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Miniatures Adventure => Post-Apocalyptic Tales => Topic started by: Evilcartoonist on December 17, 2013, 07:52:24 AM
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I'm looking for something PA to read. I'm looking for something with a setting similar to Mad Max/Canticle for Liebowitz/Boy and His Dog -- a bleak landscape with limited resources, few survivors, items recycled from the past.
I also enjoyed The Road and I Am Legend, (though, I'm not a fan of zombies ((gaming zombies yes, reading about zombies- meh.)
I'm open to most kinds of stories/plots, but I like a little bit of action.
I'd also accept book ideas that aren't post-apoc but could be read as so -- a story about prehistoric tribes or life on the frontier, for example.
Thanks, all!
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Maybe not exactly want you are after but I think "The Stand" by Stephen King is a very good read.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stand (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stand)
Cheers,
Za
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wow...so many examples
my two cents...
Damnation Alley (R. Zelazny)
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... the only reason I am not bombarding you with them all is there is squillions of them in my collection and it will be overload.
Feel free to bombard! Or your top five :)
Looking at the description of Lost Traveller on Amazon- maybe a touch dark (morally -- even though it's life after the apocalypse) for my tastes, but otherwise, it looks just about on the mark!
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i just read Tim Currans "Biohazard" i can highly recommend it :)
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7946407-biohazard (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7946407-biohazard)
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Deathlands and Killerball look fun.
But Mortal Engines- Not what I was looking for, but that looks fun and off-the-wall. I might just go for that.
Also War of the Wingman sounds like a good read,
... as does Biohazard (thanks, Dr. Falkenhayn)
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The Pulse and One Second After are two I've recently read and enjoyed.
One Second After in particular really got to me.
Both deal with life immediately after some grid destroying event.
James Wesley Rawles' stuff is interesting too.
Jake
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I like the cartoon novel Winter World.... The lead doesn't have a dog .... He has a badger :-)
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Soft Apocalypse - slow spiral social decay "We're not homeless, we're nomads. Get your terms straight."
A Handmade World and The Witch of Hebron for a more pastoral take on living post-electricity, post-oil, post-pandemic... Basically, society died a death of a thousand cuts, no One Big Thing.
Short story by Connie Willis "The Last of the Winnebagos" - again, sere, bleak, sad and sharp. A dying society that's still trying to function, and pretty much failing.
The Last Ship, which is pretty much the 1980s version of Neville Shute's On The Beach - there's a TV mini-series (vastly re-written, of course) coming out next spring. The bugbear in the new version isn't global thermonuclear war, but an induced pandemic.
If you haven't read On The Beach, do so. But avoid the movies. The 1959 original (with Gregory Peck) is bearable, but the 2000 remake (with Armand Assante in the Gregory Peck role) was kind of painful to watch.
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The Postman - not the bleedin' movie - is a very good read.
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Thanks for the ideas, all!
I think, after Christmas, I'm going to search out a few of these books- Biohazard, Killerball, and Mortal Engines to start.
For now, I have a copy of Alien Speedway to try out (not PA, but my other interests include racing AND outer space, so this seemed like a fun no-brainer.)
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I hesitate to say so, but if you haven't read Earth Abides. I think you really should. I think you'll enjoy it.
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Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Maybe the Ashes series by William Johnstone but that kind of has Deathlands syndrome and even 'switching off' to read them I was still kind of rolling my eyes reading a few of the books.
That's all I can muster off the top of my head that hasn't already been mentioned.
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Like scurv I'm a huge pa nut bookwise and love the pulp stuff for their cheesiness; ashes series, death lands bloodlansds by same author and the survivalist by jerry aherne.
If you can get them I recommend the mechanic series by Paul hofrichter, only two released but well worth reading.
As for my all time fave it has to be a tie between some will not die and the stand.
