Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction

[Sapa]

This is probably one of my favourite topics for books and movies. I like sci-fi but more realistic stuff, no aliens attacking and stuff like that. Some of my favourite reads have been The Stand, The Road and I Am Legend. Anyone recommend some stuff I may like?

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, and its follow-up Year Of The Flood.

A rather different kind of 'apocalyptic' fiction, since they deal with the complete collapse of humanity/society but in a completely different way from the books you cite.

[Mortis]

World War Z, Hater and the sequel Dog Blood are worth a look. They are all "zombie" novels but have enough of a different twist on them to be entertaining.

[flight]

On the Beach by Nevil Shute. Set in Australia after the Northern Hemisphere has been rendered inhabitable by nuclear war. It's brilliant.

[Lorfarius]

The Postman by David Brin is a pretty good book. Miles better than the movie!

[Sirloin]

On the Beach by Nevil Shute. Set in Australia after the Northern Hemisphere has been rendered inhabitable by nuclear war. It's brilliant.

Seconded, wonderful book.

Justin Cronin's The Passage I enjoyed a lot. Its got vampires in it, but don't let that put you off, its well written and has some great scenes in it. A Canticle for Leibowitz is a classic, but its very religion focussed, so your enjoyment of that might be dependent on how much you know about Catholicism.

[Danster]

Feed (by Mira Grant) is about the aftermath of a Zombie uprising and well worth a read.

[Chosty]

Another recommendation for Oryx and Crake. The Handmaid's Tale by the same author might also be worth checking out, although it's more of a dystopia than an out-and-out post apocalyptic story.

Riddley Walker by Russel Hoban. It has a very particular writing style and language, but once you get into it it's mesmerising. It's set many years after an apocalyptic event where society has regressed to a primitive, medieval way of life.

Domain by James Herbert. A somewhat trashy (but not terribly so) tale that follows a group of people in the immediate aftermath of a nuclear strike on London. As it's the third book in his rats trilogy, the survivors also have to contend with large groups of killer mutant rats roaming the ruins.

The Quiet Earth by Craig Harrison. The book on which the film was based, about a man waking up to find he's the last person on Earth. However, it's been out of print for ages and it's very difficult to get hold of a copy.

[Looper]

I just finished Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson, which is essentially World War Z with machines. Thought it was pretty neat.

[Harsin]

On the Beach by Nevil Shute. Set in Australia after the Northern Hemisphere has been rendered inhabitable by nuclear war. It's brilliant.

It's incredibly depressing, even by the metric of a genre that is inherently depressing. For some reason I found people facing the end of the world with a stiff upper lip more affecting than the modern takes where everybody is more likely to start raping and turn into cannibals.

[Michael J Glocks]

The Kraken Wakes is also excellent, but that's an alien invasion story.

[Chosty]

Good call. I love John Wyndham.

[Sirloin]

It's incredibly depressing, even by the metric of a genre that is inherently depressing. For some reason I found people facing the end of the world with a stiff upper lip more affecting than the modern takes where everybody is more likely to start raping and turn into cannibals.

The ending made me cry, its so downbeat. The world ends not with a scream but with a sigh. Very much a product of its time, and a more powerful statement for nuclear disarmament its hard to find. I read it because its one of my Gran's favourite books, along with A Town Like Alice, which is another great book by Shute. Didn't find either of them dated at all.

[Sapa]

Thanks for all the recommendations. I'm going to start working through them adding to my Amazon wishlist.

I really love the movie Children of Men. Is there anything like that? I think that's perhaps more dystopian fiction though?

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Well, you could try the actual book of Children of Men by PD James, but I hear it's significantly different.

[Wiper]

The Quiet Earth by Craig Harrison. The book on which the film was based, about a man waking up to find he's the last person on Earth. However, it's been out of print for ages and it's very difficult to get hold of a copy.

Worth noting also that, if the OP hasn't watched the film, it's one of the few post-apocalyptic films that is, in fact, not shit.

I was going to mention another book (series), but then realised the apocalypse scenario is actually something of a twist in it. Which means that mentioning it here would automatically ruin it. Hmm.

[Chosty]

I really love the movie Children of Men. Is there anything like that? I think that's perhaps more dystopian fiction though?

