Post apocalyptic fiction

[left-of-center2012]

Hi -
I'm a fan of post apocalyptic fiction and always looking for recommendations.

I'd appreciate any info on books you might suggest.

Thanks

[SheilaT]

1. Oh! Oh! Oh!

One of my favorite sub-genres.

Try: Summer of the Apocalypse by James Van Pelt. Sometime in the near future people die off from some kind of plague. Fifty or more years later a man re-lives a trek he'd taken as a child right after the plague. I loved it. Also, Van Pelt writes lots of wonderful short stores and has four, count 'em four, collections out: "Strangers and Beggars", "The Last of the O Forms", "The Radio Magician", and "Flying in the Heart of the Lafayette Escadrille". I don't think any of the stories collected are post apocalyptic fiction, but I REALLY like his stuff. I also need to add that I've met Mr. Van Pelt a couple of times, most recently at MileHi Con in Denver last month. He's a great guy and cheerfully autographed books for me.

Anyway, back to what you asked about.

Level Seven by Mordecai Roshwald. In an unspecified future (the novel came out in 1959 and trust me, it's scarily relevant) underground bunkers have been built in case of nuclear war. The narrator is important enough to be in level 7, the lowest and most secure of the levels. Haunting.

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. It also came out in 1959 and is much better known than Level Seven. It has never been out of print in over fifty years. A man in Florida has a brother with the Strategic Air Command who gives him a heads up about a coming nuclear war. Brief nuclear war ensues, and for the next two years or so the small community in Florida struggles to survive. This is a must read.

A World Made By Hand and The Witch of Hebron by James Howard Kunstler. They both involve a world in which the end came more slowly, thanks to peak oil and a general collapse of the world economic system. I'm hoping Kunstler will write more in this world.

There's also a lot of military post apocalyptic stuff out there, such as the three by John Birmingham: Without Warning, After America,and Angels of Vengeance. In this series, a mysterious force field kills off a lot of people around the world, including most of the people of the United States. Birmingham has also written the Axis of Time Trilogy, which involves a hole in time. I liked that series better.

Years ago I stumbled across a book-length annotated bibliography of nuclear war and post-apocalyptic fiction. Years ago as in sometime right before 1980, and I of course have no idea of the name of the book or who wrote it. I got it out of the library, and I'd already read most of the books in it, and read any number of the others. Sigh. Wish I could be more helpful.

I hope others here will mention even more books.

[getting old in mke]

6. Another classic from the same time (1960)

_A Canticle for Leibowitz_. Series of episodes across time with monks preserving knowledge they don't understand after a nuclear war.

I agree that _Level Seven_ is one of the saddest, most haunting views of the future.

[SteveG]

42. I second Canticle for Liebowitz

Fantastic book.

[dixiegrrrrl]

44. The book you can't remember..was it

Wastelands, edited by John Joseph Adams???

Just found this OP, in my search for more titles on the subject.

[SheilaT]

45. Not that book.

Wastelands is an anthology. Came out in 2008. What I'm remembering is a annotated bibliography which listed pretty much every single apocalypse and post apocalypse novel ever written up to that point. And again, I'm pretty sure I read it before 1980.

[left-of-center2012]

2. Thanks for a wonderful response

I've bookmarked all titles for possible purchases, except ALAS, BABYLON (having read it).
And, I always buy (when possible) from Abe Books, an online discount book dealer.
http://www.abebooks.com/

Thanks for the info.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. Ami Rebecca Blackwelder

While not technically "post apocalyptic' her Shifters series was good
http://www.librarything.com/author/blackwelderamirebecc

At the End by John Hennessy I gave 3 stars cause the biology didn't work, but it was good
http://www.librarything.com/work/12474309/book/88209724

there haven't been a whole lot of apocalypse books released lately, mostly I'm getting paranormal stuff and fantasy...

[left-of-center2012]

4. Thanks

I've added both to a list I've created of books to buy.

By the way ~ I am a shape shifter.
No, really.
I've been on and off diets all my life.

