega Man.” \*\*
It was also the source material for the earlier and more faithful to its source movie, “The Last Man on Earth.” I greatly prefer that version to “The Omega Man,” despite its very low budget.
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### Author:  [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2002, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/17 "2002-07-25T00:49:35Z")
Swan Song - Robert R. McCammon
The Shining - Stephen King
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### Author:  [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2002, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/18 "2002-07-25T01:17:40Z")
originally posted by **belladonna**
> [@](#):
>
> I read a short story in high school, I don’t remember the author, but I thought the title was By the Waters of Babylon.
Yes, it’s by Stephen Vincent Benet; it was actually written in the 1930s, thus being one of the groundbreakers for the genre.
The story was in my eighth-grade literature textbook. 🙂
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### Author:  [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2002, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/19 "2002-07-25T02:05:30Z")
Yes!
Thanks **Neidhart** , you’re my hero for the night. 😃
bella
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### Author:  [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2002, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-post-apocalypse-tales/120520/20 "2002-07-25T02:29:24Z")
[By the Waters of Babylon](http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Column/1122/BABYLON1.htm)
Here’s a link to the story in full, in case anyone’s interested. Like I said, it’s pretty short, and a great read.
“Perhaps, in the old days, they ate knowledge too fast.”
::shiver::
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