List of apocalyptic and post apocalyptic fiction Puns

So I will start by saying I am a huge fan of reading. I have over 150 books, however, nearly all of them are non-fiction and memoirs around the military or law enforcement. I am now starting to get more interested in reading more fiction books.

When I was about 13 I read The Hunger Games, which I enjoyed. I am also halfway through The Martian which I am enjoying too. I also have read part of World War Z, and although from what I read I was interested in the world the book was set in, I also found that bits would bore me a bit.

I do intend to pick up the Witcher books, I loved The Witcher 3 lore and am looking forward to the Netflix series.

As I said, I am typically into genres such as sci-fi, war, dystopian and post-apocalyptic

I believe this may have been part of a series of short stories within a larger novel, but not totally sure.

The plot centered around a young boy and girl being taken care of by their grandmother in a town that relied upon convoys of resources/food/medicines from the government. They had another elderly female neighbor that would care for the kids while the grandma went about business/got the weekly resources. They would listen to the radio for information, and it was rumored that there was going to be an insulin shortage. The little boy had T1 diabetes. The girl (or maybe the grandma?) went to town each day and worked with fabric I believe? There was a possible uprising of the more impulsive townsmembers. Tanks/military vehicles started occupying the town. The house the children lived in was raided and the kids had to hide, but that's as far as I remember.

There was also some sense of mystery surrounding the parents. Their urns(?) or maybe just their pictures were kept on the mantel and were very significant to the children.

I would love to re-read this story as I remember it was beautifully descriptive and engrossing. Please help me find it!

This was a trilogy I read around 2016 or maybe late 2015. I would have been in 8th grade, and most likely found it in the teen fiction area of my local library. The plot dealt with a society that lived in a cave for many years, and eventually found a way out and into a world full of creatures that were somewhat humanlike. I don't exactly remember how they were described, but I picture a mix between zombies and deformed/animalistic humans. Eventually this group that left the caves meets up with a more advanced society and learns and lives with them. I believe the book took the first person of multiple different characters, but mainly focused on a girl. At the end of the 3rd book, the main character(a girl) and her friends fight an enormous hoard of the creatures on a large battlefield. Also I remember she and her partner had conceived a baby the night before the battle in the attic of a house(?) and that was her motivation to win. This has been bugging me for years and I just can't remember the title, can try to remember more info if possible. Don't remember it being a super popular author as well. Thanks for any help!

PS. I will say too, I'm not exactly sure post apocalyptic describes it right but something happened that forced people underground, and only a small group ventured out when they first went out.

I'm creating a universe which will be similar in terms of general geography and radiation effects of that of the Fallout universe, but I would like to know some basics such as: degree of destruction expected from initial blast, how far the spread of radiation will be, how long fallout will persist, how fast the radiation will spread, yadda yadda. Obviously this is science fiction so I'm going to be taking quite a few liberties when it comes to details such as radiation and mutations, but I want to get a good idea of what the destruction would look like. Are there any sites or subreddits that I could look into? The major setting will be just south of Kansas City, MO, in the Cass County area, if that helps. A bomb was dropped in Kansas City, along with most major US cities. All information is appreciated and sincerely thank you guys in advance for any advice you can give me.

EDIT: As a follow up question, can anyone give me a realistic idea of how the majority of world powers would divide in a WWIII scenario? This takes place in a modern day setting, but with an alternate timeline in which Cold War relations with Russia never really improved.

I posted this earlier in the wrong sub. Apologies!

It has been some years since I last read Lord of the Rings and have been re-reading it. I've read his other Middle Earth novels too. It stuck me that Lord of the Rings almost feels post-apocalyptic. In Fellowship they roam around in a completely abandoned land for the greatest part. Civilization is gone. Angmar destroyed that part of the world and some Elven settlements that are left are declining. 'What used to be' is almost as important as what is and what will be.

The elves are leaving for Valinor or are a just fading. It's a beautiful concept. I also read a passage (cant recall the exact words) in which the enitre Lothlorien part is described as a shared vision of the past in which they somehow seemed to be present.

And then there's Treebeard and the Ents. They are so old that the have forgotten most of the world. There used to plenty of them, but there are no young ents anymore and even though the story has a happy ending it's very clear extinction is their final fate. Some of their woods are now the Brown lands.

Lord of the Rings feels so authentic and deep because of the past of the world itself. It's very powerful. And between all those remnants of ages past gone a battle between good and evil is fought. The Hobbits are the only new thing and that makes them only more significant.

I guess that maybe the 'rebuilding' of the post war era makes sense too, but before the genre became mainstream, Tolkien already worked with post-apocalyptic fantasy fiction.

