Does this book exist? Help please.

[ColonelBrandonsBiggestGroupie]

So - I want a book.

I want it to be a huge and well written and gripping post-apocolyptic novel.

I want to not have read it already and that is where the problem starts!

Have read-
The Stand - the best imho
The Handmaid's Tale - liked it
The Road -didn't think much of it
Cell - better 2nd time around but not a patch on The Stand
I Am Legend - ok
The Knife Of Never Letting Go series - v good
Brother In The Land - loved it as a teen
On The Beach - liked
The Passage - liked a lot and will read again before the next one comes out
Oryx And Crake - didn't like much
The Flood - liked a lot

SO does what I want exist please? :)

Read Z for Z. Brother In The Land is another good teen one too.

Children of Men? If you haven't watched the film, especially.

Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep is good post-apocalyptic fiction, whether or not you have seen Blade Runner.

Anathem by Neal Stephenson. I have read nothing more "huge" and brain-hurty.

Have read 'Androids' but not the others. Ta.

David Gemmell books are a great read, but not exactly high literature, no. Great anti-heroes but possibly a bit 2 dimensional.

Post-apocalyptic books are by definition sci-fi, so I'm a bit puzzled by some of these book recommendations like Book Thief and Ukrainian Tractors

Cote - I agree that those two aren't post-apocolyptic but disagree that post -ap fiction is always sci-fi.

How exactly do you define worldwide apocalypse, if post-apocalyptic works of fiction are not to be sci-fi?

My understanding is that since we haven't had one yet, any global apocalypse will have to be in the future: sci-fi.

Sci-fi as a genre isn't just books which are set in the future though, is it? I think it has other conventions which The Stand and The Road, for example, do not meet - yet they are post-apocolyptic. For sci-fi, I would assume other worlds, reliance on futuristic technology perhaps, non-human characters maybe.

Has anyone mentioned A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller or Earth Abides by George R. Stewart?

Both post-apocolyptic, beautifully written & pretty chunky.

Definitely not your Steven King type though - more literary.

Will think of more, it's one of my favourite sub-genres.

*apocalyptic

Walk to the End of the World / Motherlines (Suzy McKee Charnas) - gripping, substantial (at least I have the two books bound together which makes it rather large), post-apocalyptic. Good but depressing - but I guess if you like post-apocalyptic you won't mind that I think there are further sequels

Native Tongue / the Judas Rose (Suzette Haden Elgin) - not so much post apocalyptic, but if you liked the Handmaid's Tale I think it would appeal

Not massive at all, but my personal favourite post-apocalyptic tale is Solitude, by Ursula le Guin. Its only a short story (in the collection the Birthday of the World) but hits way above its weight.

Definitely agree Riddley Walker is a classic.

Thanks. At least one of them has been mentioned (A Canticle...) but the library didn't even have it available to order. I'm working up to an Amazon order!

Googling Earth Abides now.

Thanks Takver.

There's always the Mammoth Book of Apocalyptic SF.

Short stories & novellas but a whopper & some great ones in there.

The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell is one I enjoyed recently - quite poetic, and examines the human relationships beautifully.

Also second Steven Baxter's Flood & Ark - I thought they were fantastic, Flood follows the downfall over a period of decades with interwoven stories, Ark is concerned with the projects designed to escape the catastrophe.

& Riddley Walkey is a classic.

What about Patrick Tilley's Amtrak Wars? Couldn't stand it meself but loved his "Mission" so he is a good writer.

Oh & J G Ballard's The Drought is a cracker.

Try abebooks for 2nd hand copies of some of the older ones? (Mind you was looking for a copy of Canticle for Liebowitz & also Flowers for Algernon myself recently & was cheaper new.)

Earth Abides is a classic -- am that no one has mentioned it yet

John Christopher's The Death of Grass is good but falls down on hugeness.

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

Phew!

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.

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. :)

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.