Kevin's Watch

For whatever reason, I realized tonight that I have been reading a lot of books dealing with the end of a world lately...from the book I am currently reading (Shade's Children by Garth Nix) to a brilliantly written science fiction novel set on a dying world called Dying of the Light by George R.R. Martin to the hilarious collaboration Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

Was wondering what books along these lines are peoples' favorites?

Had to go with A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter Miller-I just LOVE that story!

danlo wrote:Had to go with A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter Miller-I just LOVE that story!

Ditto. The time-shifts kinda annoyed me, but that's a pre-conceived prejudice of mine. I haven't gotten 'round to reading the sequel... have the feeling it is not nearly as good.

I read Earth Abides by George R Stewart lightyears ago (so not sure if things still technically apply) but it's definately a classic and a little "apocalyptic" gem. Isn't Hyperion

Spoiler

one of these type books ? in a strange way...

doesn't P. K. Dick have some books or at least some short stories along this line?

I really liked Shade's Children, but I've gotta go with The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy on this one!

As much as I loved The Stand and The Postman, my favorite by far is On The Beach. The most beautifully written and chilling story about the end of humanity I've ever read.

I had to go with King, as that's the only one I've read.

I voted for The Stand (unexpurgated version). What a shock, huh?

But a very close second, IMHO, which was not on the list - Robert R. McCammon's Swan Song. It's McCammons' best work, and that's saying a lot. He was well onto his way to becoming another King, but got fed up with publishing trying to pigeonhole him, and he "retired" for ten years.

He's recently made a moderate comback with the superb historical novel, Speaks the Nightbird.

If you like The Stand, give Swan Song a try. You won't be disappointed. McCammon's other best works are A Boy's Life, Stinger and The Wolf's Hour.

On the Beach and Hitchhiker's Dang! how could I forget! Then there's also Harlan Ellison's classic story: A Boy and His Dog (and Samuel Delany's The Einstien Intersection is pretty cool too). John Brunner wrote an awesome one too--wasn't it The Sheep Look Up? (I'll have to research...)

The Last Ship by William Brinkley. Hands down, IMHO, the best book I've read about a post-nuclear war Earth. The story revolves around a Navy warship that survives a nuclear holocaust, and the crew's efforts to stay alive and find a safe haven. No mutants or monsters; in fact, nothing really "sci-fi" in the classic sense about it at all. Brinkley's style and language are very similar to Melville and Conrad (in fact, a lot like SRD); fascinating, multi-dimensional characters; and a real sense of thematical depth. Raises the genre to the level of serious literature - can't say enough good things about it. A must-read.

I liked The Last Ship, too. But not as much as Warmark Jay. I felt at times that Brinkley belabored his points.

Another good one in the supernatural vein is Brian Hodge's Dark Advent.

Two others of fairly good quality - Trevor Hoyle's The Last Gasp and Whitley Strieber's Nature's End.

I'm going to go with other and say The Earth Abides. I have a really old paperback copy ($1.99 is the price on it!) that belonged to my father. I first read it when I was about 13 or 14 and just fell in love with it. I was also the first "Sci-fi" novel I had ever read, so I guess George Stewart started the whole thing! Yes, its a little outdated but the original publish date was 1957 so you have to bear that in mind.

As to The Stand.....I can't say that I didn't necessarily like it, but I was quite uncomfortable reading it. The similarities to The Earth Abides were frankly, IMO, bordering on plagerism. I've had issues with Stephen King ever since.

My pick off the list would either be Canticle for Leibowitz or The Postman. (Thank you Kevin Costner for ducking up another good book!)

I saw The Postman before I read The Postman. I'm one of the few people who liked the movie, and I still like it after reading the book. I would like to see another film that stays truer to the source material.

Earth Abides.

Hey! I mentioned Earth Abides first Duck! (and LM) I get the cookie!

What sort of cookie do you want? lol

I'm one of that rare breed who liked The Postman film, too. I also liked Waterworld.

I'll have to take a look at Earth Abides. I find it hard to believe that King has come close to plagiarizing. Why would he need to?

The man could turn his grocery list into a best-seller.

The last Battle - the only book ive read in which the world ends

Roland of Gilead wrote:I find it hard to believe that King has come close to plagiarizing.

Huh. Even the title of his most popular series, 'The Dark Tower', was stolen from CS Lewis. I can't believe he didn't know Lewis had published a book with that title.

Titles can't be copyrighted. For instance, I've read two excellent novels called Birds of Prey (Wilbur Smith and David Drake).

King's Dark Tower was inspired by the Robert Browning poem, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came."

Does that mean he plagiarized the name of Roland, too?