Pandemic plot lines?

[Travis]

Watching the COVID-19 news unfold and tracking the patterns, I've been wondering how science fiction (and maybe fantasy?) writers have handled pandemic plots in their fiction. What novels, novellas, and short stories feature pandemics?

[Sarah]

A lot of these are really widely known already:

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
The Stand by Stephen King
Wanderers by Chuck Wendig
The Companions by Katie M Flynn (Pandemic not really the focus)
The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro
A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen
Gamechanger by L.X. Beckett deals with (IIRC) pandemic on a very superficial level, it’s not really a focus of the plot

[Sarah]

Oh! This is historical fiction, so not really what you are looking for, but World Without End is set during the plague and deals heavily with that topic. If anyone feels like venturing outside their comfort zone. One of my favorite books.

[Soo]

World War Z by Max Brooks
Dead of Night/Rot & Ruin series by Jonathan Maberry
Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon
The Girl with All the Gifts series by M.R. Carey
Infected series by Scott Sigler
The Strain Trilogy by Guillermo del Toro
Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant


Tons of zombie, dystopian, apocalyptic books have a pandemic in them.

[Ian]

Probably the classic post-pandemic SF novel is George R, Stewart's Earth Abides (1949), the winner of the first International Fantasy Award.

The on-line Science Fiction Encyclopedia/Encyclopedia of Science Fiction has a good article on the author, but it contains a thematic spoiler for this book (his only work of science fiction). http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/...

See also, for the most recent edition(s), https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Abides-G...

[John]

How about Michael Crichton's classic The Andromeda Strain -- not exactly pandemic, more about prevention of same, but worth looking at for the technology (which is a bit dated now but still very interesting).

The Andromeda Strain

[Sandy]

I think the Andromeda Strain was my first scifi. I loved it.

[Beige]

Earth/flu pandemics:
An Ocean of Minutes
Doomsday Book
Lock In
Kingdom of Needle and Bone
A Lovely Way to Burn

Non-flu pandemics:
The Dreamers
Find Me

Non-Earth pandemics:
Ammonite
Grass

[Kaa]

I just finished Clay's Ark, which is related to this topic (I'd recommend reading at least Patternmaster first, however).

And if you want non-fiction, The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance is 25 years old but still one of the best books I've ever read on the topic - this book is a huge part of why I work in public health. Laurie Garrett is someone I continue to look to for information about infectious disease outbreaks.

[CBRetriever]

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson is about a digital plague

Emergence by David R. Palmer is about a young survivor of a bionuclear plague

[Stephanie]

Love Is the Drug by Alaya Dawn Johnson

YA, I read it a few years ago so I don't remember it too well, but I enjoyed it then. It's about a flu pandemic.

[Ky]

Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern is about how a virulent strain of flu spreads across the colony planet Pern, and how the Pernese struggle to handle it.

[Meredith]

The Day of the Triffids is a classic.
Terminal Alliance by Jim C. Hines, humanity has suffered a devastating plague with ongoing repercussions. This is a very fun book. with a great set of characters.
Severance, by Ling Ma, looks fun too (it's on my TBR but I haven't gotten to it yet)

[Meredith]

Naomi Kritzer's short story "So Much Cooking" is almost too similar to recent events. She mixes all the humor, anxiety, sadness and optimism very well. http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritz...

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland is zombie plague combined with an imaginative and detailed alt-history set in late 1800s, post Civil War (US).

[M.L.]

The Plague by Albert Camus is a good one.

[Mystic]

I liked Pandemic by A.G. Riddle. Check it out.

[J_BlueFlower]

Sandy wrote: "I think the Andromeda Strain was my first scifi. I loved it."

Yes, The Andromeda Strain is very good.

Also Earth Abides. Mostly focusing on the time after the pandemic.

The Death of Grass. The plot is almost in the title: What happens if grass and all the derivatives are hit by a pandemic?

A virus plays a major role in Doomsday Book.

[Kirsten]

What about The Passage trilogy by Justin Cronin?

[Meredith]

A Song for a New Day is set following a viral pandemic and apparently has some parallels to current day.

[Chris]

Have you looked at GR genre/tag? https://www.goodreads.com/genres/pand...

[Mihai]

George RR Martin's greatest work, Tuf Voyaging has disease elements throughout.

[Phrynne]

I just borrowed Peter May's Lockdown from the library. Apparently it is about a viral pandemic.