what are your favorite post-apocalypse books?

There are plenty of short bad novels, though. Such as those by Michael Kring, whose The Space Mavericks includes such immortal lines as "You can never mistake a museum building because of the way they build them" and "The green fur more than anything made it resemble a Terran gorilla".

Post-apocalyptic novels... I recently read George R Stewart's Earth Abides for the first time. It seemed very... didactic, almost as if it were pitched at young teenagers. It was also a little too repetitive for my taste. It's certainly better than most of the science fiction that was published at that time (i.e., 1949), but I don't think it stands up so well these days. (Sorry, JD :))
 
Oh yes...One of my favourite lines comes from Second Body by Sue Payer:

...and she was flat where women ought to be flat and curvy where women should be curvy. Doubly so, in fact, in both directions.
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:confused::confused:
 
pyan said:
Earth Abides for me too.
[SIZE=-1]The Pelbar Cycle books by Paul O. Williams should have an honourable mention, as well.[/SIZE]
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Glad someone mentioned the Pelbar cycle. They don't seem too well-known but I think they're excellent. Williams hasn't written much else which is a pity.
 
I'm afraid I read very little of the sub genre...So not books but one novel, though a darn good, decent, engaging read at that; The Postman by David Brin. A Perfect example of post-apocalyptic fiction with heroism/nobility tossed in for good measure.

Cheers, DeepThought
 
DeepThought said:
The Postman by David Brin. A Perfect example of post-apocalyptic fiction with heroism/nobility tossed in for good measure.

Cheers, DeepThought
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That has to be the most understated title for a SF book. If you werent a fan of SF you might buy it thinking it was some post war romantic novel. Hope the cover art dispels that misconception!
 
I think way too little of Postman cause of the Costner movie....

Maybe i should read the book and see if its yet another good SF book hollywood ruined.
 
AE35Unit said:
That has to be the most understated title for a SF book. If you werent a fan of SF you might buy it thinking it was some post war romantic novel. Hope the cover art dispels that misconception!
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Very true; initially published in two parts as "The Postman" and "Cyclops", each won a Hugo award for the best Novella. Later again published as a single volume (The Postman), won John W. Campbell award for the best SF novel plus nominated for both Hugo and Nebula awards for the best novel. yeah, talk about being underrated!:)

Connavar said:
I think way too little of Postman cause of the Costner movie....
Maybe i should read the book and see if its yet another good SF book hollywood ruined.
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Conn, you should try it, its absolutely nothing like the movie (as usual), even Brin himself attests to this in his website.

Cheers, DeepThought
 
The John W. Campbell award is impressing. Its an award that usually go to deserving authors and not only popular contests.


I will track it.
 
DeepThought said:
Very true; initially published in two parts as "The Postman" and "Cyclops", each won a Hugo award for the best Novella. Later again published as a single volume (The Postman), won John W. Campbell award for the best SF novel plus nominated for both Hugo and Nebula awards for the best novel. yeah, talk about being underrated!:)



Conn, you should try it, its absolutely nothing like the movie (as usual), even Brin himself attests to this in his website.

Cheers, DeepThought
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I've not seen tha film,never thought it was a post apocalyptic story based on. David Brin book! Just thought it was a soppy film about a postman! Is Il Postino based on the Brin book too?
 
"The film tells a fictional story in which the real life Chilean poet Pablo Neruda forms a relationship with a simple postman who learns to love poetry"

Hmm a soppy film about a postman ;)
Now that wiki page seems to say that Il postino and the postman are one and the same,the former being the italian version of the latter.
 
Alas babylon
World War Z
Canticle For Lebowitz
I am legend

Those are all some great books. when i was in high school, we played a RPG called aftermath, which was a blast.
 
AE35Unit said:
"The film tells a fictional story in which the real life Chilean poet Pablo Neruda forms a relationship with a simple postman who learns to love poetry"

Hmm a soppy film about a postman ;)
Now that wiki page seems to say that Il postino and the postman are one and the same,the former being the italian version of the latter.
Click to expand...

Odd. I typed 'the postman' in and got this The Postman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
I too am a fan of Brin's book; The Postman. My all time favorite has to be Lucifer's Hammer (It actually helped get me into four wheel drive vehicles and off road driving).

Two pretty good post apocalyptic stories that I, recently, have read were;
S.M. Stirling's; Dies the Fire, and Protector's War.

Enjoy!
 
Interesting. Does 'Post Apocalyptic' mean within a relatively short time of an apoloclypse?

Immediately post would suggest 'Damnation Alley' or 'Dr Bloodmoney'

A few hundred years would bring to mind the 'Battle Circle' books by Piers Anthony ('Sos the Rope, Neq the Sword' and 'Var the Stick')

Much later (and very highly rated to my mind) would be the Fred Saberhagen's trilogy 'The Broken Lands', 'The Black Mountains' and ''Changeling Earth'.

Many fantasy novels seem to hint at being in the far future though, don't you think?
 
yngvi said:
Interesting. Does 'Post Apocalyptic' mean within a relatively short time of an apoloclypse?

Immediately post would suggest 'Damnation Alley' or 'Dr Bloodmoney'

A few hundred years would bring to mind the 'Battle Circle' books by Piers Anthony ('Sos the Rope, Neq the Sword' and 'Var the Stick')

Much later (and very highly rated to my mind) would be the Fred Saberhagen's trilogy 'The Broken Lands', 'The Black Mountains' and ''Changeling Earth'.

Many fantasy novels seem to hint at being in the far future though, don't you think?
Click to expand...

All excellent books except I haven't read Dr Bloodmoney.

Others:
The Day of the Triffids and The Chrysilids by John Wyndham
The World in Winter and The Death of Grass by John Christopher
The Company of Glory by Edgar Pangborn

And I'm currently reading Don't Pick the Flowers by D.F. Jones which looks like it falls into this category.
 
Just a quick plug for Charles Eric Maine, Christopher Hodder-Williams and Edmund Cooper who wrote some very satisfactory books in this line. Keith Roberts' The Furies is also very memorable.
 
I've not read "I am Legend", but it's one of those books that i keep meaning to pick up.

Stephen King's the Stand is probably my favourite. Mainly due to the depth of his character studies. I really felt as though i knew these people.

I read another book at the same time called "Swann Song" I cannot remember the authors name (i think that it was Robert McGannon or something), but that too was an exceptional book.

The Cloud walker by Edmund Cooper was a cool one that i picked up as a teenager. Although i'd consider it less apocolyptic and more rennaissance.

Amtrak Wars too.
 
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