Post-Apoc book recommendations?

[Evilcartoonist]

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!

[Za Zjurman]

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

Cheers,
Za

[Maspalio]

wow...so many examples

my two cents...

Damnation Alley (R. Zelazny)

[Evilcartoonist]

... 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!

[Dr.Falkenhayn]

i just read Tim Currans "Biohazard" i can highly recommend it 

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7946407-biohazard

[Evilcartoonist]

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)

[CptJake]

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

[Silent Invader]

I like the cartoon novel Winter World.... The lead doesn't have a dog .... He has a badger :-)

[SBRPearce]

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.

[Sinewgrab]

The Postman - not the bleedin' movie - is a very good read.

[Evilcartoonist]

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.)

[Zaheer]

I hesitate to say so, but if you haven't read Earth Abides. I think you really should. I think you'll enjoy it.

[TwoGunBob]

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.

[Halforc]

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.

[Diakon]

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

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.