Novels that deal with EOTWAWKI (End of the worl...)

I loved this book and the sequel After Worlds Collide when I was a kid. Not many people out there have even heard of these. I went through a stage where I read a lot of late 19th - early 20th century fiction and it was great, especially Lost Horizon, which is really hot again.

My favorite "End of the World" books are:

Alas, Babyon
On the Beach
Dragonsdawn -the Dragonriders of Pern book where Pern is first colonized, life is good, then the first Threadfall almost wipes out the colony.
After Worlds Collide

Not sure if I can fit "Janissaires" in this category or not, but it sure is a fun, interesting read.

Always Coming Home by Ursala K LeGuin
Doesn't deal much with the cause of the collapse, but has a wonderful re-created society. There is a music cassette that goes with it. I think LeGuin is probably the best writer around for creating alien societies. By alien I mean societies that are not us.

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If angels existed, they'd probably be considered big game. (Don Swain)

Home schooling.........not just for scary religious people anymore. Buffy

The neat thing about "Always COming Home" is her created language as well as mores and rituals. It was a neat book, but I never considered it an end-of-the-world book until you mentioned it. Hmmm.

I just finished "On the Beach". Oh my! So powerful in describing the hopelessness. Really left me feeling sad and not hopeful as some in this genre can. The writing was only slightly dated and a few expressions were very British/Aussie. But it holds its own even now.

Has anyone seen the movie versions(s) of this book? The original starred Ava Gardner and Gregory Peck as Dwight Towers and there is another one available on dvd now starring Bryan Brown.

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Make Equality A Reality
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Well, if you like Prophecy-the Book of Revelations...talk about total breakdown!

Curt-

I figure, God doesn't make mistakes, but he DOES give us brains and expects us to use 'em. I agree some folks go overboard, but if I don't value my life enough to take reasonable precautions, why should God? (Remember that joke about the guy in the flood?)

I *still* recommend "The Visitor" for before, during and after EOTWAWKI. Somewhat surreal, beautiful prose.

Cait

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"Dogs may not be our whole lives, but they make our lives whole." Roger Caras

Well, I just finished "Life of Pi" yesterday. What a powerful story of survival. I was right with him on the lifeboat. The ending was plausible as well. That story will stay with me for a very long time.

Meanwhile, I am very thirsty......

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Pretty much every novel in the genre I've ever read has been mentioned here already so I don't have much to add, but I will say this.

For those of you who see a need to prepare and for those of you who do not - you should both be prepared to be wrong.

Just that.

Be prepared to be wrong and you will not go wrong.

.....Alan.

not exactly a eotw but "Brave new world" was rather disturbing (and at the same time strangely plausable)

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"Let the beauty we love, be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground." Rumi

Into the Forest by Jean Hegland. It's good enough that the Recorded Books co. put it out on cassette and is in many public libraries.
Theme: the collapse of society. 2 teenage sisters survive alone in a northern California forest.

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Blessings -- Joe in Houston

On The Beach- have read the book and seen the movie, just makes me sob! Very thought provoking indeed!

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www.MontanaSticksAndStones.com at Goshen Farm

Sisterpine: which movie version-the one with Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner or the new one?

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Last night I finally watched "Category 6: Day of Destruction" starring Randy Quaid, Brian Denahee, Diane Wiest, etc. Took about 3 hours and we were ready for it to end at about 2. It covered natural disasters gone awry at the same time: hurricane hitting Michigan, tornadoes where there shouldn't be, multiple storms. With this were personal story tracks including an unfaithful husband who works for the storm center, a reporter whose brother flies the planes that track storms, a pregnant sister-in-law, and a storm chaser. After NOLA this summer I don't think the panic was addresses clearly enough and the movie didn't address the lingering effects--it ended before it was really over. The power grid and the power companies have a big role as well. People's reactions to the heat and brownouts were much more calm then I imagine they would be. And the pictures of the traffic jams when folks were leaving the city were nothing compared to Houston last month. But if you like storm movies, you might like this one.

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I think that even the best science fiction will pale in comparison to the reality we may have when our species starts facing a real problem on a global scale.

I read "Lucifer's Hammer" and a good part of it lacked sufficient reality to hold it together. Somewhat like the "Towering Inferno" movie, somewhat exaggerated and dramatic. However, there was some logical and rational planning moments. However, some of the ideas were a bit unbelieveable. Still, the ideas about society could break out into the segments of "hordes of barbarians", "hunter-gather tribes" and "civilization rebuilders". At least those concepts seem logical.

As for other works, I'm looking for them to read. I have read the "Nightfall" short story though. Seems somewhat parallel in some respects to how we as a species reacted in New Orleans, but on a larger, more savage scale. I shudder to imagine how we would handle a national level disruption event or even a hemispherical one.

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I just finished 'Dies the Fire' yesterday - I LOVED it! I can't wait to get the sequel which is out in hardback now.

After New Orleans, it's going to be hard to capture all the grief and tragedy that goes on. I've been writing some fiction along these lines and it's just too difficult to think about.

Beaux

I know this is a REALLY old thread - but went searching for book suggestions now that I finally managed to buy a library card. I checked out "Dies the Fire" yesterday afternoon and am almost finished with it.

I live in the area where "Dies the Fire" is set and I can tell you why goats weren't mentioned. Oregon has some world class dairies and creameries and at the time this was written it was actually pretty rare to find more than the occasional small herd of goats, while cows were more plentiful and produce more for the clan. There were at least two large Jersey dairies still in operation near where the McKenzie clan settled. But since they were forced out of business a few years back milk cows are harder to find than goats.

Reading it did make me reevaluate just how close we are in actuality to Portland, Salem and Eugene by bicycle..... Looking forward to reading the rest of the series and am hoping the person that has book #2 checked out is a fast reader!

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Wags Ranch Nigerians


"The Constitution says to promote the general welfare, not to provide welfare!" ~ Lt. Col Allen West

Had not seen this thread earlier and caught it with Wags' post on Dies the Fire, which is absolutely one of my favorite books ever. Am going to have to bookmark this thread and come back to it to pick up some of the ones mentioned that I have not read.

I do like the science fiction "sub-genre" of end of the world/ new society type books. Another of the "new society" type series that is very good is the series started by Eric Flint with the book "1632/ Ring of Fire" ... a modern U.S. community transported back in time to Europe/Germany during the time of the 30-years war. It's gotten very involved ... lots of co-authors, lots of politics ... which definitely doesn't hold my interest, but the first two books in the series are excellent.

There are actually 4 books in the "trilogy"

Dies the Fire
The Protector's War
Meeting at Corvallis
The Sunrise Lands (set 12 years after Meeting at Corvallis)

All good books, read them several times.

Actually, the Sunrise Lands starts a new series, but uses the foundation of the first three books in Dies the Fire. I think there are now 4 books in the second series and it's more mystical than the first--proving my original thought about the "King Arthur" parallel...but they are still good books! It's fun to see how Stirling pictures a world 20 years after TEOTWAWKI.

And WAGS, thanks for the info. Gives me a better persepctive on the cows vs. goats!

One I'm currently reading I haven't seen mentioned many places, and it's been great so far is by Algis Budrys Some Will Not Die

Thanks for that! I see I'm behind the times...