[krispos42]

5. "World War Z"

The rise of the zombies, the fall of civilization, and survival in the aftermath, as told from numerous interviews recorded by an investigator.

[left-of-center2012]

7. Zombies, eh ?

I've not thought I'd be interested in anything "zombie",
but I looked this book up on Amazon and the description of the story has me intrigued.
This may be my next book.

Thanks for suggesting it.

[getting old in mke]

8. Yeah, think Studs Terkel, not George Romero (nt)

[Telcontar]

64. What makes it great is you could substitute any other disaster

The stories of adversity and trial were what made the book awesome.

[FloridaJudy]

9. "The Handmaid's Tale"

Is a personal favorite.

And then there's this:

[FloridaJudy]

10. When I read "The Road"

I had to agree with the wife. The kindest thing to have done for that child would have been to feed him an overdose of sedatives, before taking a handful yourself. If some calamity, whether man-made or natural, destroyed all other life on earth, the future for the survivors is going to be very short and very grim (BTW what could possibly kill every other plant and animal, and leave a few humans alive? Science fail!) Even if the canned goods lasted more than a decade, once the plants were dead an oxygen shortage would get you sooner or later, since dead plants burn, and lightning happens. I suppose the novel was supposed to be metaphoric, but it wasn't just depressing; it was fucking stupid.

One of my favorite post-apocalyptic novels is an oldie: Walter Miller's "A Canticle for Leibowitz".

And Harlan Ellison's "A Boy and His Dog", of course.

[Telcontar]

65. I didnt think The Road was a global extinction

Because the air was somewhat breathable, I figure the deep ocean life was still going. Plus I assumed the disaster (unspecified) was Yellowstone eruption. All the ash in the air and the burned out terrain.

North America would be destroyed, the rest of the planet damaged beyond belief, but in a few decades things would improve.

[codjh9]

14. That's FUNNY!!! It was a great book, though. n/t

[left-of-center2012]

11. "The Pest House" by Jim Crace

A favorite of mine. Loved it.

The Pesthouse, a 2007 novel by Jim Crace

http://www.jim-crace.com/Pesthouse.htm

[codjh9]

15. Interesting -

Hey, if you loved it, cool. For me - I don't remember it at all now, but - I know I just thought 'meh'. Thought somewhat the same thing about another English post-apocalyptic one - actually it was more in the dystopian, '1984'/'Brave New World'/'Handmaid's Tale' kind of thing, called 'Daughters of the North', by Sarah Hall.

[left-of-center2012]

12. The Book of Eli

I watched this movie today on TNT for the first time.
I'm a big fan of Denzel Washington, and enjoyed the movie.
I'm also now a new fan of Mila Kunis.

The Book of Eli
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1037705/

[codjh9]

13. I LOVE post-apocalyptic fiction. Some recent ones:

I've read way more than these, but these are just some in the past few years.


Oryx & Crake, and The Year of the Flood - Margaret Atwood
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
The bleakest of the post-apocalyptic books I've read, yet one of the most gripping. I couldn't put it down.
Julian Comstock - Robert Charles Wilson
The Age of Miracles - Karen Walker
Very different idea - the world's rotation starts slowing. I think she could've done more with this book, but still, it was
pretty good. Told from the viewpoint of a young girl in SoCal
The Dog Stars - Peter Heller
Another interesting idea - the protagonist still has a functioning small plane, and a fair amount of aviation fuel.
The Last Policeman - Ben Winters
The world is ending in 6 months (meteor? - haven't read this one yet), and although people are committing suicide as a
result, a cop still cares, and the story opens as he investigates a 'suicide' that he really thinks is a murder.

[lordsummerisle]

81. just read the first two of the Last Policeman trilogy

By Ben Winters and just ordered the third from my library. Very easy to read, page turning kind of writing. Can't wait to see if the world ends or not. 😁

[SheilaT]

82. I hope you like the third as much as the first two.

That is one of the best series I've ever read.

added on edit:

O!M!G! I just learned that Ben Winters has a new novel coming out: Underground Airlines. It looks AMAZING. I cannot believe I'm going to have to wait until July to get it. This is what I'd use a time machine to go to July and get the book.

