Various Cosy Catastrophes and Dreadful Dooms
More or
Less Natural Catastrophes
-
Aldiss, Brian. The Long Afternoon of Earth.
(1962) -- Earth's rotation stops
-
Ballard, James. The Wind from Nowhere (1962)
-- 550 mph wind destroys civilization
-
---. The Drowned World (1962) --
Increased
solar radiation causes melting ice caps
-
---. The Crystal World (1966) -- Earth
starts to crystallize, beginning in African forests
-
Christopher, John. The Long Winter [The World
in Winter] (1962) -- Modern ice
age drives whites to Africa.
-
Christopher, John. The Ragged Edge. (1965)
--
Massive earthquakes cause widespread
devastation plus drain away seas.
-
Preusss, Paul. Core (1993) -- Wandering
magnetic poles and other anomalies make it necessary to bore a hole to
the liquid core of the earth
-
Barnes, John. Mother of Storms (1994) --
Giant
hurricane triggered by nuclear testing
-
Moran, Richard. Empire of Ice(1994) Earth
Winter (1995) -- Volcanic activity
blocks warm sea currents and causes darkened skies
-
Sterling, Bruce. Heavy Weather (1994)
-- The Greenhouse effect has caused intensification of all weather phenomena,
including the monster tornadoes these trackers chase.
Catastrophes
from the Stars
-
Wyndham, John. Day of the Triffids (1951)
Humans first blinded by explosions in orbit; then large, walking vegetables
with fatal stingers begin to take over.
-
Wyndham, John. The Kraken Wakes (1953)
-- Aliens in the oceans start melting earth's ice-caps.
-
Christopher, John. The Year of the Comet
(1955)
-
Liber, Fritz. The Wanderer (1964)
-- Rogue planet passes near earth.
-
Cooper, Edmund. All Fool's Day.(1966).
-- Solar storms cause world-wide suicides except for artists and other
weirdos.
-
Comptom, D.G. The Silent Multitude. (1966)
-- Spores from outer space eat concrete, so civilization literally crumbles.
-
Hoyle, Fred and Geoffrey. The Inferno.
(1973) -- Stellar explosion at core
of the galaxy; Scottish astronomer plans for survival.
-
Cowper, Richard. The Twilight of Briareus.(1974)
-- Radiation from supernova causes sterility and climate changes, but
aliens arrive to aide humanity in racial rebirth.
-
Niven, Larry. Lucifer’s Hammer (1977)
-- Comet passes close to earth.
-
Sargent, Pamela. Sudden Star (1979)
-- "White hole" is only the beginning of trouble.
-
Benford, Gregory and William Rostler. Shiva
Descending (1980) -- Meteor threatens
to hit.
Plagues
-
Shelley, Mary. The Last Man (1826)
-
Stewart, George. Earth Abides (1949)
-
Christopher, John. No Blade of Grass (v.t.
The Death of Grass) (1956) -- Plague strikes all the world's
grasses.
-
Yarbro, Chelsea Quinn. Time of the Fourth Horseman*
(1976) -- Old diseases coming back; effort to solve population problem
through "controlled plagues."
-
Chriton, Michael. The Andromeda Strain
(1969)
-
Sargent, Pamela. The Sudden Star (1979)
-- New plague causes society to disintegrate.
-
Herbert, Frank. The White Plague. (1982)
-- Biologist takes revenge for his wife's murder by releasing a plague
which may kill all the women in the world.
-
Brin, David. The Postman (1985)
-
Murphy, Pat. The City, Not Long After.
(1989) -- San Francisco has been depopulated by a new plague; hippies
now threatened by military.
Nuclear
Accidents and Wars
-
Heinlein, Robert. "Blowups Happen" (1940)
-- Tensions in a nuclear power plant.
-
Sturgeon, Theodore. "Thunder and Roses" (1947)
-
Merrill, Judith. Shadow on the Heath (1950)
-- Aftermath of nuclear war through eyes of housewife; basis for the
movie Testament.
-
Tucker, Wilson. The Long, Loud Silenc (1952)
-- Nuclear & biological war East of the Mississippi.
-
Del Rey, Lester. Nerves (1956)
-- Power plant tensions.
-
Shute, Nevil. On the Beach (1957)
-- Bombs fall; no one survives.
