end of the world fiction?

[quantumleap]

Hi,
Every now and then I like to indulge in a little fiction of the armegeddon sort. The sort of thing where there is some sort of major problem with the world (war/environmental catastrophe, usually), and the story centers on a group of people dealing with it. One that comes to mind is a book I stumbled upon when I was about 12, written by an 18 year old... something about an emergency shelter in his basement and a nuclear explosion. He and a bunch of his friends happen to be in his house when things go to pot, and they all survive and even thrive in this little social microcosm.
I don't even know what catagory to put this sort of stiry under - fantasy seems the closest, sort of. Not witches and goblins and fairies type of fantasy. Is there a "sruvival" genre, one that is separate from the "How to find nuts and berries" catagory? (although, I do like that genre too). I guess even books like "My Side of the Mountain" and, "The Hatchet" would fall under this category I am attempting to define. Tell me I'm not alone in this indulgence?
And, more importantly, give me titles and/or authors for more? These books tend to hide in the YA section of your library (so maybe I *am* the only grown up with an affinity for this sort of story!).

Thanks.
Katia

[cjanelles]

Have you read "Oryx and Crake" by Margaret Atwood?

[quantumleap]

I have never been able to get "in" to Margaret Atwood properly. Maybe I'll have to try again. "Handmaid's Tale" is in my invented category, I'd say, but I found that book to be very unsatisfying - no real end to it. Sometimes I like that - the freedom to imagine it my way, but it just frustrates me in that particular book.
Thanks for the suggestion though - I'll suck up my aversion and give it a try.

Katia

[cjanelles]

Originally Posted by selkat

I have never been able to get "in" to Margaret Atwood properly. Maybe I'll have to try again. "Handmaid's Tale" is in my invented category, I'd say, but I found that book to be very unsatisfying - no real end to it. Sometimes I like that - the freedom to imagine it my way, but it just frustrates me in that particular book.
Thanks for the suggestion though - I'll suck up my aversion and give it a try.

Katia

Well, let me warn you, I don't know that "Oryx & Crake" is going to win you over as an Atwood fan.

I've read it twice and I still close the book with that look on my face. You know the look...the one that says, "Huh?" after you've invested a goodly amount of time in something and you're still just not sure how it turned out...

I feel similarly about "The Handmaid's Tale" as you do, but I'm a bit more receptive to it because of the imagery that watching the movie provided.

Honestly, "Oryx & Crake" is weird...and disturbing, but it was the only thing I knew of that fit into your category. LOL I'd still say read it, if I were you and you're interested in that kind of thing (which, clearly, you are). It might not change your mind about Atwood, but it'll definitely give you a mental work-out.

[Jennifer-Juniper]

Maybe try Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. It's about post-nuclear bomb Florida and how the people there rebuild their community. I've read it several times and really like it.

Also:
The Girl Who Owned a City (young adult)
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk
The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri Tepper
Savages by Shirley Conran
The Legacy of Heorot

You can also search this site: Feminist Science Fiction, Fantasy and Utopia. She keeps a big list of books, organized by various genres (her "Quick Reading Lists" link on the left hand side).

This is a genre I also love. I could probably suggest more, but they can go in so many different directions, I wasn't completely sure if some of the ones I suggested were too science-fiction-y or not (none of them are fanstasy witches/goblins stuff, though). Take a look at the ones I've suggested and let me know if any of them are on the right track and if you want me to suggest more. I'll keep thinking.

[Kitsune6]

These two might do it:

The Stand by Stephen King
http://www.amazon.com/Stand-Expanded...3068487&sr=1-2
Cell by Stephen King
http://www.amazon.com/Cell-Novel-Ste...068412&sr=8-35

There are a few more tickling my brain but I can't remember exactly what they are.

Brave new world?
Fahrenheit 451?
Children of Men?

Good luck!

[Liquesce]

Into the Forest - Jean Hegland (Ok, it's a little "nuts and berries," but in a global catastophe getting-by fiction tale kind of way, not a "how to" kind of way.)