[lordsummerisle]

83. Just finished World of Trouble

Great writing but I felt let down in the end. Sorry, I just didn't buy the "I don't care anything about the end of the world as long as I've found out how and why my sister died." Also after three books of waiting for the end to happen I thought we should have seen something of the impact and aftermath, although I can see why some would like the way it ended. Compared to say, Lucifer's Hammer I would only tepidly recommend this series.

[phantom power]

16. The Knowledge of Heaven and Earth

http://www.amazon.com/The-Knowledge-Heaven-Earth-Book/dp/0557540631

[Fumesucker]

17. One that has stuck with me for a long time is "Greybeard"

http://www.amazon.com/Greybeard-Brian-Wilson-Aldiss/dp/0755100638

"A Canticle for Liebowitz" is another that is a classic.

http://www.amazon.com/Canticle-Leibowitz-Walter-Miller-Jr/dp/0060892994/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352337934&sr=1-1&keywords=a+canticle+for+leibowitz


Edgar Pangborn's "Davy", yet another classic.

http://www.amazon.com/Davy-Edgar-Pangborn/dp/1882968301/ref=la_B000APET7A_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352337970&sr=1-1

Orson Scott Card's "I Put My Blue Genes On" is the ultimate post apocalyptic short story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Put_My_Blue_Genes_On

You can find it in this collection:http://www.amazon.com/Unaccompanied-Sonata-Other-Stories-Orson/dp/0803791755/ref=sr_1_sc_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352338197&sr=1-2-spell&keywords=unacompannied+sonata

The rest of the stories are worth reading too, Card used to be quite an interesting author but seems to have lost his mind shortly after 9/11/2001 and is now some kind of wingnut.

[LARED]

18. "The Stand" by Stephen King is pretty good

The book was far better than the movie.

[SheilaT]

19. The original version only.

When he got to put all of the editing cuts back in, and tried to update it because it was now ten years later, it was a far less effective book.

[LARED]

20. I read it about thirty years ago

so I think I read the original version.

King's books are always a hit or miss proposition in my view. Some were great reads, some were just awful.

[Codeine]

53. He tends to fall apart when the ending comes along.

I love the almost-unmatched deftness and confidence of his voice (I contend that his is one of the most gifted prose stylists in American literary history) and his characters are always so compelling, but the man can't end a book to save his life.

[Liberal_Dog]

21. Deus Irae by Phillip K. Dick and Roger Zelazny. nt

[Liberal_Dog]

23. Also Farnham's Freehold by Robert A. Heinlein. nt

[PufPuf23]

31. I much prefer Dr. Bloodmoney as a post apocalyptic novel of PKD

I consider Dr Bloodmoney one of the top ten PKD novels.

There are several similar characters common to the novels.

[ozone82]

22. Earth Abides

One of the first modern post apocalypse novels, written in 1949. Holds up real well [link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Abides|

[Adsos Letter]

76. That's the one that came to my mind.

First read it in a High School English class back in the early '70's.

[codjh9]

24. A couple more

I'm reading 'Far North' right now, which is pretty good. A bit different. Set in a post-apocalyptic (former?) Russia, but with an American woman 'settler' as a protagonist.

And although I still prefer paper books, I just downloaded 'Wool' for iBooks, which is a self-published effort that has evidently done very well (and will come out in paper sometime next spring or summer). It's got 2,000+ reviews on Amazon. I've only read the first chapter, though, so I can't personally vouch for it.

[mwrguy]

25. "Wolf and Iron" by Gordon R. Dickson

He goes for realism after a massive economic collapse.

Kind of slow, but very good.

