This is a post I first placed on the Life After the Oil Crash website. As I said then, I loves me some end of the world fiction. This list is a personal Top 10 of the best EOTW novels I've run across (with two sentence reviews!). Some are new, some are classics. All are awesome.
1). The Stand - Stephen King (1978, 1990). Superflu decimates America and sets off a classic good vs. evil battle. The 1990 version added more than 500 previously deleted pages to this epic and is worth every word.
2). On the Beach - Nevil Shute (1957). Survivors of World War III await certain death Down Under. The best of the classic nuclear war aftermath novels.
3). The Road - Cormac McCarthy (2006). A man and his son struggle to survive while wandering through an utterly depleted landscape. An EOTW novel even Oprah can love!
4). World War Z - Max Brooks (2006). Zombies fucking rule in Brooks's faux oral history. This one manages the rare feat of being truly funny and truly scary while also including a little social commentary.
5). I Am Legend - Richard Matheson (1954). The original Last Man on Earth battles vampires while holed up in his barricaded home. I damn Will Smith to hell for cinematically trashing this visionary novel.
6). The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham (1951). Killer plants may not seem so scary, but YOU try battling them after everyone you know has been blinded by a mysterious comet. The opening sequence of this sci-fi classic was chillingly reproduced at the beginning of the movie 28 Days Later.
7). Summer of the Apocalypse - James Van Pelt (2006). '06 was a great year for ETOW fiction as this is the third on the list. As I mentioned in my review, this story of the aftermath of a supervirus might be the most moving such story ever told.
8). Earth Abides - George R. Stewart (1949). Starts out as a Last Man Alive story before turning more philosophical and ruminating on the nature of future generations of survivors. Holds up very well even after 60 years.
9). Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (1977). Just your standard comet-hits-earth-and-survivors-battle-it-out action novel, but very well written. My favorite moment is when the surfer dude catches a ride on the tsunami only to get swatted by a skyscraper.
10). The Last Ship - William Brinkley (1988). A nuclear destroyer hunts for a safe harbor in a radioactive world after launching its missiles. This might perhaps be the most realistic story of the lot.
If anyone else has recommendations or thoughts on the books above, I'd love to hear them. Happy reading!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Great list, except for Earth Abides, a story about a whiny bastard who quite literally would rather curse the darkness than light candle.
I would, perhaps, add some non-fiction to this list:
The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks (yes, it's non-fiction!)
The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Lawrence Gonzales
I loved the World Without Us. Have seen but haven't read the other two.
Post a Comment