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The Mammoth Book Of Apocalyptic SF is a really good read if you're into the genre. Some really good stories and ideas in it that will cover most styles of PA. Here's a linky.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mammoth-Book-Apocalyptic-SF-Books/dp/1849013055 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mammoth-Book-Apocalyptic-SF-Books/dp/1849013055)
Also if you're after something with a slightly mystical edge then Metro 2033 (What the videogame is based on) is a really good read too.
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The Passage and The Twelve by Justin Cronin.
Get past the modern day bit in 'The Passage' which sets up the story then it gets pretty awesome.
I'll second or is it third the Deathlands series the first 30 are awesome then some become a bit hit and miss.
Echo City by Tim Lebbon is another odd one bit sci fi/fantasy/post apoc but it was a good read anyway.
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I throw out some favorites from the Old School(tm)
Fiction
Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Hiero's Journey - Sterling Lanier
Daybreak: 2250 A.D - Andre Norton
Comics
Kamandi - Jack Kirby
Mighty Samson - Otto Binder
Xenozoic Tales aka Cadillacs & Dinosaurs - Mark Schultz
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Russell Hoban, Riddley Walker.
It is AP and it has dogs. ;)
I highly recommend it.
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Echo City by Tim Lebbon is another odd one bit sci fi/fantasy/post apoc but it was a good read anyway.
That reminds me of another good one actually. Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds.
Blurb:
Spearpoint, the last human city, is an atmosphere-piercing spire of vast size. Clinging to its skin are the zones, a series of semi-autonomous city-states, each of which enjoys a different - and rigidly enforced - level of technology. Horsetown is pre-industrial; in Neon Heights they have television and electric trains . . .
Following an infiltration mission that went tragically wrong, Quillon has been living incognito, working as a pathologist in the district morgue. But when a near-dead angel drops onto his dissecting table, Quillon's world is wrenched apart one more time, for the angel is a winged posthuman from Spearpoint's Celestial Levels - and with the dying body comes bad news.
If Quillon is to save his life, he must leave his home and journey into the cold and hostile lands beyond Spearpoint's base, starting an exile that will take him further than he could ever imagine. But there is far more at stake than just Quillon's own survival, for the limiting technologies of the zones are determined not by governments or police, but by the very nature of reality - and reality itself is showing worrying signs of instability . . .
TERMINAL WORLD is a snarling, drooling, crazy-eyed mongrel of a book: equal parts steampunk, western, planetary romance and far-future SF
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You can also check the Dire Earth Cycle by Jason M. Hough (The Darwin Elevator; Exodus Tower; The Plague Forge):
http://www.amazon.com/Jason-M.-Hough/e/B00B3VQ7EI/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
And here's the cover blurb for the first book:
In the mid-23rd century, Darwin, Australia, stands as the last human city on Earth. The world has succumbed to an alien plague, with most of the population transformed into mindless, savage creatures. The planet’s refugees flock to Darwin, where a space elevator—created by the architects of this apocalypse, the Builders—emits a plague-suppressing aura.
Skyler Luiken has a rare immunity to the plague. Backed by an international crew of fellow “immunes,” he leads missions into the dangerous wasteland beyond the aura’s edge to find the resources Darwin needs to stave off collapse...
The books are full of cool ideas for gaming - specially the parts with the scavengers ;)
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While I've only read the first three so far, Stephen King's Dark Tower series certainly has apocalyptic elements. However, note that it is also ver much a fantasy novel, with a dose of mysticism and whatnot. But it avoids many of the trappings and takes its visuals from old Westerns more than anything.
On the shory story side, Poul Anderson wrote two post-apocalyptic stories that I can think of: "No Truce with Kings", in which the Pacific States of America suffer a civil war,
and "Progress", in which the pacific islands have emerged as a world power after the apocalypse. They're both set a decent amount of time after the bombs, so there's less raiders and more burgeoning nation-states trying to reclaim, or prevent, the old ways of things.
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JG Ballard: 'The Drowned World' and 'The Drought' though more for mood setting rather than gameable ideas.
