Does this book exist? Help please.

I read both swan song and the stand a long time ago and I get them confused so I think they are similar reads. So hopefully you will like it!

As I have never read it, I have bought a copy of 'The Stand'. I hope you enjoy Swan Song .

Failed with Cloud Atlas.

Read The Tallisman - loved it
Read and liked Triffids
Thanks for the Swan Song link.

I think I need another trip to the library AND to Amazon!

I read a borrowed copy of this as a student and finally got my own as an import from the USA. I couldn't put it down. Read the amazon reviews though as they will give you a better idea.

Swan Song by Robert R McCammon which is finally back in print over here. Enjoy!

www.amazon.co.uk/Swan-Song-RobertR-McCammon/dp/1439156735/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311147810&sr=8-1

How about Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell? Big, complicated book with various strands, only one of which could be described as post-apocalyptic - but a good read.

And Riddley Walker is brilliant. I must reread it.

Oooh, have just remembered. Not apocolyptic, but SK's The Talisman is a rollicking good read,

Tambern I love The Long Walk and have just recommended it to my 14yo. SK also wrote The Running Man and others under the Bachman name.

OP I assume you've read Day of the Triffids?

Ooh more new ones to look up - thanks all! Have read the Bachman.

I haven't read the whole thread, so not sure if it's been suggested, but Divided Kingdom by Rupert Thomson was a good one, although not a massive read.

The Declaration by Gemma Malley - also for teens but brilliant dystopian stuff. Definitely a 'what if' book, haven't read whole thread is that good or bad?!

It's a future world where dying has stopped, everyone lives forever, world too crowded so everyone's agreed not to have any more children. Quite chilling.

I'll be the third person to recommend A Canticle for Leibowitz, but for seriously good literary fiction about an apocalyptic future it is well worth the read and relatively cheap online. Stephen King wrote a book under the name Richard Bachman called The Long Walk that is set in a dystopian future so if you enjoyed The Stand you might enjoy that.

Slightly different from the other recs since it isn't strictly post-apocalyptic but the novels have the same feel, is Dan Simmon's Hyperion universe (worth wikipediaing) with the benefit of being comprised of several decent enough novels. I love post-apocalyptic fiction, so will try and dig up a few more titles for you

Can I stick my oar in and reccomend Michael Grant's 'Gone' series - he is another that writes for teens but they are so good - I actually forget they are supposed to be teen books and reccomend them to adults all the time.

They were a trilogy but now I've noticed there is another one...

www.amazon.co.uk/Gone-Michael-Grant/dp/1405242353/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1310511534&sr=8-3

is the first one

Thanks, Remus. I appreciate it

I've heard SF defined as 'speculative fiction', I think that's often a better description of what it does.

Thanks both. I'm too unreliable for sites that require me to send stuff on to people etc as I work full time so the post office is never open when I can get to it!

Have you tried read it swap it? Bet you could get most of these on there, I used to do it but cba now.

Blindness by Jose Saramago (apologies if already suggested)

Agree re The Stand. Magnificent.

Okay - I don't entirely agree with you but you are putting up a good argument and clearly know much more about sci-fi than I do, so I will forgive you! :)

Hah. You sound schizophrenic, posting on the same thread under two names

I haven't read many of the books on your list, but I have read Cell. As a premise (technological end to our way of life etc) it is sci-fi, but you are right, it is too stupid a book to merit that title.

It has been 25 years or so since I read The Stand, but I would think of it as sci-fi as well. A man-made virus bringing about the near-annihilation of humanity - what else is it going to be?

As I said before, sci-fi of the last two decades or so is not about aliens, alien planets, and alien technologies, but rather about "What if?" - what if nanotechnology becomes widespread and we can build almost anything from thin air, what if cell phones emit a signal that drive their owners crazy, what if we receive an intelligent message from the sky, what if US becomes a religious autocracy, what if a man-made virus escapes from the lab etc etc.

Cote - I AM Colonel! Remus is my Harry Potter name.

I still think that your initial assumption that post-apocalyptic fiction is by definition sci-fi is flawed.

The Stand - not sci-fi
the Road - not sci-fi
The Patrick Ness trilogy - perhaps borders on sci-fi
The Passage - not sci-fi
On The Beach - not sci-fi
Z For Zakeria - not sci-fi
Cell - not sci-fi
Under The Dome - elements of sci-fi
Brother In The Land - not sci-fi
Oryx And Crake - probably sci-fi
The Flood - elements of sci-fi

imho. :)

Remus - You are not correct in assuming that sci-fi has to deal with other worlds, aliens, or some yet-unknown future technology. Especially in the lAst couple of decades, good sci-fi often has none of the above but instead focuses on the near future of humanity. A book talking about the future near-annihilation of the human race and its aftermath falls firmly within the realm of sci-fi, I would think.

Here is how Wikipedia defines post-apocalyptic fiction, incidentally:

"Apocalyptic fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of civilization due to a catastrophe such as..."

Not that it helps Colonel much, but I thought it could be interesting for posters on this thread.

Phew!

Me, me - I mentioned it Pirate - it is indeed a classic.