One of the more popular categories of future fiction these days involves an catastrophic or apocalyptic event on Earth, generally resulting in a return to a more primitive technology level (and often a much reduced population) and, in many cases, a more primitive acting human race, as baser instincts take over in the struggle for survival. Many of these books are science fiction and/or fantasy, involving other species or a fantastical event that triggered the change and a few even venture into the horror genre (Zombie Apocalypse, anyone?). Books from major authors in the genre, such as S.M. Stirling
, author of the excellent Change Saga, and E.E. Knight, author of the Vampire Earth series, are often priced well above the 9.99 level well after their release (I'll confess - I buy the books anyway, as I bought them in hardback before and even in the $15 range, I'm saving money with the ebook; now, if they would only get Valentine's Rising on Kindle, I could complete that series, as well). I'll probably pick up Worlds That Weren't
($5.59), as well, a short story anthology which is more in the alternative history genre, but features a novella by Stirling. Shikari in Galveston "is a rousing old-fashioned adventure. follows a hunting safari through a regressed American frontier that might have given even Daniel Boone pause."
Perhaps one of the earliest and best known works in this genre is The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. There are numerous editions of this in the Kindle store, ranging from free to a $3.99 volume of collected works
. This novel deals more with family relationships than the details of the plague, referring the reader to Daniel Defoe's fictionalized account of the Great Plague in London, A Journal of the Plague Year (free and up), and contains some racial references that reflect the ideas of the day.Book Description
The Last Man is an early post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by Mary Shelley, which was first published in 1826. The book tells of a future world that has been ravaged by a plague. The Last Man was written in the period following her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley's death.
The author of the novel constructs a vision of the future painted on leaves by the Cumaean Sibyl, that foresee the first-person writings of a man living at the end of the 21st century, which proves to be the end of humanity.
The central character, Lionel Verney, son of a nobleman who gambled himself into poverty, prides himself on his ruggedness and manliness, but eventually is restored to the gentry and educates himself. Much of the novel deals with his relationships with family and friends of his class, and the terrible wars that go on around them, including one in which a woman friend of Verney's masquerades as a man in order to fight. A plague gradually kills off all people. Verney finds himself immune after being attacked by an infected "negro," and copes with a civilization that is gradually dying out around him.
Verney refuses to detail the gruesome nature of the plague, instead referring readers to specific passages of Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year to get an understanding of what he saw.
But there are also some bargains in this genre, some from new authors and some from authors more well known for the other works. One of these is from Lee Goldberg, a Hollywood writer better known for his Mr. Monk and Diagnosis Murder volumes, several of which are now available for the Kindle. In The Walk
($1.40), Goldberg departs from his usual TV series and instead presents the story of a TV screenwriter in the aftermath of a massive earthquake in Southern California. It's an apocalypse on a smaller scale than some, but nonetheless a lifechanging event for the millions affected, including Marty Slack.Book Description
It's one minute after the Big One. Marty Slack, a TV network executive, crawls out from under his Mercedes, parked outside what once was a downtown Los Angeles warehouse, the location for a new TV show. Downtown LA is in ruins. The sky is thick with black smoke. His cell phone is dead. The freeways are rubble. The airport is demolished. Buildings lay across streets like fallen trees. It will be days before help can arrive.
Marty has been expecting this day all his life. He's prepared. In his car are a pair of sturdy walking shoes and a backpack of food, water, and supplies. He knows there is only one thing he can do ... that he must do: get home to his wife Beth, go back to their gated community on the far edge of the San Fernando Valley.
All he has to do is walk. But he will quickly learn that it's not that easy. His dangerous, unpredictable journey home will take him through the different worlds of what was once Los Angeles. Wildfires rage out of control. Flood waters burst through collapsed dams. Natural gas explosions consume neighborhoods. Sinkholes swallow entire buildings. After-shocks rip apart the ground. Looters rampage through the streets.
There's no power. No running water. No order.
Marty Slack thinks he's prepared. He's wrong. Nothing can prepare him for this ordeal, a quest for his family and for his soul, a journey that will test the limits of his endurance and his humanity, a trek from the man he was to the man he can be ... if he can survive The Walk.
John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids
($4.79) is a classic of the genre and has been adapted to the big screen several times.Book Description
Huge plants called -triffids- have come to life, uprooting themselves and roaming the world, viciously attacking humans who have been blinded by a bizarre green deluge that appeared to be a meteor shower -- hell on earth is worse than anyone ever imagined in John Wyndham-s terrifying novel The Day of the Triffids. Whether it is called science fiction, speculative fiction or simply fantasy, Wyndham-s novel is an unforgettable vision of a post-apocalyptic world, where a handful of people have the means to prevail against an unending nightmare.
Mankind's Worst Fear
($0.99) by David L Erickson is another bargain title, more in the Science Fiction genre.Book Description
On Mars, Air Force Colonel Kaider O’Brien leads scientists to a subterranean site containing an artifact of alien creation. On Earth, Professor George Schumer guides his experimental submarine through sudden, intense turbulence off the coast of Oregon. Through a twist of quantum physics, both men meet 300 years in the future on Earth, devastated by nuclear winter, to save mankind from extinction at the hands of an alien race fearful of the technological advancement of other worlds.
The Knowledge of Heaven and Earth: Book 1
($4.00) by Mick Richfield is the start of a new series, planned to span five volumes. If he can live up to the promise of the reviews and maintain it thru all five, his books probably won't be bargain priced for long.Book Description
Long after the Two Wars of the early twenty-first century, petty warlords on Earth rule what remains of the civilized world. They fight their endless battles with each other while, in the wilderness beyond their borders, the New Tribes grow stronger every year.
The warlords feed their armies with crops grown in agricultural slave labor camps, the largest of which is Jackson Camp in the Sovereign State of Michigan.
To be continued ...