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Hello Evilcartoonist ,
I have been reading a little post apoc lately, my source is free amazon kindle books. I type in "free kindle books post apocalyptic" and quite a few pop up. The most recent is: Apocalypse (The Wasteland Chronicles, #1), link below
http://www.amazon.com/Apocalypse-Wasteland-Chronicles-Kyle-West-ebook/dp/B00AJF2130/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1387747992&sr=1-4&keywords=free+kindle+books+post+apocalyptic+fiction
Not all the independent books are amazing, you have to spend some time reading the reviews but you can certainly find a gem (like the book mentioned above IMHO).
Good luck in the hunt,
Damien
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Another Poul Anderson - Vault of Ages. Good but tame.
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Mike McQuay's "Jitterbug" is another really good book, as is his "Escape From New York".
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Maybe not exactly want you are after but I think "The Stand" by Stephen King is a very good read.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stand (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stand)
Cheers,
Za
Another vote for the Stand.
No zombies, but could be gamed so there were.
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I think it predates, but am not sure. It covers a bit of time prior to the events int he movie as well as the events of the movie.
Jitterbug is pretty cool too.
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Used to have a few of the survivalist series,good reads :)
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will have to track that down. I love that movie. It and mad max sent me down the PA road.
Ditto! Maybe the book will shed a little light on the quirky line everyone in Escape from New York repeated: "Snake Pliskin, I heard you were dead."
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JG Ballard: 'The Drowned World' and 'The Drought' though more for mood setting rather than gameable ideas.
I second that, great books. Not combat whatsoever, but very good.
Also a Song of Stone by Ian Banks.
Try to get hold of the old Dark Future books published by Games Workshop in the early nineties: Demon Download, Krokodil Tears etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Future#Novels
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I've just started reading 'Riddlley Walker'...
... it is making my head hurt in the best way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riddley_Walker
I'll be able to tell you more once I've done with it.
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If you want really PA stuff, try Robert Adams' series The Horseclans...just be aware that Adams used to write erotica on the side. The first few are pretty amusing.
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I'm currently reading Zones of Alienation Part One: Southern Comfornt Balaz Pataki. Its not exactly post apocalyptic, rather its set in the same world as the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise, where one particular area of the world (Chernobyl and Afghanistan in this case) is under the effects of various superatural occurences. Aside from all the mutant animals, raider types, and general backstabbing, the Afghanistan region was also hit by some American nukes to spice the affair up a little too (thus far there's been a fair few mildy insane Taliban fighters suffering from severe radiation poisoning).
Its a decent setting if you're interested in a more modern period, and a more stable, less hopeless world (sure whole areas of the world may be turned into hellholes, but in general people are better off for it, with leaps in technology -included the limited use of exo skeleton power armour and gauss rifles - and the existance of physics defying artifacts). The writing's a little ...Russian (or at least there's a certain style set by books I've been reading from there lately), which is to say that there's quite a few patriotic statements here and there, and there's a bit of deus ex machina involved every so often, but its a decent flavour piece overall.
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The Postman - not the bleedin' movie - is a very good read.
The first half of the movie is amazing, but they must have run out of money, and just had a monkey direct the 2nd half.
Also, I am really surprised that no one has mentioned Wind Up Girl, Drowned Cities, or Shipbreaker yet. All by the same author.
Definitely recommended.
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I'm currently reading Zones of Alienation Part One: Southern Comfornt Balaz Pataki. Its not exactly post apocalyptic, rather its set in the same world as the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise, where one particular area of the world (Chernobyl and Afghanistan in this case) is under the effects of various superatural occurences. Aside from all the mutant animals, raider types, and general backstabbing, the Afghanistan region was also hit by some American nukes to spice the affair up a little too (thus far there's been a fair few mildy insane Taliban fighters suffering from severe radiation poisoning).
Its a decent setting if you're interested in a more modern period, and a more stable, less hopeless world (sure whole areas of the world may be turned into hellholes, but in general people are better off for it, with leaps in technology -included the limited use of exo skeleton power armour and gauss rifles - and the existance of physics defying artifacts). The writing's a little ...Russian (or at least there's a certain style set by books I've been reading from there lately), which is to say that there's quite a few patriotic statements here and there, and there's a bit of deus ex machina involved every so often, but its a decent flavour piece overall.
