Devastating Novels About The End Of The World [List Expanded]
Submitted by bertie on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 09:59
Tags:
- GREYBEARD Brian W.Aldiss [Sterility]
- RINGS OF ICE Piers Anthony [Ice from space]
- THE DAY THE MACHINES STOPPED Christopher Anvil [Electricity]
- THE CRYSTAL WORLD J.G.Ballard [Earth]
- THE WIND FROM NOWHERE J.G.Ballard [Air]
- THE DROUGHT J.G.Ballard [Fire]
- THE DROWNED WORLD J.G.Ballard [Water]
- AFTER THE RAIN John Bowen [Deluge]
- THE POSTMAN David Brin [War]
- SOME WILL NOT DIE Algis Budrys [Plague]
- THE HAMELIN PLAGUE A.B.Chandler [Rats]
- THE WORLD IN WINTER John Christopher [Ice age]
- THE DEATH OF GRASS J.Christopher [Crop failure]
- A WRINKLE IN THE SKIN J.Christopher [Earthquakes]
- ALL FOOL'S DAY Edmund Cooper [Insanity]
- DARK DECEMBER Alfred Coppel [War]
- DR. BLOODMONEY P.K.Dick [War]
- THE REST MUST DIE Richard Foster [War]
- ALAS, BABYLON Pat Frank [War]
- COMMANDER 1 Peter George [War]
- LATE FINAL Lewis Gibbs [War]
- THE DAY THE EARTH FROZE Gerald Hatch [Ice age]
- THE INFERNO Fred Hoyle [Interstellar radiation]
- THE STAND Stephen King [Influenza]
- THE WANDERER Friz Leiber [Sea level rise]
- THE DARKEST OF NIGHTS Charles Eric Maine [Electricity]
- THIRST! Charles Eric Maine [Drought]
- ONE IN THREE HUNDERED J.T.McIntosh [Solar radiation]
- THE FITTEST J.T.McIntosh [Intelligent animals]
- LUCIFER'S HAMMER Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle [Comet]
- END OF THE WORLD Dean Owen [War]
- MUTANT 59: THE PLASTIC EATER Kit Pedlar & G.Davis [Bacteria]
- NUCLEAR SUBTRACTION Colin Roberts [War]
- THE FURIES Keith Roberts [Giant mutant wasps]
- THE PURPLE CLOUD M.P.Shiel [Gas cloud from space]
- ON THE BEACH Nevil Shute [War]
- THE COMING OF THE RATS George H.Smith [War, rats]
- EARTH ABIDES George R.Stewart [Plague]
- THE SEA AND SUMMER George Turner [global warming]
- SIXTY DAYS TO LIVE Dennis Wheatley [Comet]
- THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS John Wyndham [Blindness, poisonous plants]
- THE KRAKEN WAKES [a.k.a. OUT OF THE DEEPS] John Wyndham [Aliens, sea level rise]
- THE END OF THE DREAM Philip Wylie [Environmental crisis]
Author Comments:
Come on, admit it, you love to vicariously experience the end of the world.
These are all aging now; the most recent is the Turner: 1987. I'd welcome any suggestions more recent.
This is the Way the World Ends by James Morrow was both excellent and depressing. I'm very glad I read it, but don't ever want to read it again.
Jim, thanks for the suggestion, I'll try to lay hands on it. The only Morrow I've read - or seen for sale - is THE CONTINENT OF LIES, which I enjoyed even though I found it to be science fantasy (i.e. not 'hard' enough). According to my reading notes, Morrow was "showing signs of those obsessions that lead to literary elephantiasis" the dreadful disease caught by Heinlein and many other successful writers. Are his recent books bloated? Life's too short to read bloated books.
As a matter of fact (WARNING! HERESY ABOUT TO BE UTTERED) I prefer short stories - see my other 'book' list. I'm preparing another list - I think I'll call it "A Long List of Short Stories", which I hope won't be unwelcome.
