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Best apocalyptic fiction by new authors?

143 replies

lessonsintightropes · 30/03/2014 23:08

I have read an awful lot of stuff written from 1950s to the present day, and am enjoying finding some new stuff via Kindle from self-published authors - some total trash but other things I've thought were quite well written, like Feed/Deadline etc by Mira Grant.

Any other suggestions?

OP posts:
GoooRooo · 01/04/2014 10:20

'Yesterday's Gone' is great and starts in an intriguing way - What would you do if you woke up one morning and everyone had disappeared?

archibaldmonkeyface · 02/04/2014 13:49

My favourite type of fiction! Would second a lot of the books above and lots of useful suggestions for me too! Also:

The Passage and The Twelve by Justin Cronin (3rd part out later this year)

The Fear, The Enemy etc series by Charlie Higson (zombiesque YA but I found them utterly terrifying)

Tube Riders Trilogy by Chris Ward (first part was free for Kindle recently

FanFuckingTastic · 02/04/2014 14:07

I feel like I am missing so much, I've been bedded down with a nasty ear infection and I'm not getting on as much. The list of stuff to read keeps jumping forwards. I think we should compile a master list so folks can cross out what they have read and find the rest easily.

Reading a fascinating dystopian novel where teenagers who commit crime before sixteen get slated, which means all memory erased and passed on to new parents. This is run by a new UK government called Lorders, who basically use questionable methods to control the population. Of course it's being abused and things are going on that shouldn't. There is a terrorist free UK faction, then all the people stuck in the middle who want peaceful change. Finding it really interesting. Will find the series name for any interested parties.

Lobbing · 02/04/2014 21:54

That might be Shade's children - can't remember the author's name though.

Another one I really enjoyed; 'Sparrow Rock' by Nate Kenyon, group of teenagers just happen to be hanging out in a nuclear bunker when the bomb drops

PomBearWithAnOFRS · 02/04/2014 23:08

Shade's Children is by Garth Nix. I like that one of his the best of anything he's written I think. I cannot get away with Sabriel and Lirael somehow Confused and Rag Witch just irritated me...
I enjoyed the "Keys to the Kingdom" series, although again, I think with them being aimed at children, and first reading them as an adult, I was just "too old" to truly enjoy them :(
The book Fan describes isn't Shade's Chuildren though - it does ring a bell, it might come to me at 3am Grin in which case I shall come back and share...

nobodysbaby · 03/04/2014 21:18

I just finished The Bird Box by Josh Malerman, it was great - very gripping.

FanFuckingTastic · 04/04/2014 20:56

Hey, I think the book is called Slated, then Shattered, then something else. I'm so sick right now, so I am not much use. Fighting off a fever here. Everything is weird, like my head feels floaty and disconnected.

CameTheDawn · 05/04/2014 08:28

I love Flood by Stephen Baxter, and the sequal, Ark. (The oceans just...keep on rising.)

Life as we knew it, by Susan Beth Pfeffer, and the two sequels. (a meteor strike pushes the moon closer to earth. Climate Chaos. it's YA).

Both theses authors were recommended on here.

lessonsintightropes · 06/04/2014 00:39

I can't see who recommended Earth Abides by George R Stewart but it is amazing. Some of the best apocalyptic fiction I've ever read - and I can also see where Stephen King got a lot of the inspiration for The Stand, although they are very different stories.

Fan I think your idea of a cut and copy master list is great. If I get time tomorrow I will try and make a start.

OP posts:
marissab · 06/04/2014 11:22

This is my fave genre so will be reading this whole thread with interest. I am struggling with wool. Keep picking it up but i find somat more gripping and forget about it. Just finished first book. Trying desperately to make it through night circus (struggling) then will go back to it again.

lessonsintightropes · 06/04/2014 19:30

The list - ta da! Please copy and paste, amending where things are in the wrong category, and add additional suggestions to the bottom. Nice work, apocalypsers Grin

