Apocalyptic fiction Books

[Redstate]

I sure like reading apocalyptic fiction books. I just got done reading Lights Out, by David Crawford. Excellent book about an EMP that wipes out electronics in the US placing people in survival mode. Very hard to put down. What started me in reading this type of book was One Second After, by William R. Forstchen, another EMP apocalyptic fiction that was very difficult to put down.

Anyone else like this type of fiction? Do you have any recommendations for other similar apocalyptic fiction?

[Longitude Zero]

I sure like reading apocalyptic fiction books. I just got done reading Lights Out, by David Crawford. Excellent book about an EMP that wipes out electronics in the US placing people in survival mode. Very hard to put down. What started me in reading this type of book was One Second After, by William R. Forstchen, another EMP apocalyptic fiction that was very difficult to put down.

Anyone else like this type of fiction? Do you have any recommendations for other similar apocalyptic fiction?

Another good read is Unintended Consequences by John Ross.

[muggsy]

I'm more into books like, How to Cure Your Slice, The Art and Science of Walleye fishing, or How to Shoot for Less. I've had enough apocalyptic events in my life. :)

[Bawanna]

I read One Second After, don't think I read the others. It was definitely eye opening and full of food for thought.

[Redstate]

Yes, they are full of food for thought, Bawanna.

[Redstate]

Another good read is Unintended Consequences by John Ross.

Thanks, I will look into that one.

[OldLincoln]

I'm reading "The Perseid Collapse" series and "The adventures of John Harris" series. I've read a bunch others but can't remember titles right now.

[getsome]

One Second After was a really good book, a little hard sometimes but very good.....If you like this kind of thing check out "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy who also wrote "No Country for Old Men"....The Road is about what the world is like after an apocalyptic disaster for a father and his son walking the road trying to make it to the coast where they hope life still exists....Great scary read...

[deadeye]

The grand daddy of them all. Orwell's "1984". Different kind of apocalypse but scary reading. It's coming true a little late but it's here. Big Brother is on the scene.

[ScottM]

This one is more techno-dystopian than Apocolyptic, but Neuromancer by William Gibson gave rise to the "cyberpunk" genre and provides some very chilling vision into what a society full of gene splicing, Borg-like body augmentation and neural-level internet connectivity would (will?) look like.

[deadeye]

Another one worth reading is Matthew Phipps Shiel's "The Purple Cloud". It was published in 1901 but could have been written today. Very entertaining. I read it in 1956 but still think about it as the world has become what it is. Erie, How he and Orwell could have seen the future as they did.

[Exiledviking]

I really liked both "One Second After" and "Lights Out". Another good read is "Day By Day Armageddon". Not really an apocalyptic book but it is similar to "Unintended Consequences" and thus a great read is "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" by former SEAL Matthew Bracken.

[Redstate]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I am checking them out. Actually, I stumbled upon a couple at my local library that I put on reserve. I can't recall the names right now.

[jeepster09]

Here is another good one.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8488492-patriots

[Redstate]

Thanks jeepster09. I think the book you linked may be one of the ones I requested at the library. In any event, 2 of the books I requested are by the same author in the book you linked, James Wesley Rawles.

[Ken L]

If I can I'd like to x2 "The Road" by Cormack McCarthy. Spooky read, and impossible for me to put down.

[downtownv]

I read One Second After, don't think I read the others. It was definitely eye opening and full of food for thought.
Made me want to get a Pre 1987 vehicle (points ignition) vs electronic ignition. But I figured with the right firepower, I can get one when I need it :)

[taxifolia]

Since some of you like to read, here is food for thought.
It is not fiction, but deals with current world situation and "apocalypse" concept.
It is lengthy and heavy reading.
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-wants/384980/

[O'Dell]

I never cared for Apocalyptic books. I did read 1984 in the fifties when I was a teenager, and didn't really like it. It was depressing, sorta like the movie "Citizen Cain", and I didn't come away happy or satisfied. Unfortunately, a lot of both came to pass. I do read some pretty heavy fiction, but I prefer a more positive conclusion, hence the :).

[Redstate]

Well, I got the books from the library, and started to read Patriots by James Wesley Rawles. Only about 60 pages into; yet, it is difficult to put down. Enjoying it so far. So far, it is about "preppers" who are now faced with economic collapse of the country. Great food for thought.

[Redstate]

Just got done reading Patriots (James Wesley Rawles). Excellent! Won't give any details so as to not spoil it for anyone who has not yet read it.

[FelixD]

Try Alas, Babylon. It was written in 1959 by American writer Pat Frank. It is one of the first novels written with an apocalyptic theme. The book was very popular in the mid to late 70's when survivalism was first popular. Another possibility is a series of books call The Survivalist written by Jerry Ahern. These were also very popular during the Carter days. Wikipedia should have info on the books.

[O'Dell]

Try Alas, Babylon. It was written in 1959 by American writer Pat Frank. It is one of the first novels written with an apocalyptic theme. The book was very popular in the mid to late 70's when survivalism was first popular. Another possibility is a series of books call The Survivalist written by Jerry Ahern. These were also very popular during the Carter days. Wikipedia should have info on the books.

I thought I was the only one that remembered "Alas Babylon", so I didn't mention it. I still have the hardback in my collection. For an apocalyptic book, I sorta liked it.

