sonja@genie.UUCP (Sonja Bock) (10/08/85)
In answer to the fellow who asked for an After-The-End anthology. The after-doomsday theme is one that has been handled often in both sci-fi and mainstream literature. Taking the 'man in the rubble' description loosely, here is a list of those that come most easily to mind. By the Waters of Babylon, S. Vincent Binet. Short story. A Canticle for Liebowitz. Walter H. Miller. Probably the closest thing to a classic of this genre. Damnation Alley. Zelazny (or perhaps Silverberg, I forget which). Pretty road-warriorish. Riddly Walker. Russel Hoban. Once you get past the new language, it's very good. Nightwings. Silverberg. Way after the end, caused by invasion of aliens. Tom O'Bedlam. Silverberg. Still in hardback. Mysticism and mu- tation. God's Grace. Bernard Malamud. The last primates on Earth are a Jew and his chimp. The Stand. Stephan King. The end is caused by a mutated virus rather than nuclear war. Where Late the Sweet Bird Sang. Kate Wilhelm. Galapagos. Kurt Vonnegut. Still in hardback. Lucifer's Hammer. Niven/Pournelle. End caused by falling meteor/asteroid. The Wild Shore. Kim Stanley Robinson. In the Drift. Michael Swanwick. Radix. New Paperback. Perhaps a classic. Forget the author.
tomczak@harvard.ARPA (Bill Tomczak) (10/09/85)
One of my favorites in the 'apocalypse' vein is Harlan Ellison's _I have no Mouth and I Must Scream_ in the anthology by the same name (he also wrote _a Boy and his dog_ which you can find in the _The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World_ anthology.) Bill Tomczak@harvard.harvard.edu
mcb@styx.UUCP (Michael C. Berch) (10/10/85)
In addition to those posted by sonja@genie in <425@genie.UUCP>, here's a further list of "post-apocalypse" novels. My criteria for inclusion here are as follows: 1. "End-of-the-world". A catastrophe or major nuclear war that kills off a good percentage of the human race occurs towards the beginning of the book. 2. "Man-in-the-rubble". Events immediately after such a catastrophe or war. 3. "After-the-fall". Events many years or generations after such a catastrophe or war. I'm purposely being formal about the criteria since there are zillions of sf novels that contain, in some form, reference to nuclear wars, plagues, natural catastrophes, etc. This list is far from exhaustive, even combined with sonja@genie's. It was more or less "off the top of my head," and I've probably missed a fair number of obvious ones. Novelettes and short stories are not included; there are too many even to begin. If you come up with some others, send 'em to me, and I'll compile a list and make it available. Anyway, here goes: Aldiss, Brian. BAREFOOT IN THE HEAD. Anthony, Piers. BATTLE CIRCLE [Sos the Rope, Var the Stick, Neq the Sword]. Ballard, J.G. THE CRYSTAL WORLD. _____. THE DROUGHT. _____. THE DROWNED WORLD. _____. THE WIND FROM NOWHERE. Christopher, John. NO BLADE OF GRASS. Cowper, Richard. THE TWILIGHT OF BRIAREUS. Delany, Samuel R. DHALGREN. _____. THE EINSTEIN INTERSECTION. _____. THE JEWELS OF APTOR. Dick, P.K. and Zelazny, Roger. DEUS IRAE. Farren, Mick. THE TEXTS OF FESTIVAL. Frank, Pat. ALAS, BABYLON. Heinlein, Robert A. FARNHAM'S FREEHOLD. Hoyle, Fred. THE BLACK CLOUD. Ing, Dean. PULLING THROUGH. _____. SYSTEMIC SHOCK. Jones, D.F. DENVER IS MISSING. Kurland, Michael. PLURIBUS. Niven, Larry and Pournelle, Jerry. LUCIFER'S HAMMER. Pangborn, Edgar. THE COMPANY OF GLORY. _____. DAVY. _____. STILL I PERSIST IN WONDERING. Powers, Tim. DINNER AT DEVIANT'S PALACE. Roshwald, Mordecai. LEVEL 7. Shiel, M.P. THE PURPLE CLOUD. Stewart, George R. EARTH ABIDES. Thompson, Allyn. THE AZRIEL UPRISING. Vinge, Vernor. THE PEACE WAR. Wylie, Philip. TOMORROW!. Zelazny, Roger. DAMNATION ALLEY
radack@cwruecmp.UUCP (Gerald Radack) (10/11/85)
In article <425@genie.UUCP> sonja@genie.UUCP (Sonja Bock) writes: >Taking the 'man in the rubble' description loosely, here is a >list of those that come most easily to mind.... Another book (which I enjoyed) is Afterwar, edited by Janet Morris. Contains a number of stories about the United States (and one about Britain) in the aftermath of a nuclear war. gerry radack -- ------------- Gerry Radack (216) 368-2808 Dept. of Computer Engineering and Science Case-Western Reserve University CSNET: radack@case Cleveland, OH 44106 UUCP: ..!decvax!cwruecmp!radack
Merlyn@cisden.UUCP (Merlyn) (10/11/85)
More After-the Holocaust books: Alas, Babylon by ???. Pretty standard. Hiero's Journey by Sterling Lanier. It's been a while, but I think I liked this one. There is a recent sequel, but the original is several years old and probably out of print. Lots of strange critters. The Empire of the East by Fred Saberhagen. Good book, but we're starting to stretch the genre quite a bit here. There's one I read a while back whose title and author both escape me. It's yellow with black lettering and small black sillhouette animals an the cover. It purports to be in a mutant-ridden society where any civilized arts, including reading, are equivalent to magic. Unfortunately the fact that all the creatures use and understand elaborate abbreviations for various groups and cults is only one of the inconsistencies of this book. Reads like the rule book for TSR's atrocious game Gamma World. These were just a few that I hadn't seen mentioned in any other postings. Tommy Phillips trantor!phillips