[skippercollector]

26. my suggestions

Here are some others that I've read.
The Disappearance, by Philip Wylie, 1951. An unexplained event puts all the women in one universe of Earth and all the men in another. Considering its date of publication, it's still very contemporary.
On the Beach, by Nevil Shute, 1957
Left Behind, by Tim LaHaye, 1995. I read Left Behind and because I’ve been reading science fiction and fantasy since grade school, thought it was not only preachy but overly simplistic in its writing. I jumped ahead and read Apollyon (1999) and that one with the scenes of the plagues of huge metallic sentient locusts made my hair stand on end!
A Gift Upon the Shore, by M.K. Wren, 1990
A Creed for the Third Millennium, by Colleen McCullough, 1985
Malevil, by Robert Merle, 1972
Logan's Run, by William F. Nolan, 1967, and Logan's World, 1977
The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham, 1951, and The Night of the Triffids, by Simon Clark, 2001
1632, by Eric Flint, 2000, and umpteem sequels and fan-written stories
The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood, 1985. What is people’s obsession with this novel? I read it when it was first released and didn’t care for it at all. I took a college English class in the 1990s (just for fun!) about women in science fiction, and the professor had us read it. I joined a book discussion group at the local library and this was the first book the librarian had the group read!
Last Light, by Terri Blackstock, 2006, and three sequels. She is a Christian writer and a contemporary of LaHaye’s, but not as overly dramatic. Her books are about a family in a suburb of Atlanta. All electricity has quit working, as has any other type of engine. You don’t learn the reason until one of the later novels. Obviously her books were written before the series Revolution.

When the series Jericho was airing, we had a discussion about other books, movies and TV shows about the umpteem ways the world can end. Here is a link to it. However, I still have not remembered the name of the novel set at the Winchester House!
http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/index.php?showtopic=3145097&st=0

[SheilaT]

56. The Disappearance is an amazing book.

I just checked my shelves, and I don't seem to have a copy. Too bad, because I need to reread it. I probably read it at least forty years ago, but in my memory he got a lot right about the difference between an all male and and all female world.

I've read On the Beach several times. Once, I made the mistake of reading it when I was somewhat depressed about my own general life situation. Not good. I might have become genuinely suicidal, in slightly different circumstances.

The Handmaid's Tale belongs in the subset of What If Things Go On This Way. In many ways it's unlikeable, but so is the world it portrays.

[murpheeslaw]

27. The Changes Trilogy by Peter Dickenson (1970's)

It is YA (if you can find it), but an "apocolyptic" event happens in Britain . . .

http://www.goodreads.com/series/45086-the-changes-trilogy

I read it years ago and the last book was written first: "The Weather Monger"

[AverageJoe90]

28. Here's a few:

"Armageddon: 2419", was pretty good....especially if you're a Buck Rogers fan.

I might also recommend "A Canticle for Leibowitz", if no-one else had already.

And if you're into climate scenarios, you may want to check out James Hansen's "Storms of my Grandchildren".....great if you like disasters, though it's a bit over the top from what I've heard.

And then there's nuclear war scenarios: "Arc Light" is supposed to be pretty good, as was William Prochnau's 1983 thriller, Trinity's Child(the movie adaptation from 1990, "By Dawn's Early Light" is more well known, and a favorite of mine.)

[Hatchling]

29. I enjoyed the Change series by Stirling.

It begins with "Dies the Fire"

The premise is that all internal combustion, electricity etc have ceased to function. It gets fun after that.

[OrwellwasRight]

38. I concur!

Loved that book!

[murielm99]

40. Have you read the second series, which starts with The Sunrise Lands?

It starts 22 years after the Change.

Also, don't miss The Nantucket Series. It is a sort of companion series to the Emberverse books. It is important to the story, but not part of the Emberverse series. The three books in it are: Island in the Sea of Time, Against the Tide of Years and On the Oceans of Eternity. I could not find these three in any of the local libraries. I bought hardcover books used and kept them.

[Lizzie Poppet]

74. I loved the first three...

...but for me, the series started deteriorating pretty quickly after that. The shift into fantasy territory (trying to be vague here...but this may get spoilerish) and away from a more science fiction approach didn't work for me, and Rudy is such a Larry Stu!

But the first three...best post-apoc I've read.

[bravenak]

30. Wool

Wool by Hugh Howey.

