# #1 Post Apocalyptic Book?



## darias (Dec 10, 2013)

Just got caught up on The Walking Dead. What's your #1 favorite post apocalyptic book? Swan Song (Robert Mccammon) currently holds my top spot.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

_"I won't pick just one! I won't! And you can't make me! I'll hold my breath till I turn blue!"_

(clenching mouth closed and melodramatically holding breath)

But here are two favorites:



Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

and



Alas, Babylon, by Pat Frank

There's a thread about Alas Babylon here if you search, it is well-loved by a BUNCH of KBers. And I am pretty sure there are similar post-apocalyptic threads to this one to reward a search for the right keywords.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

The whole zombie thing leaves me yawning, but the closest to that sub-genre for me might be The Day of the Triffids.



I'll second _Lucifer's Hammer_, but if forced to pick a favorite, it would probably have to be A Canticle for Leibowitz, which apparently _still_ is not enKindled.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Oh, and how could I forget. While not one of his best, I am compelled to give an honorable mention to one of the very few Zelazny books available for Kindle: Damnation Alley.


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## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

I don't know how to post a book cover , but _One Second After _ is definitely my favorite. Amazing he didn't make it into a series. He's been on the top 100 Bestseller List for a few years, and stays way up there.

The only part I didn't like was about the dog. No spoilers, but that part really got me.


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## Chris P. O&#039;Grady (Oct 28, 2013)

The Hooded Claw said:


> _"I won't pick just one! I won't! And you can't make me! I'll hold my breath till I turn blue!"_
> 
> (clenching mouth closed and melodramatically holding breath)
> 
> ...


Nice!


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

NogDog said:


> The whole zombie thing leaves me yawning, but the closest to that sub-genre for me might be


Me too! That's why I ignored the book he mentioned and just responded to his request for post-apocalyptic books....


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

L.L. Akers said:


> I don't know how to post a book cover...


KBoards Link Maker


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## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

"The Road" by Cormack McCarthy for the seriously bleak outlook fans

"Deathlands" is like a pulp-y men's adventure series, about 70+ books strong now. Takes place after WW3, a band of survivors stumble across a secret redoubt buried under a mountain that contains some kind of matter-transmission thing and they can jump to other redoubts and outposts. Plenty of the typical mutants and power-hungry bad guys... you know, think of 50's pulp scifi but done under the theme of post-Cold War nuclear war. Literary masterpieces... no. Quickly digestible post-nuke adventure? Yes . 

And just in case you haven't read it, and keep in mind I HATE zombie/vampire/werewolf stuff, "World War Z" is an awesome book. If you like listening to NPR, you'll love this book even more, as it reads like a succession of NPR shows/stories concerning the zombie apoc.


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## Sam Kates (Aug 28, 2012)

I'm not into zombie books either, but have to make an exception for _World War Z_. One of the most intelligent PA books I've ever read.

I'll also second _The Road_. For all its bleakness, I found it utterly compelling.

Not everyone's cup of tea, but _Riddley Walker_ and its lyrical mysticism stayed with me for a long time after I'd finished it.


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## Alessandra Kelley (Feb 22, 2011)

I'm rather partial to John Christopher's The Death of Grass (published in the US as _No Blade of Grass_).

It was his first novel, a postapocalyptic bleak portrayal of postwar Great Britain in a world where all grasses worldwide have died of a viral blight.

It really should be better known.


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## mphicks (Jan 29, 2014)

I'll third _The Road_! For me, though, _The Stand_ will always have a special place as my go-to post-apocalypse novel.


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## Nope (Jun 25, 2012)

.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

L.L. Akers said:


> I don't know how to post a book cover , but _One Second After _ is definitely my favorite. Amazing he didn't make it into a series. He's been on the top 100 Bestseller List for a few years, and stays way up there.
> 
> The only part I didn't like was about the dog. No spoilers, but that part really got me.


I must admit, I didn't care for this one. It probably didn't help that when I read it, I knew my husband was writing training scenarios for the NSA on how to deal with an EMP attack. I was constantly badgering him and asking "could this REALLY happen like this?" And the answer was often, "No, not as he's written it".

And for some reason the main characters obsession with cigarettes bothered me. I figured with everything else going on, cigarettes wouldn't be so darn important.


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## Lyndl (Apr 2, 2010)

The Stand is an all time favourite.  I read Swan Song (after a recommendation here) and that is now right up there for me.


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## timskorn (Nov 7, 2012)

I'll fourth "The Road".  Dark, simple, and believable.