That's strange, I know that book...but with another name and another author:
http://www.amazon.com/S-T-A-L-K-E-R-Southern-Comfort-John-Mason/dp/1466220724/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_3/190-8848907-1068421
I have to read it now! ;D
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Finished Riddley Walker- I can't recommend it enough. Not an easy read considering the invented lexicon but another essential scene setter. Especially if you are interested in a PA setting the has regressed to Dark Age levels.
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That's strange, I know that book...but with another name and another author:
http://www.amazon.com/S-T-A-L-K-E-R-Southern-Comfort-John-Mason/dp/1466220724/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_3/190-8848907-1068421
I have to read it now! ;D
Yeah, no idea why mine has another author's name on it. John Mason's the original author, but I suppose the argument over the rights to the books led to this odd situation.
Having finished the book I'd recommend it. But yeah, as mention before I'm a little iffy about some of the view points put forth by the book (let least by a particularly horrible faction known as the Tribe, ie Apocalypse Now style marines, that at first are viewed on as being the bad guys, but after a plot twist in which they weren't *originally as bad as they were put across to be, apparently they're just misunderstood. Yeah, the guys who frequently stone to death outsiders and eat them aren't all that bad to the extent that they're regarded as just US soldiers that are making the best of a bad lot). That and it could have done with a bit less of the racism/sexism, both justified contextually, but there's easier ways of putting across a setting than containing these elements so much.
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@Wyrmalla - thanks for the follow-up review. I'm already uploading it to my Kobo.
Another PA book that I read and that can recommend is this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Earthfall-Stephen-Knight/dp/0984805354/ref=la_B004SVKJH6_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1390697283&sr=1-5
WHEN OUR WORLD ENDED, THEIR MISSION BEGAN The Sixty Minute War brought humanity to the brink of annihilation. Billions perished. The planet Earth was turned into a virtual graveyard, with the shattered, burned-out skeletons of great cities serving as tombstones marking Mankind’s demise. But in the United States, one final outpost remains. Ten years have passed, and Harmony Base, a subterranean U.S. Army installation that survived the nuclear inferno, has yet to receive any response to its continual radio transmissions. Long-range surface reconnaissance missions fail to locate any other survivors. Harmony’s personnel, a mix of military and civilian specialists, wonder if they are the only living beings left on the planet. Earthquake damage to the base’s vital power plant necessitates a different type of mission: the retrieval of spare parts from a storage depot in San Jose, 1,600 miles distant. Captain Mike Andrews and his crew set out across a Giger-inspired landscape blighted by lightning storms and deadly hazards that could swallow their all-terrain vehicles whole. The last thing Andrews expects to encounter in the nuked ruins of San Jose are survivors led by a twisted freak with mental powers off the scale... Harmony is America’s last chance to rise up from the ashes of the nuclear holocaust and help restore civilization. But only if Andrews and his crew can escape San Jose…and the madman who calls himself The Law.
It's a nice romp through a PA world, lots of nice made-up military hardware, but the author ends ups making the villain into a stupid guy to justify the usual big fight at the end. I'm sure it's going to get a sequel.
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I would recomend the Horseclans series by Robert Adams. A lot of varients on PA themes.
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I second the "HORSECLANS"! Awesome series. Read them all 3 or 4 times now. In fact, I'm overdo for another read through... ;)
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Have to recommend the Amtrak Wars series, read it in my teens and really enjoyed it, 6 books in the series i think
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I would also recommend Hiero's Journey - Sterling Lanier. Just finished it last night in fact. Also the Spiderworld series by Colin Wilson. Both are great if you are using Psionics in your game.
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I'm glad you all keep adding to this thread; my Amazon wish list just keeps getting bigger.
