[HoosierDaddy]

So, I'm wondering if anybody can recommend some more of this particular type of yarn? For some reason I love reading about survivors in a destroyed world trying to cope with not knowing how to survive... almost as much as I love reading about future generations of that world who inherit a world with debris and monuments of an obviously destroyed predecessor civilization.

I've found a thread on goodreads.com, but frankly it seems as though it is more normal literature they are recommending (I see a lot of Postman and the Road for instance) there than fantasy or sci-fi settings per se, plus, I trust you all a hell of a lot more than strangers.

Things I've read that are kind of in this vein:

(Dark Tower, The Stand, Cell, Under the Dome (kinda) all King works) The Passage, certain Modisett Recluce books, Psalms of Isaak by Scholes, The Road...

Also, if they are set during an apocalyptic end of the world/civilization that's fine too. World War Z would fall into that, WoT to an extent as well.

Anybody got any other recommendations?

Much thanks, and probably rep, for your help.

[D'rek]

Not sure if this would be what you're looking for or not, but Orson Scott Card (guy who wrote Ender's Game) has an old series called the Homecoming Series. It's one of those series set on another planet that's been colonized after an apocalyptic event on Earth, and thus the colony's society is a weird mix of advanced technology and old fantasy tropes. So sort of like Dark Tower. In this case they have computers and the internet, but not even wagons (there's a plausible explanation for that, don't worry). Also, it's old so it's before Card started phoning it in/writing nother but weak Ender-dribble.

[HoosierDaddy]

Yes, the mix of high-tech and fantasy elements is certainly in this wheelhouse. If that knowledge is kind of restricted to and by experts by nefarious or not deeds would probably be a common trope in this sort of thing.

[Obdigore]

I'll second Homecoming by Card. Man I should find those books again. Had some weird young teen sex though if I remember correctly...

Wolfe's Severian books (Shadow and Claw and the other one escapes me) is somewhat like that, although not really currently apocalyptic, it is a mix of high tech and no tech.

the Sipstrassi stuff by David Gemmell was cheesy but entertaining ish, although I don't remember all of it.

the Glen Cook Tyranny of the Night series involves political machinations and war based on an upcomming ice age, back in teh middle ages and assuming gods are real but just brownies and magic is real as well.

[D'rek]

Obdigore, on 09 August 2011 - 12:30 AM, said:

I'll second Homecoming by Card. Man I should find those books again. Had some weird young teen quadriplegic and incestuous sex though if I remember correctly...

^^fixed and damn I'd forgotten about that...

[Obdigore]

D, on 09 August 2011 - 01:06 AM, said:

Obdigore, on 09 August 2011 - 12:30 AM, said:

I'll second Homecoming by Card. Man I should find those books again. Had some weird young teen quadriplegic and incestuous sex though if I remember correctly...

^^fixed and damn I'd forgotten about that...

And I'd forgotten about your fix.

So Ahhh, maybe not that one then... Card is kind of a freak...

[ShadowOwl]

These may be hard to find now, but there is a series by Paul O. Williams, called The Pelbar Cycle and I believe there are 7 books in the series. The first one is The Breaking of Northwall and the storyline is post apocalypse America. I really enjoyed them. The other is a stand alone book by David Graham called Down to a Sunless Sea. I think you'd enjoy it. And last a different twist, The Chrysalids by John Wyndham.

[kcf]

You should look into the sub-genre of dying earth. Jack Vance is best known for it with his Dying Earth series. GRRM has recently come out with an anthology, Tales from the Dying Earth that breaths some new life into it with a variety of stories from some really stellar authors. Mark Charan Newton is basically writing in this sort of genre with his new series that begins with The Nights of Villjamur.