-
Frank, Path. Alas Babylon (1959)
-- Classic nuclear disaster story; a few survive in Florida to rebuild
civilization.
-
Maine, Charles Eric. The Tide Went Out.
(1958) -- Nuclear tests cause oceans
to drain away under earth's crust.
-
Coppel, Alfred. Dark December (1960)
-- Journey across America after nuclear war.
-
Anderson, Poul. Twilight World. (1961;
based on 1941 short story, "Tomorrow's Children) -- One of first works
to deal with genetic mutations caused by nuclear war.
-
Burdick, Eugene. Fail-Safe (1962) -- Suspenseful
account of plane which starts nuclear war by accident.
-
Wylie, Philip. Triumph (1963) -- Meticulous
account of WWIII; earth barely survives.
-
Moorcock, Michael. The Black Corridor.
(1969) -- Astronaut saves a few people from nuclear war but suffers
intense psychological horrors.
-
Merele Robert. Malevil (1974) -- Classic
post-holocaust, cosy survival.
-
Ing, Dean. Systemic Shock. (1981) -- Nuclear
cum biological warfare has destroyed most of U.S. Mormons and other religious
groups control survivors.
-
Anderson, Poul. Orion Shall Rise. (1983)
-- After nuclear war, Maori battle high-techers.
-
Ing, Dean. Pulling Through (1983) -- Novella
plus essays about how to survive nuclear attack, including plans for how
to build a fallout shelter and construct a fallout meter.
-
Silverberg, Robert. Tom O'Bedlam. (1985)
-- Rise of religious prophet after nuclear "dust war."
-
Morrow, James. This is the Way the World Ends.
(1986; Ace, 1989.)* -- After a nuclear war, a survivor faces trial as
a war criminal for buying a protective suit and otherwise accepting the
arms race. Black humor.
-
Barrett, Neal. Through Darkest America.
(1987) -- Holocaust kills all livestock; cannibalism replaces beef.
Sounds horrible.
-
Card, Orson Scott. Folk of the Fringe*.
(1989) -- Collection of stories about post-nuclear Mormons.
Post-Holocaust
Scenerios
-
Benet, Stephen Vincent. "By the Waters of Babylon"
(1937) -- After the "Great Burning" man returns nearly to the stone
age but begins to rebuild. Establishes classic pattern.
-
Norton, Andre. Star Man’s Son a.k.a. Daybreak
2250 A.D. (1952) -- Young man and his telepathic giant cat set out
to explore ruins of cities. Fight wi giant rats.
-
Simak, Clifford. City (1952) -- Dogs
carry on civilization in our absence.
-
Brackett, Leigh. The Long Tomorrow (1955)
-- Young men leave their puritanical homes to search for the wonders
of "Bartorstown" where some old technology is retained.
-
Wyndham, John. Re-Birth [The Chrysalids]
(1955) -- After nuclear war, mutants are rooted out. But some mutants
have telepathic powers and represent real hope for future.
-
Miller, Walter M. A Canticle for Liebowitz
(1959) -- One of the truly great SF novels: traces new cycle through
medieval, renaissance, and technological phases as we build ourselves back
only to do it again.
-
Aldiss, Brain. Greybeard (1964) -- Nuclear
tests in space doom us to sterility.
-
Dick, Philip K. Dr. Bloodmoney; Or, How We
Got Along After the Bomb (1965) -- a paraplegic gets along in Southern
California suburbs where paranormal powers are emerging.
-
Zelazny, Roger. Damnation Alley (1969)
-- Hell’s Angels take over.>Aldiss, Brian. Barefoot in
the Head (1970) -- After a world-war fought with psychedelic chemicals
a messiah arises. Prose based on James Joyce.
-
Goulart, Ron. After Things Fell Apart.
(1970) -- Balkanized America and female assassins.
-
Sullivan, Shelia. The Calling of Bara*.
[Summer Rising] (1975) -- 2044 AD: inflation, nuclear accidents, strikes,
general breakdown of infrastructure have resulted in anarchy. Woman takes
her son, gifted with strange powers to safety in Ireland.
-
Crowley, John. Beasts. (1976) -- Balkanized
US and genetically engineered animals.
