Post-Apocalyptic

[DeepB]

Hi,

I am looking for for post-apocalyptic novels in a setting like the movie "book of eli".
I already startet Lucifers Hammer and Earth Abide, and i didn't even finish them, i don't really like the "simple" "oh everyone is dead, let's rebuild civilization" if i want something like that i read Lord of the flies again .
So Post-Apocalyptic with a lot of action, what can you recommend?

[orlok]

Hi and welcome to the MR Forum. How about:

The Stand - Stephen King
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
The Drowned World - J. G. Ballard
The Road - Cormac McCarthy (not a lot of action, though)
On The Beach - Nevil Shute
I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
Planet Of The Apes - Pierre Boulle
Swan’s Song - Robert McCammon
The Chrysalids - John Wyndham

[mklynds]

I really like Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling. I loved the whole idea of the book. There is a mixture of action and rebuilding but it has a good pace and does not lack action imho.

[carpetmojo]

Orlok - excellent selection, and wide ranging.

'The Stand' - not sure whether the revised version is better though, unless you're a King afficionado - & 'The Road' would come near the top in most similar lists, I'm sure.
(Would 'The Dark Tower' series qualify, I wonder ?)

The Ballard, Shute and Wyndham wear very well - I got away with being caught reading 'On the Beach' well after lights out, by telling my Dad it was homework, I remember.
'The Road' simply kept me glued to the page with only minor forays away for non-essentials like driving, cooking and work - but I managed to do a bit in the kitchen and workplace, admittedly. Spellbinding.

I have been given a copy of 'Resurrection Day' by the improbably named Brendon DuBois, but haven't tackled it yet, so withold judgement.

I confess I like my post-apocalpses recent, rather than unknown civilizations or "Terminator" scenarios - I like me ruins recent, and recognisable I suppose !

I must have a think and a rummage when I get a bit of time - I'm tackling George R R Martin at the present week/month/year, which is becoming a bit of an epic undertaking in more ways than one !

[BenG]

I just finished Ariel by Steven Boyett. It's post-apocalyptic fantasy. It takes places five years after the "Change" when technology stopped working and magic became possible and mythological creatures are roaming the land.

[WillAdams]

In addition to _Ariel_, if one likes fantasy, there's the ``shared world'' _Borderland_ series:

http://bordertownseries.com/

Others from a usenet thread ( http://groups.google.com/group/misc....a5e2eaf70c6566 ):

"Systemic Shock" by Dean Ing and the two sequels. Nasty
nuclear/biological war between the U.S./Russia and China/India with
the political ramifications thereof.

"Farmham's Freehold" by Robert Heinlein is good survival science fiction.
The book is a straight forward in regard to group preparedness/survival
and the importance of solid leadership after a nuclear attack but the
plot swings to the science fiction after the first half.

William

[jbcohen]

See www.jamesaxler.com

On January 1, 2001 a nuclear bomb in the Russian embassy in Washington, DC was exploded touching off a nuclear exchange between Russia and the US and throwing up into the atmosphere a blanket of ash that blots out the sun, which is often referred to as the Sky Dark, and lasts for one generation. Well the Sky Dark clears human civilization exists in issolated towns called vills ruled by despots called Barons. Prior to the sky dark a scientific project created a technology called the mater transporter or the mat-trans for short. The mat-trans can transport anything between units in the blink of an eye, where the mat-trans are installed in military bases called redoubts that are forgotten by human civilization. One hundred years later a group of survivors use the mat-trans to jump between redoubts and survive one day at a time. This is the world of the Deathlands.

One hundred years after the deathlands the barons have changed into their real form, overlords of the earth. It is revealed that these overlords, called the Anuuaki, are the gods that humans used to worship in ancient times. The annuaki are not really gods but very technologically advanced aliens who came to earth when humanity was in its infancy to enslave the human race. Now a band of humans have come together to struggle agains the annukai and fre the human race from the aliens. This is the world of the outlands.

[apbschmitz]

The David Mitchell novel, Ghostwritten, is an end-of-the-known-world novel, though it takes a while to reveal itself. Same for another of his novels, Cloud Atlas. Both are a lot less straight-forward than, say, The Road. So if you like your apocalypse straight up, you might want to go elsewhere.

[DeepB]

thanks for the replies, i will look into these books.

something i forgot about lucifers hammer: i really didn't like that nearly half of the book is buildup to when the apocalypse happens

Also, i am looking for a book for an adult, Ariel seems like a book for "young adults", inclduing unicorns and such?

regards
Daniel

[Penforhire]

I enjoyed Jonathan Mabery's "Rot and Ruin" (haven't read "Dust and Decay" yet). I'm not sure it is as action-packed as you're looking for. It felt very much like a traditional American western genre, but in a dysfunctional zombie-infested future.

[DeepB]

Thanks for all the suggestions, i am reading Systemic Shock right now, but it seems more apocalyptic than post-apocalyptic, as far as i read (~70%) it is about the War, not after it.

To clarify: it does not have to be filled with action from cover to cover. But for instance in Lucifers Hammer there are approx. 100 pages (or even more?) on which the character only drivers around the US and describes what he sees. And that bores me.

As soon as i finnished with Systemic Shock im gonna try another one of those mentioned.

regards
Daniel

[mcrow24]

If you want to go the Zombie Apocalypse angle, I have a ton of good suggestions for you. However, that didn't seem like the type of thing you are looking for.

[AbFabGab]

The Refuge by Richard Herley

It is twelve years on from a global plague. John Suter believes himself the sole survivor. He has gradually come to terms with his fate and has settled into a steady and self-reliant daily routine.

One morning he finds a mutilated body in the river near his house. In his terror, Suter knows he has no choice but to investigate.

What he discovers upstream stretches his endurance to its limits and forces him to reassess not only his own humanity, but also his place within the human family he had once believed extinct.

The Passage by Justin Cronin

An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy–abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl—and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape—but he can’t stop society’s collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world.

[carld]

Originally Posted by BenG

I just finished Ariel by Steven Boyett. It's post-apocalyptic fantasy. It takes places five years after the "Change" when technology stopped working and magic became possible and mythological creatures are roaming the land.

I really enjoyed Elegy Beach, the sequel to Ariel. It takes place years after those events and follows the adventures of the son of Ariel's protagonist. The author recaps the first book pretty succinctly and you don't really have to read it first.

[straygator]

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. Not sure if it's available in e-formats yet, though.