A few other books/series you may want to check out:

Sleepless by Charlie Huston
Chung Kuo series by David Wingrove (new and improved with the re-issue/re-do of the series by Corvus books)
Age of Misrule series by Mark Chadburn (more of a magical/celtic apocalypse)
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafur (powerful, post-apocalyptic African fantasy)
or maybe even something like The Dragon's of Babel by Michael Swanwick


The truth is that much of epic fantasy seems to fall into what you looking for (especially since you mention things like WOT). With that in mind, you might want to give Daniel Abraham's new series a try - it starts with The Dragon's Path.


edit - and don't read Card, not ever.

This post has been edited by kcf: 09 August 2011 - 05:05 AM

[Use Of Weapons]

And The Word and The Void series by Terry Brooks fits here too.

[Chance]

The emberverse by S.M. Stirling is one of my favorits begining with Dies the Fire, the modernworld suffers a supernatural event which change the laws of physics so that electricity and things like gunpowder becomes useless instant post apocalypse with some magic after a while.

Virconium is another kinda post-apocalypse by M. John Harrison which is fairly well aclaimed and a damn good read.

/Chance

This post has been edited by Chance: 09 August 2011 - 10:32 AM

[QuickTidal]

UseOfWeapons, on 09 August 2011 - 07:27 AM, said:

And The Word and The Void series by Terry Brooks fits here too.

Indeed, and including the Genesis of Shannara series that follows it in which the world as we know it is in its death throes and takes place DURING the apocalypse. Good stuff, probably the best Brooks has done in years.

[jdiddyesquire]

The Metrozone Trilogy (Equations of Life is the first) from Simon Morden is a post-apocalypse story centered around London. The world is still civilized, just changed. Not quite as raw as some of the others suggested.

If you don't mind zombies being the cause of said apocalypse Feed by Mira Grant is a solid choices.

Spin and it's subsequent sequels by Robert Charles Wilson is sort of about the pending apocalypse via alien intervention. Brilliant books, may not be exactly what you're looking for. Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd Century America by the same author is more what you're looking for I think. It's very good.

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Williams is a classic.

Ex-Heroes for a zombie induced apocalypse with superheroes to beat them up.

EDIT:

The Wind-up Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, not perfect but quite good.

This post has been edited by jdiddyesquire: 09 August 2011 - 03:54 PM

[Ganymed]

There are some ideas concerning the apocalyptic setting I did some years ago with the help of fellow forumites. Let's see if I can find it again... ah, here we go:

http://forum.malazan...showtopic=11557

Essentially it came down to this:

V.A. - Wastelands
Margaret Atwood - Oryx and Crake
David Brin - The Postman
Max Brooks - World War Z
Terry Brooks - Armegeddon's Children
Isobelle Carmody - Obernewtyn Chronicles
Philip K. Dick - Dr. Bloodmoney
Philip K. Dick - The Penultimate Truth
Hal Duncan - The Book of All Hours Duology
Pat Frank - Alas, Babylon
David Gemmell - Jon Shannow Series
General John Hackett - Third World War
James Herbert - Rats Trilogy
Stephen King - The Stand
Stephen King - The Dark Tower Series
Stephen King - The Cell
Richard Matheson - I am Legend
Robert McCammon - Swansong
Cormac McCarthy - The Road
Paul J McAuley - Fairyland
Walter M. Miller - A Canticle for Leibowitz
Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle - Lucifers Hammer
Jeff Vandermeer - Veniss Underground
Alastair Reynolds - Chasm City
Jeff Somers - The Electric Church
George R. Stewart - Earth Abides
S. M. Stirling - Dies the Fire
S. M. Stirling - Island in the Sea of Time
S. M. Stirling - Snow Brother (the first of the Fifth Millinium series)
Patrick Tilley - Amtrack Wars Series
Roger Zelazny - Damnation Alley


Hope this helps.

[Dolorous Menhir]

From Ganymed's fine list, would emphasise Earth Abides. Thought of it as soon as I saw the thread. Most of humanity succumbs to disease and civilisation falls. The book follows the lives of the survivors and the society they build. What happens when the last of the old generation dies, and no-one remembers the world as it was?

