Michele's comments
(member since Jan 18, 2008)
Michele's comments from the Apocalypse Whenever group.
(showing 1-20 of 27)
Manuel wrote: "Despite my enjoyment of the book.I kept asking myself if a zombie infestation would really get as out of hand as the one in the book?
A Univ. of Ottawa professor who specializes in mathematical modeling of diseases like flu and plagues recently wrote a paper analyzing the spread and potential deadliness of a zombie event. There's a summary here or you can read the full paper here.
If you believe the math, it would be pretty much a doomsday scenario!!
Manuel wrote: "...the renaissance fair nerds and the loveable wiccans suddenly emerge as the two main forces of good and evil..."What about the Civil War reenactors and the Revolutionary War reenactors and the War of 1812 reenactors etc? What with the firearms and all they'd kick the %^&%$ out of us Ren Fest types LOL!
I'd rather be on the fringe and have a shot at surviving. However, given that my eyesight is terrible and I have no practical skills I doubt I'd last long. Eventually I'd lose or break my glasses and then I'd be useless -- probably walk right off a cliff without even noticing LOL!
Manuel wrote: "In the movie "The Day After" made in 1983. There is a scene where the survivors of Lawrence Kansas are listening to the Reaganesque president..."Loved that movie! (I grew up in Lawrence and was there when they were filming it -- very cool!) The beginning where the Emergency Broadcasting System cuts into the middle of the kids watching cartoons was blood-chilling; to this day I get cold shivers whenever they do a test of that thing.
Anyone read Ian McDonald's collection, Speaking in Tongues? It includes "Floating Dogs," which is possibly the most heart-wrenching -- and damning -- post-apocalypse story I've ever read.
Do any of you want suggestion for newer post-apocalypse stories that are more for young adults?Highly recommend Unicorns in the Rain -- hard to find but excellent.
Latest issue of Booklist has an article, "Core Collection: Dystopian Fiction for Youth."
http://www.booklistonline.com/default.as...
The current issue of Booklist Online has an article called "Before and After The Road" which gives a list of what they consider "core" EOTWAWKI titles. Most of them have been talked about here but there seem to be a couple of undiscovered gems, at least unknown to me (Chin Music, anyone?)
In the original graphic novel it was a nuclear attack; in the movie it was a bioterrorism event. But in both cases the result was a functioning fascist dictatorship rather than a post-nuke wasteland, which is why it might qualify as dystopia rather than apocalypse. Shades of grey :)Yeah, you're right about Africa -- non-Western-European apocalypse fiction would make an interesting study. Wonder if there is any??
He might enjoy Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun" series that starts with The Shadow of the Torturer. The main character is a member of an assassin's guild, and it's also got post-apocalypse tinges if I remember correctly.
Here's one no one has mentioned yet: Level 7. Like On the Beach, definitely dark and more of a cautionary tale than one of humanity's survival. Creepy, gripping, and very sad, but excellent.
So I'm wondering: for a book to be considered "post-apocalypse" does it have to be a result of one epic world-changing event (e.g. Lucifer's Hammer or The Stand), or can it be a slower, more gradual change that results in a world unlike our own (i.e. Into the Forest or The Handmaid's Tale) ?
What gets me...V for Vendetta"I think of that one as post-apocalypse, though it's a political not a nuclear one. I guess it depends on how you define apocalypse. If it means a change brought about by a single epic world-changing event then VfV doesn't qualify, but then neither would books like Into the Forest (gradual deterioration of society) or The Handmaid's Tale (slow political/religious change). I suppose those might be "dystopias" instead...
I loved Into the Forest -- have read it twice. It's almost claustrophobic in that you never get beyond the two main characters (heck, you almost never get out of the house LOL!) but I liked the gentle, almost graceful way that civilization collapses.
Earth Abides is set in the U.S. in a world decimated by a deadly disease. Quite good (won several awards) though the gender attitudes are a bit dated, if I remember correctly. Written by an English professor from Berkeley, I believe the action takes place mostly in California.Also Lucifer's Hammer is set in the U.S. (its apocalypse is a meteor).
Yes! The Sysadmins one was good, and more thought-provoking than one would guess from the summary of it. A bit like The Postman in the sense of a few lone people trying to preserve some form of order/structure.I did NOT enjoy the ones that were a) just plain weird or b) not really about the end of the world. I don't mind if the world, er, "comes back" at the end of the story but there were one or two that just didn't seem to fit the theme of the collection (sorry, it escapes me which ones, I will have to look them up...)
Anyone read Ende A Diary of the Third World War ? In a similar vein to On the Beach, very disturbing because so plausible. And what about This is the way the world ends ?
I'd suggest No Blade of Grass by John Christopher (published in the UK as The Death of Grass), about a virus that wipes out the food supply. Another take on this by the same author is The World in Winter. It was also made into a movie -- haven't seen it but it was in the 70s so probably not that great LOL!
The Moving Snow by Ian Weekley is about attempts to cope with a second Ice Age creeping across Britain.
Has anyone yet mentioned After London: Or, Wild England by Richard Jefferies? Or Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban ?
Finally, what about Mary Shelley's classic The Last Man ?
What about Atlas Shrugged (one of my top ten favorite books and an annual re-read)? It's apocalyptic in the sense that civilization collapses...
Yes it is creepy. I believe that's the point ;)