-
Wilhelm Kate. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
(1976)
-
Crowley, John. Engine Summer. (1979) --
After collapse of technological civilization, a few survivors live in
Amerindian-style commune.
-
Yarbro, Chelsea Quinn. False Dawn.* (1978)
-- Mutant heroine fight her way across a devastated America.
-
Hoburn, Russell. Riddley Walker (1980)
-- Brilliant, first-person narration in de-volved version of English,
telling story of partial rediscovery of gunpowder. Mystical; amazing. Cult
classic.
-
Williams, Paul. Pelbar Cycle (1981-85)
Seven Novels: The Breaking of Northwall*, The Ends of the Circle,
The Dome in the Forest, The Fall of the Shell, An Ambush of Shadows,
The Song of the Axe, and The Sword of Forebearance. -- A
millennium after nuclear war, small groups living Amerindian cultures trying
to get together.
-
Tilley, Patrick. The Amtrak Wars. (1983-89)
Five Novels: Cloud Warrior, First Family, Iron Master,
Blood River, Death-Bringer-- Mystics vs. militarists in
30thC North America.
-
Palmer, David R. Emergence.* (1984) --
Supergirl survives and roams the country looking for companions.
-
Streiber, Whitney and James Kunetka. War Day
(1984) -A Journey across the U.S. five years after a "limited" nuclear
war. Chillingly realistic
-
Grant, Richard. Saraband of Lost Time (1985)
and Rumors of Spring* (1987) -- Poetic journeys through landscape
devastated by technologies; the last forest begins to grow explosively:
quest to find out why.
-
Powers, Tim. Dinner at Deviant's Palace
(1985) -- Post-nuclear California: re-enactment of Orpheus story.
-
Swanwick, Michael. In the Drift (1987)
-
Goldstein, Lisa. A Mask for the General*
(1987) -- Banking Collapse leaves US a depressed police state; New Age
tribes in California live on edge of the law.
-
Colander, Valerie Nieman. Neena Gathering.
(Pagent Books, 1988).* -- Coming of age story of young girl in West
Virginia after chemical warfare has transformed many into terrible looking
monsters.
-
Jones, Gwyneth. Kairos. (1988) -- Attempt
to change reality of a polluted, ozone-depleted world through drugs fails.
-
De Lint, Charles. Svaha.* (1989) -- Environmentally
degraded 22nd century; Amerind hero.
-
Ingrid, Charles. The Marked Man. (1989)
-- Enviormental abuse leads to genetic manipulation, followed by DNA
plague.
-
Dickson, Gordon. Wolf and Iron. (1990)
-- Economic collapse leads to holocaust; classic tale of survival with
friendly wolf.
-
McQuinn, Donald. Warrior (1992), Wanderer
(1993), Witch (1994) -- far future rebuilding in Pacific Northwest
after nuclear and biological disasters.
Over-Population
-
Kornbluth. Shark Ship (1958)
-- Leads to cannibalism.
-
Ballard, J. G. Billenium (1961)
-
Del Rey, Lester. The Eleventh Commandment
(1962) -- Catholic church in control
means no birth control.
-
Harrison, Harry. Make Room! Make Room!
(1966)
-
Blish, James and Norman L. Knight. A Torrent
of Faces (1967)
-
Nolan, William F. Logan’s Run -- Mandatory
euthanasia.
-
Brunner, John. Stand on Zanzibar (1968;
Hugo win and Nebula nom) -- Complex, movie-plotted look at effect of
over-population as manipulated by big business and big government in U.S.
and Africa.
-
Ehrlich, Paul. "Ecocatastrophe." (1969) -- Short
story which presents a condensed version of his predictions in The Population
Bomb (1968).
-
Pendelton, Don. 1989: Population Doomsday.*
(1970)
-
Silverberg, Robert. The World Inside (1971)
-- Life inside giant high-rises.
-
Farmer, Philip Jose. Dayworld (1985) --
Based on short story "The Sliced-Crosswise Only-on-Tuesday World" (1971)
-- In the 35th century people spend 6 days out of seven in suspended animation.
-
Heresy, John. My Petition for More Space
(1974)
-
Clem, Ralph, ed. No Room for Man (1979)
-- Collection of short stories.