Wyndham was mentioned above, but it seems the Day of the Triffids was not.

Nightfall by Isaac Asimov (short story).

[HoosierDaddy]

Cheers all!

I've seen the Stirling books at the bookstore and was intrigued, but having it recommended here is good.

I haven't heard of most of these which is good. I like discovering new authors.

As for WoT, I'm mentioning it solely for the "past technology littering the landscape but now lost" aspect of it. Now, if it was about The Breaking... that would be in this wheelhouse more thoroughly.

This post has been edited by HoosierDaddy: 09 August 2011 - 10:55 PM

[LadyMTL]

If I might add some suggestions to the list, I've read two recently that I liked, though they're not really fantasy novels per se.

First one is Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Windup Girl" and the second is Kazuo Ishiguro's "Never Let Me Go." Of the two I preferred Windup Girl by far, but they're both original, thought-provoking and very well written. Oh, and how could I forget the Margaret Atwood classic "A Handmaid's Tale", it's still one of my faves. Her more recent end of the world stories (Oryx and Crake then the sequel The Year of the Flood) are very good but Handmaid is still miles better, if very different from the standard post-apocalyptic fare.

Aside from that, I'll second I am Legend because the book is miles better than the movie, and World War Z is always a fun read too!

[polishgenius]

Maia Irraz, on 09 August 2011 - 11:30 PM, said:

First one is Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Windup Girl" and the second is Kazuo Ishiguro's "Never Let Me Go." Of the two I preferred Windup Girl by far, but they're both original, thought-provoking and very well written.

Both of those are dystopian, but neither qualify as post-apocalyptic/or end of the world type stories to me... you could make an argument for Windup Girl, but certainly not Never Let Me Go.

It is a great book, though.


Out of the recs that Ganymed posted, my favourite would be Hal Duncan's Book of All Hours (I believe that was my contribution to the original thread). The simplest description I can give is that it's a bizarre mashup between Snow Crash and the Book of Revelations, although that doesn't even begin to cover the weird places the series goes. It's utterly befuddling the first time and certainly not to all tastes, but it's hugely rewarding.

Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun certainly fits the 'living amongst ruins of previous civs' vibe, and is also a masterpiece. It is also famous for being pretty challenging on a first readthrough though, so be warned.

I'm just reading the collected edition of Viriconium which Chance mentioned, and enjoying it so far. His depiction, in the story The Pastel City, of a culture living off previous greatness is perhaps the best I've ever read. The series as a whole does seem to split opinion though from other threads I've seen on this subject. I'm not that far in, so I can't judge it really yet.

The recently released Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence might fit here, and it's also well ace.

[HoosierDaddy]

Duncan's Vellum (first in the Book of All Hours) absolutely stunned me with its first 50 pages or so. Then it utterly lost me. It has such a fantastic premise, but I simply couldn't wade through the myriad mash-ups of mythology all intertwining. That stuff wasn't my cup of tea. Pity, as like I said, the premise was great and the opening was brilliant.

I've tried Book of the New Sun but it never grabbed me... whether that's because I never gave it a legitimate shot is entirely possible. I'll circle back around to it eventually, but Wolfe's style seems to also just be one that turns me off. I've tried The Knight and dropped it, tried Latro in the Mists and dropped it.

[Salt-Man Z]

If The Book of the New Sun isn't working for you as a novel, might I suggest trying to read it as an autobiography instead?

Much as I love TBotNS, I don't really see it as fitting into a post-apolcalypse/end-of-the-world list; it's falls pretty squarely in the "dying earth" category, which is quite a different animal.

[McLovin]

HoosierDaddy, on 11 August 2011 - 12:13 AM, said:

Duncan's Vellum (first in the Book of All Hours) absolutely stunned me with its first 50 pages or so. Then it utterly lost me.

QFT.