[TrogL]

32. A Canticle for Liebowitz

[Moe Shinola]

33. The Penultimate Truth, by Philip Dick

In which nuclear war has already happened, and most people live in bunkers underground creating robots made ostensibly to fight a mechanized war on the surface. In reality, though, the surface is mostly habitable and the robots act as servants for powerful landowners who have divided what was America among themselves as personal fiefs, and who keep the majority ignorant of the truth. Fascinating.

[Moe Shinola]

34. The Peshawer Lancers, by S. M. Stirling

Set in an alternate future about 150 years after a series of comets struck Earth, wiping out most of Europe and the US. This was just after the Civil War, and only the leadership of Disreali allows the British Empire to regroup in India, creating the most powerful world empire, the Angrezi Raj. The world is a dangerous place now, with power games played between the Raj, a combined Chinese/Japanese empire, and what was once the Russian empire, now ruled by the evil followers of the Devil in the form of the old Slavic death god Chernobog. Technology was stunted by the event the characters refer to as "The Fall", and so lots of horseplay, swordplay and derring-do are allowed to entertain the reader.

[Moe Shinola]

35. World Made By Hand & The Witch of Hebron by James Howard Kuntzler

These books are set about 10-12 years after the Federal Govt collapses due to the Peak Oil scenario, and people have to go back to a de-centralized, 19th-century way of living. The residents of a small town in upstate New York are forced by outside pressures to snap out of the funk they've been in for years and move on with their lives in a new world.

[Wolf Frankula]

36. Davy by Edgar Pangborn

The adventures of a young man in the Dark Ages, three hundred years in the future.

Wolf

[FSogol]

37. "Zone One: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead n/t

[dusty trails]

39. Thanks to all who offered suggestions

Now that I'm retired I have the time to read many of the books named.
Many thanks to each of you.

[JitterbugPerfume]

41. A Canticle for Leibowitz

has lots of recommendations for one good reason


It is excellent!

[john.matla]

43. I must say X men final war

Can you remember the scene from xmen cartoon where apocalypto cam! I must say this!

[blindersoff]

46. Alas Babylon

(Can't remember who the author is -- I'm at work)... written in the early 60's about a military accident that causes the Russians to drop the big ones on the US. Set in the Jacksonville area, mainly about how the people in this small town cope with daily living and lawlessness. It was somewhat dated (I'm 64) but very enjoyable. No high tech stuff nor zombies. I liked it.

[NeoGreen]

47. War Day by Whitley Strieber & James Kunetka

I read this almost 30-years ago.

From Amazon:

The unthinkable happened five years ago and now two writers have set out to find what's left of America. New York, Washington D.C., San Antonio, and parts of the Central and Western states are gone, and famine, epidemics, border wars and radiation diseases have devastated the countryside in between. It was a "limited" nuclear war, just a 36-minute exchange of missiles that abruptly ended when the superpowers' communication systems broke down. But Warday destroyed much of civilization. Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka, old friends and writers, take a dangerous odyssey across the former United States, sometimes hopeful that a new, peaceful world can be built over the old, sometimes despairing over the immense losses and embittered people they meet.

[SheilaT]

48. I also read that when it first came out.

Wonderful book, not nearly long enough.

[Codeine]

52. Read that as kid.

I liked it. Too bad Strieber crawled up his own ass and started seeing aliens everywhere.

[hermetic]

49. Station Eleven

I just finished it. The WaPo named it one of the 10 best books of 2014.

So, I thought I'd revive this thread to recommend it. It's about a group of musicians and Shakespearean actors who travel around to what's left of the Great Lakes area after most humans are killed off by a flu. Very well-written.

Would love to hear what others here thought of it.

[friendly_iconoclast]

78. Just finished it myself and thought it was a great novel, full stop

I recommend it as well

[Orrex]

50. The Last Man, by Mary Shelley

That woman knew how to start a genre, that's for sure.

[msedano]

51. Three for you.

Lunar Braceros 2125-2148, Rosaura Sanchez, Beatrice Pita. Ethnicity no longer a big deal, now it's social class. Folks exiled to Fresno earn their way into polite society by mining on the moon. But the corporate honchos have ideas to get the labor for free.

