POST-HOLOCAUST NOVEL DISCUSSION

[beez1954]

O.K. guys and gals:

Anyone read a good post apocalypse novel lately?

I'm almost through with Earth Abides by George Stewart and as my son just got over H1N1 it hit me as being pretty ahead of its times being written in 1949.

I bet somewhere in the back of Stephen King's mind it influenced his Captain Trips idea for The Stand.

I've also read:

Alas Babylon
The Postman
The Road
Patriots
The Stand
I Am Legend
Quite a few of the Survivalist series
Quite a few of the Ashes series

Just got Lucifer's Hammer and On the Beach that I'll get through next.

Also seeing good reviews for A Canticle for Leibowitz.

I'm not that into the Zombie thing and know about a few of these types of novels also.

How about it?

Any recommendations - discussion on this topic?

[Scarnucci]

Of the books you mentioned I've read:

Alas Babylon
The Road
Lucifer's Hammer
The Stand

I've seen the film adaptation of:

The Postman
I am Legend (and The Omega Man on which it was based)

I have probably read The Stand about 4 or 5 times...its cool, but its got its supernatural elements...I dont file it in the same category as Alas Babylon or The Road.

I thought The Road was so-so. It was very dreary and dark. Not much talk of rebuilt societies at all. Everyone was a loner and/or a cannibal. If there was some sort of event, I would still imagine that clusters of towns would survive afterwards, much more like Alas Babylon. Plus I didnt like how the main character fell ***-backwards into someone elses prepped and stocked bomb shelter.

I did like how in Alas Babylon, right after the nuclear war, people were throwing money at shopkeepers for food/tires/gas...then a week later the mechanic at the shop said that he had a suitcase full of money, and nothing to spend it on. Totally worthless. And he forgot to save a set of tires for himself. Later in the story the real commodities were liquor, coffee, salt, gasoline...doctor's services, etc. Reminds me of something I read on another board where some eastern european country's economy collapsed...(Poland? Lithuania? I forget...) and the people who lived through it said that gasoline, liquor and sugar were far and away more useful than paper money. Not much talk of PMs either.


I can only hope that the H1N1 mutates to achieves apocalyptic levels and will thin out some of the traffic I have to fight in and out of work every day... C'mon kids, share juice boxes and take this bug home to mom and dad! (Cue Blue Oyster Cult "Don't fear the Reaper")









I GOTTA HAVE MORE COWBELL!

[techres]

If Earth Abides does not bum you out enough, go for On The Beach.

[SmileDocHill]

I am writing one right now called my diary /journal. I am still in the early parts of character development but I am sure things are about to take a turn for the worse.

[Scarnucci]

Does it start with a propane truck explosion shutting down a major artery in and out of the city, and then when people are stuck traveling through Westfield in order to find alternate routes home...they wait 45 minutes to get through a traffic light on Hwy 32...a light that is changing for no reason, letting 3 cars through each cycle, and creating a mile long E-W backup, even though there is no N-S traffic? All the while their car GPS units are giving the ridiculous route selections to get back home. Finally the populace snap and start eliminating other drivers who are texting while driving in the rain?

Cause if it does, I may have some input for ya.

[hawkhavn]

Folks,

If you want the 'good stuff' try 'Deep Winter' and 'Shatter' by Tom Sherry:
Amazon.com: Shatter (Deep Winter)...
The books are very realistic, no amazing treasure troves of stuff laying around to be used, just a regular guy doing what he has to do. Strong undertones of duty and honor and service.

Still waiting for book #3 to get published.

Hawkhavn

[ghunter]

Lucifer's Hammer is one of the best. If you want to go a little off the reservation, try "Day by day armageddon" by J.L. Bourne. It's a teotwawki book, about zombies. Very well done, and you can tell that Bourne is very tactically literate.

[csaws]

One Second After, I presume would fall into this category since nukes were used to cause an EMP