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Post-Apocalyptic! End of the World books

The Night of the Triffids picks up about 20 years after the conclusion of The Day of the Triffinds. Although it is not on quite the level of the original - it's not destined to be a classic - it is still a MUST read.
Like you, huxley, I loved the original. I pined after I finished it. If you loved the Day, you are going to love the Night.

Like you, I really enjoy this genre. I've read every post-apocalytic novel I could find - and I enjoyed them all.
In no particular order:
The Stand - Stephen King (needs no intro);
Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven (a little corny, elements of racism, but still good);
Alas Babylon - Pat Frank (nukes);
Earth Abides - George R. Stewart (maybe the best of all) ;
After the Flood - P. C. Jersild (the grimmest, bleakest, and most realistic);
The New Madrid Run - ???;
The Rift - ???
 
Here's my to be read list of post apoc fiction:

The Wild Shore by Kim Stanley Robinson
Shiva Descending by Gregory Benford and William Rotsler
Aftermath by Charles Sheffield
Eon by Greg Bear
The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper
Warday by Whitley Streiber and James Kunetka
Nature's End by Whitley Streiber and James Kunetka
The Rift by Walter J. Williams
Wolf and Iron by Gordon R. Dickson
Riddley Walker by Russel Hoban
This is the Way the World Ends by James Morrow
A Wrinkle in the Skin by John Christopher
No Blade of Grass by John Christopher
The Last Ship by William Brinkley
 
Well, now that the thread has been resurrected, how about Cormac McCarthy's new book The Road?

I'm reading this now. I wouldn't exactly call it "enjoyable" but I can't
put it down either.

So disturbing.

It's been a long, long time since a book bothered me so much that it
gave me nightmares--Hannibal comes to mind, but this one? I'm
having nightmares, daymares, you name it. And yet, I feel compelled
to finish it.
 
Swan's Song by Robert Mccammon. A friend of mine recommended this book to me when I was in high school. I loved it.
 
The Stand by SK

Stephen King's most popular book, according to polls of his fans, is an end-of-the-world scenario: a rapidly mutating flu virus is accidentally released from a U.S. military facility and wipes out 99 and 44/100 percent of the world's population, thus setting the stage for an apocalyptic confrontation between Good and Evil.
 
The Stand by SK

Stephen King's most popular book, according to polls of his fans, is an end-of-the-world scenario: a rapidly mutating flu virus is accidentally released from a U.S. military facility and wipes out 99 and 44/100 percent of the world's population, thus setting the stage for an apocalyptic confrontation between Good and Evil.

It is a great book. On that note I would also like to throw in the Dark Tower Series. by Stephen King. I know it's not exactly what you probably were looking for, but I loved it.
 
I just finished A Wrinkle in the Skin by John Christopher, author of No Blade of Grass. It's about a worldwide shift in the tectonic plates, which results in mass devastation. A man sets off from the Channel Islands to the mainlands, across an empty sea bed, to find his daughter. Highly recommended.
 
The Stand-Stephen King-The greatest novel ever written
Swan Song-Robert Mccammon-A close second
Lucifers Hammer-Niven, Pournelle-Incredible book
The Postman-Brin-Very engaging
 
I personally loved The Stand, but I wouldn't call it a great piece of literature. I just think it's a great book. To each their own.

I haven't had a chance to read the previous posts for post-apocalyptic books, but I'm sure The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood have been mentioned.

Also, how about Random Acts of Senseless Violence by Jack Womack? It's been years since I read it, but I do recall it was a pretty good read.

Blurb from Amazon.com
New York City in the near future: open warfare rages in Brooklyn, smoke from an unspecified toxic disaster fills the sky above Long Island, troops patrol Harlem streets, tuberculosis is rampant, inflation is zooming, and youth gangs rampage through the streets. Nationally, the situation is even worse; presidents are murdered within months of taking office, and riots are wrecking most of the major cities. This is the world of Lola Hart as recorded in a diary she receives on her 12th birthday. The mutating language of her diary reflects her own metamorphosis from prissy private school girl to murdering gangsta poised to disappear into the netherworld of New York's deadliest gang. P.K. Dick Award-winning novelist Womack's (Elvissey, Tor Bks., 1992) apocalyptic vision crackles with intensity, made more memorable by its controlling voice, as original as Alex's in Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange or Russell Hoban's Riddley Walker.
 
legendarytimesbooks.com

"End of Days - Armageddon & Prophecies of the Return" by Zecharia Sitchin > Uses ancient historic events to predict the end of days.

"The Orion Prophecy" by Patrick Geryl > Uses scientific evidence and ancient prophecies to predict the on coming armageddon. Also has a couple follow up books on surviving year 2012. Interesting stuff...
 
Another good one that hasn't been mentioned is Jean Hegland's Into the Forest. Two teenage sisters struggle to survive after the collapse of society. The prose in this one is the best I've ever read in a post-apocalyptic book.
 
People have already mentioned some books by John Wyndham, but I'd also recommend From the Deeps (AKA The Kraken Wakes) and the Midwich Cuckoos. These are not post-apocalyptic novels, but like many of Wyndhams stories they involve humans getting knocked off the top of the food chain. So, general threat to humanity stories, but still pretty interesting.
 
I just got this list on a forum and found it an impressive summary of the genre

M.P. Shiel. The Purple Cloud ****
John Collier. Tom's A-Cold.
John Wyndham. Day of the Triffids.
John Christopher. No Blade of Grass.
Mary Shelley. The Last Man. ****

Kurt Vonnegut. Cats Cradle.

J. G. Ballard. The Drowned World.
J. G. Ballard. The Wind from Nowhere.
J. G. Ballard. The Burning World.
J. G. Ballard. The World of Grass.

