Anybody know any good Apocalypse Novels?
04-28-01, 11:36 AM
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Ok the people in the bookstores are dumbfounded by the word apocolypse and think I mean apocolypse now with brando. I'm reading "on the beach" right now. any body else got any good suggestions?
04-28-01, 05:05 PM
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If you're open to a satirical approach but with plenty of social commentary, check out Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. It's a fast-moving read. You can finish it in a day or two. Check it out. I guarantee you'll be glad you did.
04-28-01, 07:45 PM
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There's nothing like a good end-of-the-world story, is there? I would recommend The Stand by Stephen King, obviously, but I guess that one's a given. Also, depending on your religious convictions, problems, whatever, you may or may not like the Left Behind series. It's possible to love the series without being a Bible-thumper as long as you can handle a little preachiness.
I would also recommend a couple of other Stephen King things. One is The Mist. It's the first story in Skeleton Crew and is about 150 pages or so. There is also his Dark Tower series, which is the best series I've ever read in my life.
I would also recommend a couple of other Stephen King things. One is The Mist. It's the first story in Skeleton Crew and is about 150 pages or so. There is also his Dark Tower series, which is the best series I've ever read in my life.
04-28-01, 11:21 PM
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Originally posted by Avid Fan
Ok the people in the bookstores are dumbfounded by the word apocolypse and think I mean apocolypse now with brando.
Ok the people in the bookstores are dumbfounded by the word apocolypse and think I mean apocolypse now with brando.
Don't you think somebody who works in a bookstore should be required to read?
04-29-01, 12:21 PM
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Originally posted by tictacboy
Swan Song by Robert McGammon is pretty good.
-Steve
Swan Song by Robert McGammon is pretty good.
-Steve
04-30-01, 11:54 AM
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On the Beach rocks! One of the saddest books I've read. If you decide to watch the movie afterwards, it won't have the same effect.
Alas, Babylon should go right next to On the Beach, same time frame, less disastrous but very well written and interesting.
A second for Lucifer's Hammer, great story. I need to read that again.
New Madrid Run is pretty good too.
It's OOP, but if you can find it used, War Day, is one of my favorites. It's co-written by Whitley Streiber (before he got involved with the UFO crowd) and James Kunetka. They write it as themselves and it's about their fictional journey around the US after a limited nuclear war. Very imaginative and realistic.
Alas, Babylon should go right next to On the Beach, same time frame, less disastrous but very well written and interesting.
A second for Lucifer's Hammer, great story. I need to read that again.
New Madrid Run is pretty good too.
It's OOP, but if you can find it used, War Day, is one of my favorites. It's co-written by Whitley Streiber (before he got involved with the UFO crowd) and James Kunetka. They write it as themselves and it's about their fictional journey around the US after a limited nuclear war. Very imaginative and realistic.
04-30-01, 06:59 PM
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For a more comedic approach to the end of the world,I highly recommend "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. The humor is along the lines of that found in the "Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" books.
If you want to go the nonfiction route, try "Apocalypse Pretty Soon" (Love That Title!!!). I can't think of the author's name at the moment, but I'll find the book and edit this post. It features chapters on doomsday cults, survivalists, and alien abductees. It's quite humorous, but rarely mean-spirited.
jim
If you want to go the nonfiction route, try "Apocalypse Pretty Soon" (Love That Title!!!). I can't think of the author's name at the moment, but I'll find the book and edit this post. It features chapters on doomsday cults, survivalists, and alien abductees. It's quite humorous, but rarely mean-spirited.
jim
05-01-01, 12:58 AM
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Must agree with
Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut: quite funny, and who doesn't love Ice-Nine? His 'Galapagos' also fits this category.
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank: it's a bit dated now, but I love the way the story follows the efforts of the survivors to build a community in the wake of destruction. Fascinating. Made me wonder what I would do.
And I will add
Farnham's Freehold by Heinlein: typical Heinlein, with the rugged men and their beautiful, sensible women building new lives in a hostile land. I do enjoy seeing how they go about it. Well, now I think of it, maybe this isn't really an post-apocalypse book. Sort of. It does lose steam once the story switches gears, though.
Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut: quite funny, and who doesn't love Ice-Nine? His 'Galapagos' also fits this category.
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank: it's a bit dated now, but I love the way the story follows the efforts of the survivors to build a community in the wake of destruction. Fascinating. Made me wonder what I would do.
And I will add
Farnham's Freehold by Heinlein: typical Heinlein, with the rugged men and their beautiful, sensible women building new lives in a hostile land. I do enjoy seeing how they go about it. Well, now I think of it, maybe this isn't really an post-apocalypse book. Sort of. It does lose steam once the story switches gears, though.
05-01-01, 10:53 AM
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Originally posted by Easy
The Postman by David Brin.
The Postman by David Brin.
05-01-01, 11:16 AM
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Originally posted by Nick Danger
A Canticle for Leibowitz
A Canticle for Leibowitz
I remember it being pretty good (if a little strange), so I second the reccomendation.
05-01-01, 04:45 PM
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Riddley Walker by by Russell Hoban is an interesting and often overlooked title. From Amazon:
A brilliant, unique, and completely realized work of fiction, "Riddley Walker"--first published in 1980--is set in a remote future in a post-nuclear holocaust England (Inland), where humanity has regressed to an iron-age, semi-literate state, represented by a language created especially by Hoban for the book.
Another good title is The White Plague by Frank Herbert. Though the last 1/3 of the novel was a bit of a let down for me.
[Edited by audrey on 05-01-01 at 03:02 PM]
A brilliant, unique, and completely realized work of fiction, "Riddley Walker"--first published in 1980--is set in a remote future in a post-nuclear holocaust England (Inland), where humanity has regressed to an iron-age, semi-literate state, represented by a language created especially by Hoban for the book.
Another good title is The White Plague by Frank Herbert. Though the last 1/3 of the novel was a bit of a let down for me.
[Edited by audrey on 05-01-01 at 03:02 PM]