[O'Dell]

I did some research on "Alas Babylon" and never realized that the book was so popular. It is evidently still in print after all these years and is available on Amazon in both in hard cover and paperback. I haven't read it since I bought it about 1960 when I was a teenager [soon to be rectified], but I still remember the story line and a lot of the details. I even remember the source of the title. I guess that's as good an indication of a excellent read as any.

[Redstate]

It sounds like i gotta see if the local library has Alas Babylon.

[O'Dell]

I don't know your age, Redstate, but the time frame in which the book was written has to figure into it. I grew up in the fifties, and the cold war was a real threat at the time. Of course before the end of the decade, both the US and the USSR had thermal-nuclear weapons. I lived in a city that was the center of power production for East TN, Western NC, and Northern GA and AL. Plus, Oak Ridge National Laboratories was 15 miles to the west and there was an AF base 10 miles south. We all felt that we were at the center of Ground zero.

Then in 1960 at the ripe old age of sixteen I went north to college 30 miles from DC with all the attending military and government centers nearby. Talk about moving from the frying pan to the fire.

The stress of the times made the book seem much more realistic to us then. Nowadays, we have different stress factors.

[johnh]

Don't forget the Ashes series by the late William W. Johnstone. The first 10 or so are really entertaining and he presents a political system I find increasingly appealing as ours becomes increasingly dysfunctional.

[Bawanna]

I read the entire Ashes series. I read the first 5 or 6 20 years or more ago, didn't realize there were so many more, probably 20 or 25 books.

Excellent reading. Thought about rereading the whole series. I have most on my kindle thanks to a member here, missing a few, have a few hard copies too.

Read the Survivalist series too, very good reading as well.

[Redstate]

Thanks everyone. Keep the suggestions coming. One of these days I will have read all of them. I'm now on my 2nd Rawles book, Survivors.

[Redstate]

Survivor's, (Rawles) was excellent also. I went online to look at some excepts of Alas Babylon because i thought that i may have read it a couple of years ago. Turns out that i had and, yes, it was an excellent book.

[getsome]

Tried to get Unintended Consequences, Patriots, and Lights Out at the library but they didnt have any of them so I ordered Lights Out by David Crawford from Amazon and Holy Smokes what a big ars book, 598 pages of very small print so I guess I'll be busy with this one for a while....I loved One Second After so I hope this one is as good....

[Bawanna]

Get cha a Kindle man. Took a long time for me to accept it but I love the thing now. I got one of the old ones with the keyboard. but it's sweet.

When you want a new book you can shop on line and download it right to the Kindle. Save a ton of books on the thing if you want to go back and reread.

I have nearly all of the survivalist and Ashes series books on it. A member here help track down a bunch of them I couldn't find.

[getsome]

I'm computerally challenged and doing good just to be able to post here so I could never figure out a smart phone or a Kindle....I'm a tired old analog man forever lost, dazed and confused living in a new fangled crazy digital world.....:confused:

[jeepster09]

If anybody hasn't read Patriots, I can pass it on to you. Good book. It is print version, I don't have one of those new fangled reading thingies. Free to good home.

[O'Dell]

Hey Bawanna, I have a Kindle Fire HD that was given to me by Schwab when I made a deposit to my account a couple of years ago. I read a book or two a week, but I hate to read on the kindle or to read a paperback. I prefer a "good ole" hardback that will stay open on the desk or table or in my lap without me holding it. I do use the Kindle, but I use it for carrying files or music videos, because it's a lot smaller than my laptop.

[Bawanna]

All I do is read on mine, it's an early version, wife wanted to get me a Fire, she has a newer one. I like mine cause I can see it in the daylight outside. Her's is like a phone you can't see it.
Her's is nice at night since it lights up where as mine don't.

I like that I can push a button to turn the page instead of swiping the screen and maybe it turns maybe it don't.

I don't even like a laptop without a mouse, that screen swiping stuff drives me muggsy.

[OldLincoln]

I about wore out my Kindle Fire but the print kept getting smaller as time went by. I could make the print larger but only get a half sentence on a line. When they went on sale I got a Samsung 10" which has been good as I can read okay while still in portrait orientation (book like for you Mr. B.). Before all that I read hundreds of hard back books that my brother in law collected. Had boxes of them stacked in my study and couldn't get to anything. Now I have a few K's of free ebooks from Amazon on my reader and it's much better. It is hard to read in daylight no doubt about it, but then so was a paper book for me.

[getsome]

Just finished reading "Lights Out" by David Crawford....Long but very good book, really enjoyed it and it really makes you think about just how close to chaos we are if even the smallest thing took down the internet or disrupted the food/water supply....If anybody wants the book (it's in fair to good shape) bought used on Amazon I'll ship it to you for the amazing low low price of free....Muggsy has first dibs on it if he wants to read it since he's gonna be laid up for a bit but if he doesn't and anybody else does just PM me your address...

[jeepster09]

Here is a TRUE BOOK [non-fiction] that can open your eyes! called Infiltration by Paul Sperry.

[AJBert]

I don't know how I missed this thread but the ultimate apocalyptic book I've read is a post apoc book from long before the Terminator movies called "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream." Truly an end of the world book in horrific fashion.

And the very first one I ever read was Steven King's "The Stand".

[ltxi]

Timely resurrection of thread. Just began rereading Orwell's 1984. Mebbe 50 years since the first time.