Neal Barrett. Kelwin.
Neal Barrett. Dawn's Uncertain Light.

Wilson Tucker. The Long Loud Silence.
Wilson Tucker. The Year of the Quiet Sun
Wilson Tucker. Ice & Iron

John Varley. Millenium.

James van Pelt. Summer of the Apocalypse.

Justin Taylor. The Apocalypse Reader.

Michael Swanwick. In the drift.
Catherine Wells. Mother Grimm.
Catherine Wells. The Earth Is All That Lasts
Catherine Wells. Children of the Earth.
Catherine Wells. Earth Saver.

S. Fowler Wright. Deluge.
S. Fowler Wright. Dawn.

Philip Wylie. Tomorrow!
Philip Wylie. Triumph.
Philip Wylie. When Worlds Collide.
Philip Wylie. After Worlds Collide.

Daniel F. Galouye. Dark Universe.
Samuel C. Florman. The Aftermath: A Novel of Survival.
Jeff Carlson. Plague Year.
John Brunner. The Sheep Look Up.

Thomas Disch. The Genocides.
John Wyndham. Re-birth.
John Wyndham. The Day of the Triffids.

David Brin. The Postman.

John Christopher. A Wrinkle in the Sun. *****
John Christopher. The Folk of the Fringe.
John Christopher. No Blade of Grass.
John Christopher. The World in Winter.
John Christopher. Empty World. *****

Jim Crace. The Pesthouse.

Ben Bova. Test of Fire.
Leigh Brackett. Long Tomorrow.
Christopher Anvil. The Day the Machines Stopped.

Poul Anderson. Vault of the Ages.
Poul Anderson. Twilight World.

Frank Herbert. The White Plague.
M. John Harrison. The Committed Men.

Kathleen Ann Goonan. Light Music.
Kathleen Ann Goonan. Crescent City Rhapsody. ****
Kathleen Ann Goonan. Mississippi Blues.
Kathleen Ann Goonan. Queen City Jazz.

Russell Hoban. Riddley Walker.
Aldous Huxley. Ape and Essence.

Andre Norton. Daybreak 2250.
John Joseph Adams, ed. Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse.
James Frenkel. Bangs and Whimpers: Stories about the End of the World. *****
Walter Miller, ed. Beyond Armageddon. ****

Adam Johnson. Parasites Like Us.
Richard Jeffries. After London: Or, Wild England.

Clifford Simak. Cemetary World.
Clifford Simak. City.

Michael Reaves. Dome.
Keith Laumer. Catastrophe Planet.

Edgar Pangborn. The Judgment of Eve.
Edgar Pangborn. Still I Persist in Wondering
Edgar Pangborn. Davy
Edgar Pangborn. The Company of Glory.

Robert C. O'Brien. Z for Zachariah.

Robery Sheckley. After the Fall.
Roger Zelazny. Damnation Alley.
George R. Steward. Earth Abides.

Walter Miller. A Canticle for Leibowitz.

Stephen King. The Stand.
E. A. Poe. "The conversation of Eiros and Charmion"
Richard Matheson. I am Legend.

Matthew Sharpe. Jamestown

Chris Adrian. The Children's Hospital.
Carolyn See. Golden Days.
Carolyn See. There Will Never Be Another You.

Steve Erickson. Zeroville

Philip Dick. Dr. Bloodmoney

Gordon R. Dickson. Wolf and Iron. *****

Adam Celaya. Earth, the New Frontier. *****
Algis Budrys. Some Will Not Die.
George R. Stewart. Earth Abides. ****
Larry Niven. Lucifer's Hammer. ****
Larry Niven. Footfall.

Michael Reisig. The New Madrid Run.
Jeff Long. Year Zero.
Jack McDevitt. Eternity Road.
James Morrow. This Is the Way the World Ends. ****
William Brinkley. Last Ship: A Novel.

Pat Frank. Alas, Babylon.
Nevil Shute. On the Beach.
Walter J. Williams. The Rift. ****

George Turner. Drowning Towers. *****
Robert Merle. Malevil. *****
Pierre Oulette. The Third Pandemic.

Yvonne Navarro. Final Impact.
D. Mikels. The Reckoning.
Hermann Hesse. The Glass Bead Game.
Octavia Butler. Lilith's Brood. [Xenogenesis Trilogy: Dawn, Adulthood Rites, Imago]
Margaret Atwood. Oryx and Crake.

Cormac McCarthy. The Road.

SF short stories on the theme:

"Report on 'Grand Central Terminal'" Leo Szilard
"Not with a Bang" Damon Knight
"The Highway" Ray Bradbury
"Coming Attraction" Fritz Leiber
"Dumb Waiter" Walter M. Miller Jr
"The Year of the Jackpot" Robert Heinlein
"The Curse" Arthur C. Clarke
"The Luckiest Man in the World" Robert Sheckley
"Keepers of the House" Lester Del Rey
"Thunder and Roses" Theodore Sturgeon
"To the Chicago Abyss" Ray Bradbury
"Phoenix" Richard Cowper
"A Boy and his Dog" Harlan Ellison
"The Road to Nightfall" Robert Silverberg
"Go, Go, Go, said the Bird" Sonya Dorman
"The Snows are Melted, the Snows are Gone" James Tiptree Jr
"Inconstant Moon" Larry Niven
"A Better Mousetrap" John Brunner
"The Number You Have Reached" Thomas M. Disch
 
I've been looking for the same type of books since i read a few of these. I'll share mine:

I liked the series of Terry Brooks - Armaggedon's Children and The Elves of Cintra. Both are part of the same trilogy about children trying to survive in a devestated world. A world taken over by demons who spread corruption over the land and try to enslave surviving people to experiment on them. A little fantasy is mixed with the post apocalyptic setting. I really liked them!
 
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