Or am I completely wrong about this?

At the ends of the Earth, one final woman will wake.

Frozen for over half a billion years, Madeline Skyland doesn’t know where she is. She doesn’t know where anyone is. The only thing she sees is a lifeless desert, without even the smallest insect for company. All she has is the clothes on her back, the cuffs around her wrists, and her own wretched invention. Already, she feels her throat begin to dry.

She knows she deserves it.

She knows she’ll never see him again.

She knows there’s nothing to live for.

But she refuses to die out here. She won’t let herself.

And so, the last child of mankind sets out on her final journey, a journey to discover what she’s lost, a journey to find herself anew, a journey to discover what this remastered world has to offer.

And even with mankind gone, it’s never too late for redemption.

She’s not the only thing that’s awoken.

The series contains 6 or 8 books? I read it when I was in elementary school, and now thinking back, I was definitely too young to read it.

So the series sets in a word that is ravaged by nuclear warfare. There are the mutants, who are basically common people that were not saved by government. They are ugly and strange looking due to radiation. They level of technology went back to the stone age, hunting with arrows and believe in magic. The civilized faction was America. They still have modern technology and weapons. If i remembered correctly, there is a president and only him is allowed to have offspring. Basically, every male and female in this faction is a child of his. Sexual relationship among other member is allowed but child bearing is not. This faction is often at war with the mutants over land disputes. The last faction is japan, apparently they have survived the war by shutting down their boarders and have returned to the age of the samurai. They are in a trading relationship with america.

Basically the plot is that among the mutants two children (one male one female) were born normal, meaning they look perfect and beautiful. Then there is a oracle that they will be the savior of the mutants and overthrow america. The children also hidden magical powers. The main character is an american pilot. He got captured during a conflict, and the mutants chose to keep him alive to show him how much the president is lying to them. He then became romantically engaged with the female child (adult now).

I think in the last book i read the main char went back to his faction. The two children got smuggled to japan???? And the sister of the main char had a vision about a river of blood...

We get it. Humanity does bad stuff whenever they are taken out of the status quo. Some people are altruistic, some people are not, civilization is fragile, etc. etc. These themes have been explored to death.

Whether the villain is mutants or human tribalism or just some bland authoritarian regime, we have seen it all before, and watching character run around in the muck, poorly dealing with PTSD, gets old pretty quickly.

I want to see where humanity goes next and I don't want it to be another bland steampunk or quasi-medieval fantasy world. What. Is. The. End. Goal?.

In Earth Abides humanity reverts to a hunter gatherer state, Am I right to think that's implausible?

edit: wow, bunch of responses. Thanks guys.

I recently read Robin Parish's Offworld and I really liked the style and genre. Are there any other good Sci-fi and post apocalyptic-ish books that you would recommend? Thanks.

I'm pretty new to the sci-fi genre when it comes to books. I like franchises like the original Star Wars trilogy, Aliens series, Terminator and Mad Max. When it comes to sci-fi books I have read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and that is pretty much it. I've already been recommended Dune. But I've heard that War of the Worlds, Neuromancer and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Blade Runner) are pretty good too. Are these some good books that you would recommend me or are there others?

I loved Station Eleven (Emily St. John Mandel), The Fifth Season trilogy (N.K. Jemisin), Area X (Jeff VanderMeer) and Severance (Ling Ma). If you haven't had a chance to check any of these out and enjoy the genre(s), I would recommend! All are well written and interesting.

I would love to keep the theme going but I can't seem to find any more in this vein. I'm worried of straying too far into fantasy because I start to have a difficult time fully visualizing a world too unlike our own. The Fifth Season is about as far into it as I can go. Any suggestions?

I've just started writing a warhammer fantasy roleplay campaign that will take place in a post-apocalyptic world.

Part of the gestation period for any campaign of mine has always been consuming media related to the themes or overall 'feel' the campaign will try to emulate. Towards this end, hit me with books that take place in a post-apocalyptic setting.

Now, both because it interests me and so that this post can differentiate itself from the (likely) dozens of other similar post-apocalyptic recommendation posts, I have a few themes/things I'm on the look out for. I'm primarily looking for any books that discuss or have interesting ideas on:

1. the kind of social institutions/structures that result from resource scarcity. In a post-apocalyptic setting: What would a town look like? Or a group of mercenary salvagers? Or a monarchy? Or import/export company? any interesting take on the kinds of social groups that would form as a result of societal collapse.

