"Wastelands: Stories Of The Apocalypse" edited by John Joseph Adams(01 of11)
Open Image ModalThis collection of short stories is a retrospective of possible post-apocalyptic scenarios, ranging from the immediate aftermath to far, far in the future. While a few horror and dark fantasy stories have been thrown in the mix, most of these excellent selections are straightforward science fiction depicting various ways of coping with the end of everything.
"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy(02 of11)
Open Image ModalIn what is probably the bleakest of titles here, a man and his son wander through a desolated landscape of ashes, eking out their survival from the little that's left remaining, while trying to get -- for lack of a better destination -- "South".
"Parable Of The Sower" by Octavia E. Butler(03 of11)
Open Image ModalSociety has completely collapsed, and a young woman is driven from her home after her neighborhood is burned and her family murdered. Despite the violence and hopelessness that surrounds her, she is determined to spread her spiritual message.
"Lucifer's Hammer" by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven(04 of11)
Open Image ModalA comet has slammed into the Earth, destroying all governing structures, and within weeks all of the survivors have reverted to feudalism, cannibalism and worse. Fun times.
"Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank(05 of11)
Open Image ModalThe residents of a small Florida town, having been alerted just prior to an all-out nuclear war, must struggle with the vagaries of small-town politics after the apocalypse.
"The Postman" by David Brin(06 of11)
Open Image ModalWhen the end of America comes, what is the one thing that can bring us back from the brink of complete anarchy? That's right: the U.S. Postal Service.
"A Gift Upon The Shore" by M.K. Wren(07 of11)
Open Image ModalOnce the apocalypse is over with, two women survive on a farm on the Oregon coast while trying to preserve the remainder of mankind's knowledge and sparring with the ultra-Christian religious cult down the beach.
"The Folk Of The Fringe" by Orson Scott Card(08 of11)
Open Image ModalFollowing World War III, a community of Mormons is one of the few pockets of order remaining in the U.S., trying to rebuild society on the shores of a flooded Salt Lake City.
"A Canticle For Leibowitz" by Walter M. Miller Jr.(09 of11)
Open Image ModalSix hundred years after the Simplification -- total nuclear annihilation -- a cloister of monks in Utah preserve the little that remains of the world's knowledge, and wonder whether mankind is perpetually doomed to destroy itself.
"Earth Abides" by George R. Stewart(10 of11)
Open Image ModalOne of the few survivors of a plague attempts to rebuild society but instead must watch it erode to a primitive state.
"Always Coming Home" by Ursula K. Le Guin(11 of11)
Open Image ModalIt's the far, far future, and the only remnants of the past are a network of computers. This book collects the stories, poetry and rituals of the Kesh, who have built a primitive utopia on the ashes of civilization.