High Aztech. Ernest Hogan. Mexico City has become contested by three dominant religio-political organizations. One has The Answer.

Ink. Sabrina Vourvoulias. Tattoos identify citizenship. Counterfeit tattoos are one way to save your life when the skin police pull raids to check your ink.

Here are reviews of each:
http://labloga.blogspot.com/2010/02/review-lunar-braceros-2125-2148.html
http://labloga.blogspot.com/2014/09/review-high-aztech-frontera-happenings.html
http://labloga.blogspot.com/2012/10/show-me-your-ink-banned-books-update-on.html

I hope you get the opportunity to read these.

mvs

[WhoIsNumberNone]

54. I see a bunch of people suggesting A Cantacle for Leibowitz

I just started reading that one- Pretty good so far.

A couple of others I've read are Tongues of the Moon by Philip Jose Farmer; Not destined to be a classic, but not a waste of time either. In it the Russians have taken over most of the world, but the couple of remaining free nations (the Argentine-South African Axis) sets off a bunch of nukes and destroys the world, leaving the not-entirely-self-sufficient Russian and Axis colonies on Mars and the Moon to fight over who will control the future of humanity.

Another one that I read many years ago (I was a teenager, but I remember it as being a good read) is Z For Zachariah by Robert C O'Brien. It's told in the form of a diary of a young woman who lives on a farm in a valley. There is a nuclear war, but somehow the valley is spared. After a few days all the men decide to go into town to look for other survivors and never return, leaving her alone until a scientist in an prototype environment suit shows up...

[left-of-center2012]

59. A Cantacle for Leibowitz

That's one of my all time favorites, but I could never get into the sequel, Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman

[cantbeserious]

55. Stars Reach - John Michael Greer

eom

[Arcadiasix]

57. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

By WJ Lundy

[SheilaT]

58. There's also a collection of apocalyptic and post apocalyptic

stories out, actually a trilogy. The first two: The End is Nigh and The End is Now are already out. The third, The End Has Come is to be published March 1, 2015. I need to order it through my local independent bookstore.

I liked the first two immensely. Most of the writers are writing a story for each volume, so you get a series of three stories fitting the theme.

[left-of-center2012]

61. The Pesthouse by Jim Crace

The Pesthouse Paperback by Jim Crace

The Pesthouse takes place at some point in the future, a future that's uncharted because its residents have no way of reckoning with the past. Industrial America remains only in the smallest pieces: a clutch of coins, "pennies and dimes and quarters," found in the pebbled silt of a riverbank, "a square of patterned, faded cloth too finely woven to have been the work of human hands."

http://www.bookforum.com/inprint/014_01/221

[left-of-center2012]

62. Farnham's Freehold by Robert A. Heinlein

Farnham's Freehold by Robert A. Heinlein
Hugh Farnham, a middle-aged man, holds a bridge club party for his wife Grace (an alcoholic), son Duke (a law graduate), daughter Karen, a college student, and Karen's friend Barbara. During the bridge game, Duke berates him for frightening Grace by preparing for a possible Russian nuclear attack. When the attack actually occurs, the group, along with Joe, the family's African American servant, retreat to the fallout shelter below the house.

[left-of-center2012]

63. Eternity Road by Jack McDevitt

Eternity Road by Jack McDevitt
In a post-Apocalypse America where almost everyone was killed by a plague over 1700 years prior, little is known about the ancient "Roadmaker" civilization that is said to have built the devastated ruins of enormous cities, and the magnificent roads that still cover the landscape. In the valley of the Mississippi River, a number of towns have united again, trade and science have begun anew.

When a copy of Mark Twain's novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is discovered in the estate of the sole survivor of an earlier expedition to the north, a young woman named Chaka Milana, whose brother died in the previous expedition almost a decade ago, decides to gather a band of explorers and try to find Haven, a legendary stronghold where the knowledge of mankind is said to have been collected and kept safe for future generations.

