Post-Apocalyptic books

Ah, Alas, Babylon...read that for summer reading too. Noticed on my shelf tonight, too. Weird. The following summer I got to read Ender's Game, another great book.

Dr. BloodMoney by Philip K Dick (my hero) plus numerous short stories I can't recall the names of.

"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" also by PKD, is set in a post-apocalyptic world, though it doesn't really deal with the theme directly. Badass book, though.
 
wow, thanks for all the replies guys. Looks like I'll have plenty to read this summer. And Paradroid... Ender's Game is the best book series ever :-D. Well... Ender's game and the Shadow Series were the best ever. The rest of Ender's series got to deep into sci fi for me.

Which reminds me, has anyone read Folk of the Fringe by Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game writer). Supposedly its about some kids in America in a apocalyptic setting. I bought it but haven't gotten the chance to read it yet as I still have one more book left for summer reading (catch-22).

As for the other books, time to scan my library listings for them. Thanks again!
 
I see nobody has mentioned "Earth Abides" by George Stewart. Excelent book, it follows one survivor after about 99% of the world's population is wiped out by a disease. Also, there is a short story somewhere out there called "On the Shores of Babylon" (or something like that). I haven't been able to find it in a while, but if you can, read it. It was actually writen before Hiroshima, which is freaky.
-Draconias Galactica
 
Hello, I'm new to the forums, but I couldn't resist this topic. A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter Miller is an excellent book to read if you are a Fallout fan. I read it before the original Fallout was released, and when I first played it, Canticle immediately came to mind. It is also set in the western US after a nuclear holocaust, and the story revolves around a monastery. It's a very deep book, touching on many religious issues, and is considered by many to be the best piece of science fiction written by an American during the 20th century.

I would avoid reading the "sequel," Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman. It was written 40 years after the first one by Miller's estate, and it didn't have any of the charm of Canticle.

Seriously, this book is what made me a fan of Fallout. I would recommend it to every fan.
 
Not one person mentions any "DeathLand" books?! These are the closest you can get to Fallout IMHO.

Mohrg :twisted:
 
Earth Abidesby George R. Stewart and Watership Downby Richard Adams are both great post-Apoc. books.
 
My fav pa books are
Cat's Cradle- Kurt Vonnegut
Galapagos- Kurt Vonnegut
A Canticle for Leibowitz- Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Dark Tower series- Stephen King
Greybeard- Brian Aldiss
Alas, Babylon- Pat Frank
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep- Philip K. Dick
Dr. Bloodmoney- Philip K. Dick
Various Philip K. Dick short stories (The Last of the Masters, Second Variety, Foster- You're Dead, Pay for the Printer)
The Postman- David Brin (If you can get past the pseudo-sappy stuff about America being reborn)
Farnham's Freehold- Rober Heinlein (If you can handle extremely flat prose and proto-fascism)
The Dying Earth- Jack Vance (not really pa, but more like deep future proto-apocalypse)
The Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe (same, but a whole hell of a lot more literary)
Deathlands Series- Various (Not really novels, more like Fallout fan fiction at the check out line, but good for laughing self-indulgence)
1984- George Orwell (again, not really PA, but the perpetual war, hyper-depressed economy thing, and plus and ending more pessimistic than anything else ever written, except maybe Breakfast of Champions)
 
Just finished reading "Earth Abides". Great book, really worth reading...though a little too clean if you're looking for a post-apocalyptic book filled with all sorts of baddies, since almost all humanity basically dies out without nature noticing too much, but it shows very well the way the survivors cope with a world with few people.

"A Canticle for Leibowitz" is an awesome book. I especially loved the idea that, of all possible things, the Roman Catholic Church would be preserving the knowledge of the past in a post-apocalyptic America, kinda like what they did after Rome fell. Also ironic twist in the end...sad, but depressingly possible too. The sequel, "Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman", has almost nothing to do with anything post-apocalyptic, so if you're gonna read this, don't expect a sequel to Canticle, and better check out the background of the author, Walter M. Miller, Jr. to understand a bit more why he made the book as it is.
 
The Deliverator said:
Deathlands Series- Various (Not really novels, more like Fallout fan fiction at the check out line, but good for laughing self-indulgence)
Click to expand...

Also check out the spin off "Outlanders".
 
favourite book

This is more a topic for fallout players who do branch out into other regions,than games, to be specific books. can any body recomend any good post apocalyptic books that they've read, as the fallout team admitted in the bibles, books were of fairly large influence, so has anybody read one they could recomend to a fallout player? The only one i have read is "The Postman", a truly brilliant book, dont bother with the film as its crap.
 
If you read the whole of the Foundation series you see in the background the cyclic tragedy of our species almost attaining greatness and then falling back into chaos, again and AGAIN.

Turns out, though, that it wasn't human nature. It was a weird bio-weapon released long ago... Sort of. Confusing, really.
 
Do forum searches, for example with the query "postapocalyptic books".

I've merged the thread.

Gravedigging isn't always *BAD*.
 
"The Stand" is actually what got me into fallout. Halfway through that book all I could think of was "I need a game like this". I looked up Post apocolypic Games, and found Fallout. Played the demo, and an hour later ordered the gem pack.

I'm going to look for some of these books mentioned, and when I read them, I'll be sure to post a review.

As for "The Stand", its the best book I've ever read.
 
Worth a mention is a book by Joe Haldeman called "Worlds Apart"; it's set half on a space station; the last surviving station of all-out war, and half on a war-ravaged earth. The agent of the apocalypse was largely a disease that causes people to die around age 20-22. It's pretty good, in fact. What happens to a space station is not something that's usually handled in PA fiction.

Oh, yes, and of course I'v gotta pitch in my two cents for Deathlands as well. Great books. Basically "Fallout" in book form, really!
 
I read this rather thick book which was post-nuclear or smth, this guy who 'wrote' the story survived because he was in his basement for wine. It was Ebonyt Tower or Castle or something. I really enjoyed it.

I have also read many of the Foundation series. True what was sed above.

When want to read something, I'll know where to look for ideas:) Thx!
 
I was never that hot on "The Stand".

This is a fairly unknown book, but it's still a good one. It's about a detective in a city that's struggling to survive post-apoc. It's called "Metal Fatigue" and it's by Sean Williams.
 
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