Zombie

Deadline Trilogy – Mira Grant
Alison Hewitt is Trapped etc – Madeleine Roux
Death by Revelation trilogy – Jack J Lee
Apocalypse Z series – Manel Loureiro
White Flag of the Dead – Joseph Talluto
Zombie Fallout series – Mark Tufo
dEaDINBURGH – Mark Wilson & Paul McGuigan
The Undead – R R Haywood
All the dead are here – Pete Bevan
Zombie Takeover – K Bartholemew
World War Z – Max Brooks
The Passage series – Justin Cronin
Dead World series – Joe McKinney
Autumn series – David Moody
Drop Dead Gorgeous etc – Wayne Simmons
Day by Day Armageddon – J L Bourne
Code Zero etc – Jonathan Maberry
The Rising – Brian Keene
Dead Bastards – Jenny Thompson
Tube Riders trilogy – Chris Ward

Other apocalypse/dystopia

The Stand – Stephen King (also Mist, Cell etc)
Earth Abides – George R Stewart
Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
MaddAdam Trilogy – Margaret Atwood
1984 – George Orwell
Silo49 – Ann Christy
Day of the Triffids etc – John Wyndham
The White Mountains etc – John Christopher
Swan Song – Robert R McCammon
Shades of Grey etc – Jasper Fforde
Divided Kingdom – Rupert Thomson
Chaos Walking series– Patrick Ness
Last Light – Alex Scarrow
Computer One – Warwick Collins
Redaction series – Linda Andrews
The Girl with all the Gifts – MR Carey
The Last Policeman – Ben Winters
Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
Outpost – Adam Baker
Far North – Marcel Theroux
One Second After – William R Forstchen
Domain – James Herbert
The Road – Cormac McCarthy
Yesterday’s Gone – Sean Platt & David Wright
Bird Box – Josh Malerman
The Flood – Stephen Baxter

Young adult

Z for Zachariah – Robert C O’Brien
Children of the Dust – Louise Lawrence
Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
Divergent – Virginia Roth
The Gift – Lois Lowry
Wool trilogy – Hugh Howey
Inside Out – Maria V Snyder
Devil on my back etc – Monica Hughes
The Delikon etc – HM Hoover
Blood Red Road – Moira Young
The Fear etc – Charlie Higson
Shade’s Children – Garth Nix
Sparrow Rock – Nate Kenyon
Life as we know it trilogy – Susan Beth Pfeffer

Fantasy/sci-fi

Dragonflight etc – Anne McCaffrey
London Underground series – David Aaronovitch
Battle etc – L M Pruitt
Vampire for hire – J R Rain
The day Aberystwth stood still etc – Malcolm Pryce

OP posts:
CoteDAzur · 06/04/2014 19:57

Please let's separate fantasy and sci-fi. Those are very different genres.

To fantasy, I would like to add:
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke

To dystopia, we really must add:
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

My suggestions for sci-fi:
2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C Clarke
The Foundation (series) - Isaac Asimov
Dune - Frank Herbert
Hyperion - Dan Simmons
Neuromancer, Mona Lisa Overdrive, Idoru - William Gibson
Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon, Anathem - Neal Stephenson

lessonsintightropes · 06/04/2014 20:42

Cote please do cut, paste and alter, sounds v sensible.

OP posts:
CoteDAzur · 06/04/2014 20:44

I would but I haven't read any of those you have put under fantasy/sci-fi. Are they fantasy, then?

lessonsintightropes · 06/04/2014 20:46

I think they are all fantasy.

OP posts:
FanFuckingTastic · 06/04/2014 21:04

Squee. I love lists. I am going to go through it on Amazon and make a wish list, get any freebies and get started. Going to have to start doing more surveys and reviews for amazon vouchers.

CoteDAzur · 06/04/2014 21:13

Ok, so I amended the list as follows:

Zombie

Deadline Trilogy – Mira Grant
Alison Hewitt is Trapped etc – Madeleine Roux
Death by Revelation trilogy – Jack J Lee
Apocalypse Z series – Manel Loureiro
White Flag of the Dead – Joseph Talluto
Zombie Fallout series – Mark Tufo
dEaDINBURGH – Mark Wilson & Paul McGuigan
The Undead – R R Haywood
All the dead are here – Pete Bevan
Zombie Takeover – K Bartholemew
World War Z – Max Brooks
The Passage series – Justin Cronin
Dead World series – Joe McKinney
Autumn series – David Moody
Drop Dead Gorgeous etc – Wayne Simmons
Day by Day Armageddon – J L Bourne
Code Zero etc – Jonathan Maberry
The Rising – Brian Keene
Dead Bastards – Jenny Thompson
Tube Riders trilogy – Chris Ward

