Before I start, I want to thank everyone who commented on my last blog – Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and The New Golden Age of Post-Apocalyptic Fiction – the feedback was overwhelming! (And Louise Marley, I would love it if you wrote a post-apocalyptic novel. I’ll be the first to read it!) In that blog, when I opined that we are entering into a new Golden Age of post-apocalyptic literature, I mentioned a few noteworthy new releases othan than McCarthy's The Road: Victor Gischler’s Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse (2008) and David Oppegaard’s The Suicide Collectors (2009). Many of you wanted me to list other significant apocalyptic works that have been released in the last few years so here are a few more:
E.E. Knight’s Vampire Earth saga: Way of the Wolf, Choice of the Cat, Tale of the Thunderbolt, etc. (2003-present)
One of the coolest post-apocalyptic series to come along in years, these novels – an amalgam of military science fiction, Lovecraftian horror and dark fantasy – chronicle the adventures of special-ops soldier David Valentine as he battles the alien Kurian overlords and their Reaper minions that have taken over Earth and begun feasting on human lifeblood. Nonstop action, great character development, and a vividly described backdrop of a devastated America make these books simply addictive reading.
Ken Scholes’ Psalms of Isaak saga: Lamentation and Canticle (2009-present)
When all is said and done, this series could very well redefine epic fantasy AND science fiction. The storyline begins with a literal bang: Windwir, the world’s greatest city and home of the Androfrancine Order and their Great Library, is wiped off the face of the earth by a mysterious weapon unleashed by an unknown foe. When neighboring leaders come to investigate, they find a mass graveyard of more than 200,000 people and the greatest repository of knowledge and artifacts the world has ever known completely destroyed. The only survivors are mechoservitors – “metal men” – who aided the Androfrancines in their work. And one metal man, nicknamed Isaak, may be the only one who knows what happened – and why. But what begins as a Terry Brooksian Shannara adventure soon begins to evolve into a potentially science fiction-powered epic! Poetic, provocative and profoundly moving, this is A Canticle for Leibowitz for the 21st Century.
Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams (2008)
This anthology from Night Shade Books features some of the best end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it stories ever written. Editor Adams describes this compilation as a collection of “tales of survival and of life in the aftermath that explore what scientific, psychological, sociological, and physiological changes will take place in the wake of the apocalypse.” And while most anthologies have at least a few weak links, this collection is simply packed with unarguable classic stories from Stephen King, Orson Scott Card, Paolo Bacigalupi, George R.R. Martin, Nancy Kress, Octavia E. Butler, and Cory Doctorow.
One Second After by William R. Forstchen (2009)
This one deals with the danger of EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) weaponry and is told not on a grand scale but a more intimate setting: a small town in North Carolina where everyone knows everyone else and no one locks their doors at night. The storyline brings to the forefront one of America’s – and most nations – biggest weakness: our dependence on modern technology. After a few weeks without power, it’s chilling how quickly humankind devolves…
The Human Disguise by James O’Neal (2009)
This genre-blending thriller is set on a near-future Earth devastated by war and disease and utilizes elements from police procedural mystery, alien invasion SF and even a little vampire fiction! O’Neal, a former cop, adds some real authenticity and grit to this hard-boiled – and unique – storyline.
Enclave by Kit Reed (2009)
I ran across this book, which PW fittingly calls a “dystopian satire,” mentioned in the Barnes and Noble Review. Paul Di Filippo, who wrote the article, stated: “Enclave illustrates the valuable lesson that when faced with impending destruction and disintegration, the only response worse than panic is rigidity of thinking and mercenary self-interest. If such a moral has a particularly urgent resonance when placed against breaking news, all the more credit to Reed's understanding of how desperate measures sometimes make desperate times that much worse.”
World Made by Hand by James Howard Kunstler (2008)
What happens after the oil industry crashes and the economy collapses? Kunstler speculates about how society will be rebuilt after the fall – not one of my favorite post-apocalyptic reads but lots of great ideas and definitely worth the time.
Necro Sex Machine by Andre Duza (2008)
Haven’t read this one yet but I had to include it for its title alone!
(If any of you have read an exceptional apocalyptic novel or story released in the last few years that isn't listed above, please drop me a line. I'd love to add to to the list. Thanks!)