The aforementioned The Handmaid's Tale isn't too disimilar in tone. As for dystopian fiction, well, there's a whole load. I think 1984 and Farenheit 451 are the two best places to start.

It would also be worth checking out some early work by JG Ballard, such as the novels The Drowned World and The Drought, and the short story collection The Disaster Area.

[Danster]

The Kraken Wakes is also excellent, but that's an alien invasion story.

Good call. I love John Wyndham.

Can't see the image but I'm hoping that's Day of the Triffids!

[Chosty]

Yeah, plus The Chrysalids.

[Michael J Glocks]

Oh and I keep meaning to read The Death of Grass. Any good?

[Looper]

On the Beach by Nevil Shute. Set in Australia after the Northern Hemisphere has been rendered inhabitable by nuclear war. It's brilliant.

Just finished this on your recommendation. Now I've stopped crying, I thought it was great. So so sad though.

[idiwa]

Read Flu by Wayne Simmons a few weeks ago. Set in Northern Ireland. Started off good but just became utter utter shit. Just goes nowhere and has sub plots that go nowhere and the characters are all fragmented. Shame, it started off half decent.

EDIT: should have said, its Flu that turns into zombies.

On The Beach sounds interesting, might give that a go.

[Vespa Alex]

Just finished this on your recommendation. Now I've stopped crying, I thought it was great. So so sad though.

The film was very good. I'll have to track the book down too.

Warm Bodies is an interesting take on zombies, and I totally recommend world war z which I've just finished.

[Swallow]

The 'Vintage Shute' edition of On The Beach has a lovely cover.

Looks like I'm going for the paperback instead of the e-book!

[Timbuktu]

The Country of Last Things by Paul Auster

I read this quite a long time ago but remember it being quite good. Not as substantial as Auster's New York Trilogy or Moon Palace, but i found it interesting. Not too far removed from reality, it's seen from a female perspective as she goes to a fallen city to look for her brother; she finds a city that's slowly dying. It's a bit like the film version Children of Men, it the world stopped producing things as well as babies. nothing remain or endures. there were quite a lot about suicide cults and looking for the few things that remain that aren't broken.

[Exit Chamber]

I would highly recommend "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin.

Written in 1921, the book was quite obviously a massive influence on 1984 and other books of a similar nature like Brave New World and Player Piano. Read it and feel superior to your friends!

From wikipedia: "We is set in the future. D-503 lives in the One State, an urban nation constructed almost entirely of glass, which allows the secret police/spies to inform on and supervise the public more easily. The structure of the state is analogous to the prison design concept developed by Jeremy Bentham commonly referred to as the Panopticon. Furthermore, life is organized to promote maximum productive efficiency along the lines of the system advocated by the hugely influential F.W. Taylor. People march in step with each other and wear identical clothing. There is no way of referring to people save by their given numbers. Males have odd numbers prefixed by consonants, females have even numbers prefixed by vowels."

Best thing is that because of it's age, copyright is expired afaik. Epub version available here.

*edit* I should add, this is more dystopian that apocalyptic, but nonetheless, should be read by anyone with an interest in this kind of thing.

[Sapa]

Just downloaded for my iphone. Thanks. Good website, I just downloaded Animal Farm too which I'm pretty pleased with as I had only just added it to my Amazon wishlist a few days ago. Seems like it doesn't just host expired copyright ones though, seemed to be loads of Stephen King ones.

I also bought On The Beach from ibooks today after all of the recommendations. Sounds fantastic and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it.

[Yozhik]

The Kraken Wakes is also excellent, but that's an alien invasion story.

+1'd, I was going to suggest Wyndham but you're way ahead of me.

[DonRumsfeld]

Oh and I keep meaning to read The Death of Grass. Any good?

It's great and not too long either. I'd recommended it and second 'On The Beach'.

Other recommendations would be 'The Drowned World' by JG Ballard and for some slightly OT dystopian stuff 'Brave New World' and '1984'.

[little che]

I'd recommend "The Wild Shore" by Kim Stanley Robinson.

amazon link

Its set about 60 years after a series of Nuclear attacks has destroyed America. (The rest of the world were untouched). The cities are uninhabited, and everyone left lives in small villages and towns. The teenage main character is intent on rebuildig the nation and breaking the enforced quarantine that has been put in place by the UN.

Well worth a read.