[ladyVet]

66. I love apocalyptic and post apocalyptic fiction.

I've been reading it since I first got Alas, Babylon from the Scholastic Bookclub sometime in the 1960s. (Why, yes, that was a long time ago! )

In the 1980s I found a couple of series (The Patriots, and I think the other was called the Survivalist?), and I've been reading them when I could find them. I did come across a site you may not have seen, which lists PA fiction:

[link:http://www.apocalypsebooks.com/|

Thanks to this post, I've added some more books to my TBR list.

[left-of-center2012]

67. You wrote:

"I did come across a site you may not have seen, which lists PA fiction:"

What/where is that site?
Thanks

[peasambo]

68. lucifers hammer

Have you tried lucifers hammer? Covers the before and after of an asteroid strike on earth. Really good read.


http://www.nss.org/resources/books/fiction/SF_018_lucifershammer.html

[left-of-center2012]

69. Have you tried lucifers hammer?

I did try it twice, but I found it slow going (at least in the beginning) and gave it up.

[SheilaT]

70. I first read Lucifer's Hammer when it came out

and quite liked it.

About ten or fifteen years ago my science fiction book club read that alongside of Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. If you haven't read that one you absolutely should.

The thing that struck all of us was the overt and nasty racism in Lucifer's Hammer. It was really quite breathtaking. There's racism in the Frank book, but it is of a kinder, and gentler sort. Not that racism is ever okay, but in one book Blacks are portrayed as menacingly dangerous, in the other as needing protection.

I would not be very inclined to recommend Lucifer's Hammer to anyone these days.

[left-of-center2012]

71. Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank

One of my favorites

[lordsummerisle]

79. It's been a number of years since I read it

I don't remember the racism but it's still considered to be one of the best descriptions of what would happen if a comet broke up as it approached earth.
I'll have to put it on my re-read list...

[SheilaT]

80. The first time I read "Lucifer's Hammer"

which was when it first came out, I did not notice the racism either. It was in the reread that it leaped out to me.

[SheilaT]

84. Ah, yes, Lucifers Hammer.

I read it around the time it first came out, found it interesting. Sometime later I read it again, as part of my s-f book club. We read it in conjunction with "Alas Babylon", which I would strongly recommend to anyone.

In the s-f group, when we discussed the two, what stood out was the incredible racism in "Lucifer's Hammer".

Don't get me wrong. There is racism in "Alas, Babylon," but it feels far more benign. There's a sort of gentle racism, the kind that implies black people need to be protected, and protected they are in this bokl.

In "Lucifer's Hammer" the racism is up front and very obvious. In that book the blacks are very much the villains, the ones who threaten civilization as we know it.

The first time I read "Lucifer's Hammer" around the time it came out, I was blissfully unaware of the racism (as I was in earlier readings of "Gone With The Wind&quot . Then, some years back. I read it alongside "Alas, Babylon" for my science fiction book club in Kansas City. The stark contrast was shocking.

I don't want to discourage anyone from reading "Lucifer's Hammer." I just want to make sure any readers notice the racism.

[SheilaT]

72. Here's a slightly newer series for everyone here:

the Daybreak series by John Barnes.

In order they are:
Directive 51
Daybreak Zero
The Last President

I'm part way through the third one now, and I am really liking it. To slightly oversimplify the set-up, ecological terrorists bring down all of modern civilization through nano-technology. And occasional bombs. And brainwashed "Daybreakers" who do their best to kill off survivors. Really, really good.

I'm going to see Barnes this weekend at Bubonicon and have him sign my books. I also understand that his original version was for a longer, more complex series, and I'm hoping that may happen.

[Richard D]

73. I'm now reading for the second time

Parable of the Sower
Parable of the Talents
by Octavia Butler.

Amazing and rather prophetic books about global warming and the rise and takeover of the religious right.

[lordsummerisle]

75. Just read Bird Box

Thought it was phenomenal, especially for a first novel.

[left-of-center2012]

77. Bird Box: A Novel by Josh Malerman

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18498558-bird-box?from_search=true&search_version=service

"Something is out there, something terrifying that must not be seen.
One glimpse of it, and a person is driven to deadly violence.
No one knows what it is or where it came from."