2. Interesting causes for an apocalyptic scenario.

3. Technology that existed in a society just prior to its end, what kind of technology would that be? How would it affect people in a resource scarce environment?

4. how does an economy work in a resource scarce environment?

5. Religion? what kind of zealotry does an apocalypse inspire?

If something is an interesting take on the genre, or it discusses something interesting that I'm not considering, or even if it just meant a lot to you feel free to post it here.

Anything at all is appreciated. If you have more general media suggestions on the topic I'll take those too.

Please

The title was something like "The voyage of the S3451" I read it in 1990s, but the book may be older than that. All the humans may have abandoned earth in spaceships. I remember there was a donkey or a horse, a monkey, a cat, may be more animals. They weren't anthropomorphic. I believe they were on a journey somewhere. At one point the monkey came up with an idea to put wheels on a cart for the donkey to travel easier.

Even in places that have no monsters or zombies lurking about and aren't covered in radiation, why aren't ruined infrastructure or even wrecked vehicles never torn down or dismantled for raw materials or building materials?

Is there any fiction out there that focuses on the military, police, firefighters, hospitals, etc. trying to deal with an apocalypse ?

Hello everyone! I don't know if this post fits this subreddit. I hope it does.

I'd like to write, I'm rather clumsy, and this sub has helped me a bit in being more critical about what I like and seeing what tropes to avoid. However, I'm very insecure when it comes to writing, and I'm terrified at the idea of getting things wrong, or being misinterpreted, or not writing something well enough - now more than ever, considering just how many things could go wrong.

Here's the reason why I'm typing this here: I'm a straight Sicilian guy, and I'd like to write some post-apocalyptic stories set in Sicily because it would make for an interesting setting, in my opinion. Problem with that is, Italy isn't all that progressive to begin with, and the Southern regions sometimes feel even more eighteen-hundreds-y. With that in mind, I'm pessimistic, and I believe that the "end of the world" would just lead to a more tribalistic society and exacerbate the existing homophobia, misogyny, xenophobia and general shitty behavior towards anything "different". Some communities might behave differently, but many others might not, considering just how radicated some of those things are - especially in the more rural parts of the island.

So, uhm... any suggestions on ways to denounce said issues without falling into potential tropes? I prefer writing in first person, but I'm afraid of fucking up the perspectives of female characters, or gay characters, or non-binary characters, or even characters belonging to cultures different from mine.

Thanks in advance to anyone who might reply.

Hi all!

Well, as the title said, I'm currently looking for post apocalyptic stories with Lovecraftian or Weird Fiction elements/influences, but honestly I'm clueless about where do I start to search for.

The idea behind this is that I'm trying to keep a "general theme" with the planned reading of this year (which is, as you have guessed, post apocalyptic scenarios) and I would love to include some material as the described above, but honestly, I'm not even sure if it exists (my ddg-fu isn't the same as it was).

Any help/guidance/recommendation will be appreciated!

Thanks in advance. Kind regards!

Long after the end of the world. The setting is vaguely medieval. The monk's order is destroyed when unknown assailants break in to steal an ancient steel book full of moving images and ancient knowledge. As the last member of the order, the pacifist monk crosses the medieval-ish lands, trying to get it back. He is followed by a wretched woman, who is madly in love with him (literally crazy), and remembers him from a time when he was a bloodthirsty general and she was a queen.

Another character in the story is a soldier from a high-tech human community in the Earth's orbit. He is also tracking the assailants, aided by a sentient ship that is mind linked to him, its captain.

I don't remember the name or the cover, but there was a symbol of an upside-down earth on it.

Really want to remember what it is, and really hope it is a series.

Series and movies I've watched include:

1. Cloud Atlas
2. Mr. Nobody
3. Altered Carbon (My all time favorite series)
4. Automata
5. District 9
6. The Umbrella Academy
7. The Giver
8. Idiocracy
9. I, Robot
10. I Am Legend

Just a small list of things related to what I'm looking for and I hope ya'll can help me on my venture! If you want a more narrow version of that, I'd probably say The Umbrella Academy, Altered Carbon, Mr. Nobody, and The Giver. You could probably add immortal beings as a sub-topic as well.

I'm looking for a novel that may have been published in the 80's, which was when it was read, and it was new when bought. It was a paperback but can't remember what the cover looks like.

It's about a flu/virus/disease that wipes out most of the world. The government hide underground for years and small communities of people survive through living off the land. They may have been called "Earthers" or "White Witches" but can't remember.

The way they survived was by soaking masks in vinegar, which apparently stopped the disease from killing them.

When the government come out from underground they try to take over and there is conflict.

