SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

The Stand is one of my all time favorites, and The Road was really good too. Neither of those are "Pre-Golden Age", obviously.

The Scarlet Plague sounds intriguing though... I've never heard of it, so I will have to pick it up someday.

Thanks. Interesting reading. Some of the top 10 & others mentioned are available for download in pdf or txt format.

I really loved "THE ROAD" but Im not sure if it should be counted as an apocalyptic book.

The apocalypse is purely secondary in this book about a man's love for his child when everything else is gone.

no armies of walking zombies, or philisophical tracks about the nature and future of mankind in this book.

I think the all time best apocalyptic book is Alas Babalon. By Pat Frank.

Not sci Fi but a great post nuc war book

Manuel, I agree with you that the book is primarily about the man and his son, but I disagree that the book shouldn't be considered apocalyptic.

The man's fierce and unrelenting determination to find a better life for his son is caused directly by the apocalypse, the man's wife's actions because of it, and the post-apocalyptic world they must now survive in.

Regarding the philosophical aspect, it is true that McCarthy doesn't spell anything out for us; it's left to the reader's interpretation. I personally found quite a bit of hope that mankind will eventually recover and re-form society, although it wouldn't be anything like what society is used to today.

Lucifer's Hammer
By Larry Niven

Footfall
By Larry Niven

Both of these are AMAZING

My all-time favorite post apocalyptic novel is The Postman by David Brin. It left such an impression on me, I still think about it to this day, and it's been years since I last read it.

A little off the exact question: there is a great new collection of apocalyptic stories, by some of the best authors in the field. Strongly recommend it.

The title is:

Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse

I love Apocalypse Lit, for some odd reason. You can find a good chunk of them mixed in with my cyberpunk on my Dystopic Fiction shelf. Two of my favorites that haven't been mentioned yet are A Gift Upon the Shore by M.K. Wren and The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk.

Though it's not Scifi, I also loved reading Alan Weisman's The World Without Us.

I've also heard a lot of great things about Jean Heglund's Into the Forest, though I haven't read it yet.

I love Olaf Stapledon and I enjoyed The Stand but my all time favorite post-Apocalypse book is A Canticle for Leibowitz.

Nick, I have Wastelands at home, but I haven't read it yet.

Nick, I appreciate the info on the collection and, in fact, I'd like to ask if anyone has recommendations of specific post-apocalyptic short stories, either from that collection or from elsewhere.

I'm teaching a course called "The Literature of Survival," and though the focus isn't sci-fi at all and my core texts are already set, I'd be interested in slipping a sci-fi short story or two into the class. Not all post-apocalyptic stories, of course, are survival stories, and I'm more interested at this point in those which are. Thoughts?

This is by far the best 'survival book with literary survey within'. Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why

"A Pail of Air" by Fritz Leiber(?) is one of my favorite apocalyptic short stories.

I'll second Lucifer's Hammer as one of the best novels.

One of my favorite apocalyptic adventure novels is Damnation Alley. They made a horrible movie out of it in the 70's with George Peppard & Jan Michael-Vincent, I think. The book was good, though.

I've enjoyed the Outlander series and the Deathland series by James Axler (a generic author-name written by a few authors).
There is a long list of novels in either series, too long to list here and I have not read them all.
You can find the full lists here:

For Deathlands:
http://www.jamesaxler.com/TheBooks/ta...

OR
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_axler

For Outlanders:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outlande...

I am Legend is the best post Apocalypse novel. It is so much better than the movie. The book is so deep and riveting. I thought that The Road was boring and garbage. A man cared for his son - what else is new. He didnt do anything more than any dad would do - what's so special about that.

I'll second Canticle for Leibowitz as one of the best. Ridley Walker is another that was highly recommended to me but that I haven't yet had an opportunity to pursue.

Jaime,
I hated The Road too. I don't know its being touted as such a great book. It was boring and monotonous, I couldn't wait to finish it just so I could be done with it.