:)
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While not Sci Fi kind of Post Apoc. these books are fantastic. Based just a few years into the future and having to do with real world issues I would say "The Unit" by Terry DeHart, And the Patriot Series by Rawles...Patriots,Survivors and Founders. No mutants or zombies just the fact of global collapse and the UN getting involved is a much scarier read...
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Having read the patriot series I was offended of his portrayal of UN forces, he in my mind made them to be a modern equivalent to the as and pol pots Khmer rouge, I had enjoyed it up to that point.
If you want a good PA read try to find the two books of the mechanic series by Paul Hofrichter, out of print but realisticly written, or The Zone series by James Rouch set in a limited warzone in europe when the ww3 goes stalemate.
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I think Rawles was trying to warn us of giving up our rights as citizens and giving over control to the UN. Many nations that belong to the UN lack the Americans sense of whats right and wrong due to their own nations issues. The moment we let the UN or our own country dismantle our armed forces or disarm us as US citizens we are inviting trouble.
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Let's stay on subject here. Try not to let the thread fall into political bla bla.
(Though, I understand you're describing the author's views, this could degenerate fast.)
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I have two suggestions, Lights Out by... Frugal Squirrel! At least, that's where I found out a few years back as a free pdf. I believe it's an ebook on Kindle now as well. It's much like One Second After in that it's post EMP in the US. It's more adventure and how to than the other and lacks the political warning. It also seems to me to be where the other author got a lot of the plot points from.
The Emberverse series which starts with Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling. It's post "Change" which is the moment high energy technology stops working, skewing the law of energy conservation. It follows a few different groups and how they cope with the new world, and each other. It's a trilogy, and pretty compelling for all of the writer's quirks. There's a longer series following the children of some of the characters that we meet as youngsters in the original trilogy. The follow up series is more adventure/fantasy, and I gave up on it a couple of books in.
For all of his grandstanding in his books the Rawles' books are pretty good how to's, which is fascinating in its own right.
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Wool, Shift and Dust by Hugh Howey. Three books about life in post apocalyptic Silo built to preserve mankind and how the world ended etc.
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Colson Whitehead's 'Zone One' is pretty good, though of the zombie apocalypse variety, deftly manages to avoid the usual zom-apoc cliches.
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Colson Whitehead's 'Zone One' is pretty good, though of the zombie apocalypse variety, deftly manages to avoid the usual zom-apoc cliches.
I have to second this one. It's a great take on the ZPoc genre.
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Dinner at Deviant's Palace by Tim Powers was a fun read with some interesting ideas.
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I read lights out by David Crawford when it was online, loved it so much I bought it on kindle eBook, can't believe I forgot to mention it!
Also own all the SM stifling emberverse books, agree that the early books were more PA than the later books. If you get chance read the fan fiction on his website there's a couple of stories on there that really deserve to be books in there own right, the Fire trilogy by Pete Sartucci stands out.
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Also own all the SM stifling emberverse books, agree that the early books were more PA than the later books. If you get chance read the fan fiction on his website there's a couple of stories on there that really deserve to be books in there own right, the Fire trilogy by Pete Sartucci stands out.
Awesome, thanks for the tip!
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Here are a couple more good, near future post-apoc:
1. The Old Man and the Wasteland, Savage Boy and The Road is a River by Nick Cole. $.99 ea at B&N/Amazon. The Old Man is really well written -- The Old Man is an original survivor from the Fall living at the edge of a community of scavengers who search for survival amongst the ruins must go on a perilous trek across the desert to find new pickings.
2. After: First Light by Scott Nicholson, a Solar event takes out modern society. Also an ebook. Similar in some ways to the movie Remnants about a suburban community trying to survive in the aftermath of a coronal mass ejection.
3. Ashes, by Ilsa Blick. EMP takes down society.
4. The Unit by Terry deHunt, a family trying to survive after the Fall, very much like The Road.
5. John Ringo has a new post apoc Zed series with a family surviving the Zeds by taking to the sea.
6. The classic Earth Abides by George Stewart must be mentioned, the grand daddy of post apoc and still a good read, survivors after a global plague