Post-apocalyptic fiction

[calanthrophy]

I'm looking for recommendations on some post-apocalyptic/dystopian fiction (think Mad Max, Book of Eli, the Fallout series, etc.). Recommend away. Thank you in advance.

[Rinben]

Try the passage series by Justin Cronin. Post apocalypse vampire fiction. Not supernatural, more of a deadly plague that kills off people and infects them with vampiric symptoms.

[calanthrophy]

Thanks! I'll check it out.

[Varelse]

Cormac McCarthy's The Road and Blood Meridian. (The latter isn't post-apocalyptic, but its atmosphere is).

[Xenophon]

Earth Abides by George Stewart. Granddaddy of them all, published in 1949. Main character is isolated in a cabin for a while recovering from a rattlesnake bite; emerges to find a pandemic has come and gone and nearly everyone else is dead. Survivors group together to form new communities. Beautiful book.

[Meadowlark]

This may be a little belated, I really like the EX heroes series by Peter Clines. Superheroes after the zombie apocalypse. 

[calanthrophy]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and feel free to add more. Forgot to mention no zombies though. I've grown weary of those.

[Twibbly]

One Second After.  Deals with EMPs and what happens after them, so no zombies involved.

[Bearded_Dragon]

Try "The Country of Ice Cream Star" by Sandra Newman - refreshing as it has a strong female lead, although it does have a bit of an altered take on the English language that takes a few chapters to get the hang of. 

 

Also, a bit more sci-fi than apocalyptic, but does have dystopian themes is "The Peripheral" by William Gibson, incorporates time travel, future tech and things like that. 

[Jaelinn]

There is a Danish series called The Deadland, where the first book is called Golak. I really loved those, but I think only the first book has been translated into English.   

[geng shi]

I would second The Passage series, Earth Abides, and The Road.

Other good stuff:

• The MaddAddam series by Margaret Atwood
• The Ship Breaker series by Paolo Bacigalupi (dystopian, but not apocalyptic)
• California by Edan Lepucki
• The Robopocalypse series by Daniel H. Wilson (a horrible title - I agree)
• Resurrection Day by Brendan DuBois
• The Stand by Stephen King
• A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
• Blindness by Jose Saramago (perhaps a bit of a stretch in this category)
• Children of Men by P.D. James

I'll stop - this is an area I love. 

[Myrdinn]

Have you read Station Eleven, by Emily Mandel? Fantastic bit of post-apocalypse fiction.

 

Also - not exactly post-apocalypse, more civilisation-on-the-verge-of-collapse, but Paolo Bacigalupi's The Wind Up Girl is great.

[LondonIrishEwok]

Richard Matheson's, I am legend (1954), a brilliant dark book. None of the movies have done it justice (don't get me started on the steaming pile of dog turds that calls itself Omega Man).

 

One man seemingly immune to an infection that changes human society into vampiric one, struggles to survive, maintain his sanity, and put an end to the infection. 

 

I have read it a bunch of times and will again just for the ending!

[Solacin83]

If you guys wish to read a fun and interesting Post –Apocalypse novel series, than the following would be my suggestion.

 The series is call “The Survivalist Series” Written by A America (Angry America). I listened to the novel series on Audible, which I suggest due, which is read by Duke Fontane. All of the characters are interesting. The series is not only a story about Morgan, the main character, but a survival guild with detailed information, items, and skills to survival in an EMP world.

 

1. Going Home

2. Surviving Home

3. Escaping Home

4. Forsaking Home

5. Resurrecting Home

6. Avenging Home

The Series is still ongoing and the audio books are the way to go due to Duke Fontane’s way of bring all of the characters to life

[RhiaWolfe]

It's not really in the same realm as some of those mad max books, but it is post-apocalyptic and a pretty good thriller. Try Wool by Hugh Howey. 

[PadraigS]

I'd recommend the Zombie Fallout or Indian Hill series by Mark Tufo.

 

Zombie fallout is, predictably enough about zombies and a guy named Mike Talbot trying to keep his family safe. It leads on to Lycan fallout which is set roughly 100 years after the events of Zombie fallout when the decreased human numbers allow Lycans to come out of hiding and try to become the rulers of the land they think themselves to be

 

Indian Hill is about a reptilian alien invasion of Earth. It stars an alternate reality version of Mike this time as a guy in his late teens early twenties as opposed to early fourties in Zombie Fallout. 

 

He has several other books which are technically stand alone but all tie into his two main franchises. 

 

These are pretty humor intensive, although they do have points of the grimness you get in most post-apoc fiction.

 

Still I'd definitely recommend them to anyone. Other than my own parents.

[pseudobison]

Amazing thread here for fans of this stuff. Riddley Walker is the only classic I can think of that hasn't been mentioned here already...

[obax]

'Gone Away World' by Nick Harkaway. I normally at least have a vague idea of the twist when it's coming, but this one hit me like a tonne of bricks. An actual visceral experience, and the writing just hauls you along for the ride.

[aishah hope]

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler.

[ZFJango]

No zombies!? Ouch. I was going to recommend my own series. https://www.amazon.com/Paved-Zombies-Zombie-Fighter-Jango-ebook/dp/B01N9XDXQJ  A lot different than the usual zombie fare.

[Scarlet]

Ooh my kind of question. I once spent a whole year reading only dystopian and post-apocalyptic books. It was a sad (but awesome) year. 

 

Someone mentioned A Canticle for Leibowitz above which I have to second. It was a weird one because it seemed very boring and aimless for a while, but the last five pages are some of the most powerful words I've ever read. 

 

Also read On the Beach by Nevil Shute. Someone pushed the mutual destruction button and the world is dead. The air currents are taking a radiation-scented breeze slowly south, where the only people surviving on the planet are the residents of Melbourne. Nobody knows exactly how it happened, but they all know everyone else is dead, and they're next. It's brutal but has a dry sense of humor about it that I love. 

[Kita]

Oh! No ones mentioned my one of my favourite takes on this genre The Last Detective. It's pre-apocalypse fiction! The world is going to be hit by an asteroid in 6 months time. The background of the detective story is how everyone is (not) dealing with it. It's great.

 

I *love* the Fallout series too - I've been a fan since the first one. (Ahem, yes that long).

 

On that note, on the games front there is Wasteland which is more in the vein of early Fallout games if that interests you.

[Velkyn]

I love post apocalyptic but not too dark. 

 

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank - dated but still enjoyable

 

Emergence by David Palmer -   diary of a homo superior young woman and her parrot.  Lots of fun.  There is a novella sequel that is awful. 

 

Ariel by Stephen Boyett - one of the "magic comes back" post apocalyptics.   Warning: rip out the last two chapters and don't read them.  Just let the story end because what the author does to a perfectly fine story will only piss you off.