What is your favorite apocalyptic fiction?

[rlyeezz2]

agree with a lot on here. One that I have not seen mentioned is "the host" by stephanie meyer.

 

[Asp]

Mostly the classics, like:
- I am Legend / Omega Man, and,
- Soilent Green
- Planet of the Apes (the original series)
- Postman

Runner ups: Waterworld, Madmax, for giggles

But, on a more serious note:
-Book of Eli, and
-Left Behind series, because it is the better one of the at least loosely based on Apocalypse/Revelations.

Wow you named at least 4 I already was going to write!
If you liked Omega Man, you should see The Last Man on Earth (1964).
Big +1 to Left Behind (the books).

Films: The Road, When Worlds Collide (first saw it on LaserDisc), Dawn of the Dead (original)
Book: World War Z (the audio book was great)

 

[elkoholic79]

RED DAWN!!!!! the new one is suposed to come out soon in theaters

 

[gaijinsamurai]

Survivors, by Rawles

One of the worst books I've ever read. For an ex-US Army intelligence officer, he should know that English is spoken in Belize, not Spanish. Also, it seemed to have been thrown together, with little thought to building a plot. I pretty much skipped entire chapters as being irrelevant to the story.

I'd have to choose Lucifer's Hammer, The Road, and The Stand, as well as some of the zombie books that have come out in recent years. I especially liked Day By Day Armageddon and Brooks' World War Z
.

 

[A.I.P.]

I have read a few excellent novels during the past year that take place during/after an apocalyptic event, or describing the breakdown of society from within. Alas Babylon by Pat Frank and Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle come to mind immediately, and Cormac McCarthy's The Road may be the best post apocalyptic novel I have ever read.

I would be interested to hear from you about your favorite novels in this genre.

McCarthy's novels are metaphors for man's inhumanity to man, essentialy a retelling of horrible historical fact.
Fiction always seems to pre-tell future events. In the 1890's EG Buroughs predicted auto-cannon projectiles using depleted uranium, so there is precident to use fiction as a learning tool. There is so much pulp fiction out there I suggest you google for recomendations, go to www.quiteearth.com and other sites devoted to that genre
BTW "Lord Kimbote" I get the referance, X-Files

 

[aflineman]

Wolf and Iron

 

[Ballistic]

Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny. The movie was awful.
Chrysalids, by John Wyndham.
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. Apocalypse by alien takeover. The movie was also awful.
The Vampire Earth series by E. E. Knight. I've read only the first 4 books. More of a "vampire" takeover in a post-apocalyptic setting.
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. On of the very first post-apocalyptic sci-fi.

 

[jp1985]

IMO the Road.

 

[A.I.P.]

Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny. The movie was awful.
Chrysalids, by John Wyndham.
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. Apocalypse by alien takeover. The movie was also awful.
The Vampire Earth series by E. E. Knight. I've read only the first 4 books. More of a "vampire" takeover in a post-apocalyptic setting.
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. On of the very first post-apocalyptic sci-fi.

Day of the Triffids was remade by BBC in the 1980's? Still sucked

 

[Lord Kimbote]

+1 A.I.P.

 

[kenno]

I never read Canticle however I do know what a That canticle was, but I aint saying

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Wolf and Iron

A bit amateurish but well worth the read

 

[kenno]

Why read fiction?
The real socitial breakdown is outside your door.

 

[billdeserthills]

Anything & everything by James Axler
Deathlands has over 80 titles & I don't recall how many Outlanders books exist.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Why read fiction?
The real socitial breakdown is outside your door.

Because it prepares the mind

 

[saxon]

because had you been reading H G wells
or George Orwell you would have seen what is out side your door comming and would
(like some of us) been trying to warn people all this time what is reallly going on

Why read fiction?
The real socitial breakdown is outside your door.

 

[osterr1999]

Doomsday Warrior series. Great idea of living a post nuclear war world in which the Russians rule America and how the Americans fight back. Tough to find now though as it has been out of print for awhile I think.

 

[halmbarte]

The Stand!

I made it thru that doorstop of a novel and swore I'd never read another King book.

And I haven't.

Anything by SM Stirling is pretty darn good, and some of it is very good.

For hypertech Singularity type apocalypse read Charles Stross, either Singularity Sky or Accelerando.

Whole thing free online here: Accelerando - Charlie's Diary

H

 

[saxon]

[Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. On of the very first post-apocalyptic sci-fi.

outstanding book

 

[netsecsys]

Reading a few from Matthew Bracken:

Enemies - Foreign and Domestic
Domestic Enemies
Foreign Enemies and Traitors

Not a "feel good" towards some of the the three letter gov agencies...