"Z for Zacharia" was my first post-apoc book that I read, and always sits vividly in my memory 20 years after reading it.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

C.C. Kelly said:


> The Stand and Dhalgren are my two favorites, but more the latter because it was the first apocalyptic dystopian urban science fiction new adult fantasy that I ever read. It's long too.


I just find it interesting that you cited those two books. I love Delaney (in spite of the fact that he can be challenging to read at times), but I have yet to finish any novel I've tried by King (which puts me in a distinct minority, I guess?). None of that really means anything, other than to celebrate the diversity of people in general and readers in particular.


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## Debbie Bennett (Mar 25, 2011)

Agreeing with others on The Stand and Swan Song.

Also...  and . Both vampire-y, but different treatments. Oh and  is rather good too, though one trilogy was enough for me...


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## mphicks (Jan 29, 2014)

Deb - good addition with The Strain trilogy (really looking forward to seeing how this series plays out on TV)! Haven't read The Passage yet, but am hoping to get around to it one of these days.


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## TWErvin2 (Aug 7, 2010)

I enjoyed *One Second After  * by William R. Forstchen. It's a storyline that's realistic in that it could happen and the results, although sometimes depressing, seem on target.

If you liked the Walking Dead, there's a YA novel that might be of interest (adults would enjoy it too, I think). *The Zombie-Drive Life  * by David Wood.


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

I like the  and


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## Nope (Jun 25, 2012)

.


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## SunshineOnMe (Jan 11, 2014)

It has to be The Stand for me. I like The Road, and Swan Song also.


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## Debbie Bennett (Mar 25, 2011)

mphicks said:


> Deb - good addition with The Strain trilogy (really looking forward to seeing how this series plays out on TV)! Haven't read The Passage yet, but am hoping to get around to it one of these days.


The Strain on tv? That'll be US then, which means (since I don't have Sky), it'll be *years* before it crosses the water!

I loved The Passage, but I just can't get into the sequel at all. Tried reading it twice now and it just doesn't grab me enough to get past the first couple of chapters. I must try again....


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## Debbie Bennett (Mar 25, 2011)

Oh and what about Stephen Baxter? Two very differently awesome post-apocalyptic novels:

 

He's an odd author. I read his Coalescent series - but skipped book 2 completely! Hated that one and it didn't really seem to matter in the grand scheme of things.And I don't like his alternative history stuff, either.


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## mphicks (Jan 29, 2014)

DebBennett said:


> The Strain on tv? That'll be US then, which means (since I don't have Sky), it'll be *years* before it crosses the water!


Ouch! Hopefully it won't be that long of wait for you. It premieres in the US this summer on FX. I wonder if you'd be able to check it out online or purchase a digital season pass through iTunes or some-such thing. I believe Del Toro is directing the pilot.

Anyway, don't mean to derail this thread with TV talk...


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## PaulLev (Nov 2, 2012)

I'd put The Postman by David Brin on the list.


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## Debbie Bennett (Mar 25, 2011)

PaulLev said:


> I'd put The Postman by David Brin on the list.


Is that the one that was a film with Kevin Costner? Not read the book - must have a look!


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## RMercer (Mar 1, 2014)

My favorite would definitely have to be WOOL. It is an amazing, albeit short, read. It's got a twist at the end that just .



The first part is free so I'd definitely go check it out if you want an awesome read. I haven't got around to finishing the rest though.


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## PaulLev (Nov 2, 2012)

DebBennett said:


> Is that the one that was a film with Kevin Costner? Not read the book - must have a look!


Yes - I thought the movie was excellent, but I liked the book even more.


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## Ken Magee (Nov 17, 2011)

PaulLev said:


> Yes - I thought the movie was excellent, but I liked the book even more.


I loved the book, but was left a bit cold by the movie.


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## PaulLev (Nov 2, 2012)

Ken Magee said:


> I loved the book, but was left a bit cold by the movie.


I once asked David Brin what he thought of the movie of his book - he said he really liked the movie, but it wasn't of the book he wrote, it was a movie based on the book he wrote. That distinction explains why the book was better.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

I like Brin's book much more than that movie version - it was changed up just too much. But _*The Postman*_ would definitely be on my list of top post-apocalyptic novels.

some that I think need to be added to the list for various and sundry reasons include:

Mira Grant's _Newsflesh Trilogy_, starting with Feed I rank with the best in zombie related apocalypses....
S.M. Stirling's Dies the Fire is a great start to a highly entertaining post-apocalypse series.
Stirling's The Peshawar Lancers is a beautifully written post-asteroid strike set in a British Empire Centered in India.
Nick Cole's The Old Man and the Wasteland is an homage to Hemingway and a great romp through a post-apocalyptic Arizona.

