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rockstarsmooth
Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Location: anyang, baybee!
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 Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 3:34 pm Post subject: |
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oryx and crake by margaret atwood is another good dystopic book.
all the books mentioned are great. my favourite genre is spec-fic, especially post-apocalyptic/dystopic/end of world stuff.
i actually really enjoyed the stand. yes it's got loads of supernatural/pseudo-religious bullshit, but i enjoyed and appreciated king's portrayal of the total chaos that happens when the system collapses. this book actually managed to convince me that anarchy is a bad idea, until i read it, i laboured under the false impression that people are lovely and we can all just get along. ha!
my mom gave me 1984 to read when i was 10 years old, in 1984, natch. she wanted me to know that this was how it was supposed to be. yeesh.
but we had a bomb shelter in the basement too, with regular drills.
i don't think that has had any affect on me whatsoever.
rss 
 right now i'm listening to: the slits - weekend warriors |
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makemischief
Joined: 04 Nov 2005
Location: Traveling
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| Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 4:40 pm Post subject: |
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| just a brief vote to second oryx and crake. handmaid's tale (also atwood) was quite good... but oryx and crake d@mn near gave me the shivers. |
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Thiuda
Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Location: Religion ist f�r Sklaven geschaffen, f�r Wesen ohne Geist.
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| Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 4:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Loved "The Road" by McCarthy. A dystopian novel I'd add is Nabokov's "Bend Sinister." |
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Rapacious Mr. Batstove
Joined: 26 Jan 2007
Location: Central Areola
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| Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 5:06 pm Post subject: |
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The Andromeda Strain - Michael Crichton
His best work IMHO. |
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HapKi
Joined: 10 Dec 2004
Location: TALL BUILDING-SEOUL
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| Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 5:23 pm Post subject: |
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The Postman, by David Brin
About a survivorist type in post-war America. He finds an old postman's uniform, and scattered bands of colonists think he's the hope from a still functioning central government. Helps wage war against the bad guys. A movie with Kevin Costner.
Lucifer's Hammer, by Niven and Pournelle
Rich story with dozens of characters about survival after a comet hits Earth.
Circuit of Heaven, by Dennis Danvers
Most people choose to be uploaded into a huge, utopia-like computer matrix, where you live forever but are technically dead. Those that remain on Earth live in a near-deserted, crime-infested wasteland. One guy's moral dilemma on which world to live in.
Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Abides
A guy's survival as a plague spreads over the world, with very few being immuned. One of the best!! |
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andrew
Joined: 30 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 6:38 pm Post subject: |
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.....
Last edited by andrew on Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:49 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Fishead soup
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 6:44 pm Post subject: |
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Not sure if it ever came out in book form but my favorite end of the world movie was Threads.
It was a realistic depiction of the aftermath of nuclear war. It was done in the eighties very horrific. |
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endo
Joined: 14 Mar 2004
Location: Seoul...my home
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| Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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If possible, could those who are recommending books also offer a brief synopsis like HapKi did?
Thanks. |
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Young FRANKenstein
Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)
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| Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 1:23 am Post subject: |
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| endo wrote: |
If possible, could those who are recommending books also offer a brief synopsis like HapKi did?
Thanks. |
I went back and edited as best I could remember. It's been quite a few years since I'd read any of them. I really should get back to Farnham again. |
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HapKi
Joined: 10 Dec 2004
Location: TALL BUILDING-SEOUL
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| Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 2:41 am Post subject: |
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Looks like we have the makings of a book swap, Everybody.
I'd love to get my hands on some of the books mentioned, such as-
On The Beach
Alas, Babylon
The Road
Oryx and Crake
The Andromeda Strain
books by D1ck
I have The Postman, Lucifer's Hammer, and Circuit of Heaven, as mentioned above, as well as a complete and uncut The Stand (1000+ pages), and the average man's collection of assorted "regular genre" paperbacks. If anyone's interested, maybe we could set up some swaps. |
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The Bobster
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 4:36 am Post subject: |
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I think you meant Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle?
Hapki
Did he write any end-of-the-world stories? I can't recall any ...
Read a great novel a few months ago, not sure if it qualifies, though. Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. People look up on evening and the stars have disappeared. The planet's been wrapped in some sort of temporal shroud that makes time pass faster inside than for the rest of the universe - something like 1 day here equals 50,000 years outside, so within the lifetimes of young people born at the beginning of the story, the rest of the cosmos will be approaching entropic heat death ... unless something is done about it.
Fascinating mystery, interesting characters, very cool and freshly original plot premise. Recommended. |
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HapKi
Joined: 10 Dec 2004
Location: TALL BUILDING-SEOUL
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| Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 5:34 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Did he write any end-of-the-world stories? I can't recall any ... |
can't recall any, eh?...then you need Total Recall. He wrote the story behind that one. Also wrote the novel behind Blade Runner. |
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cbclark4
Joined: 20 Aug 2006
Location: Masan
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The Bobster
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 1:28 am Post subject: |
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| HapKi wrote: |
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| Did he write any end-of-the-world stories? I can't recall any ... |
can't recall any, eh?...then you need Total Recall. He wrote the story behind that one. Also wrote the novel behind Blade Runner. |
We'll have to agree to disagree about what "end-of-the-world" means, then.
Total Recall was based on the short story, "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale." I can't recall anything apocalyptic or world-threatening going on there.
Blade Runner was based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The world depicted is strange, as is the norm for PKD, of course, but's not in danger.
I thought I had read everything he'd written at one time or another, but I may have missed something somewhere, or maybe I've simply forgotten one or two - actually, I was high a lot during the years I was heavily into him - so if anyone can think of one of his books or stories that talk about the end of the world, I'd appreciate it.
One of my favorite short story in the speculative fiction genre sounds like an apocalypse story, but it isn't. I'll recommend it, anyway, and good luck finding it, as it might be out of print by now. It's called "The End of Life as We Know It," by Lucius Shepard. (Clue: it's really the beginning of life as we DON'T know it, and that's a very exciting and wonderful time ...) |
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HapKi
Joined: 10 Dec 2004
Location: TALL BUILDING-SEOUL
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| Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:59 am Post subject: |
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I would consider Total Recall both dystopic (the Mars colony) and utopic (futuristic Earth). Of course, as the Mars colony runs out of oxygen, it could be end-of-the-world as well. Personally, I wasn't aware of the different subtle sub-genres till this thread started-it's pretty cool. I just read what I like to read.
Anybody read Steinbeck's The Moon is Down? |
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