Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

Really into the whole apocalyptic/post apocalyptic genre. Any recommendations?

A couple of my old favorites:


A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
Centuries after a nuclear war destroyed much of the earth, a small religious order keeps ancient knowledge alive.

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart
An uncontrolled plague kills most of humanity, leaving the world to a few survivors.

Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven
A comet crashes and earth during massive destruction and bequeathing the world to a bunch of survivalists.

Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison is a old fav

Spooky1947 wrote: "Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison is a old fav"

im currently reading this and so far its been a good detective noval.. is it more dystopian than post apocalyptic?

It is such a common theme in SF and it seems to be very "in" just now. I enjoyed the nancy kress novella After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, recently, John Christopher has written a range of interesting stuff with this (mainly YA), people love The Road although I am only part way through it and cant make my mind up.

I am Legend is a great book (just because the Will Smith film sucked dont hold that against the book).

Ben wrote: "I enjoyed the nancy kress novella 'After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall', recently, ..."

Agree, that was an excellent story.

Along similar lines, but without the pre-apocalypse component, is: Octavia E. Butler's Lilith's Brood trilogy: Dawn / Adulthood Rites / Imago. After a nuclear war, aliens have rescued a few surviving humans for an interesting project....

Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey, S.M. Stirling's series about Nantucket and the other series that starts with Dies the Fire.

Michele wrote: "Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey"

Just wanted to mention that Hugh Howey has also allowed other writers to write stories in the Wool universe. There are at least a dozen of them out there.

I'd also like to enthusiastically recommend the recent trilogy:


Hammered, Scardown, & Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear

It starts out after a limited nuclear war in a world where the United States fragmented into multiple revolutionary regions. Jenny Casey is an AWOL Canadian special forces pilot now living in the slums of Hartford where she's helping a local gangsta track down a bad batch of designer drugs.

By the time the series ends, we traveled into space, had a second global disaster/apocalypse, introduced an AI, and other surprises. Yes, that's two apocalypses for the price of one! I found it a very engaging sci-fi tour de force.

Survivors by Terry Nation. Great book, and great tv series (1976)

Juston wrote: "That apocalyptic / post apocalyptic discussion is very handy! I've just finished Margret Atwood's Apocalyptic - Social Science Fiction / Speculative Fiction ;-) - novel Oryx and Crake..."

Someone should put that in this topic. Wait, I guess I just did :)

Part of a trilogy that continues with The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam.

There were a pair of epistolary Apocalypse novels published in the last few years about anti-human uprisings:


World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

Both of these have a similar storytelling style which has many small concurrent stories collected about their respective zombies/robot uprisings. Neither is exactly a favorite of mine, but they're not bad reads. (And the novel is way better than the World War Z movie from last year, which tried to smash all the individual stories into one globetrotting Brad Pitt, because Hollywood.)

The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick has a lot of similarities with Wool (survivors living underground).

Maximum Ice by Kay Kenyon has a generation ship returning after hundreds of years to an earth where a fairly strange postapocalyptic culture has emerged.

In graphic novels, there's the Y: The Last Man series by Brian K. Vaughan, in which all but two males on earth (one man, one monkey) are suddenly killed, and Snowpiercer, in which humanity's survivors live on a self-sustaining train. (I wasn't convinced by all of the characters in the latter, but I thought the journey through the train was pretty interesting.)

I LOVE this genre. Here are some good ones:
The Wasteland Saga: Three Novels: Old Man and the Wasteland, The Savage Boy, The Road is a River
The first two can each be read as stand alone but The road is a River can only be purchased a part of the trilogy
Swan Song this is fairly long and somewhat similar to The Stand. Both are really good
Yesterday's Gone: Season One. It was released as a serial but then grouped into a few "seasons"
The City and the Stars I think this is my favorite Arthur C Clark book
If you're into the YA version of the genre, here are a couple more:
Chaos Walking: A Trilogy
Earthman Jack vs. the Ghost Planet This is book one but book two has not yet been released
The City of Ember This is book one of a trilogy

Hillary wrote: "The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick has a lot of similarities with Wool (survivors living underground).

Maximum Ice by Kay Kenyon has a ..."

im currently reading Wool and lovePhilip K. Dick but never thought about that, a fantastic point.

Strong contenders would have to include The Day of the Triffids and World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War.

Honorable mentions have to go to Dawn of the Dead and Status: Deadzone.

Strictly speaking, Status: Deadzone is more dystopian than post apocalyptic, but it has a similar feel.

Romulus Buckle & the City of the Founders and Romulus Buckle & the Engines of War by Richard Ellis Preston Jr. take place in a post apocalyptic world -- rather post, actually, they've had some time to settle down and develop steampunk technology because it will, despite the alien artifacts on the planet, still work.

"The Drowned World" by JG Ballard.
Not rapid, but great ideas and a very good style.

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. Written in 1959, this was one of the first apocalyptic fiction books written and IMO still one of the best. I read it when I was a teenager and it has stayed with me ever since. (I'm 53.)