Argh! Too many choices here. I'm tempted to order On The Beach and Alas, Babylon first as suggested by renaldow.

Other novels mentioned here that interest me especially are this Malevil (too bad it's OOP) and Cat's Cradle - they certainly sound peculiar.

Funnily enough....
 

.... I thought about doing that just as I was logging-off last night!

Anyone coming fresh to either of the threads please note that this list is compiled from the posts of various DVDTalkers: individual criteria as to what constitutes "end of the world" or "post apocalyptic" (or micro-societies) may vary!<ul><li>On The Beach - Nevil Shute<li>Alas, Babylon - Pat Frank<li>Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle<li>Warday - Whitley Streiber and James Kunetka<li>Left Behind (series) - <li>Job - Robert Heinlein<li>The Twilight of Briareus - Richard Cowper<li>Day of the Triffids, Kraken Wakes - John Wyndham<li>A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr.<li>Riddley Walker - Russell Hoban<li>The Last Day - Glenn Kleier<li>Swan Song - Robert R. McCammon<li>Cat's Cradle, Galapogos - Kurt Vonnegut<li>The Forge of God - Greg Bear<li>In the Day of the Comet, Things to Come, The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine - H G Wells<li>The Postman - David Brin<li>I am Legend - Richard Matheson<li>The Last Ship - William Brinkley<li>The Stand, The Dark Tower series, :) The Mist - Stephen King<li>Mister Touch - Malcolm Bosse<li>A Gift Upon the Shore - M K Wren<li>Malevil - Robert Merle<li>The Tripods (series) - John Christopher<li>Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand<li>This is the way the World Ends - James Morrow<li>Amnesia Moon - Jonathan Lethem<li>New Madrid Run - Michael Reisig<li>The Judgement of Eve - Edgar Pangborn<li>The Empire of Time - Crawford Killian<li>The Wild Shore - Kim Stanley Robinson<li>Good Omens - Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett<li>The White Plague - Frank Herbert<li>Drowned World, Wind from Nowhere - J G Ballard<li>Dhalgren - Samuel R. Delany<li>Girlfriend in a Coma - Douglas Copland<li>Childhood's End - Arthur C Clarke<li>The Last Ship - William Brinkley</li></ul>At some stage I may edit in order to <i>link</i> to pages dealing with some (more) of the titles and/or authors.

<small>PS: I closed the original thread and corrected the typo in the subject line - that way searches should work better but no-one will be able to give in to temptation to bump the "duplicate".</small>

Nicely formatted. :)

How far does this go? There are so many books based in the "post-apocalyptic" environment. If folks aren't aware, all of Terry Brooks "Shannara" books take place in one, although the books have little to do with that subject, except for the occasional encounter with past "future" technology. I suppose that would count.

Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany

You can often find Malevil in used book stores... well, maybe not often, but that's where I got my last two copies... (since it is out of print - if I see one, I grab it, and then usually give it away to someone interested)

Re: Funnily enough....
 

It's just "the Mist", no "One Is".

A Canticle for Leibowitz is perhaps in the genre you seek.

It's not so much an end of the world as the world is the end.

One of the best IMO has to be "Girlfriend in a Coma" by Doulgas Copland. A blend of Vonnegut, Tom Robbins and Thomas Moore. Its really good!

These threads are great (end of the world book threads). Due to them i've read The Stand and Lucifers Hammer, and am now starting Alas, Babylon. I'm actually making use of the library thats a block from my office. Earth Abides is a great everyone dies read, i always try to sell people on it.

-daveninja.com

How about Childhood's End by Clarke.

Octavia Butler has several stories also related.
Maybe Jem by Pohl. But it doesn"t take place on Earth.

Give in to the temptation...

Tyler, with all these suggestions, what did you end up doing?

<u>The Last Ship</u> by William Brinkley
nuclear war happens and a US Destroyer is all that's left because it was out to sea.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...qid=1015939411

Enquiring minds want to know...

Gotta second, third, fourth... however many times it was said...

"Swan Song" by Robert R. McCammon.

Great, great book.

~Scheherazade

thanks to this thread i read Alas, Babylon a few weeks back and have to say i enjoyed it immensely.

looking forward to tracking down more of the titles metioned here.

Got to say this here. Do yourself a favor and dont waste your time on this book. I cant really say that I hated it but there is really nothing in it that I liked. The main character is an idiot IMO. He basically watches the world around him fall apart while he does nothing but live in his old house and watch the decay set in. He doesnt learn new ways or try to start a new live. He doesnt try to draw people together and fornm a new community. A few just sort of fall in with him. They don't farm or grow food but live off canned goods for 20 years after the desease. If any character ever deserved to die, the main one in this book is he. He just sat around and let everything happen without an effort to mold his world.

And the writting style left much to be desired.

So read it at your own risk.

P.S. I read another Post Apoc. book about one week after I read Earth Abides. Dies the Fire by S. M. Stirling. Once again not a great one but 50 times better than Earth Abides. At least the people in this book try to do something with their lives instead of just sitting in the waste of past civilization.

I HIGHLY recommend The Stand by Stephen King. One of the Best written.

just realized this was an old thread
I can confirm that the previously listed Postman and Last Ship are good

edit: :lol: somehow I overlooked my other post when I was reading through this thread last night

i would highly recommend the first 2 acts of The Stand.
But the ending of the book came across to me as very limp and silly.
maybe it was because the set up and middle were so damn good, that the ending couldn't help but pale in comparision, but i was actually pissed off when i finished it.
very let down afterwards.

For really heavy-duty British 1960s pessimism, read J.G. Ballard. My favorites were the novel The Wind from Nowhere, and the stories "The Voices of Time" and "Deep End".

I also recommend the first 90% of The Postman.

The Empire of Time by Crawford Killian is a cool example of mid-1970s paranoia. The writing is a little clunky (first novel), but it's overflowing with creepy ideas. Time travel is discovered, and it's learned that in 2150 the will be destroyed by a beam from space. So we have to figure out how it happens and stop it from happening.

"Oryx & Crake" by Margaret Atwood is a good post apocalypse read...

I highly recommend J.G. Ballard's "disaster" novels:

Drowned World
Burning World (aka The Drought)
The Crystal World
Wind From Nowhere

Implosion and Colossus both by D.F. Jones

I actually liked Earth Abides. It was published in 1949 so it is dated quite bit, but I would have to say most modern Apocolypse novels owe alot to this book.

A Time of Darkness by Sherryl Jordan is one I enjoyed a lot back in the day...