Oh, and Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban, while I've not read it myself so if it's terrible don't blame me too much.

[philomom]

Alas, Babylon, Pat Frank

Ariel, Stephen Boyett

Emergence, David R. Palmer

Malevil, Robert Merle

Pulling Through, Dean Ing

The Lord's Pink Ocean, David Walker

Children of the Light, Susan Weston

Z for Zacariah, Robert O'Brien

A Gift Upon the Shore, M.K. Wren

The Shore of Women, Pamela Sargent

Neena Gathering, Valerie Nieman Colander


There's more in my collection but that's all I can remember just now.

[fivi2]

Parasites Like Us - Adam Johnson
http://www.amazon.com/Parasites-Like...074648&sr=1-20

The Stand - Stephen King

Just a Couple of Days - Tony Vigorito (TBH, I didn't really like this one, but I think it fits what you are looking for)

Oh - and I usually like Margaret Atwood and did not enjoy Oryx and Crake at all. But it does fit the genre.

And I Am Legend by Richard Matheson sort of fits - its about vampires, but as a virus, not as supernatural, if that makes sense.

[Jennifer-Juniper]

Originally Posted by philomom

Z for Zacariah, Robert O'Brien

I forgot about this one! I remember it as being pretty good (read it in high school, I think; it's young adult).

I also thought about adding The Stand, too, but didn't know if the horror aspect of the plot overwhelmed the survival aspect.

[Mothra]

http://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-.../dp/0375423699

I love this book.

[Traci mom23boys]

I have to second *Into the Forest* by Jean Hegland, it is one of my faves!
My sister loved/hated *The Road*, I didn't want to touch it-too intense.

BLessings,
~Traci

[Valkyrie9]

I third "Into the Forest" and "Emergence." I have read Emergence at least 5 times. I adore this genre!

I really want to read "World Without Us" by Stuart Weisman. It's not a novel; it's about how the structures and makings of mankind would survive or not survive if our entire species were to perish in a very short (like several days/weeks) period of time.

[A&A]

Oh, if you like this category, you absolutely have to read The Road !

It's beautiful writing and a devastating story at the same time. It just won a Pulitzer, and it's an Oprah book pick.

[vbactivist]

The Road
Into the Forest
The Children's Hospital
The Pesthouse

Not Quite, but almost - The Mosquito Coast

There is a new genre called "speculative fiction". that may be what you're looking for.

[warriorprincess]

Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven, is excellent.

[quantumleap]

Wow! Thanks mamas. I don't think I have *ever* gotten this many replies on a thread. And all so usefull! Thanks.
It was especially good that you all made so many suggestions because our library has a fairly abysmal selection. I took the first few posts to the library with me and found.... TWO books. But, now I get to keep my eyes out for the others via used books. I found Into the Woods and The Stand. The Stand is the uncut, unabridged, un-etc edition - I think it might make a good stepping stool. Seriously, it's a full 1153 pages.

I read The Mosquito Coast when I returned to Canada after a year in Honduras. I was "homesick", and thought it would bring some of the home of Honduras back to me. Not quite, but it was an interesting book. I think I put it in the same category as Poisonwood Bible (but Poisonwood was ten million times better), which is not quite in my invented category. Gotta love my definite parameters, hey?

I'm very intrigued by the Z for Zacariah book. Is it at all related to that short lived tv series called Zachariah?

Katia

[vbactivist]

Two words for you : Interlibrary Loan

While I've liked most of the books I recommended, I don't feel they are worth owning, even used.

I have a fondness for Mosquito coast only because I watched the movie with my dad when I was a kid (loved the red headed twins, not to mention River Phoenix) and was so pysched to see it was originally a book as an adult. Not end of the world, but the dad character thinks it is

[Amaranth]

I can't believe no one's mentioned Robert McCammon's Swan Song.

My dh loved "The World Without Us", and I'm looking forward to reading it, too.

[warriorprincess]

Oh, two other great ones: A Canticle for Leibowitz and if you need some funny, Gaiman/Pratchett's Good Omens.