Please let me know if this jogs anyone's memories! I've been Google searching for about 2 hours now and have had no luck!

Thanks! :)

Female reporter discovered George Washington was written out of history... City decided to tell everyone if you go outside you'll die of radiation poisoning.

I'm talking about books where some huge disastrous event ends the human race, destroys the planet, or whatever, but NOT anything post-apocalyptic. No survivors, nothing about society's after said event, just about the world ending. As in, describing the events leading up to it, perspective from people as it's unfolding, and basically a description of our civilization slowly (or quickly) crumbling all around us. Hopefully someone has some recommendations, or a name for this genre? I can only seem to find post-apocalyptic books when I search for it.

Tl;Dr: books that describe how the world ends but no one survives, and it's not post-apocalyptic

As I recall it the books were about a boy who was apprenticed to a "magician" (though I think it was more lost science than anything else). The Great Lakes had become a single inland sea called something like the Silver Sea. They find a compass but can't interpret the symbols on it and decide the S looks like a snake. That's all that I remember. Any ideas?

Edit: I read it in the early 90's, so it would have been published before then.

Simon died and went to heaven. Now it was just the three of them. One narcissist, one schizophrenic, one panicked beyond all belief.

“I think I’m going to pass out,” Henrietta said. “I’ve never seen so much blood! We can’t bury him - we don’t have a shovel. What animal even did this?”

“My guess is feral dogs. He must’ve encountered a pack of them and been unable to beat them off with his walking stick. We should stick together from now on, lesson learned the hard way. We really need to find a gun or bow, soon,” Dasha said, trying not to cry.

Henrietta began to hyperventilate. She was the oldest of them at 48, and was so traumatized from recently witnessing the murder of her husband that Dasha and Winter had trouble motivating her to travel with them towards hopeful safety. Dasha, 25, and Winter, 34, weren’t about to leave her to die, however.

“Let’s travel on,” Winter said. “There’s nothing we can do for Simon, anymore. He doesn’t care if we leave his body like so many others we’ve encountered. A sky burial was good enough for the soldiers of Genghis Khan. Let’s just take his bag and go.”

Winter had an aptitude for cold decisions, so they took Simon’s bag and left.

Dasha struggled, but was grimly resolved not to show it. The nonsensical voices in his head had gone from whispers to regular speaking volume now that the antipsychotic medication had left his system. He saw evil shadowy figures watching them, and sometimes it took all his grit not to yell at them to get a job. He was beginning to think he was an android, but logically he knew he had schizophrenia and he was keeping these thoughts to himself. So far, he was holding it together.

They had finally exited the city and reached the suburbs, an accomplishment on foot with the ever-looming threat of roving rioters. They had run for their lives three times, and stood and fought a man with a knife off with their walking sticks once. The danger was less, here. Ever since the coup on the White House, it had been total anarchy. Perhaps the new government would restore order after they finished executing people. Perhaps not.

Either way, they were headed for Dasha’s hunting cabin 80 miles from the city, deep into the middle of nowhere. Sometimes Paranoid Schizophrenics were right to be prepared, and he had stocked it with survival food, hunting equipment, a seed bank, and it had limited solar electricity to run a few electronics as well as a water collection system. It was the perfect place to

Recently completed The Arisen series by Michael Stephen Fuchs, After it Happened series by Devon C Ford, both Undead series by Peter Meredith and the American Survivor series by A.J Newman and looking for something in the same vein preferably a series SHTF/TEOTWAWKI or Zombie. Any suggestions?

The setting is post-apocalyptic but like we're ancient history type post-apocalyptic not like fresh end of world. so these three characters at first are totally separate then girl and boy 1 meet (they are also the protagonist while boy 2 is the antagonist) anyways the girl is daughter to some moon woman who beseeches the moon goddess to give her power to help calm her little "village" to put it loosely. they live on the forest floor and when the full moon comes some of them go a bit cray cray think werewolf hence the need for the moon lady. Main girl doesnt know if she wants to follow her moms footsteps cause like her dad is technically the "enemy" he comes from main boy 1 people who live above ground in the tree tops. they have dog companions that are bonded to them. Main boy 2 lives in the ruins where the people are diseased and also totally insane. i remember a part where he's going on a hunt cause apparently when you wear the skin of something healthy it cures you but he goes an extra mile and skins a deer while its alive thinking it would work better. lo and behold it did. anyways the main plot kinda escapes me i can only remember the little details.

If anyone knows what the heck i read please please please drop a title or author before i go insane! last time this happened to me it took me ten years to finally find the book. If you have any questions drop a comment so i can answer to the best of my ability.