No, I wouldn't describe them as bloated at all. In fact, if I were to recommend James Morrow in general instead restricting myself to apocalypic works, you should read Towing Jehovah first (unless you are religious and easily offended). Marvelous stuff. And it's the first in a trilogy (followed by Blameless in Abaddon and then The Eternal Footman). While I haven't read the third book, I understand that each book gets progressively darker, and that the third probably qualifies as an apocalypic work. They are all in print, and I haven't had any problems finding them in your average chain bookstore, or online.
Jim, God, no! I'm not the least bit religious. I'm interested in religion as a human phenomenon, but I never caught the virus myself.
I probably would have noticed more Morrow books if, as I did during the 70s and 80s, I haunted the local bookshops and newsagents looking for science fiction - but I had more time and more youthful enthusiasm then. During the 90s, it seems to me, much fantasy, and multi-volume fantasy at that, tended to crowd real sf off the bookstore shelves. I deplore the recent trend to multi-volume sagas. Where do people find the time to read these? Having said that, I have to admit that I have read a few very good multi-volume works:THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN (Wolfe), THE HYPERION CANTOS (Simmons), and THE MARS TRILOGY (Robinson). I chose these very carefully; they are the only ones I have attempted.
BTW, I'm disappointed that no one has commented on my list "Movies That Well Illustrate Action/Suspense Plot Number One". I'd be interested to hear whether you agree with my thesis there.
I have to second the Morrow recommendations.. I've loved most all of his books, though This is the Way the World Ends is probably my least favorite. If you like short stories, you should definitely check out his Bible Stories for Adults.
BTW, "a long list of short stories" would be most welcome.
One more comment, it would be kinda nice to have authors names for the rest of these that don't have them since several are unfamiliar to me. thanks :)
If you look carefully after the apparently authorless titles, you will see ditto marks. Sorry - sheer laziness on my part. They went into Jim's robot better than they came out.
ahh! sorry, didn't notice that part..
Great list--I'm afraid I haven't read but two of them. If I may make a few suggestions on other End of the World books:
Songs of Distant Earth--Arthur C Clarke: while the plot centers on a utopian colony planet, the various characters' flashbacks to the death of the Earth by supernova of the Sun are excellent.
The Last Ship--William Brinkley: a military-esque book about an American missle boat living through nuclear war...a creepy trip though the depression and lost of survivors.
oh, ok, I know it's bloated and all, but Stephen King's "The Stand"...the first 200 pages tell of civilization's end at the hands of a killer plague. Great to read when you have the sniffles. The rest of the book is of sometimes dubious quality.
I appreciate your suggestions. I've read two of them, the Clarke and the King. I never thought of the Clarke as an end-of-the-world novel, but I take your point. Don't get me started on King: THE STAND is available in two versions 'bloated' and 'bloated plus'. It's not my favourite King; I much prefer IT. The Brinkley sounds interesting. Ever heard of COMMANDER-1 by Peter George? It's about a submarine captain who survives WW3 to become ruler of what's left of the world.
I've never read COMMANDER-1, but it seems to echo THE LAST SHIP which involves an American destroyer captain and a Russian sub captain...the American ship is co-ed, which is the main focus of the second half of the book. THE CHILDREN OF MEN by PD James is alright as a world-ending book: noone on the planet is able to concive children. More a mystery than much else, but somewhat unique. THE STAND's length I can't defend, but I'm a little surprised that you don't think IT suffers from the same problem. It's 800 pages at least, I seem to remember. In either case I liked them both.
The James novel you mention isn't all that unique: the end of the world due to sterilty is the theme of the first novel on my list.
My copy of King's IT has 1116 pages, but there's a difference between being long and being bloated. I guess part of what I mean by 'bloated' is that even though a bloated book my have held your interest for hundreds of pages you reach a point where your interest wanes and you start skimming in order to get to the end of the damn thing. (Long sentence that, but I hope not bloated.) IT easily held my interest all the way through.
In keeping with the spirit of this list, here's an article on 20 Ways the World Could End.