I can't help but wonder if science fiction readers are less likely to like "The Road" than general fiction readers.

Sandi wrote: "I can't help but wonder if science fiction readers are less likely to like "The Road" than general fiction readers."

I don't know... Perhaps not. I can understand that, if so, since this book is neither sci-fi nor fantasy. The thread was about apocalyptic fiction, though, and I do consider it that.

It's definitely a book that is either loved or hated. No doubt about that! :)

The reason I'm wondering is because most post-apocalyptic fiction is science fiction. I suspect science fiction readers are therefore more familiar with the genre than general fiction readers and have higher expectations.

I'm inclined to agree with Sandi's assessment, sci-fi readers will expect more. I know I did.

Jackie wrote: "I'm inclined to agree with Sandi's assessment, sci-fi readers willexpect more. I know I did."

I can certainly understand that. Expectation plays a big part in whether a book is enjoyable or not. I simply expected something different, and I enjoyed it.

My favorite piece of apocalyptic fiction is Swan Song. I personally found it to be a much better story than The Stand, particularly in the sense that the 'acts of god' in the King book left me shaking my head annoyed.

Christopher wrote: "My favorite piece of apocalyptic fiction is Swan Song."

Added to my list. Thanks! :)

Oh Swan Song does sound good, added to my list, now to buy it...

i'd go with A Canticle for Leibowitz, followed closely by Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. All three are absolutely beautiful books, Butler's of course being harrowing to boot.

Kersplebedeb wrote: "i'd go with A Canticle for Leibowitz, followed closely by Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. All three are absolutely beautiful books, Butler's of course being harrow..."

Butler had planned on a final volume for her 'Parable' series, but died before starting it. The title would have been _Parable of the Trickster_.

Two things:

In re Nick's comment about Parable of the Trickster: Does anyone know if there are plans to publish this posthumously? Was there enough written to do this?

In the second place: I give a very cautious, very hedged recommendation for Robert Adams' first Horseclans novel, The Coming of the Horseclans, and Horseclans Odyssey, which I think was #7 or #8. They're "blood and thunder" military fantasies with few redeeming qualities (Bili the Axe, a major "hero" of many volumes, though not the two above, opines at one point in regard to the massacre of women and children that, afterall, "nits make lice") and Adams is extremely homophobic but I think the two volumes mentioned above show what Adams might have been like as a writer (or could be) when he didn't let ideology dominate character and story. Don't expect anything terribly intellectual or insightful about the human condition (viz. Canticle for Leibowitz or Earth Abides) but it's a way to kill a couple of hours on the plane ride to Grandma's house this Xmas.

Terence, I am a huge Butler fan, have all of her published work. Early this year, I went as far as calling her former Agent at the time of her death in 06, asked that question, and was told categorically 'no', there was not enough to finish the series....

I love Butler's work as well (even got to meet her once). Although, I never thought of her Parable work to be post-apocalyptic. More... everything-fell-apart-but-was-never-blown-all-to-hell. But now that I think on it, there's not a huge difference. Given this, all of her work short of Kindred is post-apcalyptic. In which case, I can't recommend her books enough. (How did you get your hands on Survivor Nick?)

I know there's not enough to publish Trickster but I think someone will try to pick up the mantle and try to write it anyway. There are many authors who admired her work who may be able to do it. I'm just not sure there's anyone truly up to the task.

Oh, no. I didn't realize that she had died. We covered Parable of the Sower in a scifi lit class in college--one of the few books that I had actually read before. I haven't read all her works, but have enjoyed all that I have.

Yeah sorry Jensownzoo, she had high blood pressure and suffered a head wound from a fall. It was right after she published Fledgling leaving it and the Parable trilogy unfinished. It was tragic and frustrating. She was such an amazing talent.

There is a pretty good article on Butler here:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/books/2...

It tells of her life & death. It's a shame. The first book of her's that I read was Patternmaster. Excellent book, neat world & idea.