-
Pool, Frederick and Jack Williamson. Land's
End. (1988) -- People living under sea due to pop explosion; various
catastrophes including underwater alien.
Other
Man-Made Catastrophes
-
Cooper, Edmund. Seed of Light. (1959)
-- Industrial pollution means domed cities.
-
Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat’s Cradle (1963)
-- Ice-Mine, created by military to freeze mud --destroys world.
-
Ballard, James. The Burning World (1964)
-- Industrial waste causes drought.
-
Aldiss, Brian. Earthworks. (1965)
-- Chemical pollution leads to complete soil exhaustion.
-
Blish, James. "We All Die Naked." (1969) Novella
in Three for Tomorrow. -- Cited as first prediction of the Greenhouse"
effect.
-
Thomas, Theodore L. and Kate Wilhelm. The Year
of the Cloud. (1970) -- World disaster
caused by compound which fractionally increases viscosity of H2O.
-
Disch, Thomas, ed. The Ruins of Earth.
(1971) -- Collection of short stories
about ecological disasters.
-
Brunner, John. The Sheep Look Up. (1972)
-- One of the very best: devastatingly accurate portrayal of ecological
holocaust caused by massive mis-management.
-
Wylie, Philip. The End of the Dream. (1972)
-- Bitter scenario of ultimate ecological holocaust.
-
Hayes, Ralph. Last View of Eden.* (1981)
-- Story of what happens when a powerful drain cleaner/solvent is accidentally
mixed up with bags of animal feed. (Made into a movie with Ron Howard?).
-
Streiber, Whitney and James Kunetka. Nature's
End. (1986) -- Carefully envisioned,
methodical account of environmental processes (destruction of the rain
forests, uncontrolled population growth) which bring the world to the brink
of a terrible choice: the Depopulation movement advocates a death draft
by which 1/3 of earth's population will die; they are opposed only by a
small band of super-intelligent children.
-
Turner, George. The Drowning Towers [The Sea
and Summer] (1987) -- Greenhouse
effect, rising oceans, over-population, unemployment, and economic collapse
make life in 21st century Australia quite a struggle.
-
Brin, David. Earth.* (1990)
-- Story of near-future earth (fifty years from now) which has managed
to solve a few of the current environmental problems -- endangered species,
however, have been moved into Life Arks because of irrevocable habitat
destruction. Question of our planetary responsibility is most acutely raised
when military research releases a small Black Hole into the center of the
earth.
-
Tobias, Michael. Fatal Exposure.* (1991)
-- Ozone hole over Seattle causes massive die-offs, blindness, panic
among residents of Seattle as the government attempts to cover up.
Parody
Langford, David and John Grant. Earthdoom!
(1987) -- Spoof of disaster stories.
Critical
Sources on Holocausts and Catastrophes
-
Brians, Paul. Nuclear Holocausts: Atomic War
in Fiction 1895 1984. 1987.
-
Broderick, Mick. Nuclear Movies: A Critical
Analysis and Filmography of International Feature Length Films Dealing
with Experimentation, Aliens, Terrorism, Holocaust, and Other Disaster
Scenarios, 1914 1990. [2nd ed.]1991.
-
Dewey, Joseph. In a Dark Time: The Apocalyptic
Temper in the American Novel of the Nuclear Age. 1990.
-
Ketterer, David. New Worlds for Old: The Apocalyptic
Imagination, SF, and American Literature. Doubleday, 1974.
-
Mannix, Patrick. The Rhetoric of Antinuclear
Fiction: Persuasive Strategies in Novels and Films. 1992.
-
Rabkin, Eric S., Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph
D. Olander. The End of the World. 1983.
-
Schwenger, Peter. Letter Bomb: Nuclear Holocaust
and the Exploding Word. 1992.
-
Shippey, T.A. "The Cold War in SF: 1940-1960."
In Science Fiction: A Critical Guide. Ed. Patrick Parrinder. Longman,
1979.
-
Slusser, George E. & Eric S. Rabkin, eds.
Storm Warnings: Science Fiction Confronts the Future. 1987.
-
Yoke, Carl B. Phoenix from the Ashes: The Literature
of the Remade World. 1987.
Also see Paul
Brians’ Author Biblio on: Aldiss, Ballard, Christopher, Wylie, Wyndham

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