Books about an apocalypse caused by virus/disease/plague etc

The Last Man - Mary Shelly.
In The Last Man, Shelley’s protagonist lives in a world where a terrible plague has brought on the apocalypse.


I have never read this but really ought to now. This is what came to mind when I saw the thread (after I Am Legend).
 
The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. Quite apt at the moment.

@nixie keyworker here. In self-isolation day5. Not all its cracked up to be. Completely well and want to go back to work.
 
Greg Bear has two in a series.
Darwin's Radio
Darwin's Children
Playing on the notion that virus' are partially responsible for evolution.

Then there is
12 monkeys
Though that's a movie based on a short film.
 
The best one - The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Post apocalyptic although you don't know what causes it. One of my all time favourite reads.


V

How does it compare to the film ?
 
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A Scent of New Mown Hay John Blackburn
I think the plague was fungal. So a departure from the usual. Long time since I read it. Of it's time but pretty good.

 
The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. Quite apt at the moment.

I enjoy its time travel.

dannymcg, given how you forbade zombies, but not vampires, I Am Legend by Matheson presumably qualifies for this thread.
 
The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. Quite apt at the moment.

I just re-read Doomsday Book last year, and had been thinking about it. The characters vary in their responses to the Plague, from selflessly trying to care for others, to running away and thus spreading it, to staying in hiding. Ignorance and fear rule decisions, as the characters do not truly understand disease or its causes and it shakes their perceptions. Religious beliefs play a large factor in how characters react and cope. These issues are all too familiar today as well.
 
Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood, while on the YA side there's Dan Wells's Partials series.
 
In these present times it just seems apt to have a list of apocalyptic books.
Not with zombies! Keep it simple.

Man made or natural, flu or virus.

I'll start with the obvious one

Stephen King - The Stand
Please add (y)
Can you tell us what " The Stand" is about?. Is it worth reading?. I was also searching for a book of this category. Can you please rate it for us so that we do not waste our time reading it. I have once read a book and it disappointed me so much that now I ask for rating and opinion before reading any books. I would not mention the name of the book as there might be a fan over here as well.
 
It's only the first quarter of the Stand that deals with the virus and the fall of civilisation, but it is well done and any more would be boring. The remainder of the book is detailed character arcs showing their journey to either the good or bad camps with the final quarter being a Good Vs. Evil thing.

As for whether it is worth reading or not. It remains in the top ten of my favourite books and I'm sure It'll feature in many other favourite lists. Give it a try.
 
John Brunner wrote several stories where society was plagued by a multitude of problems, where a virus wasn't the main culprit, but was actively burning up a segment of the population.
 
Have we mentioned Blood Music by Greg Bear? Slightly different take on the apocalypse, in that humanity achieves transcendence in the process of losing its mortal form.
 
Blood Music is on my TBC pile, as is White Plague and The Death of Grass.
 
The Abyss by Jeremy Cunningham Its about sealed mineshaft that reaches all the way to Hell itself.
 

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