I would like to recommend "Eternity Road" by Jack McDevitt. It takes many years after an apocolypse and follows a group of people looking for a legendary vault of lost knowledge (full of books.)The book is very descriptive of ruined America. Of particular note are the descriptions of skeletal highways and a trek through what's left of Chicago.
Good stuff.

I would go with Lucifer's Hammer, the Stand and Postman.

There are some others worth noting as well:


On the Beach by Nevil Shute
Emergence by David R. Palmer
Daybreak 2250 AD (a/k/a Star Man's Son) by Andre Norton
Farham's Freehold by Robert Heinlein
Hiero's Journey by Stanley Lanier
Ill Wind by Kevin Anderson and Doug Beason

I'm not sure if The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany is SF or Fantasy, but it is one of my favorite books. Weird because I don't like most of Delany's books. That one is awesome, though. He blends SF & Fantasy-Mythology into a really awesome journey by a post apocalyptic Orpheus.

It looks like a short, quick read. It is, but I always wind up reading it about 1.5 times because I wonder about stuff. It's that kind of a book. I re-read it every 5 or 10 years.

This was a really good book. Especially the haunting scenes

Logan wrote: "The Fifth Sacred Thing"

I didnt HATE it, but I was bored and truly felt there was no hope in the story for anything better

Jackie wrote: "Jaime,
I hated The Road too. I don't know its being touted as such a great book. It was boring and monotonous, I couldn't wait to finish it just so I could be done with it."

Terri,
I'm not big on No Hope, so maybe that's why I didn't like it. I rarely Hate a book, but this one I did. It just left me empty. All nothingness.
I can read some really awful stuff, just leave me a touch of hope...

Just finished a decent Apocalypse (well, post apocalypse) novel, The Hunger Games.

Wow, it took until message 31 for someone to mention Earth Abides and even then only in passing. When I think post-apocalypse, its the first one I think of and the best! I hope everyone here has read it.

Oh, and thank you Ginnie for inadvertently advising me that my favorite era is technically called the Pre-Golden Age. I really didnt know it had that designation...

Ubik,
I don't know how I missed it but I'm glad you mentioned Earth Abides again, it sounds interesting. I'll read it whenever if I find it at a cheap price. Thanks!

Also, another one I would recommend, although it really isnt pre-golden age either (its more pre-pre-golden age according to the article) is: The Purple Cloud by M.P. Shiel

Ubik wrote: "Wow, it took until message 31 for someone to mention Earth Abides and even then only in passi..."

"Earth Abides" is one of my favorite Cold War era post-apocalyptic novels. What's unique is that it's a plague that destroys humanity rather than nuclear holocaust. In other words, it's not something humanity brings on itself. Instead, it's just a vagary of nature. That's pretty unusual for post-apocalyptic novels from the nuclear age.

I haven't seen anyone mention On the Beach by Nevil Shute. I think it may be even more depressing than "The Road". I found the idea that all life on Earth would be wiped out by nuclear war was a bit implausible.

I'm currently reading Armageddon's Children by Terry Brooks and it fits the category.
It's a series to bridge The Word and The Woid series and The Shannara series.
If you've read them both, then I'd recommend them. I'd imagine you can read this series without having read the other two.

Well, okay, so I'm chiming in a little late on this discussion and this novel is by no means from SF's Golden Age, but has anyone else read Warday by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka?

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/98...

Dr. Bloodmoney by Philip K. Dick

"Malevil" ( Robert Merle ) is not very known but it is one of my favorites novels. I´ll also include
"Earth Abides"

Jim wrote: "Well, okay, so I'm chiming in a little late on this discussion and this novel is by no means from SF's Golden Age, but has anyone else read Warday by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka?

http://w..."

Thanks for reminding me about this novel. I remember reading it around the time it first came out and not being terribly impressed. The only thing I can really remember is that the authors meet fellow author Chelsea Quinn Yarbro in San Francisco (at the time, I was reading her Saint Germain novels avidly).