Other apocalypse/dystopia

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
The Stand – Stephen King (also Mist, Cell etc)
Earth Abides – George R Stewart
Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
MaddAdam Trilogy – Margaret Atwood
1984 – George Orwell
Silo49 – Ann Christy
Day of the Triffids etc – John Wyndham
The White Mountains etc – John Christopher
Swan Song – Robert R McCammon
Shades of Grey etc – Jasper Fforde
Divided Kingdom – Rupert Thomson
Chaos Walking series– Patrick Ness
Last Light – Alex Scarrow
Computer One – Warwick Collins
Redaction series – Linda Andrews
The Girl with all the Gifts – MR Carey
The Last Policeman – Ben Winters
Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
Outpost – Adam Baker
Far North – Marcel Theroux
One Second After – William R Forstchen
Domain – James Herbert
The Road – Cormac McCarthy
Yesterday’s Gone – Sean Platt & David Wright
Bird Box – Josh Malerman
The Flood – Stephen Baxter

Young adult

Z for Zachariah – Robert C O’Brien
Children of the Dust – Louise Lawrence
Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
Divergent – Virginia Roth
The Gift – Lois Lowry
Wool trilogy – Hugh Howey
Inside Out – Maria V Snyder
Devil on my back etc – Monica Hughes
The Delikon etc – HM Hoover
Blood Red Road – Moira Young
The Fear etc – Charlie Higson
Shade’s Children – Garth Nix
Sparrow Rock – Nate Kenyon
Life as we know it trilogy – Susan Beth Pfeffer

Fantasy

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Dragonflight etc – Anne McCaffrey
London Underground series – David Aaronovitch
Battle etc – L M Pruitt
Vampire for hire – J R Rain
The day Aberystwth stood still etc – Malcolm Pryce
The Passage - Justin Cronin
Interview With The Vampire - Anne Rice

Sci-fi:

2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C Clarke
The Foundation (series) - Isaac Asimov
Dune - Frank Herbert
Hyperion - Dan Simmons
Neuromancer, Mona Lisa Overdrive, Idoru - William Gibson
Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon, Anathem - Neal Stephenson

CoteDAzur · 06/04/2014 21:14

It would be an idea to have a separate Vampire section. I'm not a bit reader of that stuff but added Interview With The Vampire and The Passage to the list below, under Fantasy.

FanFuckingTastic · 06/04/2014 21:59

Rather than sub-categorising fantasy, why don't we just put descriptors into brackets next to the book title and author. That way people know if it's (urban fantasy, werewolves, vampires) sort of thing. Then you could stick to main genre types and not split into young adult etc. A YA next to a sci-fi book would be enough to let you know it's audience.

CoteDAzur · 06/04/2014 22:05

Good idea. We don't need YA as a separate genre, but can just add (YA) next to the books in each category that are YA.

lessons - Would you like to assign the books under YA to their relevant categories?

nooka · 06/04/2014 22:19

Chaos Walking is YA (and very good). Second recommendations for Shades of Grey, I really enjoyed that. Earth Abides is interesting, but very much a book of it's time, it is both sexist and racist IMO. This is true for a lot of older sci-fi, future worlds but with older social values that sometimes really jar.

I'd like to add Kathleen Ann Goonan's Queen City Jazz (nanotechnology future) and Tadd William's Otherlands (virtual reality future).

I loved Anne McAffrey as a teen, but reread some of the Pern books recently and thought they weren't very well written.

lessonsintightropes · 06/04/2014 22:30

I agree Earth Abides is of its time, but I don't think that makes the concepts less interesting, fair enough if it jarrs too much to read though - I also really love John Wyndham's stuff but that's also of it's time.

Nooka and others - I will try and reorganise the lists but loads of it is from other posters, not me, so wouldn't know how to categorise them. Next version of the list coming up...

OP posts:
lessonsintightropes · 06/04/2014 22:39

Key - US (set in the States), UK (set in the UK), YA (specifically geared to young adults), Old (written before 1990) - others should be obvious. I am not the mistress of the list, please feel free to alter as you see fit - Nooka please could you add and categorise yours accordingly?