Finally, It's not just an apocalypse novel but Stephen Baxter's Evolution has a couple apocalpyses in it as it covers a fictionalized evolution of life over a few million years on Earth.


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## SunshineOnMe (Jan 11, 2014)

PaulLev said:


> I'd put The Postman by David Brin on the list.


I am reading it based on this recommendation


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## PaulLev (Nov 2, 2012)

SunshineOnMe said:


> I am reading it based on this recommendation


Enjoy!


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

I think The Road is the best book I've ever read. I sort of wish I'd never read it though. I was haunted for a long time by some of the scenes. There are no punches pulled there. 

World War Z is amazingly well thought out and I liked the take on a ZA that people are able to fight back against as a society, instead of just disappearing. Very different from the usual types of ZA fiction, but I appreciate that. Wool and The Postman are both quite good.

The Handmaid's Tale isn't quite post-apocalyptic in the usual sense, but well worth reading.

I'll mention a book that I'm sure most people haven't read: War Day by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka. I'm not particularly a Strieber fan with the aliens and such, but this was another book in the "Good War/WW-Z" sort of mold, but two people travelling across America after a very limited nuclear war. Unfortunately, this has been out of print since dinosaurs roamed the earth.


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## Daniel Harvell (Jun 21, 2013)

I'll echo a couple of others and say The Stand - it left a huge impression on me as both a reader and a writer.


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## Debbie Bennett (Mar 25, 2011)

SunshineOnMe said:


> I am reading it based on this recommendation


Me too! Downloaded a sample last night.


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## Ergodic Mage (Jan 23, 2012)

I can't pick one favourite so I'll narrow down to 4.
_Empire of the East_ by Fred Saberhagen
_Logan's Run_ by William Nolan
_Horseclans series_ by Robert Adams
_Wool_ by our own Hugh Howey

There are other great book mentioned here that I've enjoyed, but I've not read either _The Postman_ nor _Lucifer's Hammer_.

Just realized I listed 3 of those books in another thread today, nope I never repeat myself, never ever repeat myself, though my wife thinks I repeat myself.


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## joyceharmon (May 21, 2012)

Now I'm feeling the urge to reread both Lucifer's Hammer AND The Postman. And I've just got two days to finish this gloomy book club book.


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## PaulLev (Nov 2, 2012)

DebBennett said:


> Me too! Downloaded a sample last night.


I may follow my own recommendation and read The Postman again myself


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## CecilyKane (Mar 4, 2014)

_Parable of the Sower_, by Octavia Butler, is hands-down my favorite post-apocalyptic book (as well as science fiction book) of all time.

It's also a bildungsroman.

And literary.

And basically the best thing ever.


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

> Logan's Run by William Nolan


One of my favorites as well. I'm so delighted that someone else has actually read the book rather than just seen the (rather terrible) movie.


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## PaulLev (Nov 2, 2012)

Kat S said:


> One of my favorites as well. I'm so delighted that someone else has actually read the book rather than just seen the (rather terrible) movie.


There's a story - maybe apocryphal - about an author who is asked if he was upset that the movie ruined his book. The author holds up his book and says, no, this is the book I wrote, I look at it every day, and it didn't change at all when the movie was made.


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## Ergodic Mage (Jan 23, 2012)

Kat S said:


> One of my favorites as well. I'm so delighted that someone else has actually read the book rather than just seen the (rather terrible) movie.


I loved the movie and the show, but the book stands out with the richer setting and plot. Though, only in the book do I like Francis, the movie and show did such a poor job with him.



PaulLev said:


> There's a story - maybe apocryphal - about an author who is asked if he was upset that the movie ruined his book. The author holds up his book and says, no, this is the book I wrote, I look at it every day, and it didn't change at all when the movie was made.


I'm assuming the author was *not* Ursula K. Le Guin.


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## PaulLev (Nov 2, 2012)

Ergodic Mage said:


> I'm assuming the author was *not* Ursula K. Le Guin.


Probably not  Anyway, I rather liked The Lathe of Heaven movie (1980).


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## brianmartinez (Feb 13, 2011)

It's hard for me to pick a favorite, but one of my favorites is Things We Didn't See Coming by Steven Amsterdam. It's original, extremely well-written and really stuck with me.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

There is so much goodness listed in here that I had to combine it all into a list (I am a list geek after all). So here are the books as recommended ...

The Coming Of The Horseclans (The Horseclans Series) by Robert Adams - *Not Read* 
Things We Didn't See Coming by Steven Amsterdam - *Not Read* 
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood - *Multiple Times* 
Pilgrimage To Hell (Deathlands) by James Axler - *Not Read* 
Moonseed by Stephen Baxter - *Read* 
Flood by Stephen Baxter - *Read* 
The Postman by David Brin - *Multiple Times* 
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks - *Multiple Times* 
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler - *Multiple Times* 
World's End (Age of Misrule, Book 1) by Mark Chadbourn - *Not Read* 
The Death of Grass by John Christopher - *Not Read* 
Ex-Heroes: A Novel by Peter Clines - *Read* 
The Old Man and the Wasteland by Nick Cole - *Read* 
The Passage: A Novel by Justin Cronin - *Read* 
The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan - *Not Read* 
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany - *Read* 
One Second After by William R. Forstchen - *Read* 
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank - *Multiple Times* 
Feed by Mira Grant - *Read* 
Riddley Walker, Expanded Edition by Russell Hoban - *Not Read* 
Wool Omnibus Edition by Hugh Howey - *Read* 
The Stand by Stephen King - *Multiple Times* 
The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman - *Multiple Times* 
Way of The Wolf: Book One Of The Vampire Earth by E.E. Knight - *Not Read* 
Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon - *Read* 
The Road by Cormac McCarthy - *Not Read* 
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. - *Multiple Times* 
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle - *Multiple Times* 
Logan's Run by William Nolan - *Multiple Times* 
Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien - *Not Read* 
Empire of the East by Fred Saberhagen - *Not Read* 
Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling - *Multiple Times* 
The Peshawar Lancers by S.M. Stirling - *Multiple Times* 
War Day by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka - *Multiple Times* 
The Zombie-Drive Life  by David Wood - *Not Read* 
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham - *Read* 
Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny - *Read*

Turns out I've read 60% of the list which is pretty good. There are a couple I have but haven't gotten around to reading yet but I have copies of - three that were added to my wishlist pile (including the omnibus comic version of _Logan's Run_ - or should I say the _Logan's Run_ graphic novel?)
There are a few on the list I can't really say how many times I've read but at least 5 - 10 times since high school &#8230;..


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## TimMoon (Oct 9, 2011)

The first one I ever read was The Girl Who Owned A City. That was a great book. 

My favorites are Dies the Fire by SM Stirling, Blood Red Road by Moira Young, or The Eden Trilogy by Keary Taylor.


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## metal134 (Sep 2, 2010)

I'll fifth "The Road"..  And while it isn't a novel, but rather, a short story, "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison has always been a favorite of mine.


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

People just need to really be prepared for The Road. Not only is it a fantastic piece of literature, but it just has scenes which will rip your soul out and stain it for eternity. It's not WW-Z or The Postman, you can walk away from unchanged.


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## Patrick Stemp (Mar 2, 2014)

I'd have to go with Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle". Not many authors can make the end of the world both horrifying and funny.


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## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

I remember when I got into the Deathlands series, it was on book #13 (Seedling, which will always hold a special place in my heart) already, so I started tracking back, and annoyed the everloving %#$! out of the B Daltons and Waldenbooks people to try and get the first five in the series. I ended up finding #2 and #3 at an awesome used book store over the course of a couple of months, #4 for some reason was available through B Daltons (snapped that sucker up quick, I did, I did).

#1 and #5 eluded me for almost three years before the publisher decided to reissue the first five books in the series since they'd all gone out of print but were gaining popularity. Again, it's super pulp post-nuclear Terminator *without* the Skynet and killer robots (so basically The Day After with some interesting future tech here and there that they discover... it's like reading a playthrough of the original Fallout or Wasteland video game).

Oh Gold Eagle, I used to be a member of their book club even. It was like Columbia House but for men's adventure / scifi stuff.

Ah, to be young again and show up every single week for nine months to the bookstores in the mall and bug them if I they ever found me a copy of a book I REALLY wanted.

Holy jeez, just checked it to see how many there are now... 105 Deathlands books, 67 Outlander books (a different kind of post-apoc adventure series). That's pretty impressive haha.

*ahem*

sorry


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## Ergodic Mage (Jan 23, 2012)

Geoffrey said:


> The Coming Of The Horseclans (The Horseclans Series) by Robert Adams - *Not Read*


Caution this series is great, but it also contains some absolutely graphic scenes and things that honestly people would not write about today. It is not for the squeamish and extremely thick protective skin is recommended while reading.


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