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Author Topic: Post-Apoc book recommendations?  (Read 11000 times)

Offline Brummie Thug

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Re: Post-Apoc book recommendations?
« Reply #15 on: December 21, 2013, 08:54:51 PM »
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.


Offline Kamandi

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Re: Post-Apoc book recommendations?
« Reply #16 on: December 21, 2013, 09:43:54 PM »
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
"Something had happened in the dim past...! A natural disaster coupled with Radiation! The people in the bunkers lived out their lives and died dreaming of a day of return---The radiation would be gone---and the world would be left waiting---"

Offline Sendak

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Re: Post-Apoc book recommendations?
« Reply #17 on: December 22, 2013, 12:32:49 AM »
Russell Hoban, Riddley Walker.

It is AP and it has dogs. ;)

I highly recommend it.
« Last Edit: December 22, 2013, 12:39:49 AM by Sendak »
"Primative life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare, some would say it has yet to occur on earth." Stephen Hawking

Offline Diakon

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Re: Post-Apoc book recommendations?
« Reply #18 on: December 22, 2013, 02:48:03 AM »
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:
Quote
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

Offline Predatorpt

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Re: Post-Apoc book recommendations?
« Reply #19 on: December 22, 2013, 02:14:14 PM »
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:

Quote
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 ;)

Offline WulframMors

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Re: Post-Apoc book recommendations?
« Reply #20 on: December 22, 2013, 06:38:40 PM »
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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Offline S_P

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Re: Post-Apoc book recommendations?
« Reply #21 on: December 22, 2013, 08:36:06 PM »
JG Ballard: 'The Drowned World' and 'The Drought' though more for mood setting rather than gameable ideas.

Offline Damien

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Re: Post-Apoc book recommendations?
« Reply #22 on: December 22, 2013, 09:39:39 PM »
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

Offline Kamandi

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Re: Post-Apoc book recommendations?
« Reply #23 on: December 23, 2013, 05:56:18 AM »
Another Poul Anderson - Vault of Ages. Good but tame.

Offline CptJake

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Re: Post-Apoc book recommendations?
« Reply #24 on: December 23, 2013, 11:28:20 AM »
 Mike McQuay's "Jitterbug" is another really good book, as is his "Escape From New York".
Every time a bad person dies, a Paratrooper gets his wings.

Offline mcfonz

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Re: Post-Apoc book recommendations?
« Reply #25 on: December 23, 2013, 12:48:45 PM »
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

Another vote for the Stand.

No zombies, but could be gamed so there were.
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Offline CptJake

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Re: Post-Apoc book recommendations?
« Reply #26 on: December 23, 2013, 12:51:39 PM »
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.  

Offline 3 fingers

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Re: Post-Apoc book recommendations?
« Reply #27 on: December 23, 2013, 05:23:37 PM »
Used to have a few of the survivalist series,good reads  :)

Offline Evilcartoonist

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Re: Post-Apoc book recommendations?
« Reply #28 on: December 23, 2013, 10:55:17 PM »
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."

Offline area23

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Re: Post-Apoc book recommendations?
« Reply #29 on: December 25, 2013, 10:12:39 PM »
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
If you don't believe in lead, you're already dead.
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