Zombie

Deadline Trilogy – Mira Grant (US)
Alison Hewitt is Trapped etc – Madeleine Roux (US)
Death by Revelation trilogy – Jack J Lee (US)
Apocalypse Z series – Manel Loureiro (Spain)
White Flag of the Dead – Joseph Talluto (?)
Zombie Fallout series – Mark Tufo (?)
dEaDINBURGH – Mark Wilson & Paul McGuigan (UK)
The Undead – R R Haywood (?)
All the dead are here – Pete Bevan (?)
Zombie Takeover – K Bartholemew (?)
World War Z – Max Brooks (Worldwide)
Dead World series – Joe McKinney (?)
Autumn series – David Moody (?)
Drop Dead Gorgeous etc – Wayne Simmons (Ireland)
Day by Day Armageddon – J L Bourne (?)
Code Zero etc – Jonathan Maberry (?)
The Rising – Brian Keene (?)
Dead Bastards – Jenny Thompson (?)
Tube Riders trilogy – Chris Ward (?)

Other apocalypse/dystopia

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (Old)
The Stand – Stephen King (also Mist, Cell etc) (Old, US)
Earth Abides – George R Stewart (Old, US)
Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood (Old, Canada/US)
MaddAdam Trilogy – Margaret Atwood (Canada/US)
1984 – George Orwell (Old, UK)
Silo49 – Ann Christy (?)
Day of the Triffids etc – John Wyndham (Old, UK)
The White Mountains etc – John Christopher (Old, ?)
Swan Song – Robert R McCammon (?)
Shades of Grey etc – Jasper Fforde (Humourous)
Divided Kingdom – Rupert Thomson (?)
Chaos Walking series– Patrick Ness (?)
Last Light – Alex Scarrow (UK)
Computer One – Warwick Collins (?)
Redaction series – Linda Andrews (?)
The Girl with all the Gifts – MR Carey (UK, YA)
The Last Policeman – Ben Winters (?)
Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell (Worldwide, multilayer structure)
Outpost – Adam Baker (?)
Far North – Marcel Theroux (Siberia)
One Second After – William R Forstchen (?)
Domain – James Herbert (?)
The Road – Cormac McCarthy (US)
Yesterday’s Gone – Sean Platt & David Wright (?)
Bird Box – Josh Malerman (?)
The Flood – Stephen Baxter (?)
Z for Zachariah – Robert C O’Brien (Old, ?)
Children of the Dust – Louise Lawrence (Old, UK)
Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins (YA, US)
Divergent – Virginia Roth (YA, US)
The Gift – Lois Lowry (YA, US)
Wool trilogy – Hugh Howey (YA)
Inside Out – Maria V Snyder (YA)
Devil on my back etc – Monica Hughes (YA)
The Delikon etc – HM Hoover (YA)
Blood Red Road – Moira Young (YA)
The Fear etc – Charlie Higson (YA)
Shade’s Children – Garth Nix (YA)
Sparrow Rock – Nate Kenyon (YA)
Life as we know it trilogy – Susan Beth Pfeffer (YA)

Fantasy:

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke (?)
Dragonflight etc – Anne McCaffrey (?)
London Underground series – David Aaronovitch (YA, UK)
Battle etc – L M Pruitt (?)
The day Aberystwth stood still etc – Malcolm Pryce (Humourous, UK)

Vampire

Vampire for hire – J R Rain (?)
True Blood series - Charlaine Harris (US)
The Passage series – Justin Cronin (US)
Interview With The Vampire - Anne Rice (US)

Sci-fi:

2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C Clarke (Old)
The Foundation (series) - Isaac Asimov (Old)
Dune - Frank Herbert (Old)
Hyperion - Dan Simmons (?)
Neuromancer, Mona Lisa Overdrive, Idoru - William Gibson (?)
Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon, Anathem - Neal Stephenson (?)

OP posts:
lessonsintightropes · 06/04/2014 22:41

I think the ideal list would have all in these (maybe more) categories, with a few descriptors after it to help people see what they might like to try.

OP posts:
CoteDAzur · 06/04/2014 22:48

"Old"? Grin

"Classic" would be better imho.

Does anyone are about US or UK? Personally, I don't.

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