scott@hou2g.UUCP (Colonel'K) (10/15/85)
>Hiero's Journey by Sterling Lanier. It's been a while, but I think I liked > this one. There is a recent sequel, but the original is several years > old and probably out of print. Lots of strange critters. > Tommy Phillips > trantor!phillips Hiero's Journey is still in print. Apparantly, there was a recent print run to coincide with the paperback release of the sequel, The Unforsaken Heiro. "That green-blooded son-of-a-bitch. It's his way of getting back at me for all those arguments he lost." Scott J. Berry ihnp4!hou2g!scott
barb@oliven.UUCP (Barbara Jernigan) (10/17/85)
> Hiero's Journey by Sterling Lanier. It's been a while, but I think I liked > this one. There is a recent sequel, but the original is several years > old and probably out of print. Lots of strange critters. Hiero's Journey is back in print -- no doubt to companion the sequel. Good -- though not particularly "deep" -- read. Barb
mhs@lanl.ARPA (10/17/85)
Pat Frank, "Alas, Babylon" Nevil Shute, "On the beach" George Stewart, "Earth abides" Andre Norton, "Daybreak: 2250 AD" (or some such date) Larry Niven, "World out of time" Spider Robinson, "Telempath" For rather different viewpoints, try Poul Anderson, "Brainwave" Kurt Vonnegut, "Cat's cradle" Humfph. Most of these are 25-30 years old. Stewart will probably be hard to find; I think Norton was reprinted within the past 10 years, and Anderson was just reprinted. Can't find my copy of "When worlds collide," and don't recall whether that was Philip Wylie alone or Wylie and Balmer. Oh -- Edgar Pangborn, "Davy" Clifford Simak, "City" Walter M. Miller Jr., "A canticle for Leibowitz" These last two won International Fantasy Awards back in the 50s -- "City" before Hugos even, I seem to recall.
chk@mordred (Chuck Koelbel) (10/17/85)
Another excellent book in this genre is _Dreamsnake_ by Vonda McIntyre. It is an expansion of her short story "Of Mist, Grass, and Sand", also a good read (it forms the first chapter of the novel, but can be read on its own). Brief summary: Set in a world several hundred years after a global catastrophy (exact cause unknown, but it included nukes). Society has survived, but regressed to a sort of middle ages (semi-feudal society, little trade between towns). The main character is Snake, a travelling healer; Mist, Grass, and Sand are snakes which she uses to manufacture her medicines. The strong points of the book are the writing style, the characterization of Snake (and other human characters), and a very well- developed picture of the society of the post-holocaust world. Unfortunately, the ending is rather weak (in my opinion) - just a bit too pat for me to believe. For a first novel, however, it is extremely good. All in all, I would give this book 3 stars (out of 4). Highly recommended. Chuck Koelbel
francis@osu-eddie.UUCP (RD Francis) (10/22/85)
> Andre Norton, "Daybreak: 2250 AD" (or some such date)
I believe this book was re-released as _Star_Man's_Son_ -- Norton has
a number of other books that fall in this category, but I can't remember
most of their names at the moment.
RD Fozz Francis ..!cbosgd!osu-eddie!francis or francis@osu-eddie.UUCPoleg@birtch.UUCP (Oleg Kiselev x268) (10/22/85)
The new book by David Brin " The Postman".
A good SF book and a great read. Well written.
--
DISCLAMER: The above are the opinions of a type V demon who took posession of
me as a result of a failed AD&D summoning spell. Send flames to /dev/Gehenna.
----------------------------------+ With deep indifference,
"I disbelieve an army of invisible| Oleg Kiselev.
mind-flayers!" |...!trwrb!felix!birtch!oleg
"OK. They are *still* not there." |...!{ihnp4|randvax}!ucla-cs!uclapic!oac6!olegdavidsen@steinmetz.UUCP (Davidsen) (10/29/85)
"Alas Babylon" was by Pat Frank. I personally regard it as one of the best and consistant books of the type. -- billD (..seismo!rochester!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen) (davidsen@GE-CRD.ARPA) "It seemed like a good idea at the time..."
davidsen@steinmetz.UUCP (Davidsen) (10/29/85)
In all of these discussions I have not seen mention of _When Worlds Colide_ and _After Worlds Colide_ by Balmer and Wylie (as I recall). The mechanics are perhaps a bit dated, but the rest of it is up to date. I particularly find the continued nationalism and personal considerations to be realistically done. -- billD (..seismo!rochester!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen) (davidsen@GE-CRD.ARPA) "It seemed like a good idea at the time..."