is there such a thing as post-apocalyptic fantasy?

[Alias Black]

I think the concept is probably explored more in video games as compared to literature. Shadowrun and the Fallout series comes to mind.

 

[The Neon Seal]

I think the concept is probably explored more in video games as compared to literature. Shadowrun and the Fallout series comes to mind.

There is also the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, which is sci-fi, but embraces some fantasy elements.

 

[Overread]

I wonder if part of the issue is that we see post-apocalyptic easily when its contrasted to modern or semi-modern times. Because we already have the idea of things progressing on a "normal" pathway and then to see it failed and fallen apart we see it as an apocalypse. But in fantasy worlds the more they get removed from our own time-period the more fantasy they become. Thus even when things are apocalyptic in nature we can't recognise it because we don't have a comparable non-apoc time to compare and contrast it to. That is unless the book is part of a series and thus the earlier parts detail the build up to the disaster; giving us a taste of times before the event that triggers the catastrophe.

 

[Alias Black]

I interpreted post apoc as a genre rather than its literal meaning. So I'm thinking what we have now, but all destroyed and people living on the fragments that remain.

But the literal interpretation of it could be interesting as well. The wheel of time could be post apoc if you push the theory of the wheel being never ending and ever renewing. At some point the dragon could have lived in an age of science, then as the wheel turns and returns to the age again several revolutions later, we have the current arc.

 

[BAYLOR]

Gotrek and Felix might fit into this category.

 

[Jezrah]

If you're looking for something that is a more "immediate" aftermath of an apocalyptic event, that is a tough one to find in fantasy fiction. There are plenty of them in sf and in mainstream fiction, but I think that's because those genres are ones that we can see more as mirroring our own condition, and the role of the post-apocalyptic novel is more aimed at that than anything else. So we have novels like Canticle for Leibowitz (though to say that's "immediate" aftermath is a stretch, I suppose) that looks at it with an sf approach, or more mainstream novels like Alas, Babylon or Earth Abides or On the Beach. But those are all making commentary about Cold War issues more than anything. A fantasy novel just doesn't work that way for the most part. The post-apocalyptic theme of the cautionary tale, or the survival tale just doesn't resonate in a world that we can't somehow relate to our own.

But I would argue that a great deal of fantasy is actually some form of post-apocalyptic tale, though it's more of a "long game" and not an "immediately after" sort of story. Tolkien is a prime example. There was a much higher civilization in the past that has fallen due to war. The story of the LOTR is one that plays out in the ruins of that civilization (often literally). That's just one example. Donaldson's Covenant series, Williams' Osten Ard series, Brooks' Shannara series, Wolfe's New Sun series, Vance's Dying Earth, Jordan, Martin, etc., etc., all take that approach where there had been a prior civilization that was greater in some way (whether it be technologically or magically or culturally). In each case that earlier civilization is gone and the story we read takes place in a world that has risen out of the ruin of the old one.

 

[Brian G Turner]

all take that approach where there had been a prior civilization that was greater in some way

That's a very good point, and echoes our own history in terms of ancient monuments found all across Europe by mediaeval peoples (especially Roman and